Jeffrey Epstein has killed himself.

[conuly]

I didn't read any news about this yet, I just saw a blurb at the diner. (Link.)

On the one hand, I'm not grieving. He seems to have been a thoroughly awful person.

On the other hand, he already attempted suicide not that long ago. If suicide watch can mess up this badly with somebody who is both a. rich and b. very much in the public eye right now, how much care are they taking with every random dude off the street?

Comments

[jessie_c]

Not to mention someone belived to have held compromising material on a great many rich, powerful and shall we say less than ethical people?

I'll believe it was a suicide when the independent autopsy report shows up.


“It was suicide, wasn't it?"
"In an involuntary sort of way," said Vorob'yev. "These Cetagandan political suicides can get awfully messy, when the principal won't cooperate."
"Thirty-two stab wounds in the back, worst case of suicide they ever saw?" murmured Ivan, clearly fascinated by the gossip.
"Exactly, my lord.”

[redbird]

My first thought was, I'm not grieving either. On the other hand, being dead, he can't give evidence against any of the other scum who he pandered to.

Followed by wondering, were they (consciously or otherwise) giving him a bit more slack because he's rich and knows other influential people, where slack implies not being watched as closely.

[moon_custafer]

Yeah, I try not to go all conspiracy-theorist, but in this case the guy’s death seems awfully convenient for anyone he might have testified against.

[heron61]

Yep, I'm definitely considering his death a "suicide".

[lavendertook]

Well, gosh, he just happened to fall out of the airplane. It's not immediately clear how . . .

That latter phrase is made use of a number of times in the WaPo article on the "apparent" *cough* "suicide."

"Trump's president, they said.

What can we not get away with? they said."

[brokenallbroken]

Exactly.

[konsectatrix]

Conspiracy theorists and their jargon make me twitch, but in this case I can't help but feel that the term "suicided" might be relevant here. As in, "he was suicided."

Even if it was more a matter of conveniently looking the other way rather than actual murder.

[elf]

Popehat points out that this can easily be explained by standard prison incompetence, and that keeping someone on suicide watch more than 5 days after an attempt requires special actions.

... Someone still signed off on "this guy is no longer a suicide risk," and I want that person's name. Also want an investigation to confirm this actually was a suicide.

[dark_phoenix54]

I have a suspicion he might have been helped along...

[chez_jae]

Whether or not it was suicide, good riddance to bad rubbish.

[nodrog]

Answer:  None.  The Good Old Days of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are as gone as Ma Bell.  The husband of a friend of mine has tried to kill himself twice, + and the best she can get for him is one (1) month’s “outpatient care,” whatever that means.

The CDC reports that annual suicides have increased 30% since the 1990s.  So it goes.

+ “Do - or do not.  There is no ‘try.’”  Of course I did not say this, but I thought it.

[silveradept]

They're definitely not doing anything for the people on the street, so much so that the phrase "suicide by police officer" is not out of the ordinary for people with mental illnesses that would be more expensive than their families' complete set of assets to treat for a month.

(Which, in many of these cases, isn't much at all.)

The trickiest part of this will be determining how much Epstein acted on his own and how much he may have been pressured to do the act so as to make it harder for other people's crimes to be discovered or prosecuted. Incompetence is still the default position, but something like this warrants a strong investigation into whether malice could be at fault.

[alisanne]

I'm not normally.a conspiracy theorist, but as several others have commented, I consider this a "suicide".
And I don't have much faith in a Bill Barr led investigation to find the actual truth.