My friend Arthur Goldwag once said the problem with conspiracy theories is that sometimes real conspiracies occur, and when they do, they can give credence to all conspiracy theories.

Well, today the AP confirmed that Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself in a federal prison. He was found dead this morning. Epstein had already once attempted suicide. He was on suicide watch. He didn’t kill himself secretly, as with poison or some such. He killed himself in dramatic fashion—all of which raises all kinds of questions, the least of which is how did that happen when it should not have.

As I said, that’s the least question. The greatest questions are steeped in the fact that Epstein had the potential of implicating in a child sex ring some of the most powerful people in the world. Bloomberg reported some involved yesterday. They include Bill Richardson, former New Mexico governor and US Energy Department Secretary; George Mitchell, former senator and architect of the Good Friday Peace Accords between the UK and Northern Ireland; and the UK’s Prince Andrew. Read more here.

And they include the president of the United States.

The most parsimonious read on today’s news is that someone made a mistake. The least parsimonious read is that someone(s) set in motion a conspiracy aiming to silence Epstein. For now, I’ll take incompetence over malice. But I want to see more, much more. We owe the victims justice. —JS

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ICYMI, Friday’s edition asked why the Republicans are suddenly open to gun control. My answer: they are afraid white-supremacist terrorists are revealing their true fascist nature. Click here to subscribe! As Editorial Board subscriber Thornton Prayer said rightly in a comment to the story:

The oval office occupant is evaporating any pretense that their party is a legitimate constitutional player instead of promoting domestic white terrorism.