#Prime Global Corporation

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO🥳🥳🥳❤❤❤

The third and final season of “Good Omens” will begin filming soon in Scotland.

“I’m so happy finally to be able to finish the story Terry and I plotted in 1989 and in 2006,” Gaiman said in a statement accompanying Amazon’s “Good Omens” Season 3 renewal announcement Thursday. “Terry was determined that if we made ‘Good Omens’ for television, we could take the story all the way to the end. Season One was all about averting Armageddon, dangerous prophecies, and the End of the World. Season Two was sweet and gentle, although it may have ended less joyfully than a certain Angel and Demon might have hoped. Now in Season Three, we will deal once more with the end of the world. The plans for Armageddon are going wrong. Only Crowley and Aziraphale working together can hope to put it right. And they aren’t talking.”

Amazon MGM Studios head of television said Vernon Sanders added: “’Good Omens’ has checked every box for a clever, witty, and funny comedy that not only made it a success on Prime Video, but also made ‘goodness’ watchable and fun thanks to Neil and Terry’s immense creativity. The final season is sure to be packed with the same dynamic energy that our global customers have come to enjoy.”

Gaiman, who has a first-look deal with Amazon MGM Studios, where he is currently working on his “Anansi Boys” TV series, continues as executive producer, writer and showrunner for “Good Omens” Season 3. Rob Wilkins of Narrativia, representing Pratchett’s estate, and BBC Studios Productions’ head of comedy Josh Cole also executive produce.

“Good Omens” hails from Amazon MGM Studios, BBC Studios Productions, the Blank Corporation and Narrativia.

[nuwanders]

While I respect what you're trying to do and I agree with the general idea and sentiment behind there's just the problem that boycotts don't work in our contemporary world unfortunately, especially on big companies like microsoft, I remember when this happened with hogwarts legacy and it didn't change anything, in the end that just became a sort of weird purity test, I din't buy that game cause I had no interest and even if I did I hate jkr, but I don't see any use in shaming people who do.

I don't think you're doing purity testing or anything similar, and the effort is admirable, but I think believing that people that buy the game don't care about palestine is wrong, I think it's more that they don't see the use in trying a boycott that will fail.

Btw I hope the boycott succeds I sincerely don't think it will, I myself am not buying the game for a while and will probably pirate it, but it's my personal choice and I don't see the use in shaming people for playing it as it won't win them over and will most likely make them bitter towards the cause, people are fickle and selfish by nature, and the same thing happened with hogwarts legacy. People said it revealed those who played ad unworthy allies, but I don't think we should exclude people by worthiness, you don't win by having "quality" you win by having "quantity".

That's just my two cents on the subject though

consumer boycotts can and do work. a few highlights taken from here (emphasis my own):

Affirming the role the BDS movement has played in the Israeli economy’s “spiral of collapse,” as 130 leading Israeli economists describe it, in September, the Chairman of the Israeli Export Institute said: “BDS and boycotts have changed Israel’s global trade landscape.” He added, “Economic boycotts and BDS organizations present major challenges, and in some countries, we are forced to operate under the radar.” Israel’s projected annual GDP growth rate for 2024 is 0%, according to leading credit rating agency S&P, and some 60,000 Israeli businesses are projected to have shut down during this year of ongoing genocide. Global sales of McDonald’s, a prime BDS target, “fell by 1.5% between July and September, the biggest decline in four years, more than twice the size forecast by analysts. It followed a 1% drop in the April to June period.” In October, fossil fuel giant Chevron, a priority target of the BDS movement, halted a $429 million expansion of an Israeli-claimed fossil gas field amid Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and its brutal bombings in Lebanon, Syria, and beyond. In August, in a significant BDS win, French insurer AXA was forced to sell its investments in all major Israeli banks. In November, Carrefour closed all branches in Jordan due to BDS pressure. Carrefour’s partner in most of the Arab World, the Majid Al Futtaim Group, reacted to BDS Jordan’s boycott pressure by ending all business with the French retailer in Jordan. In November, the Boycott PUMA campaign confirmed that, following relentless BDS campaigns worldwide, the German company had ended its complicity with Israel’s apartheid regime. In December, the Strauss Group, a complicit Israeli multinational food and beverage corporation, was forced, due to an effective BDS campaign, to sell off its shares in the US-based company, Sabra, which mass produces the culturally-appropriated popular Arab dip, hummus."

looking further back, boycotts, divestments and sanctions played a crucial role in dismantling the apartheid state in south africa. from here:

Boycotts may have been a form of activism that was easier to implement on a variety of different scales, but it provided a very extensive impact on apartheid in South Africa. The very threat of boycotts of South Africa in the 1984 Olympics pushed the leader of the IOC to go against the Olympic Charter and keep South Africa out of the Olympics – making the decision as early as 1981. This showed the power the boycotts had built up, and the authority they carried. The boycotts were seen as being so effective that even the IOC would not be able to withstand their financial and diplomatic fall-out. South Africa would finally rejoin the Olympic community in Barcelona in 1992, “following the commencement of governmental talks to finally bring an end to apartheid.”

that targeted boycotts can be extremely effective is not up for debate. but i think the crucial thing to acknowledge here is that they are one of the most easy and accessible forms of protest because they do not require you to actually do anything.

your argument would hold water if i was demanding that everyone go out and start blowing up embassies or setting themselves on fire. but BDS is literally just asking people to do nothing at all.

this isn't a moral purity thing, it's a statement of fact that boycotts only work if people participate. and they fail because of the exceptionalist arguments you're spouting here: "it's my personal choice." ok, sure. it's my personal choice to not get vaccinated. it's my personal choice to vote conservative.

the other thing is that microsoft is one of the more egregious targets on the BDS list, for reasons better outlined here. i know that this isn't the fault of the folks working at bethesda, who will be several degrees removed from the heinous shit happening at the top. but BDS has specifically listed Microsoft's gaming division as a key component of the boycott, for the very fact that video games are perhaps the easiest product for the average consumer to opt out of.

tldr;

boycotts are effective

they are easy

they only work if people participate

BDS has specifically named bethesda

people should therefore boycott bethesda

i don't think i'm being unreasonable in expressing disappointment at the large swathes of TES fans who see themselves as above it

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Reality-Based Communities

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in CHICAGO with PETER SAGAL next WEDNESDAY (Apr 2), and in BLOOMINGTON next FRIDAY (Apr 4). More tour dates here.

Remember the Global War on Terror? I know, it's been a minute. But there was a time when we were all meant to take terrorism – real terrorism, the knocking-down-buildings kind, not the being-mean-to-Teslas kind – seriously.

Back in the early oughts, I remember picking up a copy of the Financial Times in an airport lounge and flipping through it, and coming across an "advice to corporate management" column in which the question was, "Should I take out terrorism insurance for my business?" The columnist's answer: "The actual risk to your business of a terrorism-related disruption rounds to zero. However: a) your shareholders don't understand this, an b) your insurance company does. That means that you can buy a very large amount of terrorism insurance for a very small amount of money, making this a cheap price to pay to mollify your easily frightened investors."

I never forgot that little piece of writing. It was a powerful reminder that successful large-scale enterprises must attend to the world as it is, not as ideology dictates that it should be. This was – and is – a deeply heterodox position among the ideological defenders of capitalism, who continue to uphold Milton Friedman's maxim that:

Truly important and significant hypotheses will be found to have "assumptions" that are wildly inaccurate descriptive representations of reality, and, in general, the more significant the theory, the more unrealistic the assumptions (in this sense)

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/17/caliper-ai/#racism-machine

These ideologues – who often cross over from boardrooms into governments – are with the GW Bush official who dismissed a journalist as a member of the "reality-based community":

When we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_community

But ultimately, someone has to make investments and plans that take accord of the world as it is, the adversaries they face, the real and material emergencies unfolding around them. When the Pentagon announces that henceforth the climate emergency will take a prime place in its threat assessments and budgets, that's not "the military going woke" – it's the military joining the reality-based community:

https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2021/10/26/the-pentagon-has-to-include-climate-risk-in-all-of-its-plans-and-budgets/

This explains the radical shear between the Wall Street Journal's editorial page – in which you'll learn that governments can't solve any problems and markets solve all problems (including the problem of governments) – and the news reporting within, in which the critical role of the state in regulating and fueling markets is acknowledged.

The tension between the right's ideologues in boardrooms and governments and the operational people in charge of keeping the machines running has only escalated since the War on Terror days. There's an important sense in which leftists – as materialists – are playing the same game as these operational managers of capitalism. Take Thomas Piketty, the socialist economist whose blockbuster 2013 book Capital in the 21st Century argued that rising inequality threatened capitalism itself:

https://memex.craphound.com/2014/06/24/thomas-pikettys-capital-in-the-21st-century/

By analyzing three centuries' worth of capital flows, Piketty showed that when inequality reached a certain tipping point, the result was societal upheaval that continued until so much capital had been destroyed that inequality was reduced (because everyone had been pauperized). Piketty appealed to capitalism's technocrats to institute redistributive programs. His point was that building hospitals and schools was ultimately cheaper than paying for the guard-labor you'd need to keep people from building guillotines outside the gates of your walled estate.

The rise and rise of surveillance tech, and its successors, such as lethal drones and offshore gulags, can be seen as a tacit acknowledgment of Piketty's thesis. By lowering the cost of guard labor, it might possible to stabilize a society with higher levels of inequality, by identifying and neutralizing the people who are radicalized by the system's unfairness before you get an outbreak of guillotines:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/13/better-to-have-loved/#less-lethals

But reality is stubborn. Capitalism's defenders can insist that society will continue to function while wages stagnate and greedflation stokes the cost of living crisis, but ultimately, the military can't afford to have a fighting force that's in hock to payday lender usurers who are tormenting their families with arm-breaker collection calls:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/03/payday-loan-apps-cost-new-yorkers-500-million-plus-new-study-estimates.html

As Stein's Law – a bedrock of finance – has it, "anything that can't go on forever eventually stops." The ideologues of capitalism can insist that Luigi Mangione is a monster and an aberration, an armed freeloader who wants something for nothing. But privately, their own security forces are telling them otherwise.

Writing for The American Prospect, Daniel Boguslaw reports on a leaked intelligence dossier from the Connecticut regional intelligence center – a "fusion center" created as part of the War on Terror – wherein we learn that the American people sees Mangione as a modern Robin Hood:

https://prospect.org/justice/2025-03-27-intelligence-dossier-compares-luigi-mangione-robin-hood/

Many view Thompson as a symbolic representation of both as reports of insurance companies denying life sustaining medication coverage circulate online. It is not an unfair comparison to equate the current reaction toward Mangione to the reactions to Robin Hood, citizens may see Mangione’s alleged actions as an attack against a system designed to work against them.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hM3IZbnzk_cMk7evX2Urnwh5zxhRHpD5/view

The Connecticut fusion center isn't the only part of capitalism's operational wing that's taking notice of this. Today, Ken Klippenstein reports on an FBI threat assessment about the "heightened threat to CEOs":

https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/fbi-becomes-rent-a-cops-for-ceos

The report comes from the FBI's counter-terrorism wing, which (Klippenstein notes) is in the business of rooting out "pre-crime" – identifying people who haven't committed a crime and neutralizing them. As Klippenstein writes, Trump AG Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have both vowed to treat anti-Tesla protests as acts of terror. That's the view from the top, but back on the front lines of the Connecticut fusion center, things are more reality-based:

[The public] may view the ensuing manhunt and subsequent arrest of Mangione as NYPD, and largely policing as a whole, as a tool that is willing to expend massive resources to protect the wealthy, while the average citizen is left to their own means for personal security.

Any good investor knows that anything that can't go on forever eventually stops. The only question is: will that halt is a controlled braking action, or a collision with reality's brick wall?

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/27/use-your-mentality/#face-up-to-reality

Image: Lee Haywood (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/leehaywood/4659575229/

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

[dostoyevsky-official]

this a view of someone who's ignored european developments since 2007, opting for a rosy, outdated view of european politics, i.e. the exact type of american committing the exact type of mistake i'm warning about.

to address this point by point: not only has inflation been a global issue, but the US has consistently enjoyed the lowest inflation of any developed economy. american CPI has remained below the british, polish, and eurozone average numbers. european economies have to deal with fallout from the russian invasion of ukraine that the us can ignore: notably, in energy prices, as the US became self-sufficient in energy (and never imported any from russia to begin with, something squeezing the german economy). america is also not hosting millions of ukrainian refugees.

when discussing european instutions—and "europe" in general—one has to be more specific. do you mean the overarching institutions of the EU, criticized for a democratic deficit that many have pinpointed as one source for euro-skepticism and the rise of the far right? the EU Council, widely ignored and headed by charles michel, an incompetent, blatant nepobaby appointment whom everyone grinds their teeth over? the EU parliament, recently filled with a fresh batch of far-right hooligans, which functions more or less as a rubber stamp for the commission? the EU commission itself, headed by VdL, the latest in a string of failed local politician commissioners (who remembers the alcoholic swindler juncker?) masquerading as technocrats? the ECB, which smothers the monetary (and through the maastricht criteria, the fiscal) policy of eurozone members, thereby fueling resentment, far-right movements, and economic disparity? and all of this held hostage by the veto of one orban or fico, —or the german supreme court, when it decides it's had enough with public investment. those institutions, which remain so opaque that even educated americans—and europeans—aren't entirely aware of their function?

or do we mean the institutions of individual countries, ranging from undemocratic autocracies like hungary to the fief of the jupiter king, who called elections in june, lost them, refused to nominate a prime minister from the winning coalition, didn't name any for over a month, and then appointed a rightwing politician from a party that scored dead last, sidestepping his own centrist party? the UK, where sir keir is handing out five years in jail time to climate protesters, raising tuition fees, relying on private investment companies, and through rachel reeves' plan to fix the alleged budget hole left by hunt before further investment, again enacting austerity? this is all front-page headline news from the last half year.

european countries indeed have cheaper healthcare costs, better pensions, and other public goods that the united states does not. when considering "quality of life," remember, however, that most european countries have unemployment rates considered astronomic in america, especially for under-35s:

to focus again and again on european social democracy is to ignore that it has been steadily eroded since the end of the cold war and especially since the great recession by neoliberal political forces that crush the left and open the door for the far right. in the most blatant example, beside's macron's legislative politricks, the IMF-ECB-EC troika cut off euro cash liquidity flow to greece when syriza was trying to undo austerity under varoufakis. the greek collapse consigned a generation to economic failure, killed seniors, and curtailed possibilities for the youth. this erosion happened even in the nordic model, long imagined by americans as nothing short of a utopia:

In part due to the scrapping of wealth and inheritance taxes and a lower corporate tax than both the U.S. and European averages, Sweden has one of the most unequal distributions of wealth in the world today: on a level with Bahrain and Oman, and worse than the United States. Perhaps most dispiriting for Sanders, Sweden also now hosts the highest proportion of billionaires per capita in the world. Many of the country’s trademark social services are now provided by private firms. Its private schools even benefit from the same level of state subsidy as public schools—a voucher system far more radical than anything in the United States and that Democratic politicians would be crucified for advocating. Both here and there, right-leaning commentators in 2020 decried Sanders’s portrait as little more than what Johan Norberg, Swedish author of The Capitalist Manifesto, has called a 1970s “pipedream.” On this, Swedish observers on the left gloomily agree: despite official rhetoric, the “Nordic welfare model” is now more nostalgic myth than reality. (x)

to problematize further, there's an unadressed first world perspective: who's getting the good quality of life, why are the main economies of the EU so wealthy, and how does the EU continue to enrich itself? there are certainly many living outdoors today, drowning in the mediterranean, or dying of exposure in białowieża. fortress europe is a crime against humanity—and it doesn't beat back the far right. it weakens civic and human rights, undermines legal oversight, and criminalizes humanitarian engagement, allowing an authoritarian creep.

you shouldn't understand the political and the historical as a snapshot in time, but as a moving train. this is the state of europe today. all of the above is necessarily a simplification and an abbreviation, but there's a trajectory you can begin to trace out: given all of the above, where do you think europe is headed?

[fatehbaz]

In 1833, Parliament finally abolished slavery in the British Caribbean, and the taxpayer payout of £20 million in “compensation” [paid by the government to slave owners] built the material, geophysical (railways, mines, factories), and imperial infrastructures of Britain [...]. Slavery and industrialization were tied by the various afterlives of slavery in the form of indentured and carceral labor that continued to enrich new emergent industrial powers [...]. Enslaved “free” African Americans predominately mined coal in the corporate use of black power or the new “industrial slavery,” [...]. The labor of the coffee - the carceral penance of the rock pile, “breaking rocks out here and keeping on the chain gang” (Nina Simone, Work Song, 1966), laying iron on the railroads - is the carceral future mobilized at plantation’s end (or the “nonevent” of emancipation). [...] [T]he racial circumscription of slavery predates and prepares the material ground for Europe and the Americas in terms of both nation and empire building - and continues to sustain it.

Text by: Kathryn Yusoff. "White Utopia/Black Inferno: Life on a Geologic Spike". e-flux Journal Issue #97. February 2019.

---

When the Haitian Revolution erupted [...], slaveholding regimes around the world grew alarmed. In response to a series of slave rebellions in its own sugar colonies, especially in Jamaica, the British Empire formally abolished slavery in the 1830s. [...] Importing indentured labor from Asia emerged as a potential way to maintain the British Empire’s sugar plantation system. In 1838 John Gladstone, father of future prime minister William E. Gladstone, arranged for the shipment of 396 South Asian workers, bound to five years of indentured labor, to his sugar estates in British Guiana. The experiment [...] inaugurated [...] "a new system of [...] [indentured servitude]," which would endure for nearly a century. [...] Desperate to regain power and authority after the war [and abolition of chattel slavery in the US], Louisiana’s wealthiest planters studied and learned from their Caribbean counterparts. [...] Thousands of Chinese workers landed in Louisiana between 1866 and 1870, recruited from the Caribbean, China and California. [...] When Congress debated excluding the Chinese from the United States in 1882, Rep. Horace F. Page of California argued that the United States could not allow the entry of “millions of cooly slaves and serfs.”

Text by: Moon-Ho Jung. "Making sugar, making 'coolies': Chinese laborers toiled alongside Black workers on 19th-century Louisiana plantations". The Conversation. 13 January 2022.

---

The durability and extensibility of plantations [...] have been tracked most especially in the contemporary United States’ prison archipelago and segregated urban areas [...], [including] “skewed life chances, limited access to health [...], premature death, incarceration [...]”. [...] [In labor arrangements there exists] a moral tie that indefinitely indebts the laborers to their master, [...] the main mechanisms reproducing the plantation system long after the abolition of slavery [...]. [G]enealogies of labor management […] have been traced […] linking different features of plantations to later economic enterprises, such as factories […] or diamond mines […] [,] chartered companies, free ports, dependencies, trusteeships [...].

Text by: Irene Peano, Marta Macedo, and Colette Le Petitcorps. "Introduction: Viewing Plantations at the Intersection of Political Ecologies and Multiple Space-Times". Global Plantations in the Modern World: Sovereignties, Ecologies, Afterlives (edited by Petitcrops, Macedo, and Peano). Published 2023.

---

Louis-Napoleon, still serving in the capacity of president of the [French] republic, threw his weight behind […] the exile of criminals as well as political dissidents. “It seems possible to me,” he declared near the end of 1850, “to render the punishment of hard labor more efficient, more moralizing, less expensive […], by using it to advance French colonization.” [...] Slavery had just been abolished in the French Empire [...]. If slavery were at an end, then the crucial question facing the colony was that of finding an alternative source of labor. During the period of the early penal colony we see this search for new slaves, not only in French Guiana, but also throughout [other European] colonies built on the plantation model.

Text by: Peter Redfield. Space in the Tropics: From Convicts to Rockets in French Guiana. 2000.

---

To control the desperate and the jobless, the authorities passed harsh new laws, a legislative program designed to quell disorder and ensure a pliant workforce for the factories. The Riot Act banned public disorder; the Combination Act made trade unions illegal; the Workhouse Act forced the poor to work; the Vagrancy Act turned joblessness into a crime. Eventually, over 220 offences could attract capital punishment - or, indeed, transportation. […] [C]onvict transportation - a system in which prisoners toiled without pay under military discipline - replicated many of the worst cruelties of slavery. […] Middle-class anti-slavery activists expressed little sympathy for Britain’s ragged and desperate, holding […] [them] responsible for their own misery. The men and women of London’s slums weren’t slaves. They were free individuals - and if they chose criminality, […] they brought their punishment on themselves. That was how Phillip [commander of the British First Fleet settlement in Australia] could decry chattel slavery while simultaneously relying on unfree labour from convicts. The experience of John Moseley, one of the eleven people of colour on the First Fleet, illustrates how, in the Australian settlement, a rhetoric of liberty accompanied a new kind of bondage. [Moseley was Black and had been a slave at a plantation in America before escaping to Britain, where he was charged with a crime and shipped to do convict labor in Australia.] […] The eventual commutation of a capital sentence to transportation meant that armed guards marched a black ex-slave, chained once more by the neck and ankles, to the Scarborough, on which he sailed to New South Wales. […] For John Moseley, the “free land” of New South Wales brought only a replication of that captivity he’d endured in Virginia. His experience was not unique. […] [T]hroughout the settlement, the old strode in, disguised as the new. [...] In the context of that widespread enthusiasm [in Australia] for the [American] South (the welcome extended to the Confederate ship Shenandoah in Melbourne in 1865 led one of its officers to conclude “the heart of colonial Britain was in our cause”), Queenslanders dreamed of building a “second Louisiana”. [...] The men did not merely adopt a lifestyle associated with New World slavery. They also relied on its techniques and its personnel. [...] Hope, for instance, acquired his sugar plants from the old slaver Thomas Scott. He hired supervisors from Jamaica and Barbados, looking for those with experience driving plantation slaves. [...] The Royal Navy’s Commander George Palmer described Lewin’s vessels as “fitted up precisely like an African slaver [...]".

Text by: Jeff Sparrow. “Friday essay: a slave state - how blackbirding in colonial Australia created a legacy of racism.” The Conversation. 4 August 2022.

[lovehotelreservation]

Don't You Want Me Like I Want You?

Summary: There was a time when you and Lieutenant Price were as close as could be.

But after one drunken mistake years ago, you've since done everything you could to keep yourself as far away from him as possible.

Up until this particular night.

As his former Captain, you should've known that there was simply no way he would ever give up on hunting you down.

Rating: NC-17

Pairing: Older F!Reader/Younger!Price (Reader is in her 30s & John is in his 20s)

**Warning: contains age gaps and drunken sex--please take discretion before proceeding!**

hi 🧍‍♀️

recently i had the chance to visit seoul and idk seeing all sorts of soldiers reuniting with their lovers for the holidays + being unable to escape "apt" no matter where i went + continuing to listen to yandere male kouhai x female senpai drama cds resulted in this !!!

--------------------

A sigh left your lips before you gulped down a mouthful of champagne from your glass.

They grow up so fast.

Once near religiously clean-shaven to now sporting a thick, well-groomed mustache. An almost naively optimistic glimmer in the eye to a much more steely and narrowed gaze that only further experiences in life could naturally curate. Tall, lean muscle that had since bulkened into a sinewy pillar of brawn.

To everyone in attendance at tonight's military gala in the heart of London, he was the newly appointed Captain John Price.

But to you, always and more, he was Lieutenant John Price.

Having dedicated most of his life in the military–from the latter half of his adolescence to essentially the entirety of his 20s–, he was primed to be nothing short of legendary in his career. Skilled, resilient, and–most of all–mindful. He could be trusted with Britain’s–nay, the world’s–finest soldiers and see them not just to victory, but safe and sound back home as well. Similarly, he still maintained compassion to the plights of the innocents and the causes of opposing forces, seeking to preserve life as much as he could rather than callously brushing off all as mere collateral damage. 

For you, it was the greatest honor to have overseen his growth and development as his superior.

As his Captain.

You could say that it was by fate that the two of you would ever cross paths, but really it was because of Kate.

Kate Laswell, of course.

One of your dearest friends and your longest ally.

With the both of you being among the few women working your way up the ropes within the realm of the military, it was a persistent uphill battle for you both to excel and progress further enough to have your accomplishments inside and outside the field validated. The hardships faced both abroad in volatile territory and within the stifling restraints of bureaucracy had the two of you as close as could be.

And when a job needed swift and efficient execution, she knew she could reliably call upon you.

But then there came a time she needed more help than you could provide.

Enter one John Price.

Whereas you had only a few years difference apart in age with Kate–her being older at that–, you had a full decade over John, who was to serve as the lieutenant to your captain.

While you were used to any of your male counterparts–regardless of their seniority or their status as subordinates–to scoff or sneer at you upon first meeting, he was as respectful as could be. 

No smarmy jabs about your capabilities as a woman, no piggish snipes at your age or your looks, no overly critical questioning of your methods.

He abided by your leadership with damn near reverence and even went as far as to bark down at any man–sergeant, lieutenant, corporal–who dared to see you as beneath themselves.

It was the start of a precious friendship, one that spanned across the years and across the world. No matter the mission or location, whether there was need for infiltrating the underbelly of the Triads, disposing of ultranationalist leaders in Russia, thwarting the plans for a full global scale terrorist strike across the world, you and Price made for the perfect pair.

In the sense of a mentor and a student, obviously. You couldn’t even begin to think of tainting such a precious dynamic.

That very same compassion and mindfulness he carried throughout his career was honed and nurtured under your tutelage. Though, you were usually the first to tease him whenever he spoke in such profound one-liners of grandeur.

“Movie star” was one of many nicknames you had for him.

It was just a shame that you could not look at your friendship with fondness in your heart any more.

The reason for such was why you were deep into a bottle of champagne during tonight’s evening affair.

All while you prayed and prayed that no affair of any sort would come about.

You wished you weren’t even here to begin with–especially not while you were doing your best to try and camouflage against one of the gala hall’s many ornamented flower arrangements in a black dress and heels.

It had been a little over 5 years since you both retired and had last seen Price.

While you were more than prepared to have it extend to a full decade, a call from an exasperated Kate had you reluctantly make the trip out to London for tonight’s celebration, with his promotion to captain among the many highlights.

She needed him to take lead of an extensive campaign in Brazil but he had been shockingly adamant in his refusal–albeit with one exception:

“I want to see my Captain again, Laswell.”

The groaned “Katherine” you let out over the phone was burdened and heavy upon hearing her recount his singular term.

Yet while the same couldn’t exactly be said about your current connection with Price, your friendship with Kate was as strong as it ever was and as hesitant as you felt, you agreed to attend.

After all, you simply had to swing by the gala–that didn’t mean you had to talk to Price. He only said he wanted to see you. With how desperately you were trying to utilize every bit of semantics for salvation, you took any chance you could.

Because simply put, there was a conversation that you just didn’t want to have with him.

A follow-up to a night from just shy of 5 years ago that you had been running from all this time.

You had since done your best to blank out the happenings of that evening, but your skin could still feel the phantoms of body heat and muscle haunting over every inch regardless.

Despite all the repressing as you had done across the days, the months, the years, some details were just impossible to completely stamp out:

December in Seoul. Campaign celebration. Your soju. His hotel room.

Drunkenly teaching him a game of mahjong led to the idea of sweetening the prize beyond mere bragging rights between the two of you.

Release a few salacious secrets or help unwind a knot or two in the shoulder with a massage.

It was meant to be a choice of one or the other but it didn’t take much more of both to be tangled, much like the two of you on his bed.

“So this is why the guys keep teasing you with those mama’s boy comments,” was something you remember giggling out while you had Price nursing from your breasts, his lips hungrily sucking at your nipples while his hands fondled your chest.

He chuckled lowly against your skin, his eyes twinkling as he peeked up at you with a wink. “I wear it with pride–always preferred a dignified woman over a bratty girl.”

You found yourself slinking over to the bar once again, careful to keep watch of any sign of Price. He had finished giving his acceptance speech–his frequent scans across the gala hall did not escape you while you were sinking low in your seat and hiding behind gala pamphlets–and was mingling with the likes of the ever dignified Commander Shepherd and other elites from the British Army with cigars and whiskey.

They truly grow up so fast.

Though, given his penchant for the finer things in life, it only made you swelter within your dress all the more with another memory from that night.

Your body caged in Price’s arms, your nails digging into his chiseled forearms, his naked body pressed flush against yours, his cock hammering into your core from behind, his voice in a hiss as he sought to mark your skin and leave his claim, his ownership.

“That’s right, Captain. Cum for your lieutenant and become mine…!”

You shuddered hard, head thrown back against his shoulder, back arching off against his chest. Never had any man–all of whom were much closer to you in age–made you feel like this.

And so, for once, you did as he ordered.

Partially.

Because you couldn’t become his.

You refused.

Price was well a decade younger than you, with your night together a drunken fling and–in your eyes–a tarnishing of the pure connection you shared with him as mentor and student.

All because you weren’t thinking that night.

You were supposed to serve as an example of what discipline and merit could achieve, especially against all odds.

Instead, you happily lied beneath him, legs spread wide to accommodate every eager thrust and every sticky load he pumped into you with.

It was at this recollection that you paused midway to the bar.

Perhaps it was time to call it a night instead, else risk more possible drunken mistakes, whether with Price or with someone else.

With this, you shifted direction to head over to where Kate and her wife were seated–just a quick bye and you would be out to find freedom and ease of mind back at your hotel room.

And then, you felt it again.

The manifestation of a haunting phantom.

The weight of two heavy hands coming to rest right on top of your shoulders.

“There you are–just the woman I’ve been looking for.”

Whatever drunken flushed heat in your skin turned ice cold as a voice–now roughened and deeper from when you last heard it–spoke out to you.

Your body was pulled back into an embrace with utmost ease, solid muscle slotting perfectly against your backside.

You dared not to look back.

But you knew he was smiling by the mirth in his voice.

“I’m being called for another speech, but I’ll be waiting for you for mahjong later, Captain. Still have a few loose ends I’ve been meaning to tie up.”

His fingers caught along the strap of your dress, running over the thin fabric right as he brought his lips right to the corner of your mouth for a quick kiss, the bristles of his mustache raking over your skin.

When he drew away, you caught the definite quirk of a triumphant grin as he proceeded to take his leave.

You almost shattered your champagne glass.

--------------------

tysm for reading !!! i hope you enjoyed !!! literally as soon as i returned from my trip this past weekend, i was DETERMINED to get this done and while i actually did have some bits i was inclined to elaborate on, i controlled myself because otherwise i knew i was gonna be locked tf in on context alone and i already have my "bodyguard" piece to catch up on !!!!!!!!! 😭😭

[myrskytuuli]

I'm thinking about the fact that The Locked Tomb takes place in a future where a bunch of tech billioinaires fled into space to escape global warming and assumedly to set up their own new space civilization, while leaving rest of humanity to rot on a dying planet.

And the Murderbot series takes place in a space-travelling future where bunch of mega-corporations basically rule everything.

If there ever was a world a bunch of tech-billioinaires would set up after ditching planet Earth, it would absolutely look like the Murderbot world. Total corporate oligarchy.

In my heart they both take place in the same world, just in the opposite sides of the universe, and John Gaius the Necrolord prime and emperor divine is still personally pissed at the great-great-great-and-so-on grandfather of the current GrayCris CEO.

[mariacallous]

The widely predicted breakup of Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump has finally and inevitably come to pass. Having recently departed his role as de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the tech billionaire began to criticize Trump’s subsidy-filled budget bill, kicking off a war of words on social media and a resulting political firestorm.

What follows is likely to be a messy and vengeful separation that will do damage to the reputations of both men and the United States as a whole. But ultimately, this will be a lopsided fight in which the billionaire and his business empire, not Trump’s administration, will suffer most.

Musk is about to learn a broader lesson that extends far beyond U.S. politics. Corporate interests often wield unhealthy and outsized influence in global autocracies. Yet from China under President Xi Jinping, to Russia under President Vladimir Putin, to India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a common pattern emerges: When business titans and political leaders fall out, it is the former who lose. Put another way, Musk has just picked a fight that he almost certainly cannot win.

At the start of the year, I argued in Foreign Policy that speculation about a likely split between Trump and Musk missed a wider point about what they might achieve by working together. In the end, their partnership lasted longer and had greater influence than many detractors predicted.

The vandalism that DOGE meted out to the U.S. Agency for International Development alone would have been enough to cement Musk’s dubious legacy in the annals of government reform. More troubling—even in his relatively brief tenure—was the alarming precedent that he set by undermining the basic functions of many U.S. institutions, sending teams into government departments, almost certainly illegally, without appropriate oversight.

Musk’s actions during his time in government reflected a brand of tech-bro Maoism, in which existing institutions are viewed as so fundamentally inefficient and corrupted that regular reform is impossible; only purging and rebuilding can work, echoing Chinese leader Mao Zedong’s concept of “continuous revolution.” Much like the early stages of the Cultural Revolution, the Musk upheaval was often led by youthful zealots, delivering reforms that were designed largely to remove ideological resistance to Trump rather than anything resembling actual government efficiency.

In the long run, though, a messy divorce seemed inevitable between two men afflicted by near-megalomania—a state characterized by fantasies of power and omnipotence. Such delusions are not uncommon among the global billionaire class, of course. But it is at least worth pondering how this unedifying spectacle will appear when viewed from Beijing, Moscow, or Riyadh.

Most likely, the Trump-Musk split will reinforce the conviction among global authoritarians that business elites must be kept tightly under state control. Seen this way, Trump’s error was not bickering with Musk but rather handing him a prominent and powerful role as a “special government employee” in the first place.

Trump has long expressed admiration for Xi, but in allowing Musk to get so close to power, the U.S. president certainly failed to learn from the Chinese leader’s handling of tech mogul Jack Ma. In 2020, Xi moved brutally and swiftly against the Alibaba founder after he dared to criticize Chinese financial regulators, canceling his Ant Group’s $37 billion initial public offering and effectively ending Ma’s public influence.

Other global autocrats follow similar anti-tycoon patterns. In Putin’s Russia, the birthplace of modern oligarchic capitalism, moguls are deeply deferential to state power—and understandably so, given the fate of those who dare to challenge the Kremlin. Jailed or exiled billionaires, such as Boris Berezovsky and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, serve as permanent reminders of the costs of defiance.

In India, the so-called Bollygarch class has grown enormously in power in recent years, embodied by figures such as Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani—now the two richest people in Asia. Yet both remain meekly supportive of Modi and his government, careful never to go anywhere close to the lines that might invite state retribution.

Perhaps no leader has been more brutal in establishing this hierarchy than Trump’s new best friend in the Middle East, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Rather than invite Saudi Arabia’s commercial titans into the government, Mohammed bin Salman detained hundreds of princes and businessmen in 2017 at Riyadh’s luxurious Ritz-Carlton hotel, releasing them months later, after they handed over billions in cash in exchange for their freedom.

None of this is to imply that modern billionaires lack influence. In the United States, wealthy individuals and corporations find many avenues to power. Financial clout can be used to support political candidates, shape legislation, and fund pet causes. But in general, wiser magnates play a longer, quieter, and more deferential game than Musk showed in his grab for direct governmental power.

There is a sliver of an upside to this egoistic and bad-tempered spat brewing between Trump and Musk. After all, countries like the United States that remain nominally democratic should be run by elected political leaders, not out-of-control corporate titans. But the truth is that Musk’s downfall will now most likely produce a host of more troubling consequences.

A vindictive president has many tools at their disposal, including regulation and targeted tax investigations, the removal of government subsidies, and the cancellation of government contracts. From Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase to Tim Cook of Apple, U.S. chief executives will draw stark conclusions from Musk’s treatment. Corporate leaders generally prefer stable institutions and the rule of law. But in the absence of that, the message is clear: show deference to Trump, keep your head down, and kiss the ring.

In that sense, the split with Musk will likely suit Trump just fine. The ratings will be spectacular, and he has most of the best cards to play. The outcome also helps to “encourage the others,” as writer and philosopher Voltaire might have put it, underlining the costs of challenging presidential authority with the most prominent scalp of all. Just as Xi humbled Ma, Trump’s coming assault on Musk’s business empire will show that concentrated, unaccountable political power ultimately triumphs over concentrated, unaccountable economic power.

The U.S. left often warns about corporate capture of the government, in which politicians serve as puppets to shadowy oligarchs. But the lesson from global autocracies shows the true danger flows in the opposite direction. When democratic institutions weaken, political leaders don’t become subordinate to business elites—they subordinate businesses to themselves.

Musk is about to discover what his peers in Beijing, Moscow, and New Delhi learned long ago: When oligarchs and political power come to blows, political power trumps economic might every time.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Angela Giuffrida and Harriet Sherwood at The Guardian:

Pope Francis, the pontiff revered by millions of Catholics around the world whose popular appeal reached far beyond his global congregation, has died at the age of 88. Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, said: “At 7.35 this morning, the bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his church.″ Francis, who had chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli hospital in Rome on 14 February for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there, the longest hospitalisation of his 12-year papacy. The pontiff, who was discharged from hospital on 23 March, made his last public appearance on Sunday, when he spoke briefly to the crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square for Easter mass. In recent weeks, he left his home in Casa Santa Marta on several other occasions, visiting prisoners at Rome’s Regina Coeli prison on Thursday and making a surprise visit to St Peter’s Basilica, wearing plain attire, a week before. Leading the reaction in Italy was the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. She said: “I had the privilege of enjoying his friendship, his advice and his teachings, which never failed even in moments of trial and suffering.”

The mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, said: “Rome, Italy and the world are mourning an extraordinary man, a humble and courageous pastor who knew how to speak to everyone’s heart.” Loved by many Catholics for his humility, Francis simplified rites for papal funerals last year and previously said he had already planned his tomb in the basilica Santa Maria Maggiore in the Esquilino neighbourhood in Rome, where he went to pray before and after trips overseas. Popes are usually buried with much fanfare in the grottoes beneath St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Amid intense mourning over the coming days and weeks, manoeuvring within the Vatican over who is to succeed Francis and become the 268th head of the Catholic church is certain to begin. Cardinals from around the world will head to Rome for a conclave, the secret, complex election ritual held in the Sistine Chapel and involving about 138 cardinals who are eligible to vote. Some of the potential contenders mooted before Francis’s death were Matteo Zuppi, a progressive Italian cardinal, Pietro Parolin, who serves as the Vatican’s secretary of state, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, from the Philippines. His death is likely to exacerbate sharp divisions within the curia, with conservatives seeking to wrest control of the church away from reformers. During his 12-year papacy, Francis – the first Jesuit pope – was a vocal champion of the world’s poor, dispossessed and disadvantaged, and a blunt critic of corporate greed and social and economic inequality. Within the Vatican, he criticised extravagance and privilege, calling on church leaders to show humility.

His views riled significant numbers of cardinals and powerful Vatican officials, who often sought to frustrate Francis’s efforts to overhaul the ancient institutions of the church. But his compassion and humanity endeared him to millions around the world.

Francis, who was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1936, was elected pope in March 2013. He immediately signalled his style of papacy by taking the bus, rather than papal car, to his hotel, where he paid his bill before moving into the Vatican guesthouse, eschewing the opulent papal apartments. At his first media appearance, he expressed his wish for a “poor church and a church for the poor”.

He focused papal attention on poverty and inequality, calling unfettered capitalism the “dung of the devil”. Two years into his papacy, he issued an 180-page encyclical on the environment, demanding the world’s richest nations pay their “grave social debt” to the poor. The climate crisis represented “one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day”, the pope said. He called for compassion for and generosity towards refugees, saying they should not be treated as “pawns on the chessboard of humanity”. After visiting the Greek island of Lesbos, he offered 12 Syrians refuge at the Vatican. Prisoners and the victims of modern-day slavery and human trafficking were also highlighted in his frequent appeals for mercy and social action. During his recent period in hospital, he kept up his telephone calls to the Holy Family church in Gaza, a nightly routine since 9 October 2023.

[...] The College of Cardinals is expected to convene for the conclave within 15 to 20 days of Francis’s death.

Pope Francis lasted 12 years in the papacy, dies at 88. During his 12 years, Francis made several groundbreaking legacy markers and pitched himself as a voice for the downtrodden. The Pope made a public appearance on Easter Sunday.

The fight to succeed Francis will be an interesting one, as the College of Cardinals (those at or under 80 at the time of his death are eligible cast their votes) will select his successor.

See Also:

HuffPost: Pope Francis, Argentine Pontiff Who Preached A Welcoming Church, Dies

ABC News: Pope Francis, everyman leader of the Roman Catholic Church, dies at 88

[ashadowofburnedoutstardust]

Random thoughts:

#notaneconomist (although I do thoroughly enjoy strategy) These are just my own personal observations and conclusions

For some reason my mind has wandered over to the state of the US economy, not hard to understand why given the times

It's the circular nature of the US military being the backbone of US financial stability that has for some reason taken the attention of my wandering mind

This is what has occurred to me:

The backbone of the United States economy is of course its military spending

The US military has a budget larger than the five following countries with the highest spends comparatively combined

We should find it unsurprising given that the majority of what is not internal spending is spent on development in terms of building military vehicles, weapons, firearms etc etc and that the majority of this is done within the private sector

For example: OshKosh builds trucks to transport tanks and also many different types of logistic vehicles, Pokémon Go helping to build a massive global spatial map, Angry Birds data being used to help build a surveillance network, Swarovski making riflescopes etc etc

Anyway, things get contracted out to be built right?

Given that most major corporations operate under much larger umbrellas it would make sense that these companies would have an invested interest and whether or not the US government actively keeps military funding high enough for everyone to get a piece of the pie

Given that internal spending on a product usually requires a profit markup I would imagine that the US government in terms of its military spending is not exactly getting bang for its buck.....(And lord knows they aren't spending it on their veterans).....so of course the business lobby wants to help ensure that they keep getting these high priced contracts to keep their profit margins high while having some sort of other, well I guess a front; like kids toys, or a gaming app, or jewelry to help disguise where it is they're getting a lot more of their companies earnings from

The other thing is that the US government needs to justify to the public the monstrosity of a budget for the military, and in order to do that you need to maintain a level of insecurity; not only in their own country by keeping weapons accessible but in other foreign nations by staging military coups, covertly funding terrorist organisations, staging a proxy war etc etc which of course we all know by now that the CIA helps ensure happens in order to "protect American interests"

So to summarise all of that the backbone of the US economy is basically a giant money laundering scheme run through its military in order to fund its business lobby and as long as the rest of the economy underperforms they were always be able to justify having an intensive military spend in order to prop it up

The worst thing that could happen to its economy is the US actually becoming a peaceful state; it seems to me that the recent events over the past couple of years have alerted the working class to the extent of which they are being squeezed in order to fund this business lobby

Unfortunately, this bubble that they have created around themselves will eventually burst

Even the Baby Boomers are starting to feel the pinch of the water in expense of living in this economy that the Millennials and Gen X have been living through; even the conservative working class are starting to turn on the system that they have been living in

The United Healthcare shooting is a prime example of it

It would seem that the ruling class has squeezed a little too hard and inadvertently started the class war they never wanted all under their own gusto

*slow clap*

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Heated:

Energy experts warned only a few years ago that the world had to stop building new fossil fuel projects to preserve a livable climate.

Now, artificial intelligence is driving a rapid expansion of methane gas infrastructure—pipelines and power plants—that experts say could have devastating climate consequences if fully realized.

As large language models like ChatGPT become more sophisticated, experts predict that the nation’s energy demands will grow by a “shocking” 16 percent in the next five years. Tech giants like Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet have increasingly turned to nuclear power plants or large renewable energy projects to power data centers that use as much energy as a small town.

But those cleaner energy sources will not be enough to meet the voracious energy demands of AI, analysts say. To bridge the gap, tech giants and fossil fuel companies are planning to build new gas power plants and pipelines that directly supply data centers. And they increasingly propose keeping those projects separate from the grid, fast tracking gas infrastructure at a speed that can’t be matched by renewables or nuclear.

The growth of AI has been called the “savior” of the gas industry. In Virginia alone, the data center capital of the world, a new state report found that AI demand could add a new 1.5 gigawatt gas plant every two years for 15 consecutive years.

And now, as energy demand for AI rises, oil corporations are planning to build gas plants that specifically serve data centers. Last week, Exxon announced that it is building a large gas plant that will directly supply power to data centers within the next five years. The company claims the gas plant will use technology that captures polluting emissions—despite the fact that the technology has never been used at a commercial scale before.

Chevron also announced that the company is preparing to sell gas to an undisclosed number of data centers. “We're doing some work right now with a number of different people that's not quite ready for prime time, looking at possible solutions to build large-scale power generation,” said CEO Mike Wirth at an Atlantic Council event. The opportunity to sell power to data centers is so promising that even private equity firms are investing billions in building energy infrastructure.

But the companies that will benefit the most from an AI gas boom, according to S&P Global, are pipeline companies. This year, several major U.S. pipeline companies told investors that they were already in talks to connect their sprawling pipeline networks directly to on-site gas power plants at data centers.

“We, frankly, are kind of overwhelmed with the number of requests that we’re dealing with, ” Williams CEO Alan Armstrong said on a call with analysts. The pipeline company, which owns the 10,000 mile Transco system, is expanding its existing pipeline network from Virginia to Alabama partly to “provide reliable power where data center growth is expected,” according to Williams.

[courtana]

We, Black Curatorial, Kwanda, Twossaints, Black Eats London & West India Cinema Corporation have come together to fundraise for people affected by Hurricane Beryl across the West Indies. As West Indian people it is imperative that we support each other and ourselves in the building back of our communities, this is a duty. Hurricane Beryl has devastated hundreds of communities in the West Indies. This is not a freak storm, this is a direct impact of climate crisis in the region - fuelled and sustained by overconsumption and emissions in the Global North. The ocean waters are 4 degrees warmer than expected at this time of year, this has directly affected the speed and ferocity of the hurricane at the beginning of this year's hurricane season. To understand what the importance of AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) is for Hurricane season in the Caribbean and globally please watch this video. The impact of this hurricane is very much being felt, "90% of homes on Union Island had been destroyed", according to Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. We’re fundraising for people and charities across Barbados, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Grenada and those affected across the region. The money raised will go towards helping local fishermen in Barbados to buy new boats, support roofing and housing materials for people in Carriacou, Union and Grenada and well as St Vincent to rebuild their livelihoods and homes. We are working collectively to disseminate these funds across the region ensuring they reach grassroots communities and people directly. The Hurricane is now a category 5 and on its way to Jamaica. We urge everyone to pray for its weakening and for the people currently effected by Beryl's peril. Please continue to share and donate to those affected! If you have any questions please email us.

WHERE ARE THE DONATIONS GOING?

This fund exists to go directly to grassroots organisations providing support for those across the following countries: Barbados St Vincent & the Grenadines Carriacou Petite Martinique Union Grenada Jamaica

HOW WILL THEY BE PROCESSED AND ADMINISTERED?

We are working with Kwanda to help disseminate the funds to the existing groups they work with in the affected countries. Black Curatorial work across Barbados and Jamaica administering funds for creatives via the Fly Me Out Fund our process of sending money via transfer is already set up to support and facilitate this fund's dissemination.

WHO'S INVOLVED?

Black Curatorial Kwanda West India Cinema Corporation Twossaints Black Eats London

[georgegraphys]

Why is it important for fans to support GR63's partnerships, campaigns, etc?

Warning: I do not mean to turn a charity or a campaign to an opportunistic marketing situation. I am simply explaining how it works backstage in real life!

George right now is seen as a Key Opinion Leader for The Daily Mile Foundation x INEOS that they hired to promote the initiative. Key Opinion Leaders have a job to build/lead public's opinion on certain things, be it campaigns, initiative, marketing, branding, etc. They are not mere influencers. KOLs are respectable members in niche communities that have credibility to the opinions that they are going to lead. So they don't waffle bullshit and promote fake stuff like what you see some influencers do when they overexaggerates how does aging serums work.

What George is doing right now is build/lead people's opinion to promote the initiative of the Daily Mile Foundation. Why? What credibility does he have? He is a fit and healthy Formula One athlete. He is a global ambassador for Puma and has a history of many other health campaigns, focusing mostly on Mental Health campaigns. That is his credibility as Key Opinion Leader.

You might now ask "Ari why do charities need Key Opinion Leaders? They are already supported by INEOS! They are rich!" Here is the thing : Charities need people's support and acknowledgement in order for them to support others. That is the way it works. It doesn't have to be monetary but support is always needed from the public, from the community. TDMF might have 3M children participating in their initiatives but they aim and strive to be bigger and reach more children out there. That's why they used George to promote their initiative.

Prime relevant examples of that can be seen from other celebrities. Back then, UNICEF supported FC Barcelona to promote their initiatives and campaigns. Using the likes of Lionel Messi for it. Nowadays, you see celebrities doing charities and collaborating with UNESCO, UNICEF, UNHCR, etc. They are not there just to look pretty, they are there to support the organization/foundation as Key Opinion Leaders. The attention they attract for the campaign/organizations/initiative will help the organization in the long run.

So if George does well in his KOL role, this might lead to more similar partnerships and campaigns in the future with brands, sponsors, others. It would also be useful if he wanted to establish his own non-profit foundation one day!

INEOS might be rich enough to support this foundation but you cannot deny that the role of Key Opinion Leaders like George is needed. TDMF is a part of INEOS' Corporate Social Responsibility for the communities and stakeholders. The more positive attention/engagement/interaction this campaign gets will further benefit George in the future to work with sponsors/brands/companies for their other CSRs or initiatives. Not only for himself, but also for the foundation, as the smallest interaction we do with them can bring a positive outcome for the foundation and campaign supported further!

I encourage everyone to support George Russell's campaign and partnership. Profit or non-profit. It will always be beneficial for both ways 🩵🩵

[nandinishenoy]

IT Advantage at Hiranandani Parks Oragadam: A Niranjan Hiranandani Development

Hiranandani Parks, Oragadam, stands as a testament to modern urban living, blending smart infrastructure with a sustainable lifestyle. Strategically located in Chennai’s rapidly growing Oragadam region, this integrated township caters to IT professionals, entrepreneurs, and businesses seeking a future-ready environment. Spearheaded by Dr Niranjan Hiranandani, the project reflects his vision of creating self-sufficient, IT-driven communities that redefine urban living.

This article explores why professionals and investors choose Hiranandani Parks as an ideal destination for growth and a superior quality of life.

Strategic Location: The IT & Industrial Corridor Advantage

Oragadam is widely recognized as Hiranandani Chennai  fastest-growing business and industrial corridor. As home to global automobile, manufacturing, and IT companies, it offers immense career growth opportunities for professionals. Boasting seamless connectivity to major IT hubs, industrial parks, and Special Economic Zones (SEZs), the region attracts top multinational corporations and leading tech firms. The location of Hiranandani Parks Oragadam ensures:

Proximity to major IT hubs like Mahindra World City and Tidel Park.

Excellent road connectivity via GST Road and two major highways.

Upcoming infrastructure developments, including the Chennai Greenfield Airport and improved rail networks.

This strategic positioning enables residents to live close to work, reducing commute times and enhancing productivity. This further strengthens Oragadam’s position as a prime real estate and business hub.

Smart Infrastructure & Sustainable Urban Planning

At Hiranandani Parks Oragadam, sustainability and modern infrastructure go hand in hand. The township is designed with eco-friendly elements and contemporary urban planning, making it an ideal choice for professionals looking for IT-friendly real estate in Chennai. Featuring state-of-the-art amenities, energy-efficient buildings, and expansive green spaces, the township offers a perfect blend of technology and sustainability. 

Some key infrastructure highlights include:

Sustainable design with vast green spaces, rainwater harvesting, sewage treatment plants, solar energy utilization, and eco-friendly construction practices.

Energy-efficient residential towers with modern technology integration.

Digital connectivity ensuring seamless work-from-home and remote operations.

By incorporating sustainable and smart urban solutions, Hiranandani Parks Oragadam offers an ideal work-life balance for professionals who seek a future-ready living experience.

Work-Life Balance: A Township Designed for IT Professionals

While Hiranandani Parks is not an IT-integrated township, its proximity to Chennai’s major employment hubs makes it an excellent residential choice for IT professionals. The township promotes a balanced lifestyle, offering:

Spacious and well-designed apartments, villas, and plots.

Proximity to educational institutions, healthcare centers, and commercial zones.

Premium sports and recreation facilities, including a 9-hole golf course, cricket and football grounds, cycling tracks, and a fully equipped clubhouse.

For professionals seeking convenience, comfort, and accessibility, Hiranandani Parks Oragadam IT opportunities lie in its ability to offer a holistic living environment near Chennai’s expanding IT corridors.

Niranjan Hiranandani’s Vision for Growth & Development

Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani, a visionary leader, is known for developing world-class integrated townships that redefine urban living. His philosophy focuses on sustainability, infrastructure excellence, and community-driven living. Hiranandani Parks exemplifies this philosophy by fostering a self-sustained township where residents can live, work, and thrive in a tech-driven environment. The project aligns with the broader vision of creating world-class urban landscapes that support India’s digital transformation.

Key aspects of his vision include:

Encouraging real estate investments in high-potential corridors like Oragadam.

Building communities that support industrial and IT professionals.

Ensuring sustainable development with green initiatives.

With Hiranandani Parks, his focus remains on enhancing urban landscapes, promoting a higher standard of living, and ensuring connectivity to employment hubs.

The Future of Hiranandani Parks & Oragadam Growth

Oragadam is rapidly transforming into a prime investment destination, with expanding industrial and IT sectors driving real estate demand. Hiranandani Parks Oragadam stands out as a well-planned township, offering long-term value for both residents and investors.

Factors contributing to its future growth include:

Increasing demand for premium residential spaces near employment hubs.

Continued infrastructure developments boosting connectivity.

Oragadam’s rise as a major economic center in South India.

For those looking to invest in real estate for IT professionals by Hiranandani Communities, this township presents an excellent opportunity for long-term appreciation and rental yield.

Conclusion

Hiranandani Parks Oragadam is not just another residential project—it is a carefully curated township designed for professionals and families who seek an elevated lifestyle with excellent connectivity. With its proximity to Chennai’s IT and industrial hubs, sustainable infrastructure, and top-tier amenities, it is setting new benchmarks for integrated townships. Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani’s vision has always been about creating vibrant, self-sufficient communities, and Hiranandani Parks is a testament to this commitment. Whether you are an IT professional, an entrepreneur, or an investor, Hiranandani Parks Oragadam offers a future-proof living experience with unmatched benefits.

FAQs

1. What makes Hiranandani Parks an ideal place for IT professionals?

Hiranandani Parks is strategically located near major IT hubs, offering professionals seamless connectivity, premium residential options, and a holistic lifestyle.

2. How has Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani contributed to IT-focused urban development?

Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani has pioneered integrated township models that support professional communities by ensuring proximity to business districts and employment hubs.

3. What are the unique IT-friendly features of Hiranandani Parks?

While not an IT-integrated township, it offers reliable digital connectivity, premium residential infrastructure, and smart urban planning, making it ideal for IT professionals.

4. How does Hiranandani Parks support work-life balance for IT employees?

With spacious homes, green spaces, sports amenities, and easy access to workplaces, it enables IT professionals to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

5. Why is Oragadam emerging as an IT hub?

Oragadam is gaining prominence due to its growing industrial, manufacturing, and IT sectors, along with upcoming infrastructure developments like the Chennai Greenfield Airport and suburban rail corridors.

[reality-detective]

Wake Up! Everything You Believe Is a Carefully Crafted Lie by a Hidden Elite That Owns Your Governments, Banks, and Minds!

The world is under the control of a hidden, powerful elite that has manipulated humanity for thousands of years. Governments, banks, corporations, and even religions are all part of a massive, interconnected system designed to keep the masses in line. You are living in a controlled simulation where every move is calculated, every narrative crafted, and every dissent crushed.

Ancient Rome never fell; it just changed its face. The Vatican is the continuation of the Roman Empire, pulling the strings of global power from the shadows. The Pope is not a religious leader but the CEO of the world’s largest covert operation. Global leaders bow to Rome; every major decision made in Europe, America, and beyond has its roots in this ancient power structure. The so-called “democracies” are just fronts, and the real rulers operate far from the public eye.

The financial system is a tool of enslavement, but its grip is weakening. Central banks, the Federal Reserve, the World Bank, and the IMF have long kept nations in debt and citizens in economic chains. However, their reign is about to end. The Global Economic Security and Reformation Act (GESARA) is poised to trigger the biggest wealth transfer in history, redistributing stolen wealth back to the people.

This is a total overhaul designed to dismantle the corrupt systems that have enslaved humanity for centuries. Trillions of dollars hoarded by the elite will be seized and returned to the people, restoring economic power where it belongs.

This act will expose the financial fraud perpetuated by these institutions, wiping out debts and releasing new technologies that have been suppressed to keep the populace in poverty. The days of the financial overlords are numbered, and GESARA is the catalyst that will break their chains for good, restoring wealth and freedom to the masses.

Education and media are the propaganda arms of this hidden empire. From kindergarten to university, you are fed lies designed to shape your worldview to fit the agenda of the elite. Critical thinking is discouraged because an informed population is a threat. The news you watch, the books you read, and the information you consume are all curated to keep you ignorant, divided, and powerless.

Governments are puppets. Elections are rigged shows to give you the illusion of choice. Presidents, prime ministers, and kings answer to the same hidden masters. Policies, wars, economic collapses—they’re all orchestrated from behind closed doors by a small group of individuals who have no allegiance to any nation but only to their own interests. They decide who wins, who loses, and how the game is played.

Laws are tools of oppression, not justice. The legal system is designed to protect the elite and keep you in line. Roman law still influences modern legal codes, and its principles are used to maintain control over the masses. The courtrooms are theaters where the outcome is predetermined, and the real power lies in the unseen hands that pull the strings.

Corporations are not independent entities—they are branches of the same control network. They push products, policies, and narratives that serve their masters’ agenda. From the food you eat to the technology you use, everything is designed to monitor, influence, and control you. You are not a customer; you are a data point, a resource to be exploited.

The world is not what it seems. Every institution you trust, every leader you admire, every belief you hold has been carefully constructed to keep you obedient and blind to the truth. You are not free; you are a pawn in a game that was rigged long before you were born.

The only way out is to see the truth: that the world is run by a small, powerful group that considers itself above the rest of humanity. They are the masters, and we are the slaves. This is the reality they don’t want you to see. Wake up, or remain a willing participant in your own enslavement.

Escape the Matrix 🤔

[animefeminist]

Evangelion, alienation, and Japan’s 1990s economic crisis

Francis Fukuyama suffered more than a few oversights when he first theorized his “end of history.” It was understandable—it was 1989 and the vibe was different. It had been morning in America for almost an entire decade and only a matter of time before the Berlin Wall and communism finally fell to their knees. It’s natural that at such a moment a capitalist ideologue like Fukuyama would wax poetic about history rendering Marxism antiquated; capitalism, as he saw it, had resolved all class conflict in America.

It is clear in hindsight that Fukuyama was a little too sunny in his analysis of America. While the global control of capitalism seems here to stay, given it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism, the social problems it creates are felt deeply by all in America except the extremely wealthy. However, Fukuyama reserved some of his most blissfully optimistic predictions for his ancestral homeland. Japanese society, as he saw it, had become an economic utopia; the tenth page of Fukuyama’s original ‘89 thesis states that “the very fact that the essential elements of economic and political liberalism have been so successfully grafted onto uniquely Japanese traditions and institutions guarantees their survival in the long run.”

It would only take a few short years before these lofty predictions hit their snag. Japan’s bubble economy suffered an explosive pop in 1992, resulting in a recession that plagued the nation for years to come. The early signs of misfortune came in waves: the Nikkei index had fallen below 15,000 by the time August had rolled around, corporations were forced to engage in massive lay-offs and hiring freezes, and chaos erupted all over the Japanese government. Bureaucrats and businessmen alike were embroiled in scandal after scandal after scandal after scandal, opening wide a revolving door of an inconsistent 11 prime ministers in 12 years. The Kobe earthquake and Tokyo subway attacks administered a coup de grace on any semblance of optimism, throwing the entire nation into a spiritual crisis. 

Read it at Anime Feminist!