#The Big Oil Industrial Complex

[risetvusa]

The Big Oil Industrial Complex: How Oil is Damaging us As Plastic?

Big Oil Industrial Complex | Rise.TV

Big Oil Industrial Complex is the collective list of six or seven largest publicly listed and investor-owned oil and gas firms in the world. In the United States, they are often referred to by this name because of their political and economic clout. There is some disagreement on which firms now make up Big Oil Complex, however, Total Energies, ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron Shell, and Eni are all named regularly super majors in The Big Oil Industrial Complex. 

But are you familiar with the marketing conspiracy behind the Big Oil Industrial Complex? Did you know it is vaster than your imagination? Here in this blog, we will guide you thoroughly about how the Big Oil Industrial Complex is using oil to make plastic, which is one of the biggest enemies of human health on the planet right now.

Did you know oil has been used to make plastic? 

Many scenarios utilize the oil industry's own records to support their assertions that the company hides the rising danger posed by its own products.

Below are some surprising facts about the oil industry:

Plastic is made from 8 to 10 percent of the world's oil supply.

It is estimated that annually 12 million barrels of oil are needed to produce plastic bags in the United States. 

Each week, the typical American trashes around 10 bags without recycling them. That means they use 520 bags per year, which is equivalent to fuel for 60 miles of driving.

Why was plastic really pushed on the public?

A worldwide energy revolution is now underway. Oil companies are concerned because more affordable renewable energy and electric vehicles lead to a cleaner and safer system. That’s why, The Big Oil Industrial Complex is looking forward to Petrochemicals, and plastics in particular, as the next big thing for growing their business.

According to the International Energy Agency, by mid-century, plastics generated from fossil fuels would account for more than half of the increase in oil demand worldwide. The United States is a significant provider of plastic polymers and competes with oil-rich Middle Eastern nations like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

Through 2050, the demand for petrochemicals, which are used to make plastic, is anticipated to rise by almost 10 million metric tonnes every year.

How are we choking on plastic?

Despite the convenience of plastic, our reliance on plastic goods has had detrimental repercussions on our environment, society, and health.

Below are the detrimental facts about plastic that will make you shocked:

The amount of plastic production globally has doubled during the past 50 years

Edible things like chewing gum contain plastic

The global use of plastic bags is staggering, at 2 million each minute

The recycling rate for overall produced plastics is only 9%

Every single minute, a truckload of plastic is poured into the ocean

By 2050, 99% of seabirds and animals will be relying on plastic

Approximately one million plastic bottles are purchased every minute

95% of plastic pollution in the oceans is carried by 10 rivers of the World

Plastic contributes to 73% of beach garbage worldwide

An average human eats 70,000 microplastics each year

By 2050, the ocean may contain more plastic than fish

Fortunately, we can solve the plastic problem in the simplest way, by reducing its use. Reducing plastic consumption, especially single-use plastic, is an important step in improving our treatment of the environment. In order to create healthy surroundings for everyone, it is necessary to recycle plastic and minimize its usage.

You might be thinking, why is plastic being pushed as the best way to prevent climate change, when plastic is actually a huge contributor to the environmental problem? And why celebrities refuge to eat out of plastic containers?

To get answers of all your queries, watch our complete video series “The Big Oil Industrial Complex” on the platform of  Edge of Wonder at Rise TV.

[yardsards]

do people who weren't raised evangelical Know that the main reason why so many evangelical christians support israel is bc they see israel as a pawn in enacting a prophesy to bring back jesus and cause the apocalypse? bc that's very much A Thing

[deodatasslawson]

Nuclear war is still somewhat of a threat, albeit a lingering threat, considering there are some serious war-mongering politicians who are willing to amp up wars and even threaten nuclear war.

If it's not a nuclear war, it will probably be a world war or some other devastating war that will affect people worldwide.

So what occurs to me is that Baby Boomers/Gen X and Millennials/Gen Z (the cutoffs are a little arbitrary, but bear with me) both grew up in the shadow of extinction, but have had qualitatively different experiences of it.

For the Boomers, the big fear was a sudden, violent catastrophe; nuclear war. US and Soviet ships start shooting at each other off the coast of Cuba; someone, somewhere in the huge and ponderous Cold War military apparatus, mistakes a meteor for an incoming ICBM, and just like that, your world is over. You're always just one bad day away from death on an unimaginable scale.

This fear has never really gone away (and certainly it's had something of a revival, recently), but it went into remission after the end of the Cold War. For Millennials, the overwhelming fear isn't of a sudden catastrophe, it's of a death by a million cuts; global warming. A slow decay growing faster; a downward spiral as everything you love and value crumbles and rots and turns to garbage around you.

When what you fear is a sudden catastrophe, normalcy--"business as usual", abstracting maybe a few reforms of the political systems--becomes a refuge. It could all be gone in a flash, but at least it's here now. It's real, it's solid. You can live in it, while it's standing.

When what you fear is a slow rot, "business as usual" becomes part of the horror. You're not escaping anything; you notice things getting worse around you with every passing summer; even worse, you are--however infinitesimally--assisting in your own demise; slowly and thoughtlessly, you are weaving the rope that will be used to hang you. Normalcy becomes your executioner.

[kaydub80]

Tax cuts for corporations and the rich: The George W. Bush administration enacted two rounds of tax cuts, overwhelmingly benefiting the wealthy. The Obama administration made them permanent in 2012. That has cost $4 trillion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Trump tax cut of December 2017 handed over $2 trillion to the corporate elite, including the reduction of the official corporate tax rate to 21 percent. As Biden noted in his press conference last Sunday from Hiroshima, 55 US corporations that made $400 billion last year paid zero in taxes, and US billionaires pay an average tax rate of 8 percent. According to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, corporate profits rose by 20 percent between 2014 and 2020, while corporate tax receipts fell by more than 60 percent.

Like I said, no one in Washington was serious about this debt ceiling situation because they never even gave modern monetary theory a shot.

I mean, Tupac was once again right: Congress has money for wars but not the poor. I'm still bewildered over how Congress could increase military spending after losing in Afghanistan.

All this bipartisanship does is to hurt the people, never to help us. Big Oil receiving a giveaway is disgusting but no one's going to do anything about it because they're all bought off or cowards.

[probablyasocialecologist]

The agricultural lobby is a sprawling, complex machine with vast financial resources, deep political connections and a sophisticated network of legal and public relations experts.  “The farm lobby has been one of the most successful lobbies in Europe in terms of relentlessly getting what they want over a very long time,” says Ariel Brunner, Europe director of non-governmental organisation BirdLife International.  Industry groups spend between €9.35mn and €11.54mn a year lobbying Brussels alone, according to a recent report by the Changing Markets Foundation, another NGO. In the US, agricultural trade associations are “enormously powerful”, says Ben Lilliston, director of rural strategies and climate change at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. “Our farm policy is very much their policy.” The sector’s spending on US lobbying rose from $145mn in 2019 to $177mn last year, more than the total big oil and gas spent, according to an analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).  In Brazil, where agribusiness accounts for a quarter of GDP, the Instituto Pensar Agropecuária is “the most influential lobbying group”, according to Caio Pompeia, an anthropologist and researcher at the University of São Paulo. “It combines economic strength with clearly defined aims, a well-executed strategy and political intelligence,” he adds. As a result of this reach, big agribusinesses and farmers have successfully secured exemptions from stringent environmental regulations, won significant subsidies and maintained favourable tax breaks.

[...]

Research suggests that big farms and landowners reap far greater benefits from subsidy packages than small-scale growers, even though the latter are often the public face of lobbying efforts. “It’ll almost always be a farmer testifying before Congress or talking to the press, rather than the CEO of JBS,” says Lilliston. But between 1995 and 2023, some 27 per cent of subsidies to farmers in the US went to the richest 1 per cent of recipients, according to NGO the Environmental Working Group. In the EU, 80 per cent of the cash handed out under the CAP goes to just 20 per cent of farms.

22 August 2024

[smytherines]

Fuck it, here's an Agent Mega dissertation

Alright since I have such elaborate headcanon for my beloved precious Owen Carvour, I guess I should do it for Agent Curt Mega too. Sigh.

So, going off of the last big one, if Owen is born in 1928, then I'm gonna say Curt was born in 1930. I'm forever won to the Texan agent mega headcanon, but I think it's safe to say that Mrs. Mega is not from Texas, probably more like New York or I've seen people say New Jersey.

We know nothing about Agent Mega's dad, but I imagine he was kind of a loser and low level con artist and moved his pregnant wife down to Texas to do scams around the bustling oil industry, and then soon after Curt was born a scam collapsed and he ran off. It's either that or an Aladdin 3 situation where he was secretly a spy the whole time and had to go into hiding.

So we've got mama Mega, raising a VERY hyperactive (read: ADHD) little boy on her own, in a place where she doesn't have any support, and he just becomes her entire world. But she has to work a lot, so Curt becomes used to taking care of himself, and most importantly- keeping himself busy so he doesn't lose it.

In this headcanon Curt would only be 15 when WWII ends- not old enough to fight, but definitely old enough to have personally known a lot of kids from his hometown who come home in caskets. I just truly think of WWII as a formative experience for both these guys. For Curt it just feeds into that inferiority complex.

Now anybody who has ADHD knows that you already spend a lot of your life feeling inadequate, feeling self-conscious about not being able to be the person other people want you to be (*especially* if you're queer). You get defensive, especially when criticized. You also get restless.

I headcanon Curt as growing up in Abilene, Texas, mostly because I have a friend who grew up there and I've visited and the vibe is right.

I don't know if anybody has ever seen The Last Picture Show, but its a film set in small town Texas in 1951-1952 (so a little late for our timeline but still) and it's (more or less) about two high school seniors essentially trying to escape this suffocatingly small, dying town before they become doomed to spend their lives trapped there.

That's definitely what I think about Agent Mega too- this gay, ADHD teenage boy climbing the walls of this little town, never being able to fully be himself. But he's got a lot of energy (and more than a little anger) to burn off, so he does sports. It's Texas, so football for sure. Maybe wrestling too. Perhaps wrestling is even where he has his gay come to jesus moment.

And when he isn't doing sports, he's home, alone (mama Mega is working so hard), out back drinking a beer (or two, or three) and teaching himself how to shoot. I think he becomes hyperfixated on becoming an expert marksman, because with all of this shit he cannot control, all the stuff he is supposed to be but isn't, this is one area where it feels like he has the power here.

What starts off as "kid drinking beer to feel cool and rebellious" starts to morph into a lifetime dependence on alcohol. Substance use is a big issue for a lot of ADHDers for the same reason I think it would be for Curt- it calms him down. It eases that constant restlessness in his bones. It softens the edges of other people's criticisms of him. It makes him care a bit less what others think about him.

In a vicious cycle, he drinks to avoid feeling those big feelings (especially as a man, especially as a gay man, especially as a gay man in Texas), but the drinking leads to more criticism, which leads to more drinking to numb the emotional response to that criticism.

But his hyperfixation on learning to shoot pays off. Let's say he becomes a junior state champion trapshooter (did I look up trapshooting competitions from the 1940s? yes I did). He's good, especially when he hits the sweet spot of drinking just enough to calm his ass down but not so much that he's useless. Maybe this is how he comes to the attention of the A.S.S.

And he fully believes that these skills he cultivated, the ability to hit hard and run fast and shoot accurately, his ability to escape when it doesn't feel remotely possible, is why many years later he just kinda rolls his eyes at Owen for insisting that they do things carefully and methodically. Careful didn't get him out of small town Texas. Careful didn't get him the exciting non-stop life he has now, a life where he *almost* gets to be himself a lot of the time.

When Owen "dies," and its Curt's fault, he naturally turns to drinking to numb that pain. But its a lot of pain, so it takes a lot of alcohol to kill it.

I'm sure I could go on, but as always I have rambled a lot here so I'm just gonna leave it.

[adobe-outdesign]

Please review Koffing and Weezing (Galarian form included) if you haven't already! :)

Koffing is a pretty neat concept. It's similar to the Grimer line in that it's kind of pollution personified, but instead of being more slime and sewage-like, Koffing is based off of poisonous gasses. It's more or less just a balloon that can kill you, but unfortunately the semi-transparent, inflatable skin is completely lost in basically all of its art and animations, making it look more like a floating boulder. Still, it's a decent, straightforward concept.

Visually it's also pretty neat; the simple round body has some of that nice Gen 1 organic-ness with the craters everywhere, and the fans are an unexpected but welcome addition. The skull-and-crossbones on the body is a little blunt, but it works, mostly because they managed to render it in a way where it's still believable as just a set of markings.

Weezing almost falls into the "just multiply it" trap of Gen 1, but thankfully it manages to be more unique than that. First, the faces have changed to have some big ol' brows and larger fangs along with flat upper teeth. The lip is also more defined, and the markings have gotten bigger.

More importantly, however, is that the second head is fused directly with the main body. This makes sense for two gaseous creatures, and gives it an extra deformed look, especially with the third "joint" in the back. The second head is also different from the first, having only a ring instead of a full skull and one set of upper fangs, which keeps it from feeling like the same creature that's been copied and pasted.

In Galar, regular Koffing evolves directly into Galarian Weezing here. It does feel a little abrupt, but at the same time a G. Koffing probably would've been a repeat of the same elements, so it's not exactly a big deal to not even bother.

G. Weezing plays with the original pollution concept by giving them top hats and mustaches resembling that of Victorian-era oil and coal tycoons. The top hats then double as smoke stacks (the creators have also said they're based on steam engines, though I don't personally get that as much), allowing polluted air to be taken in, purified, and released out the top. The palette is also different, swapping out purple for steel-like dark grey with green accents (for the polluted air) and white (for the clean air). This gives the design some good contrast and makes it pop a little more than the original.

For the most part this is a pretty decent idea that makes sense for the region, giving the thick smog that's blanked areas like London in the past, and ties back into the original Pokemon nicely. However, I do think it's maybe a little too on-the-nose? Like I said, the skull-and-crossbones thing works because it was integrated in a way that feels natural, and these designs don't as much. Maybe if the mustaches were less obvious or the hats didn't have a clear brim to them. It's not a huge deal though, and it mostly depends how much you like the more character-based designs.

My only other issue is that it kind of feels a little contradictory conceptually—like they're based off of industrial capitalists and smog, but then also they... clean the air they intake, to the point that they're part fairy-type? Like it feels like the pollution-causing Victorian capitalist theme and the inverted regional that cleans the air instead of polluting it are two separate concepts that both loose a little something when smushed together. Once again not a big deal, but something that's always just low-key bugged me.

Anyway, a pretty solid line as a whole. The concept for the originals is strong and both stages feel unique, and the designs are solid as well. The regional is also good conceptually and visually, albeit maybe a little too complex for its own good.

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Final Fantasy VII is so funny as a mainstream property. Like the capitalist machine is obviously fully behind producing this franchise and its spin-offs, which makes it weird when so far (as someone halfway through Rebirth) the story seems to be telling me "you are morally obliged to blow up an oil pipeline" and "eco-terrorism is good and righteous and if you do it you're a hero", which is a surprising message to hear from something this mainstream. I mean maybe the idea is "no Shinra are super special evil so that makes it okay!" but that's pretty flimsy because the real world analogues are not exactly light-handed, and the irl capitalist industrial complex is every bit as if not sometimes more nefarious than Shinra in many facets, albeit the violence behind it is usually slightly more abstracted away from corporate entities themselves.

I mean I don't know if there's a big turn later on that negates that message but so far it's what I'm hearing (I haven't played the original game, am watching playthroughs of the remake trilogy as they come out).

[zndr315-blog]

I finished reading Roxxon Presents: Thor and immediately wanted to throw up, which is a testament to Al Ewing’s excellent writing, but this page in particular stood out to me for a couple of reasons.

I think this page has a few more layers past being just a callout on big businesses putting out art, or “content”, about the evils of big business… I doubt Al Ewing would keep writing marvel comics if that were case.

For starters, if we go with the theory that this comic is partially meant to parody the MCU and it’s take on Thor, then this could be seen as reflective of how the MCU started to stop taking itself seriously and have all of it’s characters treat the very world they inhabit like a joke, to act like all they’re battles have no real stakes, and constantly make jokes when they’re supposed to be protecting civilians. People often criticize the MCU for all too often serving as propaganda for the military industrial complex (I thought the MCU was moving away from that aspect for a while, only for phase 4 to double down on it) and I think a big reason that this aspect usually slips past people’s heads is because the MCU rarely ever takes itself or the sociopolitical themes it tries to tackle seriously, and instead opts to focus on quips and jokes.

Secondly… him referring to the comic as an in-universe work of self parody, an in-universe joke at the people at the bottom of society’s expense… really brings to mind how an entire generation was radicalized by jokes and memes. For the longest time, fascists and fascist-leaning trolls on the internet cloaked their beliefs under the guise of ‘humor’ and ‘irony’. Right up until they had grown their base large enough to actually impact the real world.

With that in mind… I can’t help but wonder how certain people in the marvel universe are reacting to this comic that is supposedly a work of self-parody. I imagine all the people who put thin blue line Punisher skulls on their cars all looked at the page where The Executioner calls down an army of Roxxon crowd control drones to electrocute some protesters (in the interest of good taste, I am not going to post that page) all applauded that scene on social media, before then immediately walking that back by pointing out the scene where The Roxxin’ “Thor” advertises some Roxxon engine oil and hot sauce scented body gel and saying “what are you getting so upset about? It’s just a joke!” I also imagine Dario himself has his fair amount of simps who act exactly like the Elon Musk fandom in real life and still continue to do so even after the Xemnu debacle from The Immortal Hulk. I imagine they’d all look at the page at the end of the comic where Dario essentially bribes The Roxxin’ “Thor” into doing his bidding and say: “wow! If only the real Thor was more like this!” (Side note, maybe all the right-wingers’ and fascists’ craving for a more right-wing, authoritarian version of Thor, ignited by this very comic, is what Amora is actually using to fuel her spell?)

This whole comic feels like it was ripped straight out of the world of The Boys and, in this case, I mean that as a positive.

[vintageseawitch]

i'm tired of evil winning so much. it doesn't matter some good things could happen; evil will be there in no time to destroy any decent progress. i'm tired of being terrified i'll lose my rights. i'm tired of being powerless about this & not being able to help others across the globe who have already lost their rights. i'm tired of how useless the UN actually is. i'm tired of the US being a global superhero by being murderous bullies. i'm tired of fascism rising again. i'm tired of WWII being romanticized but now people think that little Austrian artist with the even smaller mustache had some good ideas actually. i'm tired of human rights violations happening & there are zero consequences for it. i'm tired that the majority of humanity as well as currently living flora & fauna will have to pay the price for the greediness of the few. i'm tired of always hearing about a countdown to when we can never reverse climate change while those who are actually the major problem - the US military, big oil, & others - are able to get away with this. i'm tired of the bloated military industrial complex. i'm tired of having less rights than literal corpses. i'm tired of useless CEOs. i'm tired of billionaires. i'm tired of people thinking billionaires are geniuses instead of actually greedy sociopaths who will happily pay you nothing if they could get away with it. i'm tired of people thinking our government wouldn't do that when they actually totally would & have already done it in some capacity. i'm tired of "voting for the lesser of two evils." i'm tired of old, out of touch people being in charge. i'm tired of people being proud of their willful ignorance. i'm tired of the white-washing of history. i'm tired of people not giving a fuck about the environment. i'm tired of people not being able to afford homes when there are more empty houses than there are homeless people. i'm tired of workers labor being exploited so they get paid a time while their bosses get a dollar. i'm tired of learning my generation & younger are the most educated but the most overworked. i'm tired of older generations who had so much handed to them want to make sure someone else doesn't get the same because lead poisoning have made them into sociopathic cowards who refuse to see the truth & will vote against their own interest just to fuck over people they fear & misunderstand. i'm tired of people claiming protesting against genocide means you're antisemitic & should be silenced. i'm tired of book banning/burning. i'm tired of xenophobia when so many of us are descended from illegal immigrants. i'm tired of men still getting upset over a hypothetical question instead of doing some self-reflection. i'm tired of the patriarchy, rampant misogyny, & toxic masculinity. i'm tired of men not thinking anger counts as an emotion. i'm tired of rapists getting away with their crimes because "what about their future" & "what was she wearing" when it's actually not about sex but power instead. i'm tired of "not all men" to silence legitimate points. i'm tired of people who make false claims of being raped not facing any consequences so it's harder for real victims to come forward. i'm tired of being so afraid of being assaulted & getting pregnant with my rapists baby that i took my state of fertility in my own hands because i'm afraid of my government even as my obgyn said not to worry. i'm tired of the christofascist movement that is gaining momentum. i'm tired of project 2025 being a real possibility & people claiming "they wouldn't do that." i'm tired of how openly fascist conservatives are now. i'm tired of people drinking that kool-aid so hard. i'm tired of the bootlicking. i'm tired of cops & their undeserved diplomatic immunity so they can literally commit murder & get away with it. i'm so. fucking. tired. this country is hell & has helped make the world hell. america has never been great. it's just super effective propaganda & brainwashing that has been wildly successful.

i just want hope that doesn't feel delusional. i don't want to give up but i'm so tired.

[badlydrawnmanic]

the doctors back at the clinic have been fixing oil prices all in a big fight over foreign toy makers in order to monopolize the pelicans who are merely the pawns of the military industrial complex, and nobody seems to care

bonus: this is not the weirdest thing this kid has heard today

[risetvusa]

The Committee of 300: How They Organize Global Control

The Committee of 300 is a secret agenda that has been under debate for decades. Although its true history and origins are hidden from the world, numerous people have opinions that it has a significant impact on the global economy and political landscape. In 1909, the former minister of Germany, Walther Rathenau, first exposed the darkest propaganda of this group in his newspaper article. According to him, the European economic system was governed by 300 people, who sought power and control over the whole society.

After deep historical research from various whistleblowers and intelligence insiders, Edge of Wonder has uncovered the ultimate goal of this global cabal. This group uses eugenics to carry out its dark plans of controlling everyone on the planet.  

Why do all politicians discuss The New World Order with courtesy? Who is involved in Deep State’s mysterious pyramid? To get answers, keep reading this blog.

The Origins of the Committee of 300 

In the 18th century, the Committee of 300 was taken into place by a group of the world's most powerful men and women. Their subsequent aim was to preserve their dominion and power over the entire humanity. Their group originally consisted of 300 members, which accounts for its name. But now the group size has been extended, and these members are selected from the 

top echelons of society, including politicians, bankers, business owners, and other pertinent personalities of society. 

According to predictions, during 2020 the Committee had been involved in the emergence of Nazi Germany and the consequent events of the Second World War to consolidate its influence and power. They arrange clandestine meetings to discuss their plans and strategies for shaping the future of the world.

Deep State Pyramid Structure: The Control & Resources Behind It

As per our deep research, the power connections such as governments, companies, banks, energy sectors, think tanks, media, and secret societies are ruling behind the Deep State. 

Human Resource / Labor Unit Control

The following governs the Deep state’s pyramid structure:

Government - Certain government institutions and officials act in ways that go against their established norms, potentially prioritizing their own interests over public service. This behavior goes against the principles of good governance and democracy.

News Media -  The news media plays a highly contested and controversial role under the Deep State. With the support of the deep state, certain individuals or organizations manipulate narratives and control the information being presented to the public for their own sake. This would be antithetical to the principles of independent and free media. In 1983, 50 media organizations were working under the deep state, but in 2022 the number was reduced to 5 because this cabal forced them out of their agenda.

Research Institutes - Research institutes work on the concepts of scientific integrity and academic freedom without any political interference. However, sometimes, political pressure impact the research of institutes, particularly on sensitive topics such as public health, environmental concern, and national security. This may compromise the impartiality of research, which is crucial for the effectiveness and credibility of scientific findings.

Legal Enterprises - The Deep State exerts pressure over legal enterprises and maneuvers principles of equality, justice, and impartiality for their own sake. They control the legislative process and use law enforcement agencies to target their opponents or protect their own members. Such practices erode the liability of the legal system and threaten the stability of society.

World Financial & Natural Resources Control

Big Oil - The oil industry comprises several companies that operate in a competitive environment under the propaganda of the Deep State. They are using Petrochemicals, and plastics in particular, as the next big thing for growing their business. 

Pharmaceutical Companies - This tyrannical agenda is stopping you from becoming healthy. For example, in Covid, everything was closed except Mcdonalds, so you may eat cheap food and then buy their expensive drugs and medications. 

Global Think Tank

NGOs - Under the deep state, some NGOs are influenced by political agendas and corporate interests. These NGOs engage in covert activities, promote biased narratives, and spread false information to achieve their dark goals. So it is necessary to ensure accountability, transparency, and independence of NGOs to prevent their manipulation by secret power structures.

World Health Organization - The World Health Organization (WHO) is a global organization that aims to advance public health. It provides coordination and addresses global health issues, promotes research in health, and establishes standards and guidelines. It is accountable to its member states, who work together to shape the priorities and policies of the organization.

Rich and Powerful Sub-Family Elite

The people and power govern the German Thule Society, Club of Rome, Bilderberg Group, Freemasonry, and Tavistock institute to come up with their dark plans for welfare, schools, government, and public policies. These groups work under the Deep State to accomplish its secret narratives.

The Committee of 300

Who is really part of the Committee of 300? Through redacted CIA documents and information from intelligence insiders, we found that the Committee of 300 includes the members such as:

Royalty Leaders

Heads of Government Organizations

Former Presidents

Politicians and Billionaires

Crown Council of 13

There are 13 hidden powerful families, occasionally known as the Illuminati, controlling the entire world affairs. These include Rockefellers, Kennedys, Budys, Rothschilds, etc. The illuminati control various aspects of society such as politics, law, natural resources, education foreign policies, media, food, media, food, and even economies. These families are using various scientific engineering techniques to control the global population. These include vaccines, viruses, and genetically modified food.

What’s the Actual Goal of this Globalist Agenda? 

The goals and operations of the Committee of 300 remain shrouded in secrecy. However, the group has a "dark goal" or agenda that involves exerting control over the world's economic and political systems for its own benefit. They aim to manipulate global events and sustain conflicts to maintain their power and influence. 

According to many insiders their ultimate plan involves:

To create a one-world government

Dispose of any religion

The Potential Impact of the Committee of 300

There is no concrete evidence present to support the existence of the Committee of 300. It is a secretive agenda composed of people from various fields, such as politics, banking, royalty, and media. 

If this agenda holds substantial power and control, it can influence global events and shape them in various ways. 

They can manipulate the entire global economy to benefit their own interests.

They can potentially dictate international organizations and governments, with a profound impact on World policies.

Wondering what’s the ultimate goal of the Deep State? How do these secret societies employ eugenics to meet their objectives? Watch the new episode of the Edge of Wonder series “Deep State” to uncover the bone-bending facts.

[galwednesday]

This week's deep dive rec is a combo pack exploring radicalization and the wellness industry, starting with this Guardian piece "Everything you've been told is a lie! Inside the wellness to fascism pipeline" by James Ball, which gives an overview of how these concepts became intertwined:

Peter Knight, professor of American studies at the University of Manchester, who has studied conspiracy theories and their history, notes that the link between alternative therapies and conspiracy is at least a century old, and has been much ignored. “New age and conspiracy theories both see themselves as counter-knowledges that challenge what they see as received wisdom,” he says. “Conspiracy theories provide the missing link, turbo-charging an existing account of what’s happening by claiming that it is not just the result of chance or the unintended consequences of policy choices, but the result of a deliberate, secret plan, whether by big pharma, corrupt scientists, the military-industrial complex or big tech.” Knight notes an extra factor, though – the wellness pipeline has become a co-dependency. Many far-right or conspiracy sites now fund themselves through supplements or fitness products, usually by hyping how the mainstream doesn’t want the audience to have them. [...]

“Alex Jones perfected the grift of selling snake-oil supplements and prepper kit to the libertarian right wing via his conspiracy theory media channels,” Knight says. “But it was Covid that led to the most direct connections between far-right conspiracism and wellness cultures. The measures introduced to curb the pandemic were viewed as attacks on individual sovereignty, which is the core value of both the wellness and libertarian/‘alt-right’ conspiracy communities.” The problem is, it rarely stops with libertarians. While they may not recognise it, those drawn in from the left are increasingly ending up in the same place as their rightwing counterparts. “Although many of the traditional left-leaning alternative health and wellness advocates might reject some of the more racist forms of rightwing conspiracism, they now increasingly share the same online spaces and memes,” he says, before concluding: “They both start from the position that everything we are told is a lie, and the authorities can’t be trusted.”

Part two of this combo rec is an episode of the Maintenance Phase podcast, hosted by Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes, with journalist Mike Rothschild joining them to talk about his research into the wellness to QAnon pipeline:

Special guest Mike Rothschild tells us how the road to wellness can be an on-ramp to a conspiracy theory. Along the way we debunk oil pulling, explore Instagram aesthetics and bemoan anti-vaxx argumentation tactics. Mike gets the date of the January 6th insurrection wrong and he is sorry.

[mychlapci]

okay so i did quite a few cleaning/grooming headcanons during the last celibacy week so i figured i’d start it off with some more!

one thing i’ve been debating is how cybertronians clean their plating when my continuity has a completely mechanical cybertron. think about it, most human supplies used to clean cars and/or other machinery is quite soft to avoid scratching or otherwise damaging the exterior plating. 

so i have two solutions to this!

number one! the high pressure washer. this is basically just a normal car wash but more widely available to the public and utilised by more than just mecha with transportation altmodes. these showers would provide high powered jets of water that could blast either out of the floors, walls, or ceilings depending on the type of stall. they would probably look similar to gym showers in our world, very utilitarian in design. these would also be outfitted with vents that blast warm air over the plating in order to quickly dry off the user. i imagine these would be common among the labour classes and there would likely be many that are pay to use throughout the city. perhaps expensive ones have oil and solvent bathes that are meant for soaking rather than cleaning. 

my secondary solution is metallic fibres. i’m not entirely sure if it would work particularly well but the way i think of it is metal sheets flattened and then cut into extremely fine and flexible wires which can then be woven into something that might be a reasonable approximation of cloth. again i’m not entirely sure if it would work well because with cloth there isn’t the possibility that it could scratch the plating but i think with enough stretching and flattening, one could get a “softer” thread that could be used to make blankets and washcloths. these would likely be kept only for touch ups and smaller jobs since washing the entire frame would take a lot of time doing it by hand, hence the popularity of the above option. 

now onto the actual ideas revolving around grooming/cleaning habits. 

i think that manual classes are far more likely to develop communal grooming habits than scientific or racing classes. this is very several reasons. for one it’s far easier to get clean faster when there is more than one individual involved and in an industry such as mining or transportation, time is everything. additionally many of these jobs foster a strong sense of community between workers and in a work place where the wash racks are public, trust is crucial in regards to exposing oneself in front of others. 

army mecha, like seekers, tanks, and other such warframes also tend to display these communal grooming habits, with seekers in particular displaying intricate and complex rituals of grooming in regards to their wings. of course this varies from individual to individual and just as many mecha prefer to handle cleaning their frames on their own rather than seeking assistance or parting in community activities. 

in regards to actual cleaning products i think the manual classes would be supplied with the basics of a wash rack and if their employers are feeling particularly generous, cheap waxes and oils to relax the cables and touch up any plating that may have gotten scuffed or damaged. though many companies do not provide such things due to the prevalence of workers being replaced and/or becoming dirty from their jobs. it’s simply not worth the cost. 

those ranked higher in the caste system and who actually receive a paying wage would likely purchase waxes, buffers, and the above mentioned cloths to polish and wax their plating to a shine. even wealthier mecha who have shanix to burn might even buy scented oils, waxes, and extra paint in the event that they want to switch up their scents or paint colours. these bots would most likely include high ranking members of the government, like senators or elected officials, as well as the primes, diplomats, and entertainers.

oOooh inch resting... I do like it when big robots groom and preen each other I think they should do it more often. It makes sense. There's some bits you just can't reach with your own hands, and no one wants grime in the plating seams of their back, or on the back of their wings...

[miloscat]

[Review] Bomb Rush Cyberfunk (PS5)

Jet Set Radio Future 2 is here, and it's all I ever wanted.

When Team Reptile made Lethal League and—more precisely—its sequel, they did an excellent job capturing the feel and aesthetic of Sega's Jet Set Radio games in a new genre. Now they've only gone and bloody done it - made an actual Jet Set Radio homage game, and it's an absolute stunner! Specifically, this is a pitch-perfect pastiche of Jet Set Radio Future, acting as a sequel to the 2002 classic in all but name, and since that particular instalment is a personal favourite of mine, I couldn't be happier.

BRC seems to deeply understand what was great about JSRF and then faithfully and lovingly recreates it, with some new ideas and refinements to boot. In case you need catching up, it's a sort of urban street punk adventure: you get around, grind, and trick on inline skates, tag graffiti all over, contest with rival gangs, and avoid the overzealous police force. The world is colourful and detailed but a bit low-poly with a cel-shaded filter, and levels are set up as huge skatepark playgrounds. All the while a soundtrack of fresh beats including hip-hop, house, and electropop accompanies you.

In BRC the structure of story-related tasks broken up by exploration returns, the levels full of collectibles to give you new colour schemes, music tracks, graffiti designs, etc. as well as just setpieces to "platform" around. A fast-travel system helps you get between areas, some of which replay the hits of JSRF while others explore new territory like a mall complex or industrial oil rig; the setting of New Amsterdam nods to the developer's Dutch origin but in practice it feels like it would easily fit in Tokyo-to (disclaimer, I have never visited The Netherlands). In addition to skates you have skateboards and BMX, each one having slightly different manoeuvrability plus the chance to open certain doors in the game world: for example, a skateboard can trick on fire hydrants to get elevated to a handful of secret areas. This gives more of a reason to have different ones on hand but can feel like an arbitrary passkey check.

Movement is aided by the new boost pack mechanic, which gives you an enormously useful air-dash. A boost meter gives you some speed but can also freshen up trick combos and extend your manual, while it's refilled by tricking (like in Sonic Rush), so doing these cool lines and combos feeds back into movement in a satisfying way. Cans have been done away with entirely so you can tag at any time without worry, and graffiti minigames have actually been brought back from the original JSR, except here they're super quick and snappy, and your inputs determine which of your unlocked tags goes up which keeps the visuals fresh.

A handy new feature is the flip-phone menu (reminiscent of The Arcane Kids' vaguely JSR-esque Zineth). It's great for flavour but also lets you get tips from teammates or contact new recruits, check out your range of graffiti designs and how to write them, consult a persistent minimap while highlighting tag spots, or change the currently playing music. And speaking of the soundtrack, it's sublime, a heady mix and perfect tonal accompaniment that even includes three tracks from the funky uncle himself Hideki Naganuma (much like Hover before it)... and if you ask me they're some of his best.

Another way BRC expands slightly on JSRF's template is a bit more emphasis on plot, with a central mystery revolving around recently-decapitated protagonist Red, his new cyberhead, and his connections to the previous top dogs in the city's counterculture. This framing fumbles at times, but it gives more purpose to your interactions with other rudies and conflicts with the cops, and interstitial sequences between chapters lets the game reinterpret JSRF's surreal climax in a dream context.

I've been eagerly awaiting this game and as a big fan of JSRF it didn't disappoint. BRC takes everything I loved about that (now slightly creaky and inaccessible) game and gives it a fresh coat of paint. I've seen people gripe about the price and playtime but both are about on par with the game that it styles itself as a love letter to, so it would be disingenuous of me to complain about either. Better by far to celebrate what an awesome achievement this game is in recapturing a unique classic while brilliantly modernising it. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk reminds me why I love video games.

[karanseraph]

I just needed a throw-away line

But I guess I gotta world-build Polyhex now, even though no one goes there for chapters. I need the unnamed stronghold to be named and to know what the closest place to recreate after installing hardware there would be.

Some of this will be headcanon for me to use in a fic, but it's mostly based on various canon (thanks @tfwiki ) which I blend and simmer into continuity soup.

Polyhex is a Province. It has a Governor. It also has a number of Barons. They aren't really land-owners, but more like captains of industry, who coincidentally lord over certain cities within Polyhex Province according to where their industry is based. The Province, along with Tagan Heights to its west, forms the northeastern quadrant of Cybertron, and it is north of the Sea of Rust.

(It does not, in this soup continuity, include Darkmount, which is its own separate and quaint, touristy The Village at Darkmount now, south of the Sea of Rust)

Some of the cities associated with Polyhex are:

Kaon - Doing its own autonomous enclave thing at the southwest edge of the Province. The Governor does not approve.

New Polyhex City

Polyhex Minor

Dodecahex

Upper Petrohex

Lower Petrohex

The Dead End (in the north, near neighboring Rodion)

Geological features may include:

a canyon

a cliff (some Baron probably has a house on it)

pits

energon crystal fields (farmed)

Sea of Rust coastal sulfur bogs (probably threatened by industry)

Automica sparkfield

The Province, apparently, enjoys sports and/or someone wants to distract the populace:

cube

mecha-soccer

wrestling

gladiatorial combat (of various levels of repute)

Other features and structures:

transport complex Ohm (rail, in this case)

Dodecahex Arena (for all the sports, or future State Games)

a stronghold (above, purple) possibly "The Polydrome"?

fancy offices (above, white) possibly "Whitemount"? At various points in history this has been a temple and/or occult event space and/or nightclub.

fuel/energon refineries

fuel/energon stores

a toll plaza on the Titanium Turnpike

(at some point) time travel?

At least one oil house with a "hex" wordplay name (The Hex & Decimal, The Hex Nut, The Hoary Hexflake?)

(Polyhex does not have a space bridge in this continuity, because we already established it is in neighboring Hydrax to the southeast. And "we don't talk about Spanner".)

Some types of residents:

a Governor

Barons

turbofoxes (more prevalent since mechanimal-rights bots stopped practice of hunting for trophies)

Maximals who just happen to have tall, pointy audio receptors and are tired of getting shot at

"mudflaps" who shoot at anything vaguely turbofox-shaped near their energon farm

big-city bots who call farmers "mudflaps"

in the north, cryo-condors

in the south, rust-foxes/ferrics

in the cities and coast area, retrorats

in country homes, glitch-mice

somewhere, cog-crickets

bats, probably

There's also about 18-ish named characters who may be associated with Polyhex if not definitely from there. I'm wondering how many "Disappeared" names can work as Baron names or if I will need to search for other fancy, named characters to play the roles of Barons. (Not to be confused with any named Senators, who are making a mess of things over in rival region Iacon.)