Bill and Melinda Gates announce they are ending their marriage

[Solauren]

How about 'Dudes killing more shit from beyond the grave then Freddy Kruger"

Perfect!

(Bows) Thank-you, Thank-you. Don't forget to tip your waitress!

[Ralin]

No, they get the same amount.

No they get a whole more suspicious and distrust than random people who haven't partied with the famous rape parties guy, or even non-billionaires who were known to spend time with the rape parties guy because those are the sorts of people infamous for doing these things and getting away with it.

However, if everyone applied your logic of 'Everyone that had a connection with Epstein must be one of his pedophile buddies cause someone said so', then because I have/had associates that were chain smoking alcoholic junkies, I must be a former/current chain smoking, alcoholic junkie.

Oh, and because a few of them got busted Breaking and Entering, I must also be a criminal.

And yet, you have no proof, but the burden is on me, because of a connection, to prove I'm NOT?

Congratulations! You'd make a fine Inquisitor during the Witch hunts.

That is a stupid comparison and you are a stupid person. Also

your logic of 'Everyone that had a connection with Epstein must be one of his pedophile buddies cause someone said so'

Of course it's not goddamn proof that everyone he ever partied with is a sex monster

[Zaune]

I think it bears mentioning that this is hardly the first time Bill Gates has been associated with some extremely shady shit; Microsoft have a well-deserved reputation for using deeply unethical and occasionally straight up illegal tactics to preserve their market share.

Does that automatically mean he's an accomplice by inaction or worse to Epstein's side hustle as a human trafficker? No. Does it mean he's entitled to rather less benefit of the doubt when he claims he had no idea what was going on? Yes.

[Xisiqomelir]

re: Epstein and billg's lies about knowing and seeing him very frequently, the Times published in 2k19 on the topic and had to retract nothing.

Mr. Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, whose $100 billion-plus fortune has endowed the world’s largest charitable organization, has done his best to minimize his connections to Mr. Epstein. “I didn’t have any business relationship or friendship with him,” he told The Wall Street Journal last month.
In fact, beginning in 2011, Mr. Gates met with Mr. Epstein on numerous occasions — including at least three times at Mr. Epstein’s palatial Manhattan townhouse, and at least once staying late into the night, according to interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the relationship, as well as documents reviewed by The New York Times.
Employees of Mr. Gates’s foundation also paid multiple visits to Mr. Epstein’s mansion. And Mr. Epstein spoke with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and JPMorgan Chase about a proposed multibillion-dollar charitable fund — an arrangement that had the potential to generate enormous fees for Mr. Epstein.
“His lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not work for me,” Mr. Gates emailed colleagues in 2011, after his first get-together with Mr. Epstein.
Bridgitt Arnold, a spokeswoman for Mr. Gates, said he “was referring only to the unique décor of the Epstein residence — and Epstein’s habit of spontaneously bringing acquaintances in to meet Mr. Gates.”
“It was in no way meant to convey a sense of interest or approval,” she said.
Over and over, Mr. Epstein managed to cultivate close relationships with some of the world’s most powerful men. He lured them with the whiff of money and the proximity to other powerful, famous or wealthy people — so much so that many looked past his reputation for sexual misconduct. And the more people he drew into his circle, the easier it was for him to attract others.
ImageMelanie Walker, who had known Mr. Epstein since 1992, joined the Gates Foundation as senior program officer in 2006.
Melanie Walker, who had known Mr. Epstein since 1992, joined the Gates Foundation as senior program officer in 2006.Credit...Copyright by World Economic Forum/Benedikt von Loebell
Mr. Gates and the $51 billion Gates Foundation have championed the well-being of young girls. By the time Mr. Gates and Mr. Epstein first met, Mr. Epstein had served jail time for soliciting prostitution from a minor and was required to register as a sex offender.

Flying to Florida
Mr. Gates and Mr. Epstein kept seeing each other. Ms. Arnold would not say how many times the two had met.
In March 2013, Mr. Gates flew on Mr. Epstein’s Gulfstream plane from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to Palm Beach, Fla., according to a flight manifest. Ms. Arnold said Mr. Gates — who has his own $40 million jet — hadn’t been aware it was Mr. Epstein’s plane.
Six months later, Mr. Nikolic and Mr. Gates were in New York for a meeting related to Schrödinger, a pharmaceutical software company in which Mr. Gates had a large investment. On that trip, Mr. Epstein and Mr. Gates met for dinner and discussed the Gates Foundation and philanthropy, Ms. Arnold said.

M$ couldn't question a word of it, much as I'm sure they would have loved to.

[Xisiqomelir]

Detailed Vanity Fair piece from a few days ago.

My highlights:

While M$ is not commenting on the news, it may get harder for the tech giant not to address reports of Bill’s conduct, both in the office and outside it, as former employees who put up with what they describe as inappropriate workplace behavior, romantic relationships with subordinates, and the demands of a boss who, for years, was painted as a nerdy tech savior, finally feel free to unburden themselves.

For the people who worked for him, Bill’s behavior was something of an open secret. The former employee who signed an NDA said there were times when Bill came into the office driving a Mercedes, and an hour later, one of his security personnel showed up with a golden brown Porsche that Bill drove away in. “We all assumed that it was when he was with women,” the employee said. “I knew there were many offsite meetings that were not on his calendar.” According to someone close to Bill, his infidelities were no secret to many of the people around him. Yet another source close to Bill disputed that he would disappear from the office, saying he was “one of the most intensely scheduled people on the planet.”

...People close to the couple said there had been tension for some time, that they had been living separate lives for years, and that the decision to separate had been delayed until their youngest daughter graduated from high school. The Times reported that in 2018, Melinda was unhappy with how Bill dealt with a sexual harassment claim against his longtime money manager, insisting on bringing in outside investigators. And then in 2019, when the relationship between her husband and Jeffrey Epstein became public knowledge, she hired divorce lawyers, setting a plan into motion.