Bill Gates - Jeffrey Epstein

[stahleyp]

8 minutes ago, Parsad said:

Buffett wanted The Snowball to be open and candid about his life, and gave Alice full access to everything, including his personal letters that other writers never had access to.  Unfortunately, when the final draft came out, the stuff about Susie made some family members upset, which led Buffett to reconsider what was written.  I have no idea if he asked Alice to remove some things or not, but I suspect something of that nature may have happened, and that's why he stopped talking to her...perhaps she refused to take anything out.  I don't know.  All I know is that he and family members were upset with how Susie was portrayed, even if it was essentially the truth.  Cheers!

Buffett was kind of being a douche then. I mean, he shouldn't have told her he had nothing to hide...if he wanted to hide something. Or at the very least said X was off limits. 

[Parsad]

3 hours ago, stahleyp said:

Buffett was kind of being a douche then. I mean, he shouldn't have told her he had nothing to hide...if he wanted to hide something. Or at the very least said X was off limits. 

Have you ever had second thoughts about a decision?  I'm assuming Buffett is human and fallible.  Also, relationships and the nuances around them probably aren't Buffett's strengths.  Calling him a douche for changing his mind is probably a little extreme.  Cheers!

[Mephistopheles]

Re: Snowball - my understanding is that Buffett gave free reigns in order to not bias the story nor have the audience perceive any bias. Meaning, he wanted Alice to publish the book without even reviewing it. Then when he saw the final copy he or family was upset at the level of detail regarding their personal lives. Like everything else in his career, he believed that giving people more reign and off hand approach will motivate them to do a better job. It didn't work in this case.

 

Re: Buffett and Gates extramarital affairs- who cares? Who are we to judge? Who's to say Melinda didn't have an affair? None of this matters when judging their character because for us it's just an outsider perspective. I hated Trump but I feel the same way about his stormy Daniels thing. Who cares?

And regarding Gates and Epstein relationship, definitely odd but I doubt that every friend of Jeffrey Epstein committed statutory rape. It's guilt by association.

[stahleyp]

36 minutes ago, Parsad said:

Have you ever had second thoughts about a decision?  I'm assuming Buffett is human and fallible.  Also, relationships and the nuances around them probably aren't Buffett's strengths.  Calling him a douche for changing his mind is probably a little extreme.  Cheers!

Sure, I have second thoughts frequently. With that said, I try not to set expectations that "anything goes" and then shut people off when things don't go the way I like. That isn't being at least a little bit of douche?

[stahleyp]

12 hours ago, Mephistopheles said:

Re: Snowball - my understanding is that Buffett gave free reigns in order to not bias the story nor have the audience perceive any bias. Meaning, he wanted Alice to publish the book without even reviewing it. Then when he saw the final copy he or family was upset at the level of detail regarding their personal lives. Like everything else in his career, he believed that giving people more reign and off hand approach will motivate them to do a better job. It didn't work in this case.

 

Re: Buffett and Gates extramarital affairs- who cares? Who are we to judge? Who's to say Melinda didn't have an affair? None of this matters when judging their character because for us it's just an outsider perspective. I hated Trump but I feel the same way about his stormy Daniels thing. Who cares?

And regarding Gates and Epstein relationship, definitely odd but I doubt that every friend of Jeffrey Epstein committed statutory rape. It's guilt by association.

If someone cheats on his/her spouse it's doesn't matter for the judgement of their character? 

[Mephistopheles]

33 minutes ago, stahleyp said:

If someone cheats on his/her spouse it's doesn't matter for the judgement of their character? 

Not from a professional standpoint, no

[DooDiligence]

36 minutes ago, stahleyp said:

If someone cheats on his/her spouse it's doesn't matter for the judgement of their character? 

This thread adds zero value to any discussion regarding BRK, and this is coming from someone who knows how to add zero value to a discussion involving BRK.

[cubsfan]

Well - it is a highly respected board member. Certainly salacious stuff, but for anybody that read the Snowball, it's newsworthy. Buffett is no hypocrite. Like Parsad said - he is human. So is Bill Gates. The good they have both done have greatly dwarfed all this nonsense. Unfortunately for them, they are public figures.  I don't expect either of them to be perfect. Sounds like Bill fucked up, which is unfortunate.

[tede02]

On 5/18/2021 at 2:06 PM, Gregmal said:

Man's weakness has always been pussy. Dudes with money just have an easier time getting it. I dont know that this makes Gates a bad person. 

That's a great line. LMAO over here!

[stahleyp]

1 hour ago, Mephistopheles said:

Not from a professional standpoint, no

I'm under the impression that character doesn't stop when someone leaves the workplace. But perhaps I'm just too old school. 

[rkbabang]

If Gates was being provided access to children by Epstein that, being criminal, would be a different story, but as far as what Gates (or Buffet) does with other adults, or their relationships and marriages, none of that subtracts from what they've accomplished and, unless you are thinking of dating him, isn't really anyone else's concern.

[stahleyp]

16 minutes ago, rkbabang said:

If Gates was being provided access to children by Epstein that, being criminal, would be a different story, but as far as what Gates (or Buffet) does with other adults, or their relationships and marriages, none of that subtracts from what they've accomplished and, unless you are thinking of dating him, isn't really anyone else's concern.

Oh I agree, it doesn't subtract what they've accomplished but it is a stain on one's character. Gates could literally eat puppies, torture old ladies and worship Hitler and it wouldn't subtract from what he's accomplished (ie what he does in his personal life doesn't affect his career accomplishments).

But, I would argue, that those do speak volumes (or at least a small level!) about a person's character. 

 

 

 

 

[Mephistopheles]

What if Melinda was physically and verbally abusive to Bill, and then one day Bill walked in on her with another man, and then he proceed to cheat? Then would it be more forgivable? What if Melinda had a cuckhold fetish and promoted Bill sleeping around until she got jealous and then called it cheating?

Point being that none of us can judge anyone else's personal relationships from the outside so we should not even attempt it, let alone try to relate that to their professional lives. 

If you take a microscope to your life or mine, and review every aspect of it and use it as a means of judging our professional character, I bet neither of us would turn up clean.

[rkbabang]

16 minutes ago, Mephistopheles said:

If you take a microscope to your life or mine, and review every aspect of it and use it as a means of judging our professional character, I bet neither of us would turn up clean.

Speak for yourself.

 

[stahleyp]

11 minutes ago, Mephistopheles said:

What if Melinda was physically and verbally abusive to Bill, and then one day Bill walked in on her with another man, and then he proceed to cheat? Then would it be more forgivable? What if Melinda had a cuckhold fetish and promoted Bill sleeping around until she got jealous and then called it cheating?

Point being that none of us can judge anyone else's personal relationships from the outside so we should not even attempt it, let alone try to relate that to their professional lives. 

If you take a microscope to your life or mine, and review every aspect of it and use it as a means of judging our professional character, I bet neither of us would turn up clean.

Again, I'm old school I guess but if Melinda was abusive or was unfaithful or whatever, that still doesn't give him a good reason to cheat on her. He should end the marriage if he wanted out - that is the more honorable thing to do.

But given Gates history with other women, I highly doubt Melinda is the one at fault here. 

Let's take a step back here. I'm making, what I feel is almost an universal opinion, is that cheating on your spouse is wrong. I'm also making the assumption is that if one is morally loose with their spouse (literally, the person they loved most in the world at one time or at least kind of liked) they have a higher social obligation to that person than they do with someone on a lower level.

If Gates can easily (and on multiple occasions no less) violate the trust with his wife, why make the (large) assumption that he would have a high level of character with someone who he is less close to or that he has a lower obligation to?

Besides, wasn't Gates unethical while running MSFT?

I've done plenty of things in life that I'm not proud but cheating on one's wife is pretty high up there (to me at least) on the character staining side. I would also argue "being tight with a known child abuser" pretty high up there, too. 

[DooDiligence]

1 hour ago, stahleyp said:

Again, I'm old school I guess but if Melinda was abusive or was unfaithful or whatever, that still doesn't give him a good reason to cheat on her. He should end the marriage if he wanted out - that is the more honorable thing to do.

But given Gates history with other women, I highly doubt Melinda is the one at fault here. 

Let's take a step back here. I'm making, what I feel is almost an universal opinion, is that cheating on your spouse is wrong. I'm also making the assumption is that if one is morally loose with their spouse (literally, the person they loved most in the world at one time or at least kind of liked) they have a higher social obligation to that person than they do with someone on a lower level.

If Gates can easily (and on multiple occasions no less) violate the trust with his wife, why make the (large) assumption that he would have a high level of character with someone who he is less close to or that he has a lower obligation to?

Besides, wasn't Gates unethical while running MSFT?

I've done plenty of things in life that I'm not proud but cheating on one's wife is pretty high up there (to me at least) on the character staining side. I would also argue "being tight with a known child abuser" pretty high up there, too. 

I couldn't agree more.

[cubsfan]

^ Now THAT definitely has nothing to do with Berkshire! HA

[rkbabang]

12 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

^ Now THAT definitely has nothing to do with Berkshire! HA

 

"Bill Gates Meets With Donald Trump"

https://www.inc.com/sonya-mann/bill-gates-trump-criticism.html

 

Trump meets with Ghislaine Maxwell, Gates meets with Trump and Epstein, Gates has met with Buffet on numerous occasions and was on the Berkshire board...

[DooDiligence]

18 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

^ Now THAT definitely has nothing to do with Berkshire! HA

Did I not make a disclaimer?

[ValueHippie]

The internet judges way too fast. We don’t have any facts. This is just childish and none of our business.

If Gates indeed went to bed with underage girls, let the courts decide.

We all have to make the best out of our own lives.

[stahleyp]

Isn't it beyond insane (and frankly sad) that a known sex offender (with children!) was friends with 2 former Presidents, a British royal and a former richest person in the world? It really makes one wonder how much rot there is in the system. And the fact that the media actively covers it up...I mean, I don't know what to say. 

[cubsfan]

^It really makes one wonder how much rot there is in the system

No shit. Answer: A lot

[DooDiligence]

Fear of exposure would tend to explain the irrational behavior of many of our national leaders.

[Parsad]

14 hours ago, stahleyp said:

Oh I agree, it doesn't subtract what they've accomplished but it is a stain on one's character. Gates could literally eat puppies, torture old ladies and worship Hitler and it wouldn't subtract from what he's accomplished (ie what he does in his personal life doesn't affect his career accomplishments).

But, I would argue, that those do speak volumes (or at least a small level!) about a person's character. 

 

 

 

 

Well I think the public has their limits:

Bill Cosby's entire life of good work is now completely overshadowed by the terrible things he did in his personal life...no one is ever going to celebrate any positive thing Cosby has done.

There have been a ton of horrendous allegations and prosecutions against priests in the Catholic church...and I think the reputation of the Catholic church has been irreparably harmed...anything positive the church does lives in the shadows of its atrocities.  

Cheers!

[Parsad]

10 hours ago, cubsfan said:

^ Now THAT definitely has nothing to do with Berkshire! HA

No it doesn't!  But it is hilariously accurate...including the cheating and character part.  Cheers!