#The Auto Profit System

[marbongs]

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Autoenshittification

Forget F1: the only car race that matters now is the race to turn your car into a digital extraction machine, a high-speed inkjet printer on wheels, stealing your private data as it picks your pocket. Your car’s digital infrastructure is a costly, dangerous nightmare — but for automakers in pursuit of postcapitalist utopia, it’s a dream they can’t give up on.

Your car is stuffed full of microchips, a fact the world came to appreciate after the pandemic struck and auto production ground to a halt due to chip shortages. Of course, that wasn’t the whole story: when the pandemic started, the automakers panicked and canceled their chip orders, only to immediately regret that decision and place new orders.

But it was too late: semiconductor production had taken a serious body-blow, and when Big Car placed its new chip orders, it went to the back of a long, slow-moving line. It was a catastrophic bungle: microchips are so integral to car production that a car is basically a computer network on wheels that you stick your fragile human body into and pray.

The car manufacturers got so desperate for chips that they started buying up washing machines for the microchips in them, extracting the chips and discarding the washing machines like some absurdo-dystopian cyberpunk walnut-shelling machine:

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/desperate-times-companies-buy-washing-machines-just-to-rip-out-the-chips-187033.html

These digital systems are a huge problem for the car companies. They are the underlying cause of a precipitous decline in car quality. From touch-based digital door-locks to networked sensors and cameras, every digital system in your car is a source of endless repair nightmares, costly recalls and cybersecurity vulnerabilities:

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/quality-new-vehicles-us-declining-more-tech-use-study-shows-2023-06-22/

What’s more, drivers hate all the digital bullshit, from the janky touchscreens to the shitty, wildly insecure apps. Digital systems are drivers’ most significant point of dissatisfaction with the automakers’ products:

https://www.theverge.com/23801545/car-infotainment-customer-satisifaction-survey-jd-power

Even the automakers sorta-kinda admit that this is a problem. Back in 2020 when Massachusetts was having a Right-to-Repair ballot initiative, Big Car ran these unfuckingbelievable scare ads that basically said, “Your car spies on you so comprehensively that giving anyone else access to its systems will let murderers stalk you to your home and kill you:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/03/rip-david-graeber/#rolling-surveillance-platforms

But even amid all the complaining about cars getting stuck in the Internet of Shit, there’s still not much discussion of why the car-makers are making their products less attractive, less reliable, less safe, and less resilient by stuffing them full of microchips. Are car execs just the latest generation of rubes who’ve been suckered by Silicon Valley bullshit and convinced that apps are a magic path to profitability?

Nope. Car execs are sophisticated businesspeople, and they’re surfing capitalism’s latest — and last — hot trend: dismantling capitalism itself.

Now, leftists have been predicting the death of capitalism since The Communist Manifesto, but even Marx and Engels warned us not to get too frisky: capitalism, they wrote, is endlessly creative, constantly reinventing itself, re-emerging from each crisis in a new form that is perfectly adapted to the post-crisis reality:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/books/review/a-spectre-haunting-china-mieville.html

But capitalism has finally run out of gas. In his forthcoming book, Techno Feudalism: What Killed Capitalism, Yanis Varoufakis proposes that capitalism has died — but it wasn’t replaced by socialism. Rather, capitalism has given way to feudalism:

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/451795/technofeudalism-by-varoufakis-yanis/9781847927279

Under capitalism, capital is the prime mover. The people who own and mobilize capital — the capitalists — organize the economy and take the lion’s share of its returns. But it wasn’t always this way: for hundreds of years, European civilization was dominated by rents, not markets.

A “rent” is income that you get from owning something that other people need to produce value. Think of renting out a house you own: not only do you get paid when someone pays you to live there, you also get the benefit of rising property values, which are the result of the work that all the other homeowners, business owners, and residents do to make the neighborhood more valuable.

The first capitalists hated rent. They wanted to replace the “passive income” that landowners got from taxing their serfs’ harvest with active income from enclosing those lands and grazing sheep in order to get wool to feed to the new textile mills. They wanted active income — and lots of it.

Capitalist philosophers railed against rent. The “free market” of Adam Smith wasn’t a market that was free from regulation — it was a market free from rents. The reason Smith railed against monopolists is because he (correctly) understood that once a monopoly emerged, it would become a chokepoint through which a rentier could cream off the profits he considered the capitalist’s due:

https://locusmag.com/2021/03/cory-doctorow-free-markets/

Today, we live in a rentier’s paradise. People don’t aspire to create value — they aspire to capture it. In Survival of the Richest, Doug Rushkoff calls this “going meta”: don’t provide a service, just figure out a way to interpose yourself between the provider and the customer:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/13/collapse-porn/#collapse-porn

Don’t drive a cab, create Uber and extract value from every driver and rider. Better still: don’t found Uber, invest in Uber options and extract value from the people who invest in Uber. Even better, invest in derivatives of Uber options and extract value from people extracting value from people investing in Uber, who extract value from drivers and riders. Go meta.

This is your brain on the four-hour-work-week, passive income mind-virus. In Techno Feudalism, Varoufakis deftly describes how the new “Cloud Capital” has created a new generation of rentiers, and how they have become the richest, most powerful people in human history.

Shopping at Amazon is like visiting a bustling city center full of stores — but each of those stores’ owners has to pay the majority of every sale to a feudal landlord, Emperor Jeff Bezos, who also decides which goods they can sell and where they must appear on the shelves. Amazon is full of capitalists, but it is not a capitalist enterprise. It’s a feudal one:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola

This is the reason that automakers are willing to enshittify their products so comprehensively: they were one of the first industries to decouple rents from profits. Recall that the reason that Big Car needed billions in bailouts in 2008 is that they’d reinvented themselves as loan-sharks who incidentally made cars, lending money to car-buyers and then “securitizing” the loans so they could be traded in the capital markets.

Even though this strategy brought the car companies to the brink of ruin, it paid off in the long run. The car makers got billions in public money, paid their execs massive bonuses, gave billions to shareholders in buybacks and dividends, smashed their unions, fucked their pensioned workers, and shipped jobs anywhere they could pollute and murder their workforce with impunity.

Car companies are on the forefront of postcapitalism, and they understand that digital is the key to rent-extraction. Remember when BMW announced that it was going to rent you the seatwarmer in your own fucking car?

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/02/big-river/#beemers

Not to be outdone, Mercedes announced that they were going to rent you your car’s accelerator pedal, charging an extra $1200/year to unlock a fully functional acceleration curve:

https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/23/23474969/mercedes-car-subscription-faster-acceleration-feature-price

This is the urinary tract infection business model: without digitization, all your car’s value flowed in a healthy stream. But once the car-makers add semiconductors, each one of those features comes out in a painful, burning dribble, with every button on that fakakta touchscreen wired directly into your credit-card.

But it’s just for starters. Computers are malleable. The only computer we know how to make is the Turing Complete Von Neumann Machine, which can run every program we know how to write. Once they add networked computers to your car, the Car Lords can endlessly twiddle the knobs on the back end, finding new ways to extract value from you:

https://doctorow.medium.com/twiddler-1b5c9690cce6

That means that your car can track your every movement, and sell your location data to anyone and everyone, from marketers to bounty-hunters looking to collect fees for tracking down people who travel out of state for abortions to cops to foreign spies:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7enex/tool-shows-if-car-selling-data-privacy4cars-vehicle-privacy-report

Digitization supercharges financialization. It lets car-makers offer subprime auto-loans to desperate, poor people and then killswitch their cars if they miss a payment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U2eDJnwz_s

Subprime lending for cars would be a terrible business without computers, but digitization makes it a great source of feudal rents. Car dealers can originate loans to people with teaser rates that quickly blow up into payments the dealer knows their customer can’t afford. Then they repo the car and sell it to another desperate person, and another, and another:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/27/boricua/#looking-for-the-joke-with-a-microscope

Digitization also opens up more exotic options. Some subprime cars have secondary control systems wired into their entertainment system: miss a payment and your car radio flips to full volume and bellows an unstoppable, unmutable stream of threats. Tesla does one better: your car will lock and immobilize itself, then blare its horn and back out of its parking spot when the repo man arrives:

https://tiremeetsroad.com/2021/03/18/tesla-allegedly-remotely-unlocks-model-3-owners-car-uses-smart-summon-to-help-repo-agent/

Digital feudalism hasn’t stopped innovating — it’s just stopped innovating good things. The digital device is an endless source of sadistic novelties, like the cellphones that disable your most-used app the first day you’re late on a payment, then work their way down the other apps you rely on for every day you’re late:

https://restofworld.org/2021/loans-that-hijack-your-phone-are-coming-to-india/

Usurers have always relied on this kind of imaginative intimidation. The loan-shark’s arm-breaker knows you’re never going to get off the hook; his goal is in intimidating you into paying his boss first, liquidating your house and your kid’s college fund and your wedding ring before you default and he throws you off a building.

Thanks to the malleability of computerized systems, digital arm-breakers have an endless array of options they can deploy to motivate you into paying them first, no matter what it costs you:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/02/innovation-unlocks-markets/#digital-arm-breakers

Car-makers are trailblazers in imaginative rent-extraction. Take VIN-locking: this is the practice of adding cheap microchips to engine components that communicate with the car’s overall network. After a new part is installed in your car, your car’s computer does a complex cryptographic handshake with the part that requires an unlock code provided by an authorized technician. If the code isn’t entered, the car refuses to use that part.

VIN-locking has exploded in popularity. It’s in your iPhone, preventing you from using refurb or third-party replacement parts:

https://doctorow.medium.com/apples-cement-overshoes-329856288d13

It’s in fuckin’ ventilators, which was a nightmare during lockdown as hospital techs nursed their precious ventilators along by swapping parts from dead systems into serviceable ones:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/3azv9b/why-repair-techs-are-hacking-ventilators-with-diy-dongles-from-poland

And of course, it’s in tractors, along with other forms of remote killswitch. Remember that feelgood story about John Deere bricking the looted Ukrainian tractors whose snitch-chips showed they’d been relocated to Russia?

https://doctorow.medium.com/about-those-kill-switched-ukrainian-tractors-bc93f471b9c8

That wasn’t a happy story — it was a cautionary tale. After all, John Deere now controls the majority of the world’s agricultural future, and they’ve boobytrapped those ubiquitous tractors with killswitches that can be activated by anyone who hacks, takes over, or suborns Deere or its dealerships.

Control over repair isn’t limited to gouging customers on parts and service. When a company gets to decide whether your device can be fixed, it can fuck you over in all kinds of ways. Back in 2019, Tim Apple told his shareholders to expect lower revenues because people were opting to fix their phones rather than replace them:

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/01/letter-from-tim-cook-to-apple-investors/

By usurping your right to decide who fixes your phone, Apple gets to decide whether you can fix it, or whether you must replace it. Problem solved — and not just for Apple, but for car makers, tractor makers, ventilator makers and more. Apple leads on this, even ahead of Big Car, pioneering a “recycling” program that sees trade-in phones shredded so they can’t possibly be diverted from an e-waste dump and mined for parts:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/yp73jw/apple-recycling-iphones-macbooks

John Deere isn’t sleeping on this. They’ve come up with a valuable treasure they extract when they win the Right-to-Repair: Deere singles out farmers who complain about its policies and refuses to repair their tractors, stranding them with six-figure, two-ton paperweight:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/31/dealers-choice/#be-a-shame-if-something-were-to-happen-to-it

The repair wars are just a skirmish in a vast, invisible fight that’s been waged for decades: the War On General-Purpose Computing, where tech companies use the law to make it illegal for you to reconfigure your devices so they serve you, rather than their shareholders:

https://memex.craphound.com/2012/01/10/lockdown-the-coming-war-on-general-purpose-computing/

The force behind this army is vast and grows larger every day. General purpose computers are antithetical to technofeudalism — all the rents extracted by technofeudalists would go away if others (tinkereres, co-ops, even capitalists!) were allowed to reconfigure our devices so they serve us.

You’ve probably noticed the skirmishes with inkjet printer makers, who can only force you to buy their ink at 20,000% markups if they can stop you from deciding how your printer is configured:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/07/inky-wretches/#epson-salty But we’re also fighting against insulin pump makers, who want to turn people with diabetes into walking inkjet printers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/10/loopers/#hp-ification

And companies that make powered wheelchairs:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/08/chair-ish/#r2r

These companies start with people who have the least agency and social power and wreck their lives, then work their way up the privilege gradient, coming for everyone else. It’s called the “shitty technology adoption curve”:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/21/great-taylors-ghost/#solidarity-or-bust

Technofeudalism is the public-private-partnership from hell, emerging from a combination of state and private action. On the one hand, bailing out bankers and big business (rather than workers) after the 2008 crash and the covid lockdown decoupled income from profits. Companies spent billions more than they earned were still wildly profitable, thanks to those public funds.

But there’s also a policy dimension here. Some of those rentiers’ billions were mobilized to both deconstruct antitrust law (allowing bigger and bigger companies and cartels) and to expand “IP” law, turning “IP” into a toolsuite for controlling the conduct of a firm’s competitors, critics and customers:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

IP is key to understanding the rise of technofeudalism. The same malleability that allows companies to “twiddle” the knobs on their services and keep us on the hook as they reel us in would hypothetically allow us to countertwiddle, seizing the means of computation:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

The thing that stands between you and an alternative app store, an interoperable social media network that you can escape to while continuing to message the friends you left behind, or a car that anyone can fix or unlock features for is IP, not technology. Under capitalism, that technology would already exist, because capitalists have no loyalty to one another and view each other’s margins as their own opportunities.

But under technofeudalism, control comes from rents (owning things), not profits (selling things). The capitalist who wants to participate in your iPhone’s “ecosystem” has to make apps and submit them to Apple, along with 30% of their lifetime revenues — they don’t get to sell you jailbreaking kit that lets you choose their app store.

Rent-seeking technology has a holy grail: control over “ring zero” — the ability to compel you to configure your computer to a feudalist’s specifications, and to verify that you haven’t altered your computer after it came into your possession:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/30/ring-minus-one/#drm-political-economy

For more than two decades, various would-be feudal lords and their court sorcerers have been pitching ways of doing this, of varying degrees of outlandishness.

At core, here’s what they envision: inside your computer, they will nest another computer, one that is designed to run a very simple set of programs, none of which can be altered once it leaves the factory. This computer — either a whole separate chip called a “Trusted Platform Module” or a region of your main processor called a secure enclave — can tally observations about your computer: which operating system, modules and programs it’s running.

Then it can cryptographically “sign” these observations, proving that they were made by a secure chip and not by something you could have modified. Then you can send this signed “attestation” to someone else, who can use it to determine how your computer is configured and thus whether to trust it. This is called “remote attestation.”

There are some cool things you can do with remote attestation: for example, two strangers playing a networked video game together can use attestations to make sure neither is running any cheat modules. Or you could require your cloud computing provider to use attestations that they aren’t stealing your data from the server you’re renting. Or if you suspect that your computer has been infected with malware, you can connect to someone else and send them an attestation that they can use to figure out whether you should trust it.

Today, there’s a cool remote attestation technology called “PrivacyPass” that replaces CAPTCHAs by having you prove to your own device that you are a human. When a server wants to make sure you’re a person, it sends a random number to your device, which signs that number along with its promise that it is acting on behalf of a human being, and sends it back. CAPTCHAs are all kinds of bad — bad for accessibility and privacy — and this is really great.

But the billions that have been thrown at remote attestation over the decades is only incidentally about solving CAPTCHAs or verifying your cloud server. The holy grail here is being able to make sure that you’re not running an ad-blocker. It’s being able to remotely verify that you haven’t disabled the bossware your employer requires. It’s the power to block someone from opening an Office365 doc with LibreOffice. It’s your boss’s ability to ensure that you haven’t modified your messaging client to disable disappearing messages before he sends you an auto-destructing memo ordering you to break the law.

And there’s a new remote attestation technology making the rounds: Google’s Web Environment Integrity, which will leverage Google’s dominance over browsers to allow websites to block users who run ad-blockers:

https://github.com/RupertBenWiser/Web-Environment-Integrity

There’s plenty else WEI can do (it would make detecting ad-fraud much easier), but for every legitimate use, there are a hundred ways this could be abused. It’s a technology purpose-built to allow rent extraction by stripping us of our right to technological self-determination.

Releasing a technology like this into a world where companies are willing to make their products less reliable, less attractive, less safe and less resilient in pursuit of rents is incredibly reckless and shortsighted. You want unauthorized bread? This is how you get Unauthorized Bread:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/amp/

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

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

[Image ID: The interior of a luxury car. There is a dagger protruding from the steering wheel. The entertainment console has been replaced by the text 'You wouldn't download a car,' in MPAA scare-ad font. Outside of the windscreen looms the Matrix waterfall effect. Visible in the rear- and side-view mirror is the driver: the figure from Munch's 'Scream.' The screen behind the steering-wheel has been replaced by the menacing red eye of HAL9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.']

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[phoebejaysims]

Boutique Mod - DOWNLOAD

Inspired by the sims 2 shopping for clothes system, I present a sims 3 take on buying clothes, accessories and running a thriving boutique! Set up shifts, keep the racks stocked, and you might find yourself in profit!

Required:

Ambitions

NRAAS Master Controller + Integration Module

Optional:

ITF if you want to use the clothes mannequin and some visual effects.

Late Night if you want the animations for the security guard.

Seasons for extra interactions on the mannequin.

Savvy Seller Set for some visual and audio effects.

Full Documentation is included in the download. I spent a while writing it out, so please read thoroughly!

How Stores Work:

Set up a shift

Hire Employees (bosses count as employees so stores are fully functional with only one sim!)

Link at least one rack to the register

Open for business!

Employees:

Store employees can be given three types of roles: register attendant, sales attendant and security guard.

Employees will do their jobs automatically but you can always manually tell them to do things too like: restocking, dressing up mannequins, helping customers, among other things.

Customers:

Inactive and active sims can browse through the racks and have the ability to purchase items. They'll interact differently depending on if they are shopping at a clothes rack, accessory rack, or at a mannequin.

Inactives won't purchase outfits from mannequins unless you direct them to (or you enable auto-purchasing in the XML). However, they may "fake" buy clothes.

Once finished shopping, customers hold their bags and wait to be rung up! Take too long and they may abandon their purchase.

Shopping:

Adjust prices and restrict customers by age and gender to customise your store!

Clothes Racks:

Buy Clothes for your own sim, sims in your household, or (if you're an employee) suggest clothes for customers.

Employees that suggest clothes for customers can fulfil Ambition Stylist jobs this way.

Accessories Racks:

Choose accessories to be sold by adding them to the XML in the package file. The XML comes loaded with a few base game items already plus a couple modded items (Arsil's Sunglasses and lipstick - that won't be loaded unless you have them installed).

Sell buy-mode items as well as CAS items!

Make your CAS items wearable from your sim's inventory using your own meshes or my dummy accessory (see Documentation and XML for details).

Blacklist certain categories from being shown. If you want a dedicated shoe shop or an opticians, you can have it!

Try on products before buying them to see if they suit your sim. If there's a mirror in the room, they'll check themselves out in it.

Clothing Mannequin:

Try on the mannequin outfits to see if they suit your sim.

Plan different outfits to display and even set them to be rotated through seasonally.

Let your employees be creative and choose a random outfit for the mannequin to wear.

Buy clothes for your own sim, household members, or customers.

Allow or disallow inactives from automatically purchasing display outfits.

Security Gates:

Give your security guards something to stand and look threatening by.

You can try your luck at stealing from the shop. If you're caught, you'll have to pay up. If you get past the gates (or if there are no gates), enjoy your bounty!

Boutique Door:

Cloned from the Savvy Seller doors without the annoying 'kick-every-last-person-out-the-building-come-closing-time' feature.

Link this to a register and let the open and close sign automatically flip itself. Also, close the store or rename it, straight from the door.

Phone Interactions:

Ask for time off work (paid or unpaid).

Call in sick.

Cancel vacation days.

Credits and Thanks:

@dhalsims for adding geostates to the ITF rack for me. Modders, I really recommend her if you need any 3D models made also!

DouglasVeiga for the BG rack with the geostates.

@aroundthesims for allowing me to use her objects in my mod as always!

Sims 4 for all the animations that I converted.

Simstate & merchant mods for the idea to go into a mode to link racks to the register.

The OG shop for clothes mod and pedestal by @anitmb.

Arsil and @zoeoe-sims for wearable CAS items idea that I adapted.

Ani's Candle mod & Amb. Makeover XML which I looked at for inspo on how to do accessory rack xml.

Compatibility:

All new objects so shouldn't conflict with anything really.

Removes the 'plan outfit' interaction from dressers.

Made on version 1.67.

If you would like to donate as thanks, please feel free to do so at: my kofi! I don't take your generosity for granted!

Download: - Simblr.cc - 2t3 Boutique Mod Suggested Extra CC: - Lyralei's TS2 Conversions (incl. clothes changing booth) - More ATS3 Security Gates - ATS3 Friperie Set

Known issues, prop information and the full feature breakdown are all in the documentation.

Please be patient with me if there are bugs to fix. Also, anyone who DMs me "I don't know how to create a new shift" will be immediately fined £150.

With that said, please enjoy the mod and tag me in your beautiful boutiques,

Phoebe :)

[aahanna]

"Haven't you noticed that we often bargain with poor people, like street vendors and auto drivers, but rarely negotiate prices with wealthy individuals or businesses that make significant profits every year? It's time to change this system and reconsider our approach to bargaining and fair pricing."

[askagamedev]

I'm willing to accept that AAA games should often be sold at a higher price to help deal balance the increasing cost of development. Do you think that companies would do better to raise prices quickly and wait out the sticker-shock or to try and raise prices very slowly to attract less attention?

I'm pretty sure that, as an industry, we've mostly already moved beyond that. Haven't you noticed just how many AAA game releases these days aren't about a single sale but live service? The live service model is the price increase. The cost of development for AAA fidelity games is mostly too high now to be profitable on their own. The only real exceptions are grandfathered franchises (e.g. Elder Scrolls) and first party prestige titles to help sell systems (e.g. God of War, Sony's Spider-Man). Even former mainstays like Nintendo titles and Grand Theft Auto have embraced paid DLC, ongoing content drops, and a live service model.

Everything else is basically a live service or approximates a live service (e.g. Call of Duty's annual release) with regular content updates alongside battle passes, cosmetics, and microtransactions. Lifetime spend on these games per average player is already much higher than anything we could feasibly ask for up front. Raising prices would hurt initial sales, which would also hurt long-term earnings through the forthcoming content updates. Instead, for the bump in initial sale we offer cheap plastic toys, other inexpensive pack-ins, and maybe an in-game cosmetic and call it a "collector's edition".

[Join us on Discord] and/or [Support us on Patreon]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent Questions: The FAQ

[brainrotallthewaydown1312]

I have a personal l&co hc that I can't get out of my head, so now y'all get to enjoy the absolutely riveting content that is the Portland Row budgeting system. under the cut because this is a needlessly detailed post that like 5 people will be interested in

I think that when they are paid for a job, the first thing that happens to the money is that there is a big cut that goes to bills for the house and business. mortgage, utilities, groceries, ghost supplies, advertising, etc. I think it's probably 50-60% of most jobs pay. probably a smaller cut on big jobs that come with bigger checks.

I think Lockwood started out trying very hard to be a "proper business man" and split the remainder evenly and paid them every other Friday because that's what your supposed to do. but I think that would have devolved after only a few months living and working together. between covering each other for dinner or coffee and getting household stuff with their money and everyone feeling a little weird on payday because it was one of the only times there was a clear boss/employee dynamic because they all saw each other as genuine equals, it just didn't make sense to keep doing it that way.

and so I think George (after pestering Lockwood about fixing the budgeting) sat down and set it up so that it was basically automatic profit sharing. first the bills and expenses cut goes straight to an auto pay acct. and then the remaining cut goes to a general house acct, which pays out a small allowance to each of their personal accts each week. most of the stuff they get and do is covered from the joint acct because it makes sense that way. but they do each have their own money and savings.

after the new system is set up George checks on the balances and bank statements once a week but it mostly manages itself. he folds it into the other chores that he does and likes how simple it is to keep running.

Lockwood pretends to be grumpy about not being in charge but is not so secretly very happy to not have to worry about it. he is also very happy that this puts all of them on equal footing with the business because he he like being the leader and the face of things, but he doesn't like the power dynamic of being the boss.

Lucy is worried at first that they will argue about spending from the joint acct, but they very rarely ever run into issues with it, and when there is it is almost always resolved quickly because while they all bicker about smaller things and about everyone's bad habits, they actually get along and manage house very smoothly

---

edit: i have in fact added more domestic head canons in this thread and I have been seeing a lot of people tagging asking for more. they are in the notes if you're interested

[bewilderedbunny]

Objection! (Eddie x reader smut) 18+ only!

Author's note and content warnings:

2.6k words of silly smut. minors DNI!

I thought that a meet cute between a court stenographer and defendant would be fun. Please keep in mind that I know nothing about the judicial system and my only point of references are Better Call Saul and Legally Blonde. (I also found out that the dancing inflatable tubeman wasn't invented until the mid-late 90s. Please forgive me for my ignorance.)

Fem!reader along with use of she/her pronouns. No use of Y/N, just honey, ma'am and sweetheart. Mechanic!Eddie (it isn't touched on much in the story but that is his job in this world) slightly sub!Eddie, vigilante!Eddie, Eddie has a little bit of a stocking fetish, Eddie is a thigh man in this fic, mentions of drugs, oral sex (f receiving) unprotected piv sex (don't do that IRL) strangers to lovers.

Credit to @firefly-graphics for the divider ❄️ not tagging anyone since this isn't my usual fluff 💗

It's a gray, snowy morning as you step off the city bus and walk to Hawkins courthouse. You check your watch as you enter the building. The first case of the day is at 8am and you've got 45 minutes to get your coffee and set up your station.

Most days are pretty much the same with your work. Scribing every word spoken during a case, then later editing and finalizing the transcript. Every once in a while you speak when you need someone to repeat themselves or when you are called upon to read a portion of the transcripts. Other than those instances, your job is to turn off your brain and type as fast and accurately as you possibly can. It can be a monotonous, boring job but it works for you.

You hang up your coat, grab a paper cup of coffee and sit at your station as you wait for the first case of the day.

The prosecutor enters, you see it's Leonard Mitchell. He's one of the older DAs and he has a reputation for being stubborn and irritable.

Next to enter the room is the defendant accompanied by his attorney. The defendant is wearing a slightly wrinkled white button-up shirt, black jeans, and boots, and his long brown curls are tied back into a bun. He whispers something to his lawyer as they take a seat.

The defense attorney looks vaguely familiar to you, but you can't place his name. He's in his mid-forties and has the cadence of an overworked and under-resourced public defender.

The bailiff enters the room and announces,

"ALL RISE"

All of you rise as the judge enters the room.

"Court is now in session. The honorable Judge Steward is presiding."

Judge Steward is one of your favorites. She's mastered the art of being patient yet firm and she's always been kind to you. You're scheduled to work beside her all day today.

"Good morning, everyone. Calling the case of the State of Indiana versus Edward Munson. The charge is petty theft. Mr. Munson, how do you plead?"

Eddie pleads not guilty and the proceedings begin.

The prosecutor starts his argument.

"On the evening of November 12th, an air dancer was stolen from Wheels and Deals car dealership. That air dancer was then seen at one of the defendants' rock shows."

Judge Steward interjects, "What is an "air dancer" exactly?"

"Your honor, an air dancer is an inflatable figure that, when attached to a fan, dances and flails around. They are mostly used for advertising, which was what Wheels and Deals Auto purchased this item for until it was stolen by Mr. Munson. The loss of potential profits from losing this item is substantial."

Eddie scoffs and his defense attorney rebuts with,

"They aren't exactly Superbowl commercials. They could bring in what, an extra sale or two?"

"Yes- of a car. Of which the average sale price for this establishment is for one single vehicle is $14,000."

Eddie's eyes go wide, he can't seriously be expected to pay 14 grand for a balloon, right?

The judge asks, "Mr. Mitchell, how much did Wheels & Deals purchase the air dancer for?"

"$149.95."

The arguments continue for a while, once they are finalized, Judge Steward makes her ruling.

"On the charge of petty theft, I find Mr. Munson guilty. He is ordered to pay $20 in restitution and work 12 hours of community service. The court is now adjourned."

As everyone leaves the room, you're approached by Regina, Judge Steward's clerk.

"You're the court reporter today, right?"

"Yes, I am."

"You can go. Judge Steward had something come up so the rest of the cases today are being postponed."

You grab your coat and walk outside. The ground is covered in slushy snow and as you walk down the courthouse steps, you lose your footing and start to slip. Just as you do, a hand reaches out to hold your elbow and steady you.

You look up and see the balloon thief smiling down at you from a step above. Now he's added a hoodie, leather jacket, and a denim vest over his button-up.

"Careful there, sweetheart. You could've fallen and landed on your money makers." He nods to your hands as he says "money makers" which makes you laugh.

"That would have been awful. Thanks, Mr. Munson."

"No problem. Let's make sure you make it the rest of the way in one piece, 'kay?"

He holds onto you the rest of the way down the stairs. Once you're on the sidewalk, he lets go, you miss his touch instantly.

"Thanks again, Mr. Munson. Take care."

"You too, sweetheart."

He gives you a nod before walking to the parking garage. You wait at the bus stop and check the schedule. The next bus isn't due for another 15 minutes. You would normally head back inside to wait but you don't want to risk embarrassing yourself again with the stairs.

You're shivering and breathing into your hands as a beat-up van approaches. Eddie reaches over and rolls down his passenger window to talk to you.

"You're gonna freeze out here, y'know?"

"Oh, I'm fine Mr. Munson. Really, don't worry about it."

"C'mon, let me drive you home."

You take a moment before getting in the van. It smells like cigarettes and some type of woodsy air freshener or cologne.

You buckle your seatbelt and thank him.

"Of course. Can't leave a fair maiden such as yourself to freeze. Where to?"

You smile at him and give him your address.

There's a comfortable silence between the two of you as he drives.

You look over at him and say, "Can I ask you something?" He looks at you from the corner of his eye.

"Why did I steal the air dancer?"

"Why did you steal the air dancer?"

"I didn't, he just came to my show. Can't help it that he has great music taste. Nice guy, actually. Named him Ozzy.

You laugh and he then says,

"That dealership is the worst, scamming people into buying shitty used cars for well over what they're worth. I work at Thacher Tire and we have so many people come in after being scammed by that place. I just had enough."

God, he stole something so stupid for such a sweet reason.

"That makes sense. A little payback for the people."

He looks at you and smiles, a beautiful dimpled smile "Exactly."

"How do you feel about the verdict?"

"Well, I'm still disappointed that my original trial by combat request was denied."

Your laughter fills the van, delighting Eddie as he continues,

"I'm glad I only have to pay $20, wish it was $0 but it's much more ideal than 14k."

"Very true."

"And the community service is fine. I mean, I was doing service for the community by stealing the damn thing in the first place but whatever." You nod in agreement as he continues,

"I'll be honest, one of the reasons I stole Ozzy is that I thought he'd be fun for shows. And for business."

"At the tire shop?"

"No, I deal on the side."

"Deal… cars?"

He laughs, "No, uh, other stuff."

Your eyebrows shoot up to your hairline and scold him,

"Eddie! Don't tell someone you met at the courthouse that you're a drug dealer!"

"Aw, I'm not Mr. Munson anymore? I liked when you called me that." You roll your eyes as he pulls up to your home. You're disappointed the drive was so short.

"I'm mostly just sad that I had to give Ozzy back to those dickheads. He belongs on stage with the real Ozzy, y'know?"

Your heart hurts at his personification of the inflatable man. You place your hand on his arm and say,

"Maybe they sent him to a farm where he can dance to Black Sabbath all day with others just like him."

He looks at your hand and bites his lip as he smiles.

"That's the dream. What, uh, what do you have going on the rest of the day?"

"Well, they sent me home early so I have no plans. I'm all free."

"Yeah? I'm kind of a free man too, in a way. Avoided some serious prison time today."

"Yeah? What are you gonna do with your newly found freedom, Mr. Munson?"

He looks at you for a moment before leaning in to kiss you. It's soft at first, your lips are barely touching as warm breath fans over you. He holds the back of your head with one hand and rubs your thigh with the other as he deepens the kiss. You give a tentative swipe at his lips with your tongue. He opens his mouth and repeats the action to you. You have your hands pressed against his chest as you lick into each other's mouths.

You pull back and invite him to come inside, he smiles a big toothy grin before jumping out of the van and sprinting (and sliding) to the passenger side to open your door. You giggle at him, he holds your waist as you walk up to your front door. You hesitate before opening it, realizing you should make sure he isn't some notorious drug kingpin.

"What do you deal?"

"Just weed. Sometimes other stuff but it's usually just weed."

"Other stuff? Like what?" Once the door is unlocked take off your shoes and he follows suit.

"Well, it's rare that anyone wants it, but every once in a while I sell ketamine."

"The horse tranquilizer?"

"What's a girl like you know about special k?" He asks.

You chuckle, "A girl like me spent 60 hours last week transcribing in drug court. Probably recording some of your clients, now that I think about it."

You lead him to your bedroom. Once you're inside, he slips off your coat and cardigan, then begins unbuttoning your shirt.

"Well with customer confidentiality I couldn't possibly say." He removes your shirt once it's unbuttoned and leans down to plant kisses along your breasts. You moan and tug at the many layers covering his torso, he takes the hint and removes them.

"Of course. You're a professional, after all." You kiss his neck and trace the tattoos that decorate his chest with your fingers.

"But, the next time one of my customers gets picked up, I may have to show up to their arraignment if it means I get to see you again."

You laugh and lay back on your bed before replying, "You think that would be good for their case? Their dealer showing up with a stolen air dancer?"

He climbs on top of you, a couple of loose curls hang by your face as he leans in.

"Who knows? I may just woo you into accidentally writing the transcript as not guilty."

You roll your eyes and kiss him.

He runs his hand up your stocking-covered leg. Once he reaches the top of your thigh where the fabric ends, he lets out a groan.

"Fuck, these don't go all the way up? You're killing me here. Let's get this skirt out of the way so I can get a better look."

He unzips your skirt and rolls it down your legs. Once it reaches your ankles, he stops and rests his head against your calf.

"Honey, you are something else." He kisses his way along your leg. He looks into your eyes as he lightly bites the fabric of your stockings and pulls. Your thighs go to close on instinct but he pulls them apart.

"Y-you tear those and you're buying me another pair."

"That's fine. Got a deal set up later today with Arod for some Ket."

"Who?"

"Arod? Legolas' horse in Lord of the Rings? He- y'know nevermind. It's not important right now. I'll tell you after."

You laugh at him and he returns his focus to kissing up your thigh. He lays smooches and licks in the area where your mound and thigh meet.

Your hips buck, he holds them down and says, "Woah, down girl."

"You're ridicu-"

He cuts you off by pressing his mouth to your clothed pussy.

You gasp and hold onto his hair.

He pulls back to slide off your panties and says, "Keep talking, sweetheart. Tell me how ridiculous I am while I lick you out." your face heats up as he uses his pointer and middle finger to spread your lips, inspecting you.

"Fuck. Isn't she pretty?"

He spits directly on your clit which makes you squirm. He licks a flat stripe up your folds before eagerly lapping at your clit. It sends little shocks through your whole body. His big hands keep your thighs spread as he devours you.

The slick, wet sounds combined with both of your moans is, quite frankly, obscene.

He moves down to your entrance and gives it a few licks before shoving his tongue in as far as it will go. You gasp and shudder as he presses in and out, fucking you with his tongue. He switches from keeping your thighs spread to squeezing them against his head. You're a bit worried about hurting him, but he's having the time of his life.

The vibration from the little pleasured noises he is making, the feeling of his tongue inside you, and his nose nudging against your clit has you nearly sobbing.

You feel his eyes bore into you and when you finally give in and look down at him, he's a mess. Red cheeks, ruffled hair, and a twinkle in his eyes as he watches you come undone.

He shakes his head back and forth desperately for a moment before moving up to focus on your clit. Having his pretty pink lips eagerly suck at your oversensitive clit is almost painful. As you feel the pressure in your belly build, you tug on his hair and whisper that you're close. He continues sucking, working for your orgasm like it's a prize to be won.

When your release hits, you're seeing stars. He doesn't stop sucking and lapping until you push him away, twitching and teary-eyed. He moves up your body and kisses you. He's more gentle with your mouth than he was with your cunt and the taste of him mixed with your own slick is mouthwatering.

You reach down and fumble with his belt. You tug down his pants and boxers just enough for his cock to spring out. It's a bit longer than average and thick with a reddened, leaky tip. You stroke it softly as he kisses your neck.

"Gotta be inside of you, honey. Please?" He practically whimpers.

"Mhmm, put in me."

You feel him smile against you before saying,

"Yes ma'am. Here, let me help." Reaching down, he covers your hand that's holding his cock with his own and guides your hands up and down your folds before prodding at your entrance.

He enters you slowly, inch by inch, until he's buried all the way in.

"Jesus Christ, I'm not gonna last long. She's squeezin' me so tight. I nearly creamed my pants from eating you out."

"It's okay, Eddie. Take your time."

He holds still for a moment before grinding into you. You moan and hold onto his shoulders. Once he has control over himself, he finds a rhythm. The patch of curly hair surrounding his cock tickles your clit with every thrust. He reaches down to grip your thighs as he fucks you. He lasts for a few moments before pulling back to look at you with a pained expression on his face.

"You okay?"

"Fuck, I'm so close. Where c-can I cum?"

"Wh-where do you want to cum?"

"Your thighs, fuck. Want to cum on your thighs so bad."

"Please, paint my stockings, Mr. Munson."

Your words send him over the edge, he curses and pulls out, covering your stocking and skin with his release. He lays down beside you and pulls you to his chest. You listen to his heartbeat while he takes a moment to catch his breath. Once he does, he says,

"So, as I was saying, Arod is Legolas' horse and-"

[netherworldpost]

"Say, your advertising your project's existence was just a little zine, wasn't he?"

I will never advocate being anything less than professional with Staff. Raging user at social media network is not effective or good for anyone.

A(n alleged) decrease of commitment on their part to a platform I am committed to is not a comfortable position

Ultimately, they are treating this like a business decision, which is fair

So am I. We both have an equal right to self preservation and project growth.

Here is an outline post on how to make zines in the thought line of "I run a small widget and I want people to remember I exist."

It's not for everyone, it's not the only solution, it's not perfect, it's not a one-size-fits-all. You'll have to modify it.

MY PLAN

My current numbers as of this writing is to produce a small zine using 1 sheet of paper on a custom-printed envelope and mailed to customers once a month.

Retail price will be $10/year, production cost per customer is just shy of $14/year, so each sign up costs the company $4/year (about $0.33/month).

Free shipping (simplifies things)

Billed 1 year at a time. Payment processing has a floor of $0.30, costs would be destroyed if we handled it monthly.

No auto-renew. This easily could become an experiential nightmare for customers and us as a shop. Reminders will be included during the last few months.

1 sheet of paper cut in half and folded in half stapled into a zine. Very limited space. Fun, bright, we can produce it quickly in-house. Small so it doesn't create a project backlog.

For us: this project is not to make money.

It is to remind folks we exist when they remember "oh hey Someone's Birthday is coming up, I should get a card from Netherworld Post Office. Maybe a few labels to decorate the envelope, a sticker or two for my water bottle."

From past experience, a handful-percent of customers on this kind of system will make the entire system profitable, annually.

The rest will enjoy it tremendously, which pays dividends in unexpected and myriad ways. Word of mouth of mouth of mouth of mouth of mouth (etc.)

Ultimately: the risk is brutally small.

YOUR PLAN

Can be whatever you want.

Part of the reason my costs are so high is because I want custom printed envelopes. If I got blank envelopes then rubber stamped them, I would save about 25%

But. I explicitly want crisply printed multi-colored envelopes

(because we are going to sell envelopes in time, so it's a continual proof of production in terms of what we can do)

You could also charge some or all shipping. Or raise the price. (Or not do any of this!)

There is a pin company in Canada that sends me a reminder every six months or so that they exist and like clockwork I buy a packet of pins and stickers. Not every reminder, probably 2-3 times every 3-4 years.

Same idea.

Some folks will prefer email newsletters -- which they don't pay for, that's great, we offer that too.

Online advertising exists. It can be cheap. It is always at least medium-level complicated.

Moving into the woods and saying "no social media networks for this biz!" is not practical (or us and for many)

Rebooting an audience every 5-10 years on a different network is not practical

I HOPE TUMBLR OUTLIVES ME

It is my sincere and legitimate hope that this site continues, grows, evolves, strengthens. For both personal and professional reasons.

I similarly recognize that my goals and theirs may not continue to align forever -- and that's far more my problem than theirs.

Here is the zine guide link from the beginning.

Here is our shop's landing page with newsletter signup for when we launch.

Good luck everyone (staff explicitly included in "everyone")

[mariacallous]

When the United Auto Workers announced the expansion of their strike on Friday morning, the cleverness of their strategy was immediately apparent. The union has gradually turned up the heat on the “Big Three” — as well Joe Biden, who now plans to head to Michigan on Tuesday in what is likely to be an unprecedented show of union solidarity by a sitting president.

The UAW started its work stoppage a week ago by walking out at three assembly facilities, one apiece for Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. Then, this morning, the union’s president, Shawn Fain, said the UAW would expand its strike significantly — to 38 parts distribution facilities — but only at those belonging to GM and Stellantis, which owns the Jeep and Dodge brands.

Any parent understands what the union is doing here: Fain is patting one child on the head and giving her a candy bar, while sending the other two out back to rake leaves.

Fain made clear in a Friday speech that he felt Ford had made significant movement in talks and was determined to reach a good-faith deal. “At GM and Stellantis, it’s a different story,” Fain said. Ford had made satisfactory proposals on cost-of-living increases, the elimination of “tiered” pay scales, and job security measures, the union leader explained, while its competitors still fell short in those areas.

When the union announced only limited strikes to start, some militant workers and supporters understandably grumbled that the union was holding back. But it’s obvious a big part of this plan — dubbed the “Stand Up Strike,” an homage to the UAW’s famous “sit-down strikes” of the 1930s — has always been to leave more options on the table. Not only can the union tighten the vise by adding more facilities to the work stoppage, it can punish or reward any of the Big Three individually as it sees fit. There is still plenty of time for the strategy to succeed or fail, but it’s hard to say the upsides aren’t becoming more clear.

Not only does this playbook keep the automakers on their toes, it continues to generate headlines in a way a more standard strike could not. Any expansion of the work stoppage will be newsworthy, ensuring the strike grows in scope and impact rather than peters out — and in turn courts responses from the White House as the political and economic stakes of the showdown grow.

Until now, Biden has voiced support for the workers but walked a careful line regarding the contract dispute. He said in public comments last week that the Big Three should “go further” with their offers, and that “record corporate profits” for the automakers should translate into “record contracts” for union members. “I respect workers’ right to use their options under the collective bargaining system. And I understand the workers’ frustration,” he said.

But Biden’s support is likely to look much stronger next week. Fain invited the self-described “most pro-union president” ever to stand side by side with striking workers, and Biden tweeted Friday afternoon that he plans to oblige. A presidential visit to a picket line will put even more pressure on the automakers to reach a deal with the UAW. And thanks to its strategy, the union still has more room to escalate.

[workersolidarity]

FORD CAVES TO UAW STRIKERS. 38 MORE LOCALS JOIN STRIKES AGAINST GM AND STELLANTIS

United Auto Workers, which has had just under 13'000 of its workers striking against the Big Three Automakers: Ford, GM and Stellantis ever since September 15th, is calling on 38 more locals to strike.

The 38 Locals represent another 5'625 workers to strike against GM and Stellantis.

Ford, which has largely already caved, is giving up its two-tiered pay system, increasing its Profit-Sharing offer to 13.3%, restoring Cost-Of-Living increases it dropped in 2009, and has agreed to immediate conversion of all Temp employees to Full-time employees, as well as agreed to the Union's Right to strike over plant closings. And so, no other Ford Locals have been added to the strike.

[dragoneyes618]

A subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce heard emotional testimony last week from University of Californian college professors (and two others) about how Jew-hatred has affected their careers since the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

The Committee heard from four witnesses: Mark Rienzi is the President and CEO of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C. Brian Keating is the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University at UC San Diego. Melissa Emrey-Arras is the Director of the GAO’s Education, Workforce and Income Security Team in Washington, D.C. Professor Dafna Golden is a Geography professor at Mt. San Antonino College in Walnut, California.

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Dafna Golden, testified that it would be unbearable to continue to do her job due to the antisemitism that she has experienced.

“Like so many of my Jewish colleagues at colleges across the country, the general antisemitic, hostile environment turned to focus on me directly because I am a Jew,” Golden told the subcommittee. “Because I won’t hide or reject my connection as a Jew to the Jewish state and the Jewish people.”

Due to the “toxic atmosphere and severe impact on my mental health and my professional standing, and the refusal of my employer to protect me in my workplace, I have decided to transition out of academia as soon as possible,” the professor testified.

The hearing is the latest round of the committee’s investigation into Jew-hatred on college campuses and in K-12 education since Oct. 7.

Students and faculty have launched a flurry of formal discrimination complaints and lawsuits alleging that school administrations fostered a hostile environment against Jews, amid the proliferation of anti-Israel and antisemitic protests on campuses.

Brian Keating, who is also Jewish, described what that environment was like for younger professors and students on his campus.

“Faculty members call their colleagues ‘colonizers,’” Keating testified. “During a tour of a lab and workspace environment where Israelis and Jews are working and pursuing their studies, they are confronted by calls for elimination of the one Jewish homeland.”

One of the most shocking parts of the hearing was when Keating reported that John Hildebrand, an oceanographer at UC San Diego who serves as that university’s chair for the University of California Academic Senate, who met with Students for Justice in Palestine, but refused on five separate occasions to meet with any Jewish students, citing various excuses, like lack of time, even as some of these students were feeling physically threatened. He also refused to meet with any Jewish professors outside of very limited circumstances.

Keating also described the role that the United Auto Workers labor union has played in organizing strikes and anti-Israel protests.

Despite its name, the union now represents more than 100,000 academic workers across the country, including 48,000 faculty and student employees in UAW local 4811 representing the University of California system.

“They are effectively forced to be members of the United Auto Workers union as part of their contract and their collective bargaining agreement,” Keating said, of his graduate student teaching assistants.

“They organize rolling strikes, they call them ‘day of action’ or ‘complicity tours,’ where they would organize shutdowns of campus or attempt to shut down campus,” he said.

UAW 4811’s website is almost entirely devoted to anti-Israel protest-related grievances.

“UAW members have chosen to participate in the nonviolent Palestine Solidarity Encampments to call attention to UC’s financial ties to Israel’s war effort and urge UC to divest from companies and industries currently profiting off of the suffering in Gaza,” the site said.

An Orange County superior court judge ruled in early June that UAW 4811’s strike violated its collective bargaining agreement with the University of California and issued a restraining order against it.

Additionally, Keating related testimony compiled from Jewish UCSD students. One graduate said, “I don’t know how much longer I can do this. I can’t work at UCSD, I can barely live here – and I have learned, brutally and painfully, where my life ranks for the people I’m surrounded by every day.”

Another, a professor of anthropology, said: “In October, anthropology professors canceled classes in solidarity with Hamas and used departmental listservs to urge others to follow suit. A Jewish professor was publicly called a hypocrite for not attending a meeting on Passover. The Director of Undergraduate Studies presented a letter demanding faculty take a public stand against the Chancellor and Israel, which she had coerced students into signing. Professors have also pushed for BDS, the Chancellor’s resignation, and actions against Israel while suppressing opposing viewpoints. They aim to sever research and teaching partnerships with Israeli scholars despite these scholars protesting against their government.”

Keating reported that despite multiple official complaints to the Office of Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination and appeals to the DEI Officer, no actions have been taken. The university has also ignored requests for an advisory committee on antisemitism and testimony given to lawyers investigating an open Title VI case.

In her written testimony, Golden noted that the campus (her workplace) became increasingly hostile after she confronted a colleague about showing an antisemitic video – “The Occupation of the American Mind,” narrated by the notorious antisemite Roger Waters – in his classroom just weeks after Oct. 7. The film’s central thesis is that “leaders of major Jewish organizations” have conspired to use their power to control and thus “occupy” the minds of innocent Americans so that they would support Israel. Golden wrote, “The movie is basically a screen version of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and serves no academic function.”

After her complaint, the movie was not screened campus-wide, but the professor continued to show this film in his classes on U.S. History, Mexican American History and Native American History.

In retaliation, the professor began a campaign of harassment against Golden, calling her a “violent Zionist” and a “former soldier in the IDF” (she was never in the IDF) in an email sent to his entire class. He told students “to stand up” to her. A Jewish student in one of the professor’s classes documented these actions, including a disturbing incident where the professor mimicked a Nazi salute in class.

Then “individuals associated with a notorious antisemitic organization on campus, Shut It Down 4 Palestine, vandalized the bulletin board outside my office by removing my Israeli flag and pro-Israel articles, and replacing them with anti-Israel propaganda, including a flyer with demands to ‘Renounce the Pro-Zionist,’ ‘Remove the Pro-Zionist library display,’ and ‘Declare support for Palestine,’” Golden wrote.

Additionally, Golden testified that she had installed “a perfectly normal, non-ideological, academic display at the school library on Israel’s changing borders from prior to the establishment of the state until the present time” which featured books such as Coexistence & Reconciliation in Israel and both the Israeli and Palestinian flags. But due to student complaints and “division in the community,” the library removed the display.

Golden’s RateMyProfessors.com profile was also bombarded with fake negative reviews. “Students making public comments at the open meeting of the Mt. SAC Board of Trustees demanded that I be fired and declared a boycott of my classes.”

Golden’s spring semester on-campus class was canceled due to low enrollment, limiting her teaching to online only. “My lack of on-campus presence has deteriorated crucial collaborative relationships, essential for the multi-disciplinary program I manage. My colleagues’ reactions during virtual meetings and their reluctance to engage with me professionally underscore the prevalent hostility. My attempts to engage with key faculty and administration, including the head of the Ethnic Studies department, the President of the Faculty Academic Senate and the President of Mt. SAC, have been ignored, leaving the pervasive anti-Semitism on campus unaddressed.”

A few days before the hearing, three Jewish students at the University of California, Los Angeles – two law students and an undergraduate – asked a federal court on Monday to force UCLA to protect their safety when they return to the public school’s campus on Aug. 15.

“UCLA allowed a group of extremist students and outside agitators to set up an encampment where they stopped Jewish students from accessing classes, the library and other critical parts of campus,” stated the Becket Fund, which is representing the students.

The public school “allowed and reinforced these zones, breaking the law and hurting its Jewish students,” Becket added, noting the students are “asking a federal court to prevent UCLA from ever allowing such exclusion of Jewish students again.”

“No student should have to fear for their safety or pass a religious test to walk freely at a public university,” said Mark Rienzi, president of Becket, who is representing the students along with the firm Clement & Murphy.

“UCLA’s behavior on this issue has been shameful, and the students need a court order to allow them to return to campus safely this fall,” Rienzi said.

The law students are Yitzchok Frankel – a father of four, who “faced antisemitic harassment simply for wearing a kippah and was forced to abandon his regular routes through campus because of the Jew Exclusion Zone” – and Eden Shemuelian, who had to walk around the encampment and hear its antisemitic chants, “severely” compromising her studies for final exams, per Becket.

An undergraduate history major, Joshua Ghayoum “was repeatedly blocked from accessing the library and other public spaces.” He also heard chants of “death to Jews” from the encampment, Becket said.

“It’s appalling that an elite American university would actively support and encourage masked mobs of antisemites,” Rienzi stated. “UCLA’s Jewish community needs to know that they’ll be safe on campus before the start of the fall semester.”

[dailyanarchistposts]

I wanted to share some thoughts I’ve been having recently about the idea of a “Universal Basic Income” or UBI that has become an important topic of discussion in the US recently.

This January, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist firm called Y Combinator issued a “Request for Research” to explore the idea of a guaranteed income. [1] In the proposal, the firm requests applications from researchers interested in examining what happens when you give a set of people a basic income for a five-year period. The underlying assumption is that they want to know if people will blow free money on heroin, basically.

Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator and its “philosopher king” according to the Awl, summarized his interest in the problem of income inequality in an essay called “Economic Inequality”: “when I hear people saying that economic inequality is bad and should be eliminated, I feel rather like a wild animal overhearing a conversation between hunters.” [2] After facing criticism for saying this, Graham removed this language in an updated version of the text. [3] The essay is a gripping read. Graham begins by acknowledging himself as a “manufacturer of income inequality” and “an expert on how to increase income inequality.” Graham strikes me as an important, articulate figure explaining how contemporary robber barons in the early 21st century understand the capitalist system.

So UBI is an idea that’s floating around and it’s no surprise that it’s coming from an economic sector, venture capitalists, who make money by investing in companies which are exploring ways to eliminate jobs on an enormous scale. The idea is emerging at the outset of what bourgeois economists are calling “Industry 4.0.” [5] This fourth industrial revolution (after mechanization, water/steam power; mass production, the assembly line, and electricity, and computers and automation) will involve cyber-physical systems, the “Internet of things” and cloud computing, according to its contemporary prophets. But in addition to the enormous profits capitalists hope to make from this transformation in the foundations of the contemporary economy, they are also recognizing the political problems it might produce, in particular the very real possibility of substantial increases in unemployment as new technology enables companies to eliminate jobs once previously considered untouchable.

Truck driving is an important example of how this transformation might take place. Auto companies, as I’m sure everyone knows, are actively pursuing partnerships with Silicon Valley in order to bring computers into cars. In spite of all evidence of the problems of global warming from carbon-based fuel consumption, these companies are actively pursuing self-driving cars. [6][7][8][9]

The problem with this technology, which relates to truck driving, is that driverless technology is actually extremely expensive. Recently, a company called Otto launched with a view toward migrating the technology for driverless cars to trucks. In an interview I heard on the radio, one of its founders noted the expense associated with driverless technology, something like $50,000. For a consumer vehicle, such technology would effectively more than double the cost of a car. But for a semi-truck, that might only add an additional 33% to a truck that would otherwise cost $150,000 or so. The article cites the public health risk that trucks pose — they account for 5.6 percent of miles driven while causing 9.5 percent of the country’s accidents. The article also notes that driverless technology could allow drivers to nap, allowing the trucks to stop less frequently. But the article also notes that there are over 4 million trucks on the road, transporting over 70 percent of the country’s cargo. Let’s face it: there is a real chance that some ambitious trucking companies will seek to eliminate jobs by implementing this technology. Even that modification — sleeping and never stopping — would eliminate jobs. Initially developed as a palliative to long, lone commutes by individual workers, driverless technology can be almost seamlessly converted into an engine of massive job loss. [10][11]

So what is at stake with a Universal Basic Income is that capitalists are recognizing the potential to automate through “Industry 4.0” and want to pursue it. But they also recognize the enormous social dislocations automation on this scale would unleash. And, as Graham says, they would like to not be hunted in the streets and eaten.

The left, as ever, is divided into thousands of competing camps on this issue. One Jacobin article distinguishes between a “livable basic income” (LBI) and a “non-livable basic income” (NLBI), arguing that a UBI would need to be established on a level “high enough to eliminate the need to work for a wage.” [12] I’m not convinced by this, and it also seems, in the context of this article, to support the Jacobin’s interest in reviving not so much a basic income but full employment. The Endnotes collective has criticized this approach as the “primary contradiction” of the labor movement, that is, “that the generalization of one form of domination was seen as the key to overcoming all domination.” [13] Or, more pithily, “Everyone is being proletarianized, and so, to achieve communism, we must proletarianize everyone!”

This approach, Endnotes claims, understands the factory “as the foundation of socialism, not as the material embodiment of abstract domination.” Endnotes demurs on providing strategic guidelines, however, and that vacuum ends up being filled by thinkers like Nick Snick and Alex Williams, authors of Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work and the #Accelerate manifesto. The latter argues for unleashing “latent productive forces” in technology that a capitalism economic system holds in check. [14] The manifesto suggests that technology has no politics, basically, and the authors want to explore its expansion as a way of creating an alternative to capitalism. I’m not entirely convinced, however, that this technological accelerationism won’t ultimately result in a Matrix-style scenario in which the working class basically functions as batteries fueling a “clean” or environmental future for a few capitalists.

Anyway, I hope this provides some basis for future discussion on another important aspect of contemporary transformations in capitalism, alongside our discussion of the emerging “green” economy.

Footnotes

[1] blog.ycombinator.com

[2] theawl.com

[3] paulgraham.com ; paulgraham.com

[5] en.wikipedia.org

[6] www.freep.com

[7] fortune.com

[8] www.seattletimes.com

[9] www.brookings.edu

[10] www.cnbc.com

[11] medium.com

[12] www.jacobinmag.com

[13] endnotes.org.uk

[14] criticallegalthinking.com

[solarpunkbusiness]

Okafor Motors, an Enugu based auto maker and pioneer of the made in Nigeria solar electric powered tricycles entered a partnership with Sustainable Communities Corporation, SCC. an Ohio, US based non for profit organisation.

This new partnership is to set up NrG Company (pronounced energy) and produce several units of solar powered tricycles named Nikeke and ultimately boosting Nigeria’s transportation system as well as providing for its operators

SCC via their subsidiary, WinBat company, will be deploying their hemp battery technology, ensuring that our solar-electric tricycles will become a serious contender with the conventional gasoline tricycles

[dizzydispatch]

Remaking cartoons from decades ago with soullessly hyperrealistic anthropomorphism and auto-tune should be considered a sin of the highest artistic degree.

“Nobody can come up with new ideas anymore” well yeah, what did you expect? Late-stage capitalism rewards productivity above all else, and so the culture we’ve developed around our economic system has grown to a point where creation for the sake of creation is not only not actively encouraged, but sometimes straight up discouraged.

Art and music and writing are sacrificed on the pedagogical altar for the benefit of things deemed more important. Since colleges bring in money from athletic events, they offer money for athletes to perform them. In order to meet that need, schools cut funding to the arts in favor of cultivating more athletes. And with college being so expensive and yet necessary for any halfway decent job, the only ones who can go to school to study anything they’re passionate about are the ones who are lucky enough to have profitable passions, and the ones with family money. That, in turn, greatly limits the pool of qualified talent that studios and publishers have to draw from.

Artists and writers have two options: (1) take the risk of trying to turn it into a career, and hope you’re good enough and can get the right exposure so that you can make a living from it, or (2) work a “productive” day job and hope that you have enough energy at the end of it that you can create in your free time. Which, given the way that most people need multiple jobs just to survive, is extremely difficult to manage.

It’s a vicious cycle that robs humanity of the thing that makes it worthwhile to be a human: expression. And we are all going to suffer from it.

TL;DR i blame late stage capitalism for the fact that the crab from the live action little mermaid remake gives me the creeps

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Tom Toles

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

April 26, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

APR 27, 2024

Yesterday, in a long story about “the petty feud between the [New York Times] and the White House,” Eli Stokols of Politico suggested that the paper’s negative coverage of President Joe Biden came from the frustration of its publisher, A. G. Sulzberger, at Biden’s refusal to do an exclusive interview with the paper. Two people told Stokols that Sulzberger’s reasoning is that only an interview with an established paper like the New York Times “can verify that the 81-year-old Biden is still fit to hold the presidency.” 

For his part, Stokols reported, Biden’s frustration with the New York Times reflects “the resentment of a president with a working-class sense of himself and his team toward a news organization catering to an elite audience,” and their conviction that the newspaper is not taking seriously the need to protect democracy. 

A spokesperson for the New York Times responded to the story by saying the idea that it has skewed its coverage out of pique over an interview is “outrageous and untrue,” and that the paper will continue to cover the president “fully and fairly.”

Today, Biden sat for a live interview of more than an hour with SiriusXM shock jock Howard Stern. Writer Kurt Andersen described it as a “*Total* softball interview, mostly about his personal life—but lovely, sweet, human, and Biden was terrific, consistently clear, detailed, charming, moving. Which was the point. SO much better than his opponent could do.”

Also today, the Treasury Department announced that the pilot program of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that enabled taxpayers to file their tax returns directly with the IRS for free had more users than the program’s stated goal, got positive ratings, and saved users an estimated $5.6 million in fees for tax preparation. The government had hoped about 100,000 people would use the pilot program; 140,803 did.

Former deputy director of the National Economic Council Bharat Ramamurti wrote on social media, “Of all the things I was lucky enough to work on, this might be my favorite. You shouldn’t have to pay money to pay your taxes. As this program continues to grow, most people will get pre-populated forms and be able to file their taxes with a few clicks in a few minutes.” Such a system would look much like the system other countries already use. 

Also today, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Williams-Sonoma will pay a record $3.17 million civil penalty for advertising a number of products as “Made in USA” when they were really made in China and other countries. This is the largest settlement ever for a case under the “Made in USA” rule. Williams-Sonoma will also be required to file annual compliance certifications. 

FTC chair Lina Khan wrote on social media: “Made in USA fraud deceives customers and punishes honest businesses. FTC will continue holding to account businesses that misrepresent where their product[s] are manufactured.” 

In another win for the United Auto Workers (UAW), the union negotiated a deal today with Daimler Trucks over contracts for 7,300 Daimler employees in four North Carolina factories. The new contracts provide raises of at least 25% over four years, cost of living increases, and profit sharing. This victory comes just a week after workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted overwhelmingly to join the UAW. 

Today was the eighth day of Trump’s criminal trial for his efforts to interfere with the 2016 election by paying to hide negative information about himself from voters and then falsifying records to hide the payments. David Pecker, who ran the company that published the National Enquirer tabloid, finished his testimony. 

In four days on the stand, Pecker testified that he joined Michael Cohen and others in killing stories to protect Trump in the election. Trump’s longtime executive assistant Rhona Graff took the stand after Pecker, and testified that both Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels were in Trump’s contacts. Next up was Gary Farro, a bank employee who verified banking information that showed how Michael Cohen had hidden payments to Daniels in 2016.

Once again, Trump appeared to be trying to explain away his lack of support at the trial, writing on his social media channel that the courthouse was heavily guarded. “Security is that of Fort Knox,” he wrote, “all so that MAGA will not be able to attend this trial….” But CNN’s Kaitlan Collins immediately responded: “Again, the courthouse is open [to] the public. The park outside, where a handful of his supporters have gathered on [trial] days, is easily accessible.”

Dispatch Politics noted today that when co-chairs Michael Whatley and Lara Trump and senior campaign adviser Chris LaCivita took over the Republican National Committee (RNC), they killed a plan to open 40 campaign offices in 10 crucial states and fired 60 members of the RNC staff. According to Dispatch Politics, Trump insisted to the former RNC chair that he did not need the RNC to work on turning out voters. He wanted the RNC to prioritize “election integrity” efforts. 

The RNC under Trump has not yet developed much infrastructure or put staff into the states. It appears to have decided to focus only on those that are key to the presidential race, leaving down-ballot candidates on their own. 

While Trump appears to be hoping to win the election through voter suppression or in the courts, following his blueprint from 2020, Biden’s campaign has opened 30 offices in Michigan alone and has established offices in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and Florida.

Finally today, news broke that in her forthcoming book, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem wrote about shooting her 14-month-old dog because it was “untrainable” and dangerous. “I hated that dog,” she wrote, and she recorded how after the dog ruined a hunting trip, she shot it in a gravel pit. Then she decided to kill a goat that she found to be “nasty and mean” as well as smelly and aggressive. She “dragged him to the gravel pit,” too, and “put him down.”  

Noem has been seen as a leading contender for the Republican vice presidential nomination on a ticket with Trump, and it seems likely she was trying to demonstrate her ruthlessness—a trait Trump appears to value—as a political virtue. But across the political spectrum, people have expressed outrage and disgust. In The Guardian, Martin Pengelly said her statement, “I guess if I were a better politician I wouldn’t tell the story,” was “a contender for the greatest understatement of election year.”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"While prison administrators boasted that prisoners were able to earn money while in prison, their assertions were somewhat misleading. In a 1924 article in the Baltimore Sun, Henry C. Raynor, a former prisoner who served a three-year sentence in the Maryland Penitentiary in the early 1920s, complained that prisoners often were forced to spend portions of their wages to purchase necessary items such as bedding, underwear, and clothing—items that many would consider the responsibility of the state to provide. These expenses prevented prisoners from saving more of their wages while engaged in the prison workshops.

The low-wage labor system generated enough revenue to the state to allow the Maryland prison system to operate mostly on a self-sufficient basis and return a profit to the state. The balance for the combined earnings of the Maryland Penitentiary and House of Corrections for 1927 resulted in a surplus of over $33,000 paid to the state treasury. A considerable portion of the surplus came from the profits of prisoners laboring in contract shops and state-use industries. Taxpayers in Maryland during the 1920s contributed little to the general upkeep of the prisons. A 1928 Baltimore news article lauded the convict labor system in the Maryland Penitentiary for being largely “self-sustaining” and noted that the prison “costs the taxpayers of the State less than $60,000 annually.”

While the prison labor system was celebrated by state officials for its rehabilitative benefits, it is clear that the revenue it generated substantially motivated the continued reliance on prison labor. Labor union members were concerned with the competition of prison-made products on the open market. Labor leaders agitated for the ending of private prison contracts and advocated for state-use industries. Labor leaders believed that the state-use system was favorable because it meant that prison-made products would be sold directly to states outside of the free market and thus pose less of a threat to workers in labor unions. Evidence of efforts made by prison administrators to bolster state-use industries can be seen in some of the Board of Welfare minutes. For example, in April 1923, the warden of the Maryland Penitentiary and members of the Board of Welfare discussed a plan to employ female inmates in the House of Correction in laundering the clothing of the inmates in both the Maryland Penitentiary and House of Correction. This motion reflected both the desire to find employment for prisoners and to provide traditional gendered work assignments. During this time, women sentenced in the Maryland prison system were kept apart from male inmates. This separation influenced the type of labor that was considered appropriate for female prisoners, thus reflecting the gender norms of labor that were imposed by the prison administration. The Board of Welfare approved the laundry plans, and in the fall of 1923, laundry equipment was moved to the House of Corrections for the use of female inmates.

Male inmates, on the other hand, were seen as fit workers for labor-intensive manufacturing and road construction. Members of the Board of Welfare sought ways to expand the state-use automobile production, and in the spring 1923, held a meeting in the Maryland Penitentiary “in which all parties interested in the making of automobile tags…were present.” Prison administrators sought to secure auto tag making contracts in states outside of Maryland, and signed a contract with the State of Florida to manufacture automobile tags in the Maryland Penitentiary state-use shops. However, this expansion did not supply enough work to keep all inmates employed, and additional work for inmates was secured by hiring out inmates on state road construction projects. Throughout the summer and fall months, prisoners were taken outside of the prison and transported to road construction sites in various Maryland counties.

True to Progressive Era bureaucratic principles, prison administrators focused attention on the prison conditions and rehabilitation of inmates. One prisoner, Henry C. Raynor, who served a prison sentence in the early 1920s, pointed out the need for better ventilation and temperature control in the cells. Overall, however, he seemed satisfied that conditions in the prison system were improving. Raynor described conversations he had with “old-time” inmates in the prison who spoke of improved food and work conditions compared with those of years earlier. The prison warden enacted clear policies about appropriate disciplinary methods to rein in power abuses of prison guards. Officers who oversaw work in the prison shops were restricted by new prison policies from using undue force to control the prisoners. One officer complained that he had once been able to beat a prisoner in order to instill discipline, but was now prevented from “knock[ing] his block off as he pleased.” This illustrates a shift in prison discipline from a reliance on physical force to more humanitarian policies. In addition, it reveals the expansion of bureaucratic rules and procedures used to govern the actions of guards and civil servants employed at the prison. … In regards to the full implementation of these progressive policies, much depended on the attitudes and behaviors of the prison guards. Raynor remarked that the warden was limited by his inability to automatically dismiss guards from service without major cause. Guards who were resentful of the restrictions placed on them found ways to unfairly punish prisoners anyway through nonviolent means. For example, one domineering officer forced inmates on his watch “to stand in driving rain or snow for ten minutes at a time, for no reason except that to show his power.” While prison policies and punishments were more humanitarian in principle, the attitudes and actions of prison guards responsible for enforcement varied the actual treatment of the prisoners. In similar manner, the ethics of some private contractors at the prison were also suspect. Raynor described how one contractor of a pants workshop would strategically require prisoners to load products during lunch or dinner time as a way to eke out extra work without pay. Another contractor, angered by new terms which required the payment of a higher wage to experienced inmates, attempted to shirk the requirement by rotating inmates through tasks to avoid paying them the higher wage, and a shirt-making firm attempted to “evade the payment of any wage at all to their men, and constantly tried to raise the daily task.” Prisoners brought grievances to the warden in regards to the shirt contractor, and one day the inmates found the “the contract cancelled, the contractor gone, and another in his place who was more fair.” Such accounts reveal that prisoners actively negotiated for fair treatment and that their grievances held some weight with the warden. While the reforms of the 1920s largely improved prison conditions, like other aspects of progressive reform, new prison policies also sheltered racially prejudiced social science recommendations, medical opinions, and merit-based grading systems. Raynor, himself a white male, described his alarm at being seated in the dining hall between rows of black inmates. He learned from fellow prisoners who had been sentenced to the Penitentiary years before, that the “mixing of races” in the prison used to be more standard, but in more recent years “ha[d] been partially corrected.” This “correction” resulted in increased segregation. Revealing racial prejudice as the normative social view of the time, Raynor published evidence of increased segregation in the prison to further his argument that prison conditions were better in the 1920s than they were years before.

Moreover, racial prejudice also affected services that were rendered by private reform groups that operated outside general state jurisdiction. The Prisoners’ Aid Association provided many services for recently released inmates at the John Howard Center boarding house. This center provided temporary housing and shelter and assisted inmates in finding stable employment. However, the housing, meals, and resources at the John Howard Center were only available to white male ex-convicts. The Association reports that similar resources were made available to women and “colored men” through “private houses or other agencies,” thus signaling the separation of resources on a gendered and racially segregated basis. Progressive Era science also led to troubling medical policies and procedures, including sterilization of prisoners deemed as “feeble-minded.” During the 1920s, members of the Board of Welfare and the Board of Mental Hygiene arranged for semiannual joint meetings. The two boards, responsible for the security of those deemed criminal and mentally ill, often communicated regarding the transfer of inmates from the prison system to hospitals and mental care units if they were found psychically unstable. At a joint meeting of the boards on February 17, 1927, the administrators discussed the “sterilization of certain insane and feeble-minded under proper safeguards and with the consent of the patient or his guardian or next friend” and motioned that such “should be authorized by Act of the General Assembly.” Discussions such as these highlight the troubling ethics of progressive reforms. State oversight of normative categories severely restricted the freedom and rights afforded to marginalized inmates and mental health patients. While progressive penologists and civic reformers may have insured better living and working conditions in the Maryland state prison system, such reforms came at the cost of greater state control over those deemed unproductive, both in terms of their labor and their reproductive capabilities.

- Erin Durham, “In Pursuit of Reform, Whether Convict or Free: Prison Labor Reform in Maryland in the Early Twentieth Century,” Master’s thesis, University of Maryland, 2018. p. 60-67.