#Nikola Corporation

[hellofroggg]

Imagine being Nikola Tesla. First some guy steals credit for your hard work in the field of science. Then you die. Then a trust fund baby buys a company named after you and proceeds to get your name associated with evil.

[loneranger0369]

This Video explains a lot.

Nikola Tesla was a Genius, a Wizard. He pushed for a World with Free Energy. He was neither greedy nor selfish, yet he died alone in a Hotel.

Another Genius, Thomas Henry Moray, was never successful, because his Inventions were never patented.

Watch the Video.

I guess USA only patents stuff, through which the greedy corporate Companies can suck the Blood of every person. Take Insulin for Example. Patented free of Cost by the people who discovered and invented a way of using it. Now it is being horribly exploited in America, the "greatest" Country of the World.

Almost 100 years later, people are coming up with same Ideas as Nikola Tesla, but not sure if the motherfucking, greedy, rich Bastards will allow them to develop these Ideas and help the Population of Earth.

The Lady in the Debate, in the Video, says that she wants to see the Companies compete against each other IN THE MARKET. Why? Why compete? This stuff will need money for initial Setup and then occasional maintenance Charges, other than that it can produce Energy free of cost! But you wouldn't get rich from that. Now would you?

If these are implemented, then the world will not need to depend on horrible Countries of the Middle East, like Iran, for fossil fuels. Europe will no longer need to dependent on Russia for Natural Gas and Fossil Fuel.

That is where these Countries get their Power from. Money from Fossil Fuels and Natural Gas.

Develop technology > need for this Stuff to produce Energy is turned off > these horrible Countries lose their power and importance.

But we are the public. Right?

We are too dumb and should only follow the "leaders". Right?

Yeah.....

On another Note, Greta Thunberg was in Davos. I am pretty sure that she did not bring these Facts up at the World "Economic" Forum. Just a collection of rich people, flying on their private Jets for a Fancy, make-believe Meeting....

After watching the latest Developments....

- Pfizer's plans to mutate Corona Virus and cause another, much horrible Pandemic in 2023.

- USA Patent offices silencing people coming up with Inventions towards Free Energy.

- USA being the reason for strengthening of Taliban and for origin of ISIS.

- Provoking Russia, adding fire to the already unstable Relationship between Russia and Ukraine and then sending Weapons as "Defense".

- USA being the reason of uncountable, unimaginable, horrible Deaths.

And many other horrible things...

I can honestly say that I hate the USA.

Please die soon, USA.

The world would then surely be a safer, more peaceful and much more environment-friendly Place.

Please watch the Video.

Please share.

[5280customframing]

🎉🎊 Check out our Top Nine Instagram posts from 2023! We’re sensing a theme here! We would like to thank our customers, staff, family and friends for helping make 2023 our best and busiest year ever! We wouldn’t be here without you, and we’re so very grateful. We wish you all a safe and happy New Year!

[reportwire]

Nikola founder's trial ready for jury after final arguments

Nikola founder’s trial ready for jury after final arguments

NEW YORK — The fate of Nikola Corp ’s founder will be in the hands of a jury after he was portrayed Thursday in closing arguments by a prosecutor as a habitual liar, and by his lawyer as an inspiring visionary being unjustly prosecuted. Trevor Milton, 40, has pleaded not guilty to securities and wire fraud. In 2020, he resigned from the company he founded in a Utah basement six years…

[witchinatree]

gwen's close encounter with bonzo today felt a lot like jon's interactions with avatars (nikola, jude, mike, michael/helen, etc) and im starting to think SHE might be the first to get avatar'd

colin is doomed, sam is obviously on the road to eye avatar, but gwen? i think she's closer than sam

she had a face to face encounter with an avatar (?) ALONE, while sam and alice went to the ruins they didn't actually find anything

she's also climbing up the corporate ladder and she knows a lot more than the other employees

things aren't looking great for her but i'm really excited, i can't wait to see where they take her character

<3 my wife <3

[tempestvista]

spoiler warnings for TMA

There is a decent possibility that I am going to eat my words if anything changes greatly since I have not fully finished TMA (Iirc I'm in the middle of season 4? I've been on pause for a bit though so I need to find my place again)

But can I just say how frustrating it is that like everyone villainizes Jonathan Sims in the fandom lmao?? Especially without even considering him and his character + character development as a part of his multi-faceted person and instead just dumbing him down to a one dimensional evil guy who they can also ship with others because ui ui sexo sexo

Now there are obvious things/reasons to dislike him. Namely, the stalking of his employees, which, I don't think I need to explain why is problematic and gross.

But the things I see listed as points against Jonathan Sims are often just… Side effects of him being non-consensually turned into a monster by a deeply calculating man who has a plethora of more knowledge from the get-go and far more manipulation over the situation than Jon himself? ''He killed innocent people!!'' Alright, so did multiple of the other characters?? Like a lot of them, actually?? That's. A really common theme??????????? An overarching pattern (in my analysis/eyes anyhow) in TMA is that literally almost no one gets a happy ending and usually the ones who ''do'' are based in the suffering of others + they've been turned

It just actually infuriates me when I see the "he killed innocent people'' argument without anyone acknowledging how it is near impossible to fight your nature as an avatar and again, really, really loosely saying here because I do not fully recall, but it seems like going against that nature can and WILL kill you. And you can call it selfish, but really, who WOULDN'T want to die? A lot of people have both a conscious and primal instinct to, you know, LIVE.

And again, also not acknowledging that multiple others have done the same.

Also, I see people either justify or entirely ignore the fact that at some point he was being utterly demeaned and belittled by everyone around him. If he wasn't being manipulated by Elias, he was being avoided by Martin, Melanie making cruel digs, being hovered over also by any given person, and generally having petty to hateful comments tossed at him by MOST individuals on any day at any hour. I acknowledge my bias and love for him really does jump out in this, but it also does make me mad that no one seems to care for the fact that he is ALSO a victim. He's a victim of manipulation, of being groomed into being an avatar (at least in my eyes), of being harmed by multiple entities and having lasting marks and impacts from each of them, of being falsely accused of murder (and everyone he knew at the time BELIEVING he was guilty), of being kidnapped/held hostage (MORE THAN ONCE), having to witness literal ghosts/bodies/skins of previous people he knew be lifted around and surrounding him talking about how he's a failure, a bad person, a bad archivist, the worst of the worst- which I cannot IMAGINE the nightmares that that situation would breed. Genuinely just sit and think about that for a moment. Also, as far as the Unknowing and any harm derived from that situation, if we're talking specifically about Sims again, he also had to live with the fact afterward that he was the reason Tim got killed. He has to live with the fact that he was so overwhelmed by everything and the manipulation of Nikola + the Stranger that when he came out of it, Tim had to be the one to end it because Jon failed to. He has to live with Tim being gone, and the fault of it weighing down on him. That is something that I do think one can blame him for (if I am recounting this all correctly). I wanted to bring this up in specific because Survivors guilt is very real and that whole ordeal and blaming must have been something beyond harrowing. He had to realize a thing was basically marching around in the corporeal idea of Sasha and that it WASN'T. HER. Of course this whole podcast is centered around being a nightmare, which is why I find it important to acknowledge the impacts of the nightmare on the people who very much are experiencing them!! And on a continued basis!! Living in that consistent traumatizing environment, developing hypervigilance, watching people drop like flies around you, like. holy shit man. Being traumatized, being threatened by what seems like fate itself at times, and also being used as a pawn for a massive scheme which he didn't even know was a thing. He used to have a life prior to all the world-ending, supernatural, lovecraftian horror stuff that became his new normal.

I know a lot of people would bash the ''I'm a victim too!'' card, but I really don't think that is an easy dismissal here because he just legitimately is.

That, and the people who villainize him also get really.. weird? At times? Like I know this is no longer an uncommon opinion - at least I hope not, but I don't really interact with TMA fandom at all besides liking, reblogging and saving fanart + fics- But people really just tend to make him into this gross or just. Absolutely downright awful human being (occasionally fetishizing his very nature even sometimes) and then Martin is the cutesy innocent person who has never done a single thing wrong in his life, Tim is the sexy hot bisexual who would fuck anything from a lamp-pole to eight mothmen, and Sasha is some demure, sweet and lovely little thing who only exists as just another background person in the polychives.

I can't say I've really seen that characterization of Sasha often thankfully… but that's also because some people straight up forget she was a vital character at one point lol (and I confess I'm not deeply attached to her so the art I save of her is usually secondary/included in other fanart)

I know some of this is redundant, and I am certain that if my memory wasn't so in and out as it is (especially as of late, the dissociation has been… bad, topic for another day, anywho-) I would be able to make more points against the things I've seen, but this is just one facet I really felt like addressing, since I think almost no one is innocent in TMA and harping on Jon specifically is … honestly pointless?? And bland/low hanging fruit as far as the conversation goes? Like big whoop, he's a monster, so is a majority of the characters in TMA? Lmfao??

All in all I say this without aggression or targeted vitriol. I hope people understand I am allowed to be angry at words without hating and/or wishing harm upon the people who say them /npa gen

And if someone happens to see this and has something to contribute, or a point to be made against me, I will gladly listen and engage! I like when people show me my errors, it gives me more perspectives. (Not intended arrogantly, genuine).

I do want it to be clear though that just because this is something I would love to discuss if anyone actually DOES - that doesn't mean I'm accepting of petty spats or arguments.

[archive-of-artprompts]

🤘Punk!🤘 Send in a character/s + number to reimagine them in that Punk style

 (list from tv tropes 📺)

Atom Punk - A sleek, futuristic setting with "Atomic Power" logos on everything; popular in the 1950s, 1960s, or early-to-mid 1970s.

Bio Punk - A gritty, futuristic setting with heavy biotechnology-inspired elements.

Cape Punk - Realistic, deconstructive takes on the superhero genre.

Cattle Punk - The Western with steampunk elements.

Cassette Futurism - A futuristic setting built on late 20th century analog technology.

Clock Punk - Widespread use of clockwork-like technologies and machinery beyond simple clocks, often in a Renaissance/Baroque era setting.

Cyber Punk - A dark and cynical genre based on the impact of advanced computer technology on society, often as a tool for corporate or governmental oppression and resistance towards it.

Desert Punk - A sci-fi world set in a desert.

Diesel Punk - A retro-futuristic setting based on early 20th century technology.

Dungeon Punk - A dark and gritty world where spells, enchanted artifacts, and magitek take the place of modern technology.

Fantastic Noir - Film Noir mysteries with a fantasy or sci-fi twist, popularized in The '80s.

Gaslamp Fantasy - 19th century Steampunk settings with fantastical magic instead of technology.

Gothic Punk - A modern, fantasy setting which heavily draws on Gothic Horror elements.

Gunpowder Fantasy - Fantasy works based on the early modern period, roughly spanning The Renaissance through The Napoleonic Wars, i.e. the 15th to very early 19th century.

Myth Punk - Classical folklore and fairy tales rewritten with darker, postmodern elements.

Ocean Punk - Modern fantasy or speculative fiction set at sea, often drawing on elements from the age of Wooden Ships and Iron Men.

Sandal Punk - Science fiction set in the Bronze Age up until the Middle Ages, usually drawing on Ancient Greece/Rome and the Middle East (for Biblical stories).

Scavenged Punk - Culture and technology built out of scavenged junk.

Solar Punk - A futuristic setting based on renewable energy and sustainability.

Steam Punk - A retro-futuristic setting with steam power as the basis for advanced technology, generally with a late 19th century aesthetic.

Phlebotinum-Induced Steam Punk - Advanced technology run on rare or magical materials.

Stone Punk - Modern inventions and technology but made with Stone Age materials.

Tesla Punk - Lightning-based technology attributed to Nikola Tesla's alleged scientific genius.

Urban Fantasy - Fantastical elements in a modern setting.

[autisticsupervillain]

Irredeemable: Complete Monster War

The show where we compare the evilest villains between two franchises and vote to determine which franchise has the eviler villains.

Today's Franchises...

The Magnus Archives vs Resident Evil!

Contestants:

Jonah Magnus vs Albert Wesker

Maxwell Rayner vs Derek Clifford Simmons

Nikola Orsinov vs Alexia Ashford

Eugene Vanderstock vs Osmund Saddler

Jon Amherst vs Vincent Goldman

Not-Them vs Brian Irons

Mary Keay vs Lucas Baker

Final Round: Jonah Magnus vs Albert Wesker!

Additional Crimes

Elias:

His plan to end the world ultimately succeeded, turning the world a nightmare infested hellscape. The world is divided into "Domains" where each of the Fears torment thousands of victims with their worst nightmares. Some of these domains included soldiers forced to fight an endless recreation of World War 1, millions of people painfully mashed together into a giant rampaging monster, and a street where children are hunted down by shadow monsters who cook and eat them alive if they're caught, among others.

It is directly stated that this world isn't sustainable and humanity will eventually go extinct under the Fears rule. Jonah doesn't care, despite now being omniscient and thus absolutely aware of this.

Many of Jonah's oldest friends sent him letters begging him to stop the path he's on. Jonah now keeps their bones as trophies in his office, having either personally killed his friends or coldly left them to die.

Manipulated Jared Hopworth, a monsterous brute who rips out people's bones and adds them to his own to grow stronger, into becoming his personal assassin and had him kill various random people with unique bones to gain his trust. He then unleashed Jared on his own employees at the Institute as part of his overarching plan, completely indifferent to both his employee's likely deaths and Jared's own safety when The Distortion eats him alive as a result.

Once he succeeds in unleashing the apocalypse, Jonah sends Jon a video of all his dead friends celebrating his birthday to mock him, with the letter attached indicating Jonah's smugly proud of all the billions he's damned to achieve immortality.

Albert:

Personally participated in the experimentation going on at the Spencer Mansion. This includes abducting homeless women and forcibly impregnating them with experimental embryos to create the horrific Chimeras.

Victims of his experiments include Lisa Trevor, a little girl who was forcibly transformed into a superhuman, suffering zombie before Wesker and his coworkers deemed her too dangerous and attempted to kill her. She lived until 45 before Wesker finally succeeded.

Blackmailed Barry into helping him kill Barry's coworkers by threatening to murder his family.

Sold out the entire Umbrella Corporation as soon as it was convenient and would go on to murder (or attempt to murder) those who remained of the company to tie up loose ends.

[bracketsoffear]

Kier Eagan (Severance) "Founder of Lumon Industries, which entirely splits an employee's "work memories" from the rest of their lives, essentially creating two individuals who have no knowledge of the others' memories. The "work" personas are subjected to bizarre hyper-corporate cult-like activities like arbitrarily sorting items and data in a way designed to totally depersonalize the individual, and any attempts to break from the mould are met with essentially psychological torture to re-align them with cheerful corporate attitudes. In a TMA context this all smacks of a massive Stranger ritual."

M3gan (M3gan) "She’s the epitome of uncanny valley, she’s a robot designed to look and act like a human child but something is just a bit off, so she’s unsettling to look at. She can also record and mimic others’ voices, and when she chases people she’s very theatrical about it (she does that dance in the hallway while cornering the CEO in an elevator), and repeatedly causes a big spectacle as a distraction. In short she’s a great avatar because she embodies the offputting wrongness of the stranger perfectly, but also brings the almost mockingly performative aspect we see in Nikola and Sarah."

[norts-trolls]

Nikola Bloodswaps Rust and Indigo!!! Nikola(Rust): This Nikola preferred to live a quite life as mortuary assistant. However when things start getting a little too rowdy and ghostly he finds himself stuck with a ghost that just won't leave him be. Even now it seems as if ghosts and more violent than usual trolls go out their way to fight him for some reason. His friends and red jokingly call it a stand. But everyone knows Jimjims Bizarre Advimbims is just a grub show. Nikola(Indigo): This Nikola has taken over one of the largest tech corporations purely for petty purposes. Then again being blown up and having to rebuild yourself alone is probably more than enough reason to be called more than petty. He's a bit of a tyrant in the way that The Fleet has to go through him now to better and proper tech upgrades. Though he's a highblood himself it's needless to say seadwellers don't enjoy doing business with him.

[mentaly-british-biologist]

TF2 PLAYABLE CAHARCTER LORE:

Okay, so just some context. Mann Co is a business organisation that runs most other companies in the world. Everything was shared equally between two brothers/heirs to the corporations power and money, apart from one thing in particular. A gravel pit.These two brothers, known as Redmond and Blutard Mann wanted to overachive and be better than one another, so decided to hire mercenaries to fight for this land. This original team, founded between 1800-1850's was comprised of Billy the Kid, Stonewall Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Alfred Nobel, John Henry, Nikola Tesla, Sigmund Freud, Davy Crockett, and Fu Manchu. They would take the roles of the mercinaries like so:

Scout: Billy the Kid (1859 - 1881)

Soldier: Stonewall Jackson (1824 - 1863)

Pyro: Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Demoman: Alfred Nobel (1833 - 1896)

Heavy: John Henry (Folk Hero)

Engineer: Nikola Tesla (1856 - 1943)

Medic: Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939)

Sniper: Davy Crockett (1786 - 1836)

Spy: Fu Manchu (Fictional Villain)

These people would battle with others with similar weapons, stature, and power until they would eventually get too old to fight.After this, the two brothers soon realised that they may die prematurely before the battle could end, so asked for personal commissioned machinery designed to keep them alive for longer. [[This will be elaborated in the plot later, this stuff is kinda important.]]Okay, now the old team is dead. Time for the new ones. 1930's mercs were probably the most advanced out of all of the mercs, with the 1850 mercenaries looking like they've been pulled off the streets to fight, and the 1970 mercs looking like a mix of the two old teams designs. Everyone has some sort of camo on them apart from their engineer, who possibly be Fred Conagher, the father of the Engineer we know and love. Fred Conhager, in particular, may be the same man who created the machines keeping the Mann brothers alive, but we are currently unsure. The next generation, and the one we know today is the 1970's team. This consists of:

Scout- Jeremy

Soldier- Jane Doe

Pyro- Unknown

Demoman- Tavish Finnegan DeGroot

Heavy- Mikhail

Engineer- Dell Conagher

Medic- Mr. Ludwig

Sniper- Mick Mundy (Adoptive name)

Spy- Unknown

Along side them is Ms.Pauling and The Administrator. I'll list out characters as shown, one by one.

**SCOUT**

Full name is unknown, so we'll stick to Jeremy. He was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is the youngest of eight children, and so constantly looks for attention. Can't read, but can run extremely fast. Seems that a specific brand of fizzy drink, known as Atomic Bonk can make him much faster. Dies in the comics and goes to heaven, whete he is told he was God's gift to all women, and was sent back to earth to 'get laid' [[This is the comics words, not mine]]

Has a tattoo of tom jones with the words 'S€X BOM' on it [Told you he couldn't read] and is canonically Spy's son. Has a crush on Ms. Pauling.

**SOLDIER**

His name may not even be Jane Doe. Because those are USA and UK placeholder names for unidentifiable corpses. [[Jane Doe as a woman]] Is a God-fearing patriotic Midwest American. Despite his role in the team, he has not once been in a war situation. He just got to the frontlines in WW2 and started blowing up Germans. He has lead poisoning, although we're not sure if that's why he's like this, he is extremely aggressive and has a special move called 'rocket jumping' where he can fire a rocket at his feet, shooting him into the air. It doesn't hurt him however, because he doesn't think it will [[So stupid he bends nature's laws at will??!?!?]] He was also roommates with a wisard called Merasmus. Merasmus kicked him out, and tom jones became his new roommate.

Soldier kills tom jones. For no reason. Soldier is also in love with Heavy's sister, Zhanna.

**PYRO**

Whoo boy, this is a confusing one. We do not know Pyro's gender, where they're from, or even if they are a person. We do know that many characters refer to Pyro as he/him, but Soldier does have a suspicion that they might be a woman. He may be schizophrenic, or it could be their optical mask, but he sees the battle as a fluffy arena filled with unicorns and lollipops. However, they do have the capacity to be very much enraged, and cut off Soldier's hand once when in a car with Demoman and Ms. Pauling.

**DEMOMAN**

Drunk. Born in Ullapool, Scottland. His parents were Tilly DeGroot and her husband who we don't know , whom both are blind. Demoman was put up for adoption by them after being bad at blowing things up. He would eventually find a book called 'The Bomonicon' [[I hope i wrote that right]] with a mischievous spirit inside. Once he had opened the book, the spirit inside made it's way to his eye, haunting his eyesocket, and making him lose said eye. He then blows up his adoptive parents while trying to hunt for the loch ness monster, then gets taken back by his original parents. His mother keeps asking him to get a job, even though he makes 3 million+ a year. Loves alcohol. Like, really loves alcohol, so much so, that when he eats normal food, his body thinks it's been poisoned. After an extensive time away from alcohol, his body turns his stomach into a makeshift distillery, fermenting bone marrow into alcohol. This alcohol in particular is so strong, it gives blood-sucking robots [[Don't ask]] alcohol poisoning. Can also do something similar to Soldier by 'Stickybomb jumping' that also takes no damage, due to him being too drunk.

**HEAVY**

Heavy was born in Russia sometime around WW1. His father was an anti-revolutionary who opposed the Communist uprising, so he was executed and Heavy's family put in the gulag for three months before it was burnt down in 1941 and all the guards tortured to death. Yeah, you heard me right, the gulag. He has three sisters called Zhanna, Yana and Bronislava. His mothers name is currently unknown to us. His weight is the same as his HP: 300. He is quite a nice guy when it comes to his teammates and gives even more affection to his guns, who of one he has a case at the end of his bed for. This gun in particular is named Sasha, of which he is very possessive and which weighs 150 kilograms and fires $200 custom-tooled cartridges at 10,000 rounds per minute. He also reveals that it costs $400,000 to fire his weapon for 12 seconds. Heavy has named all of his primary weapons, basic Minigun being Sasha, Tomislav being Svetlana, Brass Beast being Oksana and Huo Long Heater being Sheila. He was also the first in the team to have the experimental ubercharge operation and survive, making him bulletproof. Also sandvich.

**ENGINEER**

Known as Dell Conagher, this man has eleven PhD's. Yes, you read that right. ELEVEN. He was born in Bee Cave, Texas, USA, and may or may not be related to one of the previous mercinaries in the classic team. Apart from this, he has created machines like teleporters [[Don't put bread in them]], sentries, and dispensers that he can place around the battlefield to help his team. He is friends with Pyro, and seems to understand them, despite their speech being muffled. One of the only few to help The Administrator with her Australium-Age related problem, and answered the phone for her when she died once.

**MEDIC**

Okay, this will be too long if I go into detail. This is quickfire. Mr. Ludwig was born in Stuttgart, Germany and has little regard for the Hippocratic Oath. He is insane. He loves doves, especially his most beloved one, Archimedes. Managed to get into contact with the devil and made a deal that would cost his soul. We do not know what he had sold his soul for, but the chances it was for his medical 'discoveries' is quite high. Managed to steal an entire skeleton and got away. Lost his medical licence soon after this. While giving his teammates surgeries, stole all of their souls and surgically added them to his own soul. During a Halloween party, he was caught off gaurd by a mugger. After knocking him out, he then put the muggers brain in a pumpkin.This would later help him out. Re-hired to aid the 1930 Classic team for a new leader, *Grey Mann*. When sniper was shot down by the classic's heavy, he brought him back to life an hour later with the help of a blue whale's pineal gland directly into his brain stem. The entire surgery cost about 1.3 billion dollars. Classic heavy, after seeing this, crushes his favourite dove, Archimedes. He also brings his bird back to life. After this, classic heavy and Medic get into a fight. Heavy shows up, only for classic heavy to shoot Ludwig twice in the chest. After quickly swindling the devil by giving him another soul for a pen, he comes back to life, and then pretends it is an inducer that would make classic heavy give birth to three healthy baby baboons, due to the three baboon uterus's he had placed inside him during a surgery [[I'm confused too, don't worry]] Classic heavy belives the bluff, giving Heavy enough time to take him down. after that, he takes out the real inducer and claims that the human body could only generate two at the most.

**SNIPER**

He is Australian.

Except, he isn't. He's a New Zealander.

New Zealand is Atlantis btw.

His adoptive name is Mick Mundy, although his real first name is Mun-dee, like his real mother and father, Bil-Bel and Lar-nah, making his real name Mun-dee Mundy. New Zealand is underwater due to the fact that the geniuses wanted to isolate themselves from the rest of the world. After being shot out of the country in a Krypton-Superman-Spacepod style fashion, he is adopted by Jonathan Mundy and his wife Mrs. Mundy in Australia. He then becomes skilled in shooting from afar. In the most previous comic, he dies. Medic brings him back to life, and he immediately attacks him, asking why he was the last person he saw before bleeding out. Yeah, he also pees in a jar and throws it at people as a weapon, so... yeah. Also, golf trophy.

**SPY**

Not much is really known about his past but all that is known is that he was born in France in an unknown region. It's a mystery on how he became a master spy and a master of disguise as no one knows if someone trained him or he rather he trained himself. We do know however, that he is Scout's father. He seems to hate everyone and everything, and may or may not have lung cancer due to how many cigarettes he smokes. He is snarky, witty, and cocky, some of these traits are shared with Scout also. He got shot in the kneecaps when a plan in the latest comic, and Sniper saved him by shooting the guy who did it. He also disguised as Tom Jones when Scout was dying, and for the first time, directly called him son. He wears a custom tailored Louis Crabbermaché suit, is valued at $10,000, and has his own smoking room within the base.

I made this all in the Undertale server. Don't ask.

This took me three days to do.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Jesse Duquette :: @JRDuquette:: The US is a gun fetish cosplaying a country not overtaken by the death fantasies of inadequate men.

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

June 14, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUN 15, 2024

Today, former president Trump turned 78. For his birthday, Representative Greg Steube (R-FL) introduced a bill to name 4,383,000 square miles of the coastal waters off the United States over which the U.S. has sole authority, a region called the exclusive economic zone, the “Donald John Trump Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States.” 

A less welcome present was that the chief executive officers who attended a meeting with Trump in Washington yesterday told reporters they found him uninformed and unfocused. Christina Wilkie and Brian Schwartz of CNBC noted that the attendees dislike the Biden administration’s enforcement of antitrust laws, its price caps on drugs and medical products, and its promise of progressive tax policy and like Trump’s promise to slash regulations and cut taxes, so they went into the meeting hoping to support him.

One CEO left the meeting with the takeaway that “Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” and several, Andrew Ross Sorkin of CNBC reported, said that he “was remarkably meandering, could not keep a straight thought [and] was all over the map.” He could not explain how he planned to accomplish any of the policies he was proposing. When asked why he had chosen a policy of bringing the corporate tax rate down to 20%, he allegedly answered: “Well, it’s a round number.” 

No one applauded Trump, attendees reported, in striking contrast to reports of the enthusiasm of Republican lawmakers yesterday. This difference underscores that Trump likely intended yesterday’s grandstanding to send a political message that Republican members of Congress support him despite his criminal convictions, while the lawmakers themselves were trying to show party unity at a time when they are bitterly divided. 

Also today, the Supreme Court handed down the Garland v. Cargill decision, which considered whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) correctly determined that a device that dramatically increases the speed at which a semiautomatic weapon fires bullets, called a bump stock, could be prohibited under the law, originally passed in 1934, that outlawed machine guns. 

By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court said the ATF did not make that decision correctly and that bump stocks were not banned under the law.

After the Parkland, Florida, shooting of February 14, 2018, when Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people and injured 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, then-president Trump told reporters that he had been studying the issue of gun safety. This was his first articulated policy on that issue, and although the Parkland shooter did not use a bump stock, Trump said he had told then–attorney general Jeff Sessions to write regulations to ban bump stocks in October of the previous year, after a gunman using them had fired up to 1,000 rounds of ammunition in 11 minutes, killing 58 people and wounding about 500—two died later—at a Las Vegas music festival. 

By the time the ATF finalized a new rule on December 18, 2018, Sessions was gone and it was Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker who announced that bump stocks would be classified as a “machinegun” under federal law. The rule went into effect on March 26, 2019. People who owned bump stocks had to get rid of them, either by destroying them or by taking them to an ATF office. The ATF estimated that about 520,000 bump stocks needed to be destroyed. 

A Texas gun store owner, Michael Cargill, handed over his two bump stocks under protest and then sued the ATF, saying it did not have the authority to reclassify bump stocks. 

Today, in a majority opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court dove deep into the mechanics of bump stocks to try to establish that they were not physically machine guns and that because of differences in the mechanical operations between true machine guns and bump stocks, the law did not prohibit bump stocks. ATF officials thus had no business defining bump stocks as they did in 2018, and those who want them can own them.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Samuel Alito wrote: “There is a simple remedy for the disparate treatment of bump stocks and machineguns. Congress can amend the law—and perhaps would have done so already if ATF had stuck with its earlier interpretation. Now that the situation is clear, Congress can act.” 

Indeed, if Congress truly reflected the will of the people, it would have acted on this issue years ago. A Pew poll from June 2023—when bump stocks were illegal—showed that 64% of Americans want assault-style weapons banned altogether, as they were between 1994 and 2004. But Republicans have increasingly fetishized guns as a symbol of individualism, and Republican senators have kept most gun safety legislation at bay by weaponizing the filibuster, which means that any legislation must have not simply a 51-vote majority to pass the Senate, but 60 votes.  

In other Supreme Court news, yesterday Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) released documents showing that Justice Thomas accepted at least three more trips from billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow than had previously been known. 

And in other news concerning our nation’s horrific history of mass shootings and the political meaning of guns, today a federal judge ordered the liquidation of the personal assets of conspiracy theorist and InfoWars host Alex Jones to begin the payment he owes to the families of those murdered at Sandy Hook. For years, Jones told his followers that the shooting was a hoax to encourage restrictions on gun ownership, prompting harassment of the victims’ families. 

A jury in Texas and a jury in Connecticut awarded the families $1.5 billion in damages for defamation; Jones owns about $9 million of personal assets but will keep his $2.8 million home in Texas. The judge threw out an attempted reorganization of Jones’s company, Free Speech Systems, saying Jones’s creditors would recover more money in state courts. The families have sued Jones for hiding millions of dollars in assets. 

Reacting to the news of the Supreme Court’s decision in Garland v. Cargill, gun safety advocate David Hogg, who survived the Parkland shooting, wrote: “Ah yes because who doesn’t need the ability to freely turn a semiautomatic AR-15 into what in effect is a machine gun. This is f*cking insane.”

“We know thoughts and prayers are not enough,” President Biden said in his own statement about the Supreme Court’s decision, referring to the usual response of Republicans after a mass shooting. “I call on Congress to ban bump stocks, pass an assault weapon ban, and take additional action to save lives—send me a bill and I will sign it immediately.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[cass-ass]

uhh.... so this guy interviewed the "Qanon Shaman" guy.....

"He had agreed to meet with me on a number of conditions, including:

...

2. That I call attention to the existence of a clean, free, wireless, and renewable energy source powered by the earth’s magnetic field that was discovered by Nikola Tesla but suppressed by the government because such a technology would make the existing energy grid obsolete, and thus threaten the rule of the globalists and their corporate monopolies."

Isn't that just the plot of a doctor who episode? but it was aliens that fucked it up and not the government?

[spectra-gt-23]

ARTIFICE ACT OF NIKOLA

Nikola Corporation, a once-promising player in the Electric Vehicle (EV) industry, faced a significant downfall after being exposed for fraud and misrepresentations. Founded in 2014 by Trevor Milton, Nikola aimed to be a global leader in zero-emission transportation, particularly with hydrogen-powered trucks. The company secured partnerships with reputable automotive players and garnered substantial investments, reaching a valuation of $34 billion at its peak.

However, in September 2020, a report by Hindenburg Research accused Nikola of significant misrepresentations and fraudulent claims about its technology and business. The report alleged that Nikola's proprietary technology was acquired from other companies, and it raised questions about Milton's past ventures, which were also marred by lawsuits and exaggerated misrepresentations. The revelations led to a rapid decline in Nikola's stock price and the withdrawal of partnerships, including General Motors.

The fraud allegations prompted investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice. Milton was charged with securities and wire fraud, accused of misleading investors about Nikola's products and technology to boost the company's stock value. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. Nikola attempted to distance itself from Milton, stating that he had not been involved in the company since his resignation in September 2020.

The case study raises several discussion points, including the use of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) as a means of raising capital, the impact of remuneration policies on executive behavior, the composition and independence of Nikola's board of directors, the role of short-sellers in exposing fraudulent practices, and the differences in legal and regulatory environments between the U.S. and Singapore.

The document also highlights red flags in Nikola's statements and actions that could have been detected earlier through proper due diligence by investors. It questions the viability of the SPAC route to going public, considering the potential for fraudulent activities. The case study emphasizes the need for robust corporate governance, independent boards, and transparent disclosure practices to prevent such misrepresentations and fraud in the future.

Furthermore, the document mentions the controversies surrounding Milton's previous ventures and his retention of a significant shareholding in Nikola, which potentially grants him control over the company. It discusses the severance terms negotiated by Milton, allowing him to retain substantial benefits even after his departure from the company.

Overall, the Nikola case serves as a cautionary tale about the risks of fraudulent practices, the importance of thorough due diligence by investors, and the need for effective corporate governance to protect shareholders' interests and maintain trust in the market. The future of Nikola remains uncertain as it faces legal challenges, loss of partnerships, and a lack of capital and resources Nikola Corporation, a once-promising player in the Electric Vehicle (EV) industry, faced a significant downfall after being exposed for fraud and misrepresentations. Founded in 2014 by Trevor Milton, Nikola aimed to be a global leader in zero-emission transportation, particularly with hydrogen-powered trucks. The company secured partnerships with reputable automotive players and garnered substantial investments, reaching a valuation of $34 billion at its peak.

TASK AT HAND

You are Nikola's New Chief Executive Officer and have been tasked with the company's Re-launch. Create strategies for the company to ensure its survival in the EV market and gain the highest market share.

DELIEVERABLES

• Executive Summary

• Reasons behind the financial failure of the company from the point of view of mistakes in strategic decision making.

• Given the events of Nikola, design a business model for a new EV company ensuring transparency, sustainability, and innovation.

• Present your venture to potential investors highlighting the lessons learned from Nikola’s case. Assuming Nikola wants to rebuild its brand, devise a 5-year strategic plan that can help the company regain trust and establish a solid market position.

• Given the EV industry's dynamics, conduct a SWOT analysis for Nikola post-crisis, identifying potential markets and segments they could target.

• Evaluate the financial risks involved in investing in start-ups, especially in the high-tech domain, and devise a plan to mitigate such risks.

• Public Relations Strategy to revive the trust and goodwill of the stakeholders.

REQUIREMENTS

A) Report of maximum 50 pages.

B) PPT of minimum 12 slides.

C) Poster for the Launch

Brownie points for extra deliverables (promotional video, logo, tagline, etc.)

Deadline : 4:30 am (19th October )

For any further queries please contact :

Manan : 7490921044

Sneha: 6375388745

Mail (to Submit the assignment): spectra23.gt@gmail.com

[wolfnes]

I rarely show this on my socials, but here's a compilation of parody-corporations from Oppression (my book)!

TECHNOLOGY CORPOs.

First one is Wordglee LLC, which, of course, is a parody to Google.

It also has an old-style (2000s) Google variant.

Then, there's Oranch Inc (or Apple Inc)

MeetU Inc (Facebook Inc) [Gotta make a new version, even if real-life lore stopped in 2019 in Oppression]

Ultrasoft Corp. (Microsoft Corp.)

Kalytera Corp. (This is actually a combination between Tidis Corp from Watch Dogs 2 and Boston Dynamics from Kinema Systems Inc)

Nikola Motors (Tesla Motors) [Fuck Elon Musk]

Zena Telecommunications and Software Corp. (this one is the main omnipresent villain from the Oppression universe, a combination from Blume Corp [Watch Dogs], Buy N' Large [Wall-E], Google LLC, Microsoft Corp and most cybersecurity companies)

Zena Security Systems (know as ZSS, the ctOS of Oppression)

And not forgetting the government owned CCTV system: National CCTV Systems of the Americas.

OTHER COMPANIES.

Freshy Pawy (MNT Dew)

Highwood (Hollywood)

LEVz (an electromagnetic metro and train manufacture from France [in the Oppression universe]) Which, the logo is inspired by the Washington D.C. Metro System.

Musical Videos Television (MVTV) [MTV] This one is greenscreen for editing uses.

EXTRA

Here's an Strotdoors (Windows) one! This is version 10.

Or, you might prefer Strotdoors 94.

[denimbex1986]

'Barbenheimer day is finally almost here. The most anticipated A-list showdown since 50 Cent vs. Kanye West in 2007 has fueled double feature ticket sales, earned support from other summer stars, and fueled an entire cottage industry of tweets, memes, and custom merch. But the question hanging over the dual blockbusters has been a simple one—are they actually good movies?

Barbie, in particular, has kept its actual plot details under extremely tight wraps, even as Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, and Ryan Gosling have been on an elite charm offensive on the promo circuit. Oppenheimer, obviously draws from historical events and the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus, but Christopher Nolan has shown with Dunkirk and the Nikola Tesla character in The Prestige that he’s willing to put his distinct Nolanian spin on historical facts and figures.

With release day fast approaching, critical reactions to the two movies have begun to roll out—and the good news is they’ve been massively positive. Barbie got the inside lane by lifting its review embargo the evening of July 18, as opposed to midday on the 19th for Oppenheimer. Greta Gerwig’s big swing has hailed at as an ambitious, madcap movie with Indiewire praising the writing, production design, and the…Kens? “All Barbies delight, but the Kens, appropriately enough, launch a real sneak attack, especially Simu Liu and Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Michael Cera nearly makes off with the whole thing as the singular sidekick Allan,” wrote Kate Erbland. Variety highlighted the movie’s “high-concept” nature and its ability to grapple with issues related to harmful, unattainable beauty standards. “Gerwig has made the kind of family film she surely wishes had been available to her when she was a girl, sneaking a message (several of them, really) inside Barbie’s hollow hourglass figure,” Peter Debruge said.

Writing for RogerEbert.com, Christy Lemire said the juxtaposition between the “real world” and a seeming utopia is reminiscent of The Truman Show or The Lego Movie, but that Gerwig’s direction brings a distinct perspective to the film. Lemire praised the work of Robbie and the way her Barbie character deepens as the film progresses.

Not everyone was sold on Barbie though: Richard Lawson, reviewing for Vanity Fair, wrote that there “are a few laugh-out-loud gags in the film, but just as many jokes clunk around like cheap plastic. The script is so strenuously wacky that it runs the movie ragged pretty quickly.” Meanwhile for Vulture, critic Allison Willmore argued that just because the film features a beloved auteur gamely taking on corporate IP, its success shouldn’t be graded on a curve: “There’s a streak of defensiveness to Barbie, as though it’s trying to anticipate and acknowledge any critiques lodged against it before they’re made, which renders it emotionally inert despite the efforts at wackiness.”

Oppenheimer praise has been a bit more effusive so far. One viewer who couldn’t care less about embargoes is Academy Award winner Paul Schrader, who wrote a glowing review of the movie on his Facebook page. “The best, most important film of this century. If you see one film in cinemas this year it should be Oppenheimer. I’m not a Nolan groupie but this one blows the doors off the hinges,” he said. (Schrader co-wrote Raging Bull and Taxi Driver, and has directed incredible films like First Reformed, so his reverence certainly carries weight.)

The Hollywood Reporter noted that the movie is more calculated and contemplative than high-octane action thriller. “Perhaps the most surprising element of this audacious epic is that the scramble for atomic armament ends up secondary to the scathing depiction of political gamesmanship,” David Rooney wrote. In a review for RogerEbert.com, Matt Zoller Seitz said that what matters most in Oppenheimer is “the human face,” praising Nolan’s use of intimate close-ups on not only Cillian Murphy, but also supporting characters like Emily Blunt and Matt Damon. (Zoller Seitz also notes that the actual effects of the atomic bomb being dropped in Japan are “talked about but never shown,” noting potential backlash from audiences who wanted the decision as an act of war to be reckoned with more explicitly.)

As Keith Phipps wrote, pitting the two movies against each other is ultimately the wrong conversation to be having, fun though it may be. Both seem to be deeply original, ambiguous works from within the Hollywood system, the kinds of things we just don’t get enough of anymore. Besides, the box office battle seems to be over before it ever started, with Barbie projected to eclipse Oppenheimer on opening weekend —but if anyone has ruled the summer with a commanding consistency for the last decade, it’s Christopher Nolan.'