u/PolygonLodge

Page 168:

Mr. Timmons. ‘Okay. I'm going to fast-forward to post-2010. So it seems that from 2010 really to 2012, 2013, he went on a sprint to find a group of women
that he would leverage to put them in his service. I'm going to refer to them as the seven survivors. I
don't really consider ——— to be a survivor. I think that she was elevated above what she was
originally brought in for’

‘They were there at his benevolence, just yet another one of his methods of control. The tool was the apartment, the ability to control whether they were able to go into their apartment…He gave them their computers and their cell phones, and he told them that they were being surveilled so that they could do whatever they wanted, but just know that he was watching. So does that surprise you that he would say that to them?’

‘…he was using all of these different levers of control to
engage in sex trafficking, and the seven survivors, as they entered your office, who were going to be
sexually assaulted.’

‘The seven survivors will testify eventually that, about one-third of the time
that they would go back, the assault was so bad that they had to take a shower and/or clean off. So
the fact that you never saw any of them leave with wet hair is somewhat surprising.’

I found this super interesting. They are clearly discussing Karyna as the eighth. Am I reading correctly in saying they believe her to be a co-conspirator, separate from the others?

So - are they going to arrest her? Investigating her? Subpoena her? Do anything about it?

I’d recommend reading the full deposition as it’s given me more empathy for his assistants. Brought into the country, every aspect of their lives controlled. They seem to be speaking up but privately.

When this case went mainstream in 2019, there were two key facts:

1. ⁠Jeffrey Epstein and his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, ran a sex trafficking ring.
2. ⁠Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell abused many underage girls, (and, of age victims) in Palm Beach, Florida.

The only images displayed in the media were of Epstein and Maxwell in pictures dated from the 90s into early 2000s. Everything Virginia Giuffre related happened between 2000 and 2002. Epstein’s first conviction was in 2008. Essentially, mostly everything that was reported concerned <2008, save for his 2019 arrest. There are some exceptions, such as his relationship with Bill Gates.

Ghislaine Maxwell was out of Jeffrey Epstein’s life by about 2012. Even then, she was phasing out of his life slowly by 2009 after his conviction.

Think about that.

There is a decade worth of crimes across NYC, Little St James, Paris, New Mexico essentially undocumented in the media to this day, with the main focus on the 90s/00s Palm Beach years.

I am trying to bring attention to the fact that Epstein was surrounded by a whole other ring of individuals for a huge chunk of his trafficking. Maxwell is the only one in jail. Yes, she’s guilty, but she was irrelevant by this point. He had had a new girlfriend (Karyna Shuliak) across this entire period who slips under the radar.

I see this as the ‘undocumented’ years, where Epstein formed a cult-like environment with around 10+ women. He was no longer raping schoolgirls. He became much more careful in how he trafficked and abused. The narrative, in my opinion, chooses to ignore this part.

This is my eleventh or twelfth Pratchett novel in the last 2 years and this is the first time I am downright bored. The problem is, I had gone in knowing that others have found it a hard read, what with his embuggerance and all that, so I am worried I’m just following the crowd in my thinking!

Let’s see…I’m enjoying everything about the trains, Simnel, Harry, Vetinari etc. but the goblin and dwarf overarching plots are putting me to sleep. Adora Belle is a prop in this novel and oddly house-wife coded. What happened to her being the dominating one? (embuggerance?) It’s also kinda sad there’s barely any callbacks to Postal or Money, as if they never happened.

I’m struggling to accept that I’m struggling! 300 pages in, though, so I will finish this!

Monstrous Regiment next.

I’m 28M and today something awful happened (which, in others’ eyes, I’m sure is extremely minor). I have always been scared of public speaking but, in situations that I am in control of, have managed to overcome it usually.

I was sitting in a room alone at work (which I am highly competent in) when a colleague walked in followed by 15 MSc students. She opened with ‘Hi, everyone, this is —, he works in the — department, can you tell everyone about what you do?’

My heart stopped. I spoke fluently for about 15 seconds before my throat closed, I started shaking and then my tone of voice raised to a pitiful level. I froze and mumbled ‘Sorry. I’m just really uncomfortable.’ The students awkwardly laughed before my colleague said it was okay and redirected the tour to another area of my work.

I did not know my body was capable of reacting like that. I have been thinking about it for hours. Not because I am mortified about how the students saw me crumble, but more about how disappointed I am in myself for breaking down when asked to describe my role. I literally reverted to being a child and needed to get out of that situation whether it was life or death.

My next steps are to focus on overcoming this fear, not pretending it doesn’t exist. That being said, I feel like a bit of a freak and would love some sympathy from others who have experienced what I did.

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