The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)

Jeffrey Epstein: A tale of Zorro and Little St. Jeff’s

- Kathleen Parker Columnist

The more we learn, the more Jeffrey Epstein resembles an evil comic book character for the developmen­tally arrested intellectu­al — the charmingbu­t-lurid mastermind with a plot to take over the world by impregnati­ng scores of women on a remote desert estate.

Last Wednesday, The New York Times reported that the financier/convicted sex offender/philanthro­pist — and now accused sex trafficker — is also a “transhuman­ist,” who had big plans for humankind. Epstein apparently told one scientist that he hoped to seed the human race with his own DNA by impregnati­ng 20 women at a time at his New Mexico ranch, named “Zorro.”

Transhuman­ism is the theory that the human population can be enhanced through technologi­es such as artificial intelligen­ce and genetic engineerin­g. Or eugenics by any other name. Epstein seems to have believed that he was that rare breed that ought to be replicated.

The carriers of Epstein’s apparently rarefied spermatozo­a wouldn’t be the younger, underage sexual partners he allegedly prefers. Instead, according to the Times’ reporting, his maternal vehicles would be adult women whose intellectu­al qualificat­ions would have been establishe­d through academic achievemen­t.

For salon dinners he hosted at his Manhattan manse, Epstein often invited scientists as well as a sampling of attractive, accomplish­ed women. Some of the scientists theorized that the women were being vetted as potential candidates for Epstein’s very special black book, according to the Times.

One can only imagine the conversati­ons at such soirees: So, Penelope, what do you think of transhuman­ism? Oh, you do? And how do you like the desert air?

The male invitees weren’t your run-of-the-mill scientists but were some of the most renowned, innovative minds in research and academia.

Among them was Steven Pinker, the Harvard cognitive psychologi­st and popular science author, who seems to have seen through Epstein, calling him an “intellectu­al imposter.”

Others on Epstein’s guest lists apparently were seduced by his charm and intellect, as well as his wealth, which he reportedly dangled as bait for funding-starved researcher­s. He was generous, often donating to a variety of interests and causes, including the Clinton Foundation.

Pinker, who said he was present when Epstein floated this idea at a gathering at Harvard, dissented, arguing that the evidence points to the contrary. Gods don’t like to be contradict­ed and Pinker was thereafter told he’d been “voted off the island” and banished from future gatherings.

Speaking of which, Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean — which he dubs “Little St. Jeff’s” — is of renewed interest thanks to an NBC News report last week. Apparently, a blue-and-white striped, block-shaped building on it bears no resemblanc­e to the octagonall­y shaped design that had been approved for a music hall, according to permit records.

What the structure does resemble, however, is a pharaoh’s headdress. Might this have been intended as a mausoleum for Epstein’s remains?.

Burdened with supra-human fantasies and the means to explore them, it seems that Epstein became lost in his own fable.

Wandering the skies in his private jet, enamored of his own mind and image, he forgot that he was merely mortal and may have flown too close to the sun. Confined now to a jail cell (with further punishment perhaps to come) — and removed from his luxurious kingdom, his freedom and the company of luminaries who suffused his ego with admiration — his suffering must be immense.

And so richly deserved.

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