#Revenue receipts

[todayworldnews2k21]

Data | The risk of small States’ heavy reliance on the Union government

Small States must prioritise raising their own revenue to reduce their dependency on the Union government The fiscal situation of India’s States has garnered significant attention in recent times. Despite ample data on State finances, most of the analysis is centred around larger States. There needs to be more discussion on the fiscal position of small States (i.e. States with a population of…

[columboscreens]

[literalgrill]

Do NOT Support Hard Drive On Patreon

You might see friends today suggesting you support Hard Drive on Patreon today. You know, the funny video games version of The Onion? As a journalist, I will firmly tell you DO NOT GIVE THEM A DIME.

The CEO has pushed out all former staff that have built the site up to its current greatness and has been pushing the use of AI. The staff begged to have a Patreon before basically all being pushed out, but the idea was refused until now, when it will only line the pockets of a single person instead of hard working writers.

I know they might have provided laughs before, but Hard Drive is a shell of what it was once. Let it die and support the people who actually made those moments of joy possible. Don't believe me? Check out what former employees are saying below:

Kevin Podas: Okay you know what, I would feel bad saying nothing about this, so here goes:🚨SAVE YOUR MONEY🚨

We passionately advocated for a Patreon at Hard Drive & were aggressively shot down. The talent & people who built the site were pushed out. To see this now is beyond upsetting. For the past few years or so I put a lot of myself into this website. I pitched a ton of jokes, got over 120 articles published, & met a lot of great people. I'm sure if you've been following me for some time you could easily see this.

However, there is a lot of misinformation. I was eventually promoted to Managing Editor of the site & was ecstatic. Grateful for the opportunity. Felt like all of my hard work in the comedy mines was finally paying off. But things took a turn for the worst, & each day there were new surprises that affected our livelihoods. These were all very avoidable surprises, mind you.

A patreon was going to be our hail mary, but alas, for some reason, the power that be did not want it. Causing us to leave a dream job behind. "At least we did all we could," we consoled ourselves afterwards. I put a lot of myself into this project. I pitched all sorts of ideas that could have helped-- we all did. Merch collaborations, Patreon-integrated YouTube content, so much more. And most of them were shot down out of sheer stubbornness and nothing more. To see lie after lie spread, and multiple big publications and YouTubers that I am a fan of promote this Patreon under these pretenses is incredibly upsetting. There are so many receipts.

Please share this and consider pulling out if you've already put money into this. On Hard Drive using AI, also from Kevin Podas: I can't personally confirm that part aside from some of the recent header images for articles on both Hard Drive and Hard Times are being made with AI. As far as writing, it's been mentioned in the past, but I personally do not know. Maybe others do, maybe not. MORE From Kevin Podas suggesting the owner denying a Patreon being set up earlier cost an artist a job that was replaced by AI: We had a social media person who was awesome! He made the images until this AI implementation. He had to leave because ad revenue was low and a Patreon was aggressively refused.

Luca Fisher: at the risk of burning some bridges, i have to back up kevin here. i've only been part-time, in-and-out of hard drive since i got in last year, but i can corroborate that management doubled and tripled down about not hosting a patreon/crowdfunding and that many other suggestions and ideas, including mine (and ones much smarter than mine!), were shot down in really long, apocalyptic threads of everyone left on deck desperately trying to come up with ways to keep the lights on. managerially it has been messy and sad

i've written for multiple publications that have long since died, ones that were in the process of dying, and ones that, in this case, are soon to be put in the ground. it is sad and sucks every time. i don't know what could have been done differently, but i do know that a lot of great writers and content creators were left shorthanded and unhappy by the way things have gone. and it is sort of puzzling to see the sudden championing of patreon after we were all told plenty of times that it couldn't work and we should move on also, just to add my own personal two cents here, i was really disappointed by the shuttering of many different article sections on the site over the past 6-8 months. i understand cutting corners in a deficit, and i know it had to be done. that said…

all in all, i'm really sad to see this all happen. i don't fault anyone, if only because i don't really know enough about how this all can happen to make sense of it. games journalism is in a sad, sorry state, and will likely no longer be a thing in the next decade

VideoSealMan: I'm gonna say this because I think I deserve to. For months, MONTHS on end I was bugging Hard Drive management about a Patreon. Often I got ignored for a week+, but when I actually got a response I was encouraged to - of all things, write up a Google Doc pitching the concept I did it regardless. I wasn't the only one trying to sway management on a Patreon, but so fiercely was I fighting for it that last night, I was accused of making this comment directly by the CEO! With no evidence whatsoever! After I'd been gone for over a month.

I vouched so hard for Patreon because I wanted all the writers and creatives working with Hard Drive including myself to get paid better. When I actually got a response, the idea was often shut down. Eventually due to the state of my company, my pay was cut for a second time I confronted management alongside a couple other important figureheads at the org and told them that if we couldn't do a Patreon - I could no longer financially justify staying there. The answer was still no, so I left. Baffled at the decision, but whatever.

It is unendingly frustrating to know that myself and many other people who put their soul into Hard Drive LEFT because of management's absolute refusal to compromise on a Patreon, to then see them launch one anyway a month later and get over 1000 people pledging money. I'm seeing a lot of things float around about greed and people being fired. No one was fired. Everyone who left, left because they were sick of management's decision-making. And honestly, management is a lot of things but I would not call them greedy. (From my experience.) They did genuinely make an effort to pay people as much as possible. I found the pay very fair for a while. I am not disputing that I was paid what I was owed - yet management frequently feels the need to remind critics of that. Lmao, yes. I was paid what I was owed. No one is disputing payment. You did the bare minimum a business owner should do and paid everyone their due, very well done. I make no allegations of greed, cheating or foul play. I make allegations of poor management and incompetence that has fucked over other people.

Basically the only people left at Hard Drive have been there for about 2 months. They will reap the rewards of this successful Patreon I and so many others passionately fought for for so long. We will not see a dime.

I do not know the new people at Hard Drive, But I feel bad for them. They were haphazardly thrust into Hard Drive's workplace with little to no explanation on how anything works, or given any context on the state of the place. Even now managements feeds them half-truths and misinformation about other people's grievances. I am broke and have been for a while. I had to move out of my flat in Reading and back with my family because of how little money I was making. This has basically doomed my flatmate to moving back in with abusive parents, which is something I feel guilty about every day. If we had gone with the Patreon I worked myself hoarse over back then, this could have been avoided. Some of my other good pals could also not have been fucked over.

It was a bad judgment call, but it's not a crime. It's just management getting it wrong.

So should you give to the Hard Drive Patreon? I don't know! I don't think any of the new people working there to patch up the holes left by the recent mass exodus have any bad intentions. Maybe they deserve it! But it is not the same site you knew a year ago, or even a month ago. Myself and many people who were there far longer than me and did far more for it than I did are all gone now because we could not deal with management's terrible decision-making and dogass communication any longer. That's what you should know, imo

I had an agreement in place with management that I would receive the next 8 months of revenue from the Hard Drive YT channel from my leaving in November. This was a deal I appreciated, and thought was very fair on management's behalf. So far, the deal has been honoured for 2 months. However as of last night I was removed from the Hard Drive Slack without warning, and as an editor for the YouTube channel. This means I no longer have any way of verifying how much I am owed, I just have to take their word for it. I'm sure management will make their own statements full of half-truths and weird language on the many cases being brought against them - I'd take everything they say with a pinch of salt if some of the screenshots I've seen of them talking about me are any indication lol

To management; I do not want to talk to you. I want you to DM me a screenshot of how much I'm owed every month and then send me the money per our agreement until June, then we can go our separate ways. Do that and admit to your mistakes, and maybe you can recover your reputation! That's it from me, lol. If they pull out of the deal and fuck me over I'll have more to say, but most of what I know is other people's stories of incompetence and poor decision-making, lol. I genuinely get no pleasure out of doing this; I do not think management is evil - I just think they're really bad at what they do and it's cost other, more talented people, lol. You should believe the writers imo

One last thing I wanna say btw, management did often stress that no one should try to make Hard Drive a full time thing. They were transparent about that, and that is fair. I was working on it because at a few points, I was lead to believe we actually were doing a Patreon. Many other ppl have similar stories of being strung along by management changing their minds and stop-starting shit every 2 weeks. We all made the fatal mistake of overestimating our manager - who would tell you one thing one day and something totally opposite the next week lol

Hunter R. Thompson:

I'm not your dad, but speaking as a Hard Drive writer, I don't know that funding Hard Drive on Patreon is worth it

The driving talent on the back end—behind the kickass site I joined in 2019—have peaced out over the years as the site's been (in our view) increasingly mismanaged. Mismanagement like, not setting up crowdfunding before the ship sank and all its best crew failed; or publishing a screenshot of Andy Ngo pedojacketing a trans writer, complete with her deadname; or a disgruntled ex-writer getting falsely accused of shit-talk, by actual staff. I'm grateful for the writing I've gotten to produce for HD (and will forever be kicking myself for not writing even more, in the four years I've had to do it!! i'm a dumbass!!!) but it is very much no longer the site I signed up for.

I don't want to resign as a contributor altogether, because I'm open to the idea of the site recovering and bad practices being retired as finances level out-- it would just be dishonest for potential backers to not be Aware Of The Circumstances, I think.

Jeremy Kaplowitz: i truly don't want to start shit, but feel compelled to say: i want to see Hard Drive succeed w/o resorting to throwing former writers & editors, myself included, under the bus. surely there's a way to save the site without building it over the corpses of those who left. my $0.02 i don't blame anyone who wants to sign up for the HD patreon and i support the website, but that includes those who worked on it for years, have complaints, and don't deserve to be treated like bitter assholes like this kind of stuff is just objectively true, meanwhile there's these new writers who joined the site after i left (meaning, in the last ~3 months) claiming people are liars. decide for yourself if you care, but this is what happened! [Quotes this Tweet]

Seth Finkelstein: Writing for Hard Drive has been a privilege the past few years, and it makes me so angry to see people I looked up to get jerked around behind the scenes. The amount of grenades the editors jumped on our behalf is immense, and I don't think the way they're being treated is right.

Other Bits On AI: We do know for sure however that AI art has been used by the site. Its fucking owner confirms it here:https://twitter.com/MattSaincome/status/1743040541603123622. Seems the owner pushed AI written articles as well! TayFabe: My vaguetweet is making the rounds & these made me apoplectic. - owner regularly lobbied using ai. Once he tested it & said ai was writing better satire than 25% of the HT/HD writers. - ai images were used on the site & socials w/o consulting the team or disclosing it publicly I found the ai bit relevant to include bc 1) it illuminates a stark change in HD's current direction & leadership, 2) ai images have previously been used on the site and (since deleted) ig posts, 3) ai content fucking sucks, and repeatedly pushing to use it is a telling quality The "handful of writers who chose to leave" includes 2 editors-in-chief (both cofounders who wrote a combined total of >1,000 articles & defined the voice of HD), & at least 3 other editors. These guys put in WORK since 2017, so cool to be corrected by ppl who joined in Nov 2023 [Link to mentioned vague tweet from post.] More from TayFabe: owner continuously lobbied for using ai in every possible way. No one else wanted to do it, but he kept on, saying ai was writing better satire than 25% of the HT/HD writers. Also, ai images were used on the site & socials without public disclosure or consulting the team.

The owner has responded now multiple times in a private discord... Thank you for people sharing screenshots! First Screenshot:

Kevin's Response: He banned me from the server for speaking out, so no, I didn't see it. And he gave no indication of a timeline, it was just "we'll do one when *I* say so" and gave every inclination he was totally against it. It bred an environment that pushed our hands to have to leave. Screenshot Round Two:

Kevin's Response: "Starting one in 3 months" is an absolute lie. He denied it, I have screenshots and others who can confirm. No timeline was given. Just "this is what it is now" and like, I couldn't live off of that. I wanted to do more but he was allergic to good ideas from others around him.

Matt, owner of Hard Drive, responds publicly on Twitter.

Matt: Kevin, the patreon launch was delayed because I didn't think it would work. Everyone is happy that it did work. Everyone who left the site because we didn't have money to pay for creative content which didn't revenue is welcome to return home. But unclear why the hostility.

Hard Drive paid out literally every dollar it had, then a bunch more, to creative people who worked on the site. When we ran out of money, we couldn't pay anymore. We did our best.

Kevin: Right, and my point of this thread was that it was completely and totally avoidable. This is reasonable to be upset about. How could I have been any more clear?

Matt: If we knew with 100% certainly that the community would have supported us via patreon, we would have done that. We didn't know. We had tried 4 years ago and got no support. We were wrong this time. We did our best to figure it out. We paid all the money we could.

Kevin: So you knew with 100% certainty this time? Or you took a leap of faith?

Matt: It was a last gasp panic effort after ad rates got cut in half on january 1st due to seasonal spending changes. We didn't know it would work. We were embarrassed to ask for support. We wanted to figure it out.

Kevin: Every site has a Patreon. Every YouTuber, comedy group, etc. But you insisted that nobody cared about Hard Drive. Which is wildly untrue. I know you see that now, but again, I think you can see why I and many others are pretty upset. A last ditch panic effort was long overdue. A couple more things from Matt:

It was about the size of the hole we needed plugged budget wise, the time I had left of personal resources, and the past data I had about us trying a patreon (which turned out to be a bad indicator). I didn't think the Patreon would help us fast enough. I made a bad estimation

aka "if we make $1000 more dollars a month via patreon, which would be 10x what we got last time, we will not solve any of our problems. If instead we try to plow down path B, we might make it out in time." That was the thinking. I chose the wrong path, but didn't mean to Kevin also retweeted this comment from the user Matt was responding to: So you're saying that you're bad at running the business, didn't listen to any of your employees until after they were forced to leave their jobs, and now you're going to get more of the money from the Patreon that was their idea in the first place? Matt's Response: Respectfully, I made a mistake delaying the patreon decision. But keeping a comedy site alive for 9 years is not easy, there are lots of potential ideas, and think overall we've done a good and honorable job. Will leave this thread in peace now to allow people their space.

Sorry for linking to Elon's hellsite (derogatory), but sources need links so...

[allthecanadianpolitics]

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese joined human rights organizations earlier this month to release a report that urged the Canadian government to suspend and investigate any charities found to be “aiding and abetting” Israeli war crimes in occupied Palestine.

Speakers at the November 8 press conference in Toronto explained that the report, which was jointly released by Just Peace Advocates (JPA) and Independent Jewish Voices Canada (IJV), highlights how charitable donations have been directed toward activities that the report argues are grounds for “immediate suspension and investigation.”

Registered charities in Canada can issue official donation receipts that qualify for charitable tax credits.

“Canada is violating its international obligations,” said Albanese at the press conference. “This is not about ethical principles, not about rhetoric. This is about binding obligations.”

Continue reading

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[directdogman]

Hey there's someone trying to say you said you were pro Israel on discord? They're anonymous and say you blocked them before they could get screenshots so I don't really believe them, but still :[

Mhm. Nice bit of news to wake up to, this.

Yeah, so this person's a troll and they're more than likely lying on purpose in order to try to me look bad because I blocked them on Twitter for being unpleasant, something I rarely even do and they're still seething about it. The block had nothing to do with Gaza, the person was just being annoying and I thought it'd be healthier to block and move on. I'd really prefer not to have to give this person energy, but if there's a rumor going around, I'd like to nip it in the bud, since it's very easy to disprove in this case.

To explain what this person's blathering about: Earlier this week, on a Phonegingi plush advert, this random user that doesn't follow me (and actually instructs fans of mine not to interact with them in their bio) made a dramatic QRT decrying me for posting a DT advert during a strike week, which I honestly had no clue it was, especially since my own timeline was (and still is) full of accounts posting normally.

Given that the person seemingly encountered one of my posts in the wild and ended up seething because of it + likely didn't want anything to do with me on their timeline (as their bio indicated), after thinking it over briefly, I did the healthy thing and just blocked the person + moved on. Makes sense, right? I'll admit: Even if the way the person approached me was regrettable, if I'd known it was a strike week, I'd have participated (as I'd participated in the last one), so I stopped posting teasers for the week anyway, only resuming again yesterday.

I'll also say: I checked my own timeline btw and looked at the accounts posting, and nobody else had anyone acting like this in their replies, even the much larger accounts. Nor did anyone else contact/reply to me in any way stating any disapproval.

Given that I've only blocked one account recently that isn't a replybot (and ofc, given the subject matter of that tweet), I'd have to assume that this is the anonymous person spreading stuff.

I'd understand where this person was coming from if maybe I'd stayed completely silent about Gaza, (which a lot of accounts I follow have) but I haven't. I had a Palestinian aid post pinned on my Twitter for weeks, I've talked about Gaza's child population and my support for South Africa's Hague suit in my discord server, I've engaged in the boycotts, wound down posting during strikes, donated a pretty substantial amount of Dialtown revenue towards sending money/esims... I have 4 bucks in my bank account right now and when my next DT check comes in, you'd better believe I'll be giving more. That's my right as a private citizen and one I'll continue to exercise.

I feel pretty uncomfortable having to put this stuff in front of me to 'prove' myself, even if some of it is public anyway. Charity should be something you do because you CARE and if it wasn't for this person, I'd have been far happier keeping a lower profile and not explicitly calling attention to my own aid, but given this ask, I feel it'd be stupid not to nip this in the bud. The majority of this information could be easily found with the tiniest amount of digging, btw, so it's not like the user couldn't have known any of this. This is the part of having a fandom that creators seldom talk about. You block one person for being a lil annoying, next thing you know, there's rumors that you support genocides! Fun.

So yeah, I'd like you to tell this person to just move on like a normal person (send them this post if you have to) and to stop spreading incorrect rumors about me out of spite. If they insist, I'm happy to pull up receipts to prove everything I've said. If they actually thought I was pro-Israel, they wouldn't be spreading it anonymously, they'd be writing another public post about the subject matter. Also if you see anyone repeating the rumor, please correct them. Thanks.

[yummybg3confessions]

“I want to see Gortash get audited. He has to produce the receipts for all his shady fake businesses like Flymm Cargo. Baldur's Internal Revenue Service going to be like, uh sorry but your unnecessarily evil cloak does not qualify as a business expense write-off. Man has evaded taxes for so long he doesn't know what taxes are. Can't tadpole your way out of this one, bud. Have fun spending your nights making the numbers add up.”

[mapsontheweb]

Self sufficiency of Indian states in their state's revenue receipts.

by Sea-Inspector-8758

[vague-humanoid]

The recent revocation of the Jewish National Fund’s (JNF) charitable status may be the most important Palestine solidarity victory in Canadian history. The grassroots win is a boost to the global Stop the JNF campaign and efforts to disrupt Canadian charity assistance to Israel.

On August 10, the federal government officially revoked the charitable status of an organization that’s has hosted events attended by many prime ministers, ministers, and senators. Just days before the revocation, former prime minister Stephen Harper headlined JNF fundraisers in Windsor and London, Ontario. The organization’s galas, held across the country, draw thousands of well-healed and connected individuals each year. Since 2003, JNF Canada has partnered with provincial governments and raised over a quarter billion CAD.

After fifty-seven years of making all Canadians subsidize its controversial activities, including support for West Bank colonies and the Israeli military, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has finally revoked the JNF’s ability to issue tax receipts to its donors, which often cover half (or more) of all donations received. The organization now has one year to wind up its charitable operations and dispose of its $30 million in assets.

[mariacallous]

At the end of 2022, Dmitry Medvedev—Russia’s former prime minister and the current deputy chairman of its Security Council—offered his predictions for the coming year. He warned that Europeans would suffer badly from Russia’s decision to curb natural gas exports to the European Union, suggesting that gas prices would jump to $5,000 per thousand cubic meters in 2023—around 50 times their prewar average. He probably assumed that that sky-high prices would translate into a windfall for Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom, which was still supplying several European countries via pipeline, ramping up exports of liquefied natural gas, and eyeing new deals with China. Perhaps Medvedev also hoped that Europeans would beg the Kremlin to send the gas flowing again.

It turns out that Medvedev might want to polish his crystal ball: Last year, European gas prices averaged a mere one-tenth of his number. And just this month, Gazprom posted a massive $6.8 billion loss for 2023, the first since 1999.

Gazprom’s losses demonstrate the extent to which the Kremlin’s decision to turn off the gas tap to Europe in 2022 has backfired. In 2023, European Union imports of Russian gas were at their lowest level since the early 1970s, with Russian supplies making up only 8 percent of EU gas imports, down from 40 percent in 2021. This has translated into vertiginous losses for Gazprom, with the firm’s revenues from foreign sales plunging by two-thirds in 2023.

Gazprom’s woes are very likely setting off alarm bells in Moscow: With no good options for the company to revive flagging gas sales, its losses could weigh on Russia’s ability to finance the war in Ukraine. This is especially ironic given the fact that EU sanctions do not target Russian gas exports; the damage to the Kremlin and its war effort is entirely self-inflicted.

The most immediate impact of Gazprom’s losses will be on Russian government revenues, a crucial metric to gauge Moscow’s ability to sustain its war against Ukraine. Poring over Gazprom’s latest financials paints a striking picture. Excluding dividends, Gazprom transferred at least $40 billion into Russian state coffers in 2022, either to the general government budget or the National Welfare Fund (NWF), Moscow’s sovereign wealth fund.

This is no small feat. Until last year, Gazprom alone provided about 10 percent of Russian federal budget revenues through customs and excise duties as well as profit taxes. (Oil receipts usually account for an additional 30 percent of budget revenues.) This flood of money now looks like distant history. In 2023, the company’s contribution to state coffers through customs and excise duties was slashed by four-fifths, and like many money-losing firms, it is due a tax refund from the Russian treasury.

For Moscow, this is bad news on several fronts. Because of rising military expenses, the country’s fiscal balance swung into deficit when Moscow invaded Ukraine. To help plug the gap, the Kremlin ordered Gazprom to pay a $500 million monthly levy to the state until 2025. Now that the company is posting losses, it is unclear how it will be able to afford this transfer. In addition, Gazprom’s contribution to the NWF will probably have to shrink. For the Kremlin, this could not come at a worst time: The NWF’s liquid holdings have already dropped by nearly $60 billion, around half of its prewar total, as Moscow drains its rainy-day fund to finance the war. Finally, Gazprom’s woes could prompt the firm to shrink its planned investments in gas fields and pipelines—a decision that would, in turn, hit Russian GDP growth.

As if this was not enough, a closer look at Gazprom’s newly released financials suggests that the worst may be yet to come, with three telltale signs that 2024 could be even more difficult than 2023.

First, Gazprom’s accounts receivable—a measure of money due to be paid by customers—are in free fall, suggesting that the firm’s revenue inflow is drying up. Second, accounts payable shot up by around 50 percent in 2023, hinting that Gazprom is struggling to pay its own bills to various suppliers. Finally, short-term borrowing nearly doubled last year as Russian state-owned banks were enlisted to support the former gas giant.

Whereas these figures come from Gazprom’s English-language financials, the company’s latest Russian-language update yields two additional surprises—both of which show that the firm’s situation has worsened even further since the beginning of the year.

First, short-term borrowing during the first three months of 2024 roughly doubled compared to the previous quarter. If Russian state-owned banks continue to cover Gazprom’s losses, the Russian financial sector could soon find itself in trouble. This begs a tricky question: With the NWF’s reserves dwindling and Moscow’s access to international capital markets shut down, who would pay a bailout bill? Second, Gazprom’s losses were almost five times greater in the first quarter of 2024 than in the same period of 2023, hinting that the firm may post an even bigger loss this year than it did in 2023.

Looking ahead, 2025 will be an especially tough year for Gazprom. The transit deal that protects gas shipments through Ukraine via pipeline to Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia will probably expire at the end of this year, further curbing what’s left of Gazprom’s exports to Europe. A quick glance at a map makes it clear that China is now the only remaining option for Russian pipeline gas.

Yet Beijing is not that interested: Last year, it bought just 23 billion cubic meters of Russian gas, a mere fraction of the 180 billion cubic meters that Moscow used to ship to Europe. Negotiations to build the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, which would boost gas shipments to China, have stalled. And in truth, China is not a like-for-like replacement for Gazprom’s lost European consumers. Beijing pays 20 percent less for Russian gas than the remaining EU customers, and the gap is predicted to widen to 28 percent through 2027.

Without pipelines, raising exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is the only remaining option for Moscow. However, Western policies make this easier said than done. Western export controls curb Russia’s access to the complex machinery needed to develop LNG terminals, such as equipment to chill the gas to negative160 degrees Celsius so that it can be shipped on specialized vessels. And Washington has recently imposed sanctions on a Singapore-based firm and two ships working on a Russian LNG project, signaling that it will similarly designate any entity willing to work in the sector. Finally, U.S. sanctions make it much harder for Russian firms to finance the development of new liquefaction facilities and the gas field designed to supply them. In December, Japanese firm Mitsui announced that it was pulling staff and reviewing options for its participation to Russia’s flagship Arctic LNG 2 project. As a result, the Russian operator announced last month that it was suspending operations of the project, which was originally slated to launch LNG shipments early this year.

Gazprom’s cheesy corporate slogan—“Dreams come true!”—does not ring so true anymore as Moscow’s former cash cow becomes a loss-making drain. Data from the International Energy Agency confirms the extent of the Kremlin’s miscalculation when it turned off the gas tap to Europe: The agency predicts that Russia’s share of global gas exports will fall to 15 percent by 2030—down from 30 percent before Moscow’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine.

This was probably predictable. It is hard to imagine how a gas exporter configured to serve European customers and reliant on Western technology could thrive after refusing to serve its main client—signaling to every other potential customer, including China, that it is an unreliable supplier. Corporate empires tend to rise and fall, and it looks like Gazprom will be no exception to the rule.

[anonymousredactedconfessions]

To the anon asking if there were other boyfriend ASMR/audio roleplay channels with plots at least on par with Redacted, you're in luck! I mostly listen to plot-driven stuff so here's my recommendations.

Good Boy Audios: He has multiple series, all of them take place in the same universe but in different settings. His romance is a lot more slower burn than something like Redacted but that's fine, because I like slow burn and the plots keep me hooked. I recommend Bastard Warrior and Space Pirate Saga.

Escaped Audios: Super cinematic channel with a very strong focus on storytelling. He has a good balance between adventure and romance, and his playlists perfectly blend the two in almost every series. All of of his series feel like living through a movie. I recommend The Neon Barbarian/Neon Wings if you like bittersweet romance/angst, and The New Jersey Rats if you prefer a more light-hearted romantic adventure.

ZSakuVA: Priest already mentioned him but he's great. He has tons of characters who each have their own playlist. Some of his characters occupy the same universe and share the same story, kind of like what Redacted does. I recommend listening to his Elias (mafia son) and Issac (boss) playlists back to back, they complete eachother's stories and I love the boyfriend stuff.

Desmond ASMR: He uploads on a really slow schedule but all of his videos are super long and well made, almost movie length sometimes. I love his voice and his characters, and there's always an element of adventure in his work. I recommend his arranged marriage series and his gladiator series.

Siren's Son: He's kind of like Redacted in that a lot of his work takes place in a shared universe and there's a mix of both plot-driven arcs as well as fluff/comfort/boyfriend roleplay arcs scattered throughout. His Westhaven series is one of my comfort series that I re-listen to over and over. Also, honorable mention to Obsidian Lantern. Siren's Son and him collab together on a series called Gator Boys set in SS's universe and it's great.

Scythe Audio: A super exciting channel. He has romance/boyfriend roleplay but he's more of a story and action focused channel (we love him for it). I love his fucked up monstrous and villainous characters. I've been obsessed with his V/Villain Saga for like two years now and it just keeps getting better. I also recommend his Werewolf action/horror series, The Alpha Claw Saga.

Nomad's Tales: He's been around a long time and has a huge body of work with really entertaining series. He's just now starting season two of his series Frosthaven so it's the perfect time to catch up! I also like his Yandere Knight playlist and A Theif's Tale (a modern romance/thriller).

Those are the best story driven boyfriend ASMR/audio roleplay channels I know of. If anyone has more recommendations I'd love to hear them.

- 🖤 Blackheart anon

.

(usually don't respond to confessions and whatnot, but i will say that you should probably NOT support Siren's Son. He has made it very clear that he is anti-choice/pro-forced birth/anti-abortion/pro-life whatever you wanna call it. I wouldn't be giving youtube revenue money to someone that thinks half the human population doesn't deserve or have a right to bodily autonomy)

Receipts below the cut.

[wildwestalia]

An Exciting Wild Westalia Fanzine Update!

Wild Westalia Fanzine raised $152 USD! A total of $154.62 USD ($222.68 AUD) was donated to the NPY Women's Council as of 19/12/2023. Do click below the line to see all of the evidence of this donation! With this, the zine is now available FOR FREE to download in the link below! Thank you so much to everyone who donated and I hope you all get to appreciate the hard work that went into the zine - Please do make sure to show your support for the contributors on their social media platforms!🤠 - Michiko

Here is the donation receipt, the Paypal balance before donating (showing the balance in both AUD and USD to avoid confusion) and the gross revenue of the zine on Itch.io.

[nieded]

#Rainbow Road Interest Check & Preliminary Charity Drive Data

Hi everyone! If you are interested in possibly ordering either a bundle of Parts 2 & 3 (Accept A Little Spin and Fools Rush In) or of the whole trilogy (Sit Tight, Take Hold, AALS, and FRI), please fill out this Google form.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the #RainbowRoad for Rainbow Railroad Charity Drive! To be as transparent as possible, I'm going to include some data behind the cut on how much money we made, from where, and how it's being used.

We sold:

93 books

16 postcard packs

12 AJFC posters

8 Corvette Crowley posters

For a total gross revenue of:

$5,177.21

Rough estimates of our costs include:

Art:

Printing Costs: $386.32

Supply costs: $97.18

Shipping costs: ~$300

Book:

Printing Costs: $1293.00

Delivery + taxes: $210.82

Supply costs: $150

US shipping costs: ~$370

International shipping costs: ~$600-800

Rough estimate of net revenue: ~$1500 (this is assuming maximum costs)

Once everything is ordered and shipped, we'll be able to provide more solid numbers as well as our receipt to Rainbow Railroad.

You have been incredible in helping me make this possible! Thank you so much! <3

[destinyc1020]

Box office expetations are usually attached to the Production Budget (PB) of the movie.

*It End with Us: with a PB of $25 M., getting $340 M at the box office is a huge/unexpected success. This movie can't be compared to the following blockbusters.

*Twisters 2: with a PB of $155 M and getting $371 M. at the box office is a disappointment and probably not profitable. The first movie cost $92 M. and earned $495 M.

*Furiosa: with a PB $168 M and $174 M at the box office is a huge flop.

Then you have Uncharted, Budget $120 M, Box Office $407 M. : The critics reviews weren't good, dumped in february, compared to these movies released in the summer. Uncharted didn't have a proper press tour because of Covid was a thing again, some countries put limited seatings again in theaters, Tom was wearing mask, the movie didn't have a red carpet premiere. Against all odds the movie was a success.

Important to remember that the Production Budget doesn't include the marketing costs that are around 40-to 50% of the PB.

Some had said that because there are streaming revenues and VOD revenues, box office don't tell the complete story, but people has to remember that when studio spends millions in marketing is because they expect Box office results, movies that goes to streaming doesn't have weeks of promo and in different countries.

VERY good points Anon on all of this!👏🏾

Y'all are bringing out receipts and numbers! I love it lol 😆

And I do agree that the more it costs to make a movie, the more the studios hope (or are relying) on that film to be a success.

I actually think films should cost LESS to make (even if you have to cut some corners and do things on a cheaper budget) and then that way more films would be box office successes, and Hollywood would be gaining money instead of losing it.

But hey, what do I know? 🤷🏾‍♀️

[todaysdocument]

Marguerite Thompson, a previously enslaved woman who had purchased her freedom in 1851, petitioned the U.S. Provisional Court to officially recognize her emancipation on June 30, 1863. 

The Court declared her “henceforth and forever free.” 

Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United States Series: Case Files

Transcription: 

To the Honorable Chas A. Peabody, Judge of the US Provisional Court for the State of Louisiana.

The petition of Marguerite Thompson, a woman of color residing in this City respectfully showeth

That on or about the 26th of December 1851 she became entitled to her freedom by purchasing herself from her master H R W Hill for which she obtained a receipt as will appear by the notarial certificate hereto annexed and made part of this petition.

That her said master long since died and although up to the time of his death and since she has been in the financial enjoyment of her freedom, yet she has suffered much inconvenience and embarrassment in the management of her affairs and property for the want of a formal declaration of the freedom from some important authority.

Wherefore she prays that after due proceedings and satisfying the Court of the truth of her allegations and the justice of her claim, that a judgement be rendered recognizing and declaring her freedom and her status as a free person of color and she will ever pray &c

Alfred Shaw

Attorney for Petitioner

[page 2]

Marguerite Thompson herein duly sworn deposes and says that all the allegations of the foregoing petition are true.

Sworn to and Subscribed before

Me this 30th June, 1863

Her

Marguerite  +  Thompson

MarK

A.N. Murtagh

Assistant Deputy Clerk

Witness

Henry McIntire

[page 3]

The Court Considering the within petition of Marguerite Thompson and the document accompanying the same that she be declared to be henceforth and forever free and that as such she be entitled to see the rights and privileges and immunities of a free person under the laws of the United States

[sideways, as would show when the page is folded to be filed]

No. 189

U.S. Prov’l Court

Marguerite Thompson

Praying for her Emancipation

Petition &c

Filed June 30th 1863

A.N. Murtagh

J.Clerk. 

[fifty-cent Internal Revenue Conveyance stamp attached] 

[firespirited]

I can't wait for Dan Olson to look at the metadata or find a camera in the background on the new James Somerton videos and give us an estimate on gear that costs more than cars.

which is why only future youtube and patreon earnings can go towards compensating those wronged.

Toronto rent will have been 33k per year. Patreon split in two was at least 60-70k per year then there's the Telos 65k. Add youtube revenue for 330k subscribers (half of 60-120k per year minimum without sponsors) ...

Yeah, no wonder he's not providing any receipts for anything.

[leftyywrites]

Death x Taxes

Somethings you can't escape, Death, Taxes, Bureacracy. - J.Cole

In the grand cosmic joke that is existence, Death had discovered an immutable truth far more terrifying than mortality itself: bureaucracy is the only true immortal. They sat at their desk - a masterpiece of Nigerian craftsmanship from three centuries ago, when time meant something and artisans poured their souls into their work - contemplating this revelation while drowning in a sea of tax forms.

The thing about existing beyond the boundaries of time that no one mentions in the brochures (not that there were brochures) is that infinity doesn't exempt you from paperwork. If anything, it multiplies it, like a hydra of administrative duties - cut off one form's head, and three more sprout in its place, each demanding attention in triplicate.

"EXCUSE ME," Death said to the empty office, their voice carrying the weight of a thousand closing tomb doors, "BUT HOW EXACTLY DOES ONE CALCULATE DEPRECIATION ON A SCYTHE THAT EXISTS OUTSIDE OF LINEAR TIME?"

From atop the filing cabinet, a ragdoll cat named Taxes opened one eye and offered the kind of judgment that cats have perfected since the dawn of time. Death had named it Taxes because, like its namesake, it was both inevitable and remarkably annoying. The cat had wandered into Death's office three years ago and, in a display of cosmic irony, simply refused to die.

Death's scythe - currently serving as history's most elaborate letter opener - gleamed in the artificial light, its blade decorated with stickers of Captain America, the Winter Soldier, and Lucky the Monster Hunter. Sometimes, when you've been shepherding souls since the dawn of creation, you need to find joy in the small acts of rebellion against your own image. The stickers were a reminder that even the most final of entities could choose to be something more than their job description.

They picked up their Billy and Mandy calculator (a conscious choice over the standard-issue Supernatural Revenue Service model) and began the existential task of accounting for eternity. The drawer labeled "BUSINESS EXPENSES" told a story far more human than anyone might expect: movie ticket stubs from every screening of Ghostbusters (filed under "professional development"), coffee shop receipts from countless hours spent watching mortals live their beautiful, fleeting lives, and a collection of novelty t-shirts bearing slogans like "Grim Sleeper" and "I am NOT the skeleton detective, we just look alike."

"YOU KNOW, TAXES," Death mused, addressing the cat who had now knocked over their "Existential Muggage" mug (a Secret Santa gift from Madam KoiKoi. I rooted for Lucky, I think she found out.), "PERHAPS I SHOULD NOT HAVE STAYED IN THAT HARVESTING CLASS WHEN I FOUND OUT IT WASN'T ABOUT PRODUCE."

Taxes, flicking her tail in a gesture that conveyed the feline equivalent of "No shit, Sherlock."

The truth about loneliness is that it transcends mortality. Death had started collecting receipts not for tax purposes, but as proof that they existed beyond other people's endings. Each piece of paper was a anchor in time, a reminder that even the eternal could create moments worth remembering.

Death's gaze drifted to their framed certificates - diplomas from the Underworld School of Grim Reaping, honors in Advanced Scything and Ominous Monologuing. Back then, being one of the Four Horsemen had seemed like the ultimate career path. No one mentioned the paperwork. No one ever mentions the paperwork.

The sound of BoJack Horseman played quietly in the background - a show about mortality and purpose that Death found oddly comforting. They turned back to their stack of forms from the Supernatural Revenue Service, each envelope bearing the ominous seal of a raven clutching a quill pen. Even in the realm of eternal entities, bureaucracy reigned supreme.

"IT'S NOT THAT I DISLIKE MY WORK," Death continued, their voice softening. "THERE IS A CERTAIN POETRY IN BEING THE PERIOD AT THE END OF EVERY LIFE'S SENTENCE. BUT SOMETIMES..."

They trailed off, watching Taxes stretch and resettle, the cat's simple existence a reminder that life finds its way even in the office of Death. Perhaps that was the point - not the grandeur of being Death, but the small moments that made existence worthwhile: a purring cat, silly stickers, coffee shop visits, and yes, even the paperwork.

"AH, BUT WHAT'S DONE IS DONE," Death said, squaring their shoulders with newfound purpose. "WE ALL CHOOSE OUR ETERNITIES, DON'T WE? EVEN IF MINE COMES WITH A WITHHOLDING TAX."

And so Death returned to their forms, understanding that perhaps this too was part of the great cosmic balance - that even the end of all things needed its paperwork in order, its receipts filed, its existence documented. After all, what was bureaucracy if not humanity's attempt to impose order on the chaos of existence? And wasn't that, in its own way, a form of immortality?