[nature] Newly released files from the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein reveal that his ties to the scientific community were deeper than previously known. Not just any "science" however. What could all of this possibly mean ?
Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 after being arrested and charged with sex trafficking, was a wealthy financier who invested millions in science projects and socialized with researchers. It was already known that, after Epstein’s initial conviction for sex crimes in 2008, some scientists continued to associate with and take money from him, prompting fallout at top research institutions. For instance, Epstein gave US$800,000 to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, which led two scientists to resign in protest and the university to suspend another.
But last Friday’s release of more than three million files linked to Epstein — including e-mails, photographs and financial documents — has unveiled even more scientists in his orbit. Mentions of the researchers do not indicate wrongdoing or involvement in Epstein’s criminal activity, but they do shed light on how deeply he was involved in some of the science he funded. This is the largest batch of files made public by the US Department of Justice since Congress passed the Epstein Transparency Act late last year, mandating that the federal government release all documents pertaining to the financier.
SCIENCE STARS
The files include new information about interactions between Epstein and scientists whose links to him were already known. For example, the documents contain correspondence from theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss, whose science-outreach organization received $250,000 from Epstein. "I thought we agreed no comment !!!!!" Epstein wrote in 2018, as Krauss responded to media inquiries about an investigation of sexual misconduct that led to Krauss’s ousting from Arizona State University in Tempe.
Krauss explained his interaction with Epstein in an e-mail to Nature: "I sought out advice from essentially everyone I knew when false allegations about me were circulated." He added that he had no knowledge of the "horrendous crimes" — the sex trafficking — that Epstein was later accused of. "I was as shocked as the rest of the world when he was arrested."
The files also showed that Epstein maintained a list of nearly 30 top scientists, including Krauss, and revealed previously unknown connections with some of them. One was Lisa Randall, a theoretical physicist at Harvard University in Cambridge, who joked in an e-mail with Epstein about his house arrest (following his 2008 incarceration for soliciting sex with a minor, he was under house arrest in 2009—10). She also visited his private island in the Caribbean in 2014. Randall did not respond to Nature’s request for comment, but told The Harvard Crimson: "I am appalled by the full extent of allegations against him and deeply regret maintaining contact."
Among the latest tranche of documents were also correspondences in which some scientists contacted Epstein with funding opportunities. For instance, in 2013, Nathan Wolfe, then a virologist at Stanford University in California, proposed that Epstein fund a sexual-behaviour study of undergraduate students to test "our horny virus hypothesis" — that certain vaginal and penile microorganisms might drive increased sexual activity.
In an e-mail to Nature, Wolfe says that although he visited Epstein’s homes in New York and Florida to discuss the research, Epstein never funded it. Wolfe says he regrets "not recognizing at the time how inappropriate [Epstein’s] framing was" and his association with the financier.
No, as it turns out, nobody had an idea how "inappropriate [Epstein's] framing was." Many still do not, or so they claim. Who could have possibly known.
sarc off.
EVOLVING UNDERSTANDING
One of Epstein’s closest academic connections was mathematical biologist Martin Nowak. In his 2011 book SuperCooperators, Nowak describes how he was cold-called by Epstein while a researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and invited to Epstein’s island. "On the last day of my visit, Jeffrey said he would build an institute for me," Nowak wrote.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — State legislators in New Mexico launched an investigation Tuesday into past activity at a secluded desert ranch where financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein once entertained guests and whether local authorities looked the other way.
A bipartisan, four-member panel of state House representatives is investigating allegations that the ranch may have facilitated sexual abuse and sex trafficking. New Mexico lawmakers also say they want to know why Epstein was not registered as a sex offender after pleading guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl and whether there was corruption among public officials.
Democratic state Rep. Marianna Anaya of Albuquerque, a member of the truth commission, urged people during a news conference Tuesday to come forward with information about any abuse at the ranch linked to Epstein and other people who may have it possible. Anaya really should consider penning a 'suicide denial memo' and filing it with her attorney with info-copies to the immediate family.
"That perpetrator could not act alone. They could not run a sex ring alone, they could not commit these types of financial crimes alone. So we know as a commission that enablers must also be held accountable, including the state itself, if needed," said Anaya. "If you do want to share, we’ll be here and we will be operating with confidentiality."
Conspiracy theories or plausibilities at comments one and two.
#6
/\ There has been a certain racial commonality with regard to the photographs we see of the alleged Epstein victims. The Epstein's monied poputchik's (fellow travelers) appear to fall into a similar racial category.
[IsraelTimes] An 18-year-old man ran toward the US Capitol with a loaded shotgun today before police arrested him without incident, says US Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan.
The motive of the man, who police said was wearing a tactical vest and tactical gloves, is not immediately known. He also had a Kevlar helmet and a gas mask in his vehicle, police say.
Sullivan says the man arrived in a white Mercedes SUV just after noon and parked near the Capitol, before getting out and running toward the building that houses the US Congress.
Police challenged the man and ordered him to drop the weapon, which he did, Sullivan told reporters.
The incident took place less than three months after a National Guard member was killed and another wounded in an ambush shooting near the White House.
President Donald Trump is due to deliver the annual State of the Union address at the Capitol next week.
“We take the State of the Union very, very seriously, and this doesn’t change our posture. We will be prepared on State of the Union night,” Sullivan says.
Update from comments at 6:50 p.m. ET: The gunman was identified as Carter Camacho, 18, of Smyrna, Georgia.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/18/2026 5:54 Comments ||
Top||
#2
what makes these fools think the vest and gloves make them Captain America. TEMU must be making a big profit selling this shit to these idiots.
Posted by: chris ||
02/18/2026 7:49 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Gunman is named as Carter Camacho, 18, of Smyrna, Georgia.
Officers recovered a Mossberg Model 88 12-gauge shotgun with serial number MV2154777, the affidavit said. The shotgun was loaded with seven rounds in the tube and one in the chamber, and the safety was off, according to the filing. Authorities also reported finding 17 additional rounds in a carrier attached to the stock.
After Camacho was handcuffed, he told officers his name was “Carter Comacho” and said he was there to talk to a member of Congress, the affidavit said.
Investigators traced his path back to the SUV and found a fixed-blade knife on the ground about 40 feet from the vehicle along his route, according to the filing.
[Federalist] True societal pathologies have a limited shelf life, and it turns out the most recent pathology — transgender ideology — is no exception. Detransitioner Fox Varian recently won $2 million against the psychologist and surgeon who led her into mutilation, a double mastectomy, at the age of 16. Almost immediately, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Medical Association timidly walked back their support of gender-related mutilation of minors. The reckoning has begun.
In A Moon for the Misbegotten, Eugene O’Neill proposes that "[t]here is no present or future — only the past, happening over and over again — now." The transgender phenomenon — though, in its details, unprecedented in human history — seems to have happened before.
In 1935, Portuguese neurosurgeon Dr. Antonio Egas Moniz created the lobotomy procedure to treat severe mental illness. The first U.S. lobotomy was performed in 1936 by Dr. Walter Freeman and Dr. James Watts at George Washington University Hospital. From the mid-1930s until the late 1950s, approximately 40,000-50,000 U.S. patients were lobotomized. The global community of medical experts was so impressed with this treatment that, in 1949, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to the man who invented it.
As "perfected" by Dr. Freeman, a lobotomy involved plunging an ice pick through the patient’s eye socket and into his brain. The trail of physical and mental ruination was long and wide.
[ZERO] The European Union has opened an in-depth investigation into online fashion retailer Shein over the sale of illegal items and what it calls the Chinese-owned platform’s "addictive design."
The probe, announced on Feb. 16 by the European Commission, marks the bloc’s first formal proceeding against the company under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a set of sweeping online regulations that governs nearly all corners of the digital ecosystem, from e-commerce platforms to social media networks.
Brussels said it is investigating the sale of illegal products "including child sexual abuse material," citing in particular child-like sex dolls that were found on Shein’s marketplace. The company came under scrutiny in France in late 2025 after authorities discovered lifelike sex dolls resembling young girls on the site, along with illegal weapons. The French government moved to suspend access to Shein’s website, but a court blocked the move and instead asked Brussels to step in under the DSA.
The controversy, EU officials said, exposed broader concerns about whether Shein poses "a systemic risk for consumers across the entire European Union." They have asked the company to provide information on how it ensures that minors are not exposed to age-inappropriate content, as well as how it prevents the circulation of illegal products on its platform.
Investigators will also look into Shein’s "addictive design," including the use of gamified features such as points, rewards, and other incentives for frequent engagement. EU officials have said that such designs may encourage excessive use, particularly among younger users, and undermine consumer protection and users’ mental well-being.
[NYPOST] Tony Clark is stepping down, and it comes with a twist no one saw coming.
Clark resigned as executive director of the MLB Players Association on Tuesday after spending the past 12 years in the role.
But it wasn't the federal investigation by the Eastern District of New York that brought his reign to an end; instead, according to The Post's Joel Sherman, it was an inappropriate relationship with his sister-in-law, who worked for the MLBPA.
Clark's demise comes at a pivotal time for the players union as it enters the final year of its collective bargaining agreement with Major League Baseball. Baseball owners are widely expected to lock the players out after the 2026 season.
The discovery came amid an internal probe that unearthed messages and the union employee, The Athletic reported. Clark was made aware of the findings on Friday, and the players were informed over the weekend, which led to the push to have him resign.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2026 08:56 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1774 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
That was the stated reason. What was the actual reason for his dismissal ?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] The first solar eclipse of 2026 has begun on Earth. This was reported on February 17 by the Solar Astronomy Laboratory of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
According to her data, the Moon's penumbra fell on the planet near Antarctica at around 1:06 PM Moscow time. Later, at around 2:44 PM Moscow time, the Earth's satellite completely aligned with the Sun, forming a giant ring of fire in the sky.
"The first of two solar eclipses this year has begun," the laboratory's Telegram channel reported.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Azat Rakhmanov
[REGNUM] On February 12, about 170 kilometers southwest of Mejima Island in the East China Sea, four Japanese patrol vessels surrounded a Chinese fishing vessel with a crew of eleven.
The captain, a Chinese citizen, was arrested on suspicion of ignoring orders to stop and attempting to leave the inspection zone. Tokyo maintains that this is Japan's exclusive economic zone. Beijing categorically disagrees: these are disputed waters, and unilateral claims are unacceptable.
It would seem like a routine incident. Fishermen, patrolmen, protocols... But in a situation where trust between the two countries continues to rapidly erode, even the detention of a fishing vessel becomes a political signal.
This is the first such event involving mainland China since 2022. And it is no coincidence – it occurred against the backdrop of the most serious deterioration in Sino-Japanese relations in decades.
On February 14, at the Munich Security Conference, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered a speech that left no room for diplomatic ambiguity. Responding to a question about growing tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, he stated that the source of the problem lay in the actions of the Japanese leadership.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi publicly stated late last year: "If something happens in the Taiwan Strait, it will also affect Japan."
This is a direct challenge to China's sovereignty - an attempt to revise the post-war international order under which Taiwan was returned to its jurisdiction after 50 years of Japanese occupation, a violation of Tokyo's political commitments to Beijing.
“China cannot agree with this,” Wang Yi emphasized, “and 1.4 billion Chinese will never agree either.”
But most importantly, he said out loud what people in Asia still prefer to speak cautiously about: "Japan has not completely overcome its ambitions for colonial domination over Taiwan. The specter of militarism still lingers."
On November 7, answering questions in the Diet, Takaichi stated that China's use of military force against Taiwan could be qualified as an "existential threat to the state," which would allow Japan to exercise its right to collective self-defense. This was unprecedented in modern times.
Wang Yi recalled that in the past, Japan, under the same pretext—"threat to the existence of the state"—unleashed aggression against China, including the attack on Pearl Harbor. Now, Takaichi is using the same language, and this cannot but raise concerns.
"The Japanese people should not be misled by far-right forces seeking to revive militarism," China's top diplomat said.
"All countries committed to peace must send Japan a clear warning: if it decides to turn down this path, it will be heading toward self-destruction. If it relies on force again, it will lose faster and suffer an even more severe defeat."
Tokyo reacted immediately. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Wang Yi's statements "factually incorrect and baseless," after which it sent a strong message to Beijing through diplomatic channels.
In a social media post, the Japanese side insisted that efforts to strengthen defense are a response to the "increasingly serious security situation" and are not directed against any specific country.
However, this formulation sounds extremely unconvincing. Because behind it lies Sanae Takaichi's very specific political trajectory.
NATIONAL TRAUMA
Takaichi follows in the footsteps of Shinzo Abe, whom she calls her "eternal mentor." Abe considered her "his first student." Their policies include economic protectionism, nationalism, the lifting of constitutional restrictions on the military, and a tough stance on China.
Following Abe's assassination in 2022, the conservative faction of the Liberal Democratic Party temporarily retreated into the shadows. But in October 2025, Takaichi was elected LDP chairwoman and became the 104th prime minister, immediately signaling that the era of caution was over.
On November 26, Takaichi publicly promoted the idea of "Taiwan's uncertain status," citing the San Francisco Peace Treaty, and refused to retract her harsh statements. On the sidelines of the APEC summit, she met with Taipei officials and widely publicized the event on social media, sparking a strong protest from Beijing.
On January 26, she emphasized live on air that in the event of a crisis in the Taiwan Strait, Japan would work with the United States to evacuate citizens and would "not stand by" if American forces were attacked. She also spoke by phone with Donald Trump, arranging a visit to the United States.
Takaichi has consistently defended visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, where the souls of soldiers who died for the Emperor are worshipped, as "personal freedom," refused to compromise on the issue of convicted Class A war criminals, and insisted on revising the peace constitution, including renaming the Self-Defense Forces as the "National Defense Forces" and expanding the capability for preemptive strikes.
It adheres to the tactics of gradual advancement: discussion of a “nuclear exchange” with the United States, the possible possession of nuclear submarines, and a revision of the “three non-nuclear principles” (a ban on the possession, production, and import of nuclear weapons).
On February 8, 2026, in the House of Representatives elections, Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party won 316 seats, securing an independent majority. The Japan Innovation Party, part of the ruling coalition, won 36 seats. Together, the coalition holds 352 seats—more than two-thirds of the vote needed to amend the constitution.
This is one of the best results for Japanese conservatives since the end of World War II. And it's a mandate for radical change, a direct signal not only to Beijing but also to other neighboring states, including Russia: Tokyo no longer intends to play by the old rules.
When Wang Yi spoke about historical memory in Munich, he was addressing not European diplomats, but the Chinese people. Because in China, nothing is forgotten.
From 1931, when Japan invaded Manchuria, until 1945, when World War II ended, there were fourteen years of occupation, mass murder, rape, plunder, and human experimentation.
The Nanjing Massacre, Unit 731, the comfort women sexual slavery system… China lost between twenty and thirty-five million people, according to various estimates.
For China, Japanese aggression is not an abstract history. It is a national trauma that still shapes perceptions of Japan.
This is precisely why Takaichi's remarks about Taiwan are perceived in Beijing not simply as a foreign policy ploy, but as an attempt to return to colonial logic, according to which Japan has the right to determine the fate of Chinese territories. As an insult to the memory of the thirty million who perished.
On February 10, Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao said the current situation in Sino-Japanese relations was "the most serious and complex" since the normalization of diplomatic ties, and blamed Tokyo for it.
According to him, Japanese right-wingers have been promoting the idea of "state normalization" for decades, implying that the country was supposedly in an "abnormal" state after the war. Such rhetoric is causing concern among neighbors and calling into question stability in Asia.
"HOSTILE STATES REGULATION"
There is one legal nuance that is rarely discussed in diplomatic circles, but which Beijing does not forget. On November 21, 2025, the Chinese Embassy in Japan issued a bilingual statement citing Articles 53, 77, and 107 of the UN Charter—the so-called "Hostile State Clauses."
These articles were included in the UN Charter in 1945 and concern states that fought against the founding countries of the United Nations in World War II, primarily Germany, Italy and Japan.
The wording is extremely harsh: if they take steps to resume aggressive policies, then the founding states of the UN have the right to take military measures against them without additional authorization from the Security Council.
Yes, in 1995 the General Assembly declared these provisions "obsolete".
In 2005, states expressed their intention to remove the "hostile state" clause from the Charter. However, a crucial legal issue arises here: General Assembly resolutions express political will but do not automatically change the Charter.
Formally, Articles 53, 77, and 107 remain in the current version of the document. Removing them is impossible without the consent of all five permanent members of the Security Council, including China and Russia. And given the current international tensions, this seems unlikely.
So, if Japan does embark on a path of military liberation and confrontation, Russia and China formally have a legal mechanism for retaliatory action that does not require Security Council sanction, created specifically to prevent the revival of German and Japanese militarism.
Beijing is reminding us of this for a reason, making it clear that there is no point in testing the patience of those who paid for peace with millions of lives.
Following the elections, Takaichi's supporters in the lower house of parliament reached the "constitutional reform threshold." This political advantage even exceeds that enjoyed by the Tojo Hideki cabinet during World War II.
Article 9 of Japan's "peace" constitution clearly states that the country cannot possess a full-fledged armed force and has no right to wage foreign wars. This clause is viewed by the Japanese right as a "shackle," and the prime minister sees it as his political mission to remove it.
A direct revision of the constitution is complex. It requires the approval of two-thirds of the House of Councillors, followed by a national referendum. Pacifism is deeply ingrained in Japanese society, and radical proposals could provoke a public backlash.
Therefore, according to military experts, Takaichi is more likely to choose a strategy of “indirect constitutional reform” – a gradual erosion of the content of Article 9: strengthening the official status of the Self-Defense Forces, significantly increasing the defense budget (which has already exceeded 2% of GDP), developing offensive weapons, and revising the “three non-nuclear principles.”
Each step taken individually will look like a technical policy adjustment. By the time the international community realizes the scale of the changes, the situation may already be irreversible.
BASIS FOR CONSOLIDATION
The detention of the fishing vessel and Wang Yi's tough speech in Munich are not just incidents, but symptoms of a deeper process: the collapse of the post-war balance in the Asia-Pacific region.
A "normalized" Japan is capable of taking a much tougher stance on the sensitive issues of the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. The risk of a military confrontation with China will increase exponentially.
At the same time, Japan's military liberation could trigger a chain reaction, pushing South Korea, Australia, and other countries to take similar steps, leading to a new round of arms race in the Asia-Pacific region.
But there's another side to it. Japan's push for constitutional revision provides China with a moral foundation for consolidating the international community in defense of the results of World War II. Historical justice can be turned into a resource for modern diplomacy.
A noteworthy detail: Yesterday, on the eve of the Chinese New Year, Russian President Vladimir Putin was the first to congratulate the Chinese people on the arrival of spring on China Central Television's foreign news program.
Relations between Russia and China are at a very high level. For Russia, China is its rear in the east. For China, Russia is its rear in the west. Wang Yi spoke about this.
In a context where Japan is using increasingly aggressive rhetoric and the United States is actively building a system of deterrence in the Asia-Pacific region, partnership is becoming a strategic necessity for our countries.
And the tougher Tokyo's stance, the more Beijing will speak out in favor of Russian interests. This is the logic of mutual support, proven by history.
#1
China only starts foreign trouble when it's having internal problems and needs a scapegoat. Things are going great now, it's their new year celebration for the next month.
#2
How so, going great? China has a bunch of economic bubbles popping on all sides, they are past the demographic tipping point into decline — by the end of the century, if I recall correctly, their population is likely to be 1/3rd to 1/2 of what it is now — and President Trump is exerting serious additional pressure on their military and economic plans for world domination. Not to mention that the populace, in whose eyes the Communist government is only legitimate if it delivers increased prosperity, is keenly aware of the problems despite strong government censorship.
#4
Reminds of me when the US dragged Japan, against it's will, back into the world in the 1850's. Japan looked around then and and saw potential adversaries surrounding them and decided they would allow themselves to be taken over and went from a backwards hermit kingdom to a major regional power in under 50 years, with wars against the Soviets and China.
#5
The US didn't drag Japan anywhere. They were exposed to our advanced civilization and chose to follow. When it all went awry, we dropped the sun on them, helped them up after knocking them down, and today they are our best ally.
Conversely, China is a despicable existential enemy. Too cowardly to fight, but always working to undermine.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
02/18/2026 14:03 Comments ||
Top||
[FIRST ON FOX] One of the world’s largest and most influential scientific societies held its annual conference last weekend, which a Fox News Digital review found was littered with examples of progressive messaging, criticisms of the Trump administration, and "woke" workshops.
Attendees who showed up at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) event, held at the Phoenix Convention Center from Feb. 12-14, were immediately greeted at registration with identifier stickers that used gender pronouns such as "they/them," "xi/xer," "xe/xem," and other descriptors that critics have alleged have little to do with science and biology.
During the meeting’s opening night, shortly after a 10-minute hoop dance routine from traditional Native American dancers, AAAS CEO Dr. Sudip Parikh told the audience that it’s been a "hard" and "tough year for science and scientists in this country."
Parikh went on to blame DOGE for the "devastation" of "some of our science agencies" and the "president’s budget request" that "cut science by half" and, in his opinion, amounted to "forfeiting the future."
[ZERO] The World Economic Forum (WEF) quietly launched an independent review earlier this month into its CEO, Børge Brende, over his past interactions with Jeffrey Epstein, Bloomberg reports.
Files released by the Department of Justice show Epstein and Brende had three dinners in 2018 and 2019, and exchanged various text messages. One dinner occurred in September 2018, more than a decade after Epstein's 2008 conviction and guilty plea in Florida for procuring a child for prostitution, and another on June 13, 2019, shortly before Epstein's final arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Like many powerful figures, Brende has claimed that he was unaware of Epstein's criminal history at the time of their meetings, and is said to have ordered the probe into his communications with Epstein.
"I was completely unaware of Epstein’s past and criminal activities," Brende said in a statement to Bloomberg. "Had I known about his background, I would have declined the initial invitation and any subsequent dinner invitations or other communications."
"I recognize that I could have conducted a more thorough investigation into Epstein’s history, and I regret not doing so," he added.
Klaus Schwab, who founded the WEF in 1971, has maintained that he is "certain" that he never met with Epstein, a press representative told Bloomberg.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[nature] Newly released files from the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein reveal that his ties to the scientific community were deeper than previously known.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — State legislators in New Mexico launched an investigation Tuesday into past activity at a secluded desert ranch where financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein once entertained guests and whether local authorities looked the other way.
[Federalist] True societal pathologies have a limited shelf life, and it turns out the most recent pathology — transgender ideology — is no exception. Detransitioner 
[ZERO] The European Union has opened an in-depth investigation into online fashion retailer Shein over the sale of illegal items and what it calls the Chinese-owned platform’s "addictive design."
