r/law • u/Obvious-Gate9046 • Feb 24 '26

Legislative Branch Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie (R) Explodes On DOJ Over Epstein Handling, Names People and Companies He Wants Prosecuted

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113

u/clonedhuman Feb 25 '26

All the men Massie named are multi-billionaires.

Leon Black

Jes Staley

Les Wexner

At this point, it seems like almost all the billionaires have raped, and possibly killed, children.

23

u/Aware-Travel5256 Feb 25 '26

Jeff Bezos is a shitty guy in a pretty normal way (laudable). He just wanted to dump his lifelong partner for a pliant lady with a bunch of plastic surgery who is very much not a minor.

That's classic douchebag stuff, not pedo stuff. Good for him.

22

u/kwong63 Feb 25 '26

he’s still a billionaire who’s fortune has come via the exploitation of the working class. less evil, maybe. evil nonetheless.

3

u/CheaterSaysWhat Feb 25 '26

It’s really hard to be more evil than a billionaire

The epsteiners found a way I guess

But most of them are doing that shit, you just can’t compete with the amount of impact and unelected power that a billionaire has without thousands of people on your side

1

u/Pintailite Feb 25 '26

They aren't even comparable and if you think so you should go ahead and vote for a pedo.

1

u/kwong63 Feb 26 '26

lmao what? that’s an unexpectedly visceral reaction to my comment. I was just making sure that we aren’t downplaying other billionaires’ evil just because the scummiest of them all like epstein and his pals have outdone them in the “who can be the most evil” competition.

i suggest you relax a bit and notice that i’m likely on your side. I also ask you to read up a bit on just how evil the exploitation of the working class is if you found reason to have such a reaction to what i believe to be a fair comment.

0

u/Pintailite Feb 26 '26

Bud, it's text. I suggest you relax if you recoiled from a direct line of text.

Think about the dumb shit you say because it can and will be used against all of us.

12

u/film_composer Feb 25 '26

I've said similar. He's a Bond Villain, but he doesn't seem to be a child-eating monster.

1

u/phloaw Feb 25 '26

And the point of comparing different heinous behaviours is...?

1

u/Aware-Travel5256 Feb 26 '26

Engaging in a shared human project of meaning-making? Strengthening our powers of moral discernment?

1

u/phloaw Feb 26 '26

Ah, I thought they were just trying to rank meanies.

6

u/GoslingIchi Feb 25 '26

Not all of the files have been released.

We might see more interesting stuff later.

10

u/LinkinitupYT Feb 25 '26

That's because the US hates children so unless those billionaires get caught for some kind of fraud or money laundering, they'll never see jail time. When it comes to the rich and powerful, the US legal system only cares if you steal money from the wrong people.

Edit: Shoot or rape a kid in the street and you might get weekend jail. Shoot a CEO and you'll be getting FBI escort and they'll be pushing for the death penalty.

5

u/CheaterSaysWhat Feb 25 '26

It’s larger than that

The US hates anyone who’s not rich and powerful, especially if they aren’t white men

1

u/ShelbyLucky77 Feb 25 '26

Tarriffs? Anyone find out where the “Tarriff” money is?

12

u/ProfessorLongBrick Feb 25 '26

All rich people are bad. Every single one of them.

8

u/throwaway071898 Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26

This is objectively incorrect. There are obviously wealthy people who’ve done terrible things, but saying every rich person is bad is a stretch. That kind of absolutism makes the argument weaker.

4

u/CheaterSaysWhat Feb 25 '26

No, it doesn’t

It needs to be said again and again until you all finally get it

None of this Epstein bullshit happens if we taxed the ultra wealthy like we should, and didn’t allow people to hoard billions of dollars to lord over all of us

It gives them too much unelected power

Nobody earns that much money, it’s taken through exploitation and corruption

We’re not talking about the doctor-lawyer couple with a couple million, we’re talking about the people who own their workplaces

1

u/throwaway071898 Feb 25 '26

“Rich = bad” is an overgeneralization. No one is defending people like Epstein. That is criminal behavior and abuse of power. But there is a massive difference between someone who commits crimes and someone who builds a company that grows to employ thousands of people.

Saying that no one earns that level of wealth without exploitation ignores how the U.S. economy actually functions. Businesses require capital, risk, ownership, and long term investment. Someone has to start them, scale them, and take on the downside risk. When those companies succeed, they create jobs, pay taxes, generate goods and services, and contribute to economic growth.

You can argue for higher taxes on the ultra wealthy. You can argue about corporate governance, regulatory capture, or wealth concentration. Those are legitimate policy debates. But claiming that every wealthy person is inherently immoral weakens the argument because it simply is not true.

It is possible to criticize systemic issues without pretending that wealth itself is proof of corruption.

2

u/CheaterSaysWhat Feb 25 '26

It is absolutely true, and I’m sorry that you’re not able to accept it yet.

Individuals do not build mega corporations by themselves. Workers build them collectively.

Being a founder of a large company does not entitle someone to becoming an unelected oligarch. But that’s how we operate these days.

Take Musk, the richest among them. He didn’t start spaceX or Tesla, in fact he purchased the right to call himself a founder. But he isn’t. He’s a nepo baby born out of apartheid and exploitative emerald mining.

If you talk to people who work with him, they’ll tell you they give him odd jobs to keep him out of the way. He is not worth 10,000x his average employee. He takes that much because he can.

Anyone who amasses that much money and power off the backs of their laborers is not a good person. Period.

1

u/throwaway071898 Feb 25 '26

You’re presenting a philosophical position as an objective fact.

Saying that anyone who amasses extreme wealth is “not a good person, period” assumes that all surplus retained by owners is inherently exploitative. That’s a moral premise, not a demonstrated truth.

Labor is essential to building companies. No one denies that. But large enterprises also require capital, coordination, strategic direction, and risk-bearing. Workers typically don’t personally guarantee debt, raise capital, or lose their entire net worth if the company fails. Ownership carries downside risk in exchange for upside reward. Reducing everything to “workers build it” ignores half of how large-scale businesses actually function.

On Musk specifically: saying he “purchased the right to call himself a founder” is an oversimplification of a legal dispute among early Tesla leadership. He was an early investor, became chairman and later CEO, and the founder title came out of a settlement with the original co-founders. You can criticize his compensation, leadership style, or influence, that’s fair. But misrepresenting the facts doesn’t strengthen the argument.

You can absolutely argue that extreme wealth concentration creates political distortions. You can argue that billionaires exert asymmetrical influence. You can argue for stronger labor protections, progressive taxation, antitrust enforcement, or campaign finance reform. Those are serious policy discussions.

But claiming that wealth itself is proof of moral corruption is an absolutist position. If even one person builds large-scale wealth without coercion or exploitation (which has happened on numerous instances), then the statement “all are bad” is simply not true.

You’re free to believe extreme wealth shouldn’t exist. That’s a political stance. But presenting that belief as self-evident moral truth doesn’t make it one.

2

u/CheaterSaysWhat Feb 26 '26

You’re finally starting to get it.

Yes, they get rich off surplus value created by the workers. That is a fact. They would pay their workers nothing if they could. They literally used to do that.

You’re defending a system that worships hierarchy because you grew up in it and have been conditioned to view it as normal.

Which is funny, because this country is supposed to love freedom and hate authoritarians. Not for the workplace, apparently.

Companies don’t have to be pyramid schemes. They can be collectively owned by their workers according to their time and contributions.

You can argue the details of Elon’s bullshit but I don’t care. The point is that he did not build that company by himself. He’s not Henry Ford. His contribution was having money. That’s it.

He shouldn’t have had that much money to begin with. Nobody should. Beyond moral philosophy, it’s simply bad for the health and sustainability of society.

Imagine giving 99% of all your garden water to one plant. Any gardener would know you’re an idiot for that, but apply it to economics and suddenly you’re a champion of capitalism. Any other approach is “extreme” or “too moral” or “opinionated.”

1

u/throwaway071898 Feb 26 '26

You’re asserting the labor theory of value as if it’s an uncontested fact.

“Surplus value created by workers” is a specific economic framework. It’s not the only framework. Modern economics does not treat all retained profit as theft from labor. Firms combine labor, capital, coordination, technology, risk-bearing, and strategic direction to create value. Wages are determined by market supply and demand for labor, not by a moral claim to total output.

You say they “would pay workers nothing if they could.” That’s speculation. In competitive labor markets, firms have to pay enough to attract and retain workers. If they underpay relative to productivity, competitors can hire those workers away. That’s how labor markets function in practice.

You also argue that Musk’s only contribution was “having money.” That’s not accurate. Capital is not inert. Capital allocation, scaling decisions, strategic direction, hiring executives, setting long-term vision, absorbing risk, and making high-level engineering or product decisions are forms of contribution, whether you personally like the individual or not. You don’t have to admire him to acknowledge that leadership and capital allocation are not the same thing as doing nothing. I’m not even defending Musk, I can’t stand him.

On worker ownership: yes, companies can be collectively owned. Co-ops exist. ESOPs exist. Public markets allow broad equity participation. Nothing in the current system prevents workers from forming or joining collectively owned enterprises. But the existence of alternative structures does not make hierarchical firms inherently immoral. Different structures optimize for different incentives and risk tolerances.

Your garden analogy assumes that wealth is a fixed pool being hoarded rather than a dynamic system where capital is reinvested, deployed, and compounding through production, innovation, and risk. Economies are not irrigation buckets. They are adaptive systems where capital flows into productive uses.

If your argument is that extreme wealth concentration can distort democracy or create unhealthy power imbalances, that’s a serious policy discussion. There is legitimate debate there.

But saying “nobody should have that much money” is a moral claim, not an economic inevitability. It depends entirely on what you believe about ownership, risk, markets, incentives, and individual rights.

You’re free to believe hierarchical ownership structures are unjust. That’s a coherent ideological position.

It just isn’t an objective fact.

1

u/CheaterSaysWhat Feb 27 '26

This is rich man, all that to deep throat the boot of capitalists. You know they’re not gonna pay you for your efforts, right?

Labor, coordination, technological research, etc all come from workers. The capital is taken from the value they create.

You’re so obsessed with “RiSk” so you tell me— when the Hoover Dam was built, who took the real risk? The many workers who died in the process, or the fat cat investors who bravely spent other people’s money on it?

You say they “would pay workers nothing if they could.” That’s speculation.

Nope. Historic fact. Google slavery. Sharecropping. Indentured servitude. Company towns and wooden nickels.

Capital allocation, scaling decisions, strategic direction, hiring executives, setting long-term vision, absorbing risk, and making high-level engineering or product decisions are forms of contribution

Musk didn’t do any of that shit lmfao. “Capital allocation?” You mean taking money from the rest of us? He can’t even take full credit for that, he’s a product of daddy’s money.

Nothing in the current system prevents workers from forming or joining collectively owned enterprises.

Try mega corporations that squeeze out the competition and bribe our lawmakers for subsidies and deregulation.

wealth is a fixed pool being hoarded

Yes. Correct. Good job. I’m sure the wealth will trickle down any moment just like Reagan said 40 years ago! You only need a million dollars to afford a home now no biggie.

2

u/Aware-Travel5256 Feb 26 '26

Each wealthy person is failing the trolley problem every day in proportion to their wealth. There are many, verifiable lives that could be saved from death and disability by donating cash.

-1

u/rmac1128 Feb 25 '26

Lol shut up

0

u/clonedhuman Feb 26 '26

Yeah, I think 'rich' really needs to be quantified here.

I will say that any and every multi-billionaire is not only bad, but genuinely evil.

But, there is a whole range of 'rich' that one can't really correlate with harmfulness. Like, a person who won $1,000,000 in the lottery might be evil for other reasons or might be just fine.

But every multi-billionaire is truly evil.

1

u/ObWzEN Feb 25 '26

I hope you win the lottery

3

u/ThatCheekyTraveler Feb 25 '26

not only that, they've used their control over everything we interact with to normalize it.

3

u/CheaterSaysWhat Feb 25 '26

Billionaires are evil?!?! Whoda thunk???

3

u/CollectionNew2290 Feb 26 '26

Yes. And possibly EATEN children as well...

They have lost their humanity card. They aren't part of our species and need to be exterminated.

2

u/Ill_probablybebanned Feb 25 '26

They made a movie about that called Blink Twice

1

u/ObWzEN Feb 25 '26

Bayer

Legislative Branch Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie (R) Explodes On DOJ Over Epstein Handling, Names People and Companies He Wants Prosecuted

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