#cartel bribes

[qupritsuvwix]

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-ex-drug-czar-be-sentenced-over-bribes-cartels-2024-10-16/

[judithan-xing]

Cranks this out so fast, thank u Nintendo for my man

[stupittmoran]

A “cartel” led by the U.S. government allegedly bribed large pharmacy chains like Walgreens and CVS with billions of dollars in contracts to promote COVID-19 vaccines and not fill prescriptions for ivermectin.

Dr. James Thorp and attorney Maggie Thorp on Monday published an article in America Out Loud News exposing the government’s scheme to suppress the Nobel prize-winning drug using some of the nearly $200 billion in “provider relief funds” allocated to hospitals and pharmacies during the pandemic.

The article highlights the controversy surrounding ivermectin, a drug that was “baselessly maligned” by the government, media and medical establishment despite its demonstrated efficacy against COVID-19.

The authors noted former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo’s recent disclosure that he was taking ivermectin for long COVID — or for his COVID-19 vaccine injury, which he implied but didn’t confirm.

Cuomo admitted, “We were given bad information about ivermectin,” and asked, “The real question is, why?”

[violetmuses]

I Hear Sirens - A. Aretas 🚔🚨

Title: I Hear Sirens - A. Aretas 🚔🚨

Fandom: "Bad Boys" Film Universe

Character: Armando Aretas

Pairing: Armando Aretas + Female Reader

Main Storyline: When three headlining names reach your side, anything can happen.

Author's Note: Here is another request. Enjoy! 💜 @nelo0wesker

=====

2024

This bounty struck down everywhere as three professionals investigated this large frame case up against deceased Captain Conrad Howard.

“Hold up. I thought we'd visit Tabitha.” Miami Detective Marcus Burnett questions his partner Mike Lowrey when plans change on the run.

“Uh-huh. I know someone better.” Mike shook his head.

“Who?” Even criminal Armando Aretas glanced toward his biological father with curiosity.

“Nobody knows her real name, but this woman moves all over for different reasons.” Mike cleared his throat while explaining. “Special Ops, hacking, undercover shit. You name the plot and she's probably done it.”

“How do you know she's legit?” Armando's interest piqued.

“You'll see. Let's go.” Mike stepped out of this truck when Aretas parked near one of the last places.

______

“I'm looking for a woman, she works here.” Mike lowered his voice while standing near others. Their true location still moved past this late-night spot.

“Are you sure about that?” One bartender squinted toward Mike and Marcus.

“Got cash in my pocket. Tell me the location if you don't trust them.” Despite looking out of place wearing this Bud Light shirt and trucker hat, Armando spoke up. Jeans covered both legs and scuffed boots walked along.

“Hell yeah. She's down in the cellar, man. Last door.” That bartender accepted wrinkled bills and slid one shot on the house.

Armando drowned this beverage in five seconds, tapping down the glass.

“Thanks.” Armando nodded, jutting his chin before stepping away.

“No problem.” The bartender kept working, observant while Mike and Marcus looked flabbergasted.

“Did you just bribe that motherfucker?” Mike screwed up his face, bewildered toward Armando.

“No more rules. C'mon.” Armando stopped himself from laughing.

“That's your son.” Marcus chuckled as Mike rolled both eyes.

_____

High-tech cameras alerted you before people even knocked.

Shit!

Mike Lowrey, Marcus Burnett, and Armando Aretas showed up on your doorstep, wanted fugitives.

Sliding back the Judas Window first, you won't even open this main door yet.

“Yes?” You call from this brief space located between yourself and three men.

“Took some work, but we found this place. Can you help us out?” Mike Lowrey noticed your presence.

“With a bounty looming right over your heads, I wouldn't even step out. All of you seem better off hiding, Detective.” You crossed both arms.

“Captain Howard is innocent and we can prove it.” Mike defended this case.

“What do you need?” You tilted your head, still annoyed.

“Let us in first.” Mike seemed frustrated because time dwindled.

“Why?” You clipped.

“Cause these two are the worst fucking fugitives!” Armando called out.

At that moment, you cracked up and finally opened the door.

“Damn!” You nearly gape after noticing their current outfits.

“We've been shot at and harassed for days. Stop laughing.” Marcus squinted.

Even Armando nearly grinned, but Mike watched him through silence.

“We need different clothes, a new ride, and some phones.” Mike is absolutely serious.

“Yeah. Guns, too.” Aretas slyly leaned over and turned up the volume for your music system.

“What the hell are you doing?” Mike faced Armando once more.

Ignoring Lowrey again, Armando sits down in this empty chair and questions you.

“Who's James McGrath?” Aretas started.

“Army Ranger who ended up being tortured by the cartel. He's only joined a faction to gain power.” You highlight details. “Now you know.”

“Thanks.” Armando confirmed information. “Is there anything that you want before we leave?

“If you survive, call me.” You then gestured your hand regarding Aretas.

Both Mike and Marcus scoffed in unison.

“Deal.” Armando winked just as you planned their requests tonight.

_____

Just weeks later, one international text message reached your phone:

Armando: Waiting in Mexico. Thanks for helping us. 🇲🇽

You smiled and booked this upcoming flight, planning to see him.

"Without you, I've got nothing to lose. - "On The Run" by JAY-Z & Beyoncé

[vomitdodger]

If you haven’t actually listened to the (about) 5 min audio of the conversation, you REALLY need to. It’s way worse than the headlines make it out to be of just trying to convince/bribe/pay off Kari Lake to not run. They talk of cartels in every state, powerful people back east, DC being one big back scratching community, and multiple MULTIPLE times killing her is referenced (by Lake) without denial or absurdity by the corrupt GOP chairman. This is how 90% of them work (thank you Assange for confirming this with wiki leaks). Very few patriots. EVERYONE has been at least approached like this. Most took the offer either because they were compromised or corrupted. Or both.

Many sites are purging the actual audio. Above link seems to work. Would be interested in the longer version if there is one.

Keep in mind Lake told the audience at CPAC this actually happened. That was back in March, 2023 but she left out all the details.

The question is who recorded it? Surely Lake but not confirmed. Along with other dicey conversations.

And why release it now? Surely because of another corrupted election cycle.

[gauloiseblue]

John Price as a arm candy personal bodyguard

General HQ | Part I | Part II

(Enemy to friend to lover AU)

Price first met his wife on a mission where he's investigating her under the suspicion of smuggling. She's an antique dealer, and sells any kind of expensive artworks, and for that reason, she gave away a lot of bribes for the transport.

She laughed at him when he confronted her about it, and told him narcotics have no value over the works of art she collected.

She didn't hide her hostility whenever he and his men came to her place, and wouldn't hesitate to whack anyone who's careless at handling her collections with her cane.

(She has a black cane, with a golden lion's head on top)

They didn't find anything that could tie her to the case, but that didn't mean her name was cleared yet.

If they couldn't find the drugs in the warehouse, then they must've been unpacked right after they arrived at the port.

It took months of negotiations, persuasions, pressures, and an expensive bottle of wine to get her to cooperate with them.

Since it had a tie with Las Almas Cartel, he needed to call Alejandro and Rodolfo over.

He was actually scared that his presence would hinder the investigation, because Alejandro's personality might clash with hers. To his surprise, they got along well.

"I like him, he's very honest." She said, "Unlike a certain man in your force."

Their relationship was so bitter that he, a man who rarely complained, ranted about her over drinks. It was bad that the whole team and some of the upper ups knew about their dispute.

Still, they maintained some sort of professionalism whenever they needed to get on the case.

After several months of investigation, they finally stumbled upon the first breakthrough, and that is the fine china. The cartel had smuggled the drugs through the import of high-quality porcelain.

She was stunned when he revealed it at the meeting, and stared at the papers in front of her until the meeting ended. She then asked for his audience, alone in her office.

To his surprise, she wanted to know about his opinion on the plan, before she gave him her own thoughts.

"If what you said is true, then I know who the man is—rather, it's a woman."

She proceeded to tell him her plan to trap the suspect, and the possibility of capturing her. He nodded and took her plan into consideration. They discussed it until midnight, and for the first time, they shared the same thoughts.

The operation went smoothly thanks to her idea of giving the culprit a false sense of security, in which she collaborated really well by getting into her role.

The woman turned out to be her right hand, who usually handled the transport of her collections. During the capture, she begged her to help her and played the victim card, before she straight up threatened her. She did it so viciously, that he felt a pity for her. Yes, he hated her, but she didn't deserve to hear those words.

At night, after clearing up the mess, he paid her a visit at the office. Despite the indifference that she showed earlier, she looked as if she'd been crying when he saw her that night.

When she saw him walking into the room, she quietly sighed. "It'll take a long time before I can find someone as competent as her. She's irreplaceable."

"You'll find them eventually." He mused.

"But it won't be the same." She said, "She was my friend, I trusted her."

He kept quiet, as he understood what she truly meant.

"I don't think you'd understand, John." She began, "I'd forgive her if she stole any of the antiques and covered it up with laughable excuses, but this?" She shook her head, "How could she be so stupid?"

"Money can turn people blind."

"I gave her enough to support her and her family." She scoffed, "I don't understand how it's not enough, she could've asked—"

She paused, as she decided to hold back mid sentence.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For not believing you."

"... It's all in the past."

She turned to him, giving him a slight smile. "I'm in the mood for bourbon. Would you join me?"

That was the mark of their affinities

On the last day of the mission, she bid him goodbye in person.

"Goodbye John, I hope we'll never see each other again."

To any person who's not familiar with her, it might sound like she still harbors a hatred for him. But if they looked close enough, they'd see a small smile on the corner of her lips.

"The feeling's mutual."

She let out an amused snort when he lifted his hat as he left.

From that point forward, they lost contact for over a year, and would stay that way if he didn't send her a postcard on Christmas.

If someone asked him why he did it, he wouldn't know why either. The thought of her just came to him when the first snow fell.

Days later, as he browsed through the newspapers stall, he stumbled upon an article written by her about the modern depiction of Christmas.

"... while it might’ve lost its meaning in a traditional sense, it still holds the very core of it; to celebrate the blessing of life… For those who wrote without return addresses, I hope happiness would find you still."

He still carries the clipping of it to this day.

The thought of her soon forgotten as he received more and more missions, until one day, his team was in shambles as they were branded as traitors.

That night, he arrived at her door—bloody, and dazed—with a pitiful disclosure; "I have nowhere else to go."

She didn't say much, as she stepped aside to let him in.

After all of his wounds were taken care of, he confessed to her about his current status.

"So you've become a fugitive?"

"Not just me, but my whole task force."

She then asked about his plan and what he'd do in the future, but he hadn't thought much about it yet.

"One thing for sure, I'm gonna clear my team's name on this."

"... I see." She mused, "In the meantime, you should focus on your recovery."

He ended up taking her office's sofa as his bed. It was stiff, but certainly better than what he used to have.

The next morning, he woke up with a jolt when the door suddenly opened. With blurry vision, he saw two men carrying a wooden desk to the corner of the room, before she appeared to give them instructions. After all the things was settled, she turned to him to announce that he could work in this room.

"You don't have to." He muttered, still half awake.

"Well, where are you going to work then? The kitchen?"

He couldn't find the answer for it.

"Don't worry, John, I don't expect you to repay me in any way."

And just like that, she left the room, leaving him dumbfounded by the turn of events.

[dangermousie]

Tencent released trailers: a biased biased opinion.

So Tencent did a mini conference and released some teasers and trailers. I bring you my highly impartial and objective and correct opinions on the ones I watched, most from least:

The Litchi Road - litchis are delicious and Cao Dun is a favorite director but I am not sure why we need a 40 ep drama about them and the trailer is just an old guy running - to get in line for the best litchis? To chase after a litchi cartel? To burn off calories from eating a basket of them? Who knows, who cares. Verdict: PASS

Serendipity - cutesy which is not a sin but it confirms to me that I just dislike Wang Ziqi and having to look at him as a leading man for however many eps and Wang Hongyi who I do like as playing second fiddle to him would require someone to bribe me with a basket of litchis for it to be anything but Verdict: PASS

Love Game in Eastern Fantasy - if I were my own daughter, I’d be a creepy scientific wonder but also perhaps young enough to be the target audience for this. This is a fancy way of saying this looks very well made but for a much younger audience than me. The costumes also give the vibe of a lost Sword and Fairy installment. Verdict: LIKELY PASS

Love on the Turquoise Land - it’s a modern which I don’t do much, and I am largely indifferent to Dilraba but it looks interesting so Verdict: LIKELY WATCH

Blossom - I loved the previous trailer but this short teaser was alas nothing much. It wasn’t bad, it was just tiny. Like the world’s smallest appetizer. Still, Verdict: WATCH

Ten Years Lantern on a Stormy Martial Arts Night - not familiar with the leads but the trailer was captivating and it’s based on a novel by Minglan and LLTG author so there are solid bones there. Verdict: WATCH

Fight for Love - my favorite MSB novel, I was apprehensive because both leads, while actors I am fond of, didn’t fit my image of the mains and have a long history of picking dramas I don’t like, but that trailer, though short, packed a punch and got the novel vibe! Biggest pleasant surprise of them all. Verdict: WATCH

Legend of the Female General - based on one of my favorite novels and I recognized a bunch of scenes, looks gorgeous and intense and with plenty of battles and I adore Zhou Ye and Cheng Lei (finally in a proper leading role he deserves.) Verdict: WATCH WITH BELLS ON

Peach Blossom Overturning the Country - what a trailer, it has it all! Meng Ziyi and Liu Xueyi fighting and loving and being gorgeous messes together. She’s insanely underrated and until recently, so was he, and both are insanely beautiful so let’s goooo! (I mentioned to @aysekira LXY is getting typecast as the more unhinged version of Cheng Yi, one who can enjoy giving as well as taking a beating, and good for him!) Verdict: WATCH WITH BELLS ON

Moonlit Reunion - my favorite trailer of the bunch! Gorgeous, intense, mysterious, romantic, confusing in the best way. Everything I watch cdramas for and Xu Kai and TXW both rarely looked more fitting in the story. Verdict: WATCH WITH BELLS ON AND THEN SOME!

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

The problem with having the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prequel portray Willy Wonka as some kind of visionary underdog who the Big Mean chocolatiers are trying to suppress is that… he has magical powers.

Like, there is literally no universe where it matters that this guy can't get a shop, or isn't part of the Chocolate Makers Guild, or is targeted by the Chocolate Cartel, because he has magical powers.

It doesn't matter what the other chocolate makers do to try and smear his reputation or ruin his business, because ultimately their biggest innovation is a chocolate bar that melts in your mouth but not in your hand, and the original Roald Dahl sequel book tells us that Wonka somehow has access to the world where people's souls go before they are born (à la the Pixar film) and has invented a cure for old age.

Even if they did somehow manage to stop him selling ‘candy’, he could easily just rebrand his business and reopen as ‘Wonka's Literal Actual Magic’, and what the hell are they going to do to him then?

The only thing that could touch him in the original film was people bribing his employees to sell them his secret recipes, and he solved that problem almost immediately by firing his entire staff and replacing them with magic singing elves who are happy to be paid in chocolate. This isn't a guy whose problems are normal problems.

This is like if somebody made a new Lord of the Rings prequel that showed Young Sauron being picked on by the Hobbit Craftsmen's Guild because of his innovative ahead-of-their-time jewellery designs. Like it just doesn't work, because while the pieces are technically there for the standard Underdog Shows Them All story template, ultimately the two sides are playing very different ball games here.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Twinkfrump Linkdump

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in CHICAGO (Apr 17), Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

Welcome to the seventeenth Pluralistic linkdump, a collection of all the miscellany that didn't make it into the week's newsletter, cunningly wrought together in a single edition that ranges from the first ISP to AI nonsense to labor organizing victories to the obituary of a brilliant scientist you should know a lot more about! Here's the other 16 dumps:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

If you're reading this (and you are!), it was delivered to you by an internet service provider. Today, the ISP industry is calcified, controlled by a handful of telcos and cable companies. But the idea of an "ISP" didn't come out of a giant telecommunications firm – it was created, in living memory, by excellent nerds who are still around.

Depending on how you reckon, The Little Garden was either the first or the second ISP in America. It was named after a Palo Alto Chinese restaurant frequented by its founders. To get a sense of that founding, read these excellent recollections by Tom Jennings, whose contributions include the seminal zine Homocore, the seminal networking protocol Fidonet, and the seminal third-party PC ROM, whence came Dell, Gateway, Compaq, and every other "PC clone" company.

The first installment describes how an informal co-op to network a few friends turned into a business almost by accident, with thousands of dollars flowing in and out of Jennings' bank account:

https://www.sensitiveresearch.com/Archive/TLG/TLG.html

And it describes how that ISP set a standard for neutrality, boldly declaring that "TLGnet exercises no control whatsoever over the content of the information." They introduced an idea of radical transparency, documenting their router configurations and other technical details and making them available to the public. They hired unskilled punk and queer kids from their communities and trained them to operate the network equipment they'd invented, customized or improvised.

In part two, Jennings talks about the evolution of TLG's radical business-plan: to offer unrestricted service, encouraging their customers to resell that service to people in their communities, having no lock-in, unbundling extra services including installation charges – the whole anti-enshittification enchilada:

https://www.sensitiveresearch.com/Archive/TLG/

I love Jennings and his work. I even gave him a little cameo in Picks and Shovels, the third Martin Hench novel, which will be out next winter. He's as lyrical a writer about technology as you could ask for, and he's also a brilliant engineer and thinker.

The Little Garden's founders and early power-users have all fleshed out Jennings' account of the birth of ISPs. Writing on his blog, David "DSHR" Rosenthal rounds up other histories from the likes of EFF co-founder John Gilmore and Tim Pozar:

https://blog.dshr.org/2024/04/the-little-garden.html

Rosenthal describes some of the more exotic shenanigans TLG got up to in order to do end-runs around the Bell system's onerous policies, hacking in the purest sense of the word, for example, by daisy-chaining together modems in regions with free local calling and then making "permanent local calls," with the modems staying online 24/7.

Enshittification came to the ISP business early and hit it hard. The cartel that controls your access to the internet today is a billion light-years away from the principled technologists who invented the industry with an ethos of care, access and fairness. Today's ISPs are bitterly opposed to Net Neutrality, the straightforward proposition that if you request some data, your ISP should send it to you as quickly and reliably as it can.

Instead, ISPs want to offer "slow-lanes" where they will relegate the whole internet, except for those companies that bribe the ISP to be delivered at normal speed. ISPs have a laughably transparent way of describing this: they say that they're allowing services to pay for "fast lanes" with priority access. This is the same as the giant grocery store that charges you extra unless you surrender your privacy with a "loyalty card" – and then says that they're offering a "discount" for loyal customers, rather than charging a premium to customers who don't want to be spied on.

The American business lobby loves this arrangement, and hates Net Neutrality. Having monopolized every sector of our economy, they are extremely fond of "winner take all" dynamics, and that's what a non-neutral ISP delivers: the biggest services with the deepest pockets get the most reliable delivery, which means that smaller services don't just have to be better than the big guys, they also have to be able to outbid them for "priority carriage."

If everything you get from your ISP is slow and janky, except for the dominant services, then the dominant services can skimp on quality and pocket the difference. That's the goal of every monopolist – not just to be too big to fail, but also too big to care.

Under the Trump administration, FCC chair Ajit Pai dismantled the Net Neutrality rule, colluding with American big business to rig the process. They accepted millions of obviously fake anti-Net Neutrality comments (one million identical comments from @pornhub.com addresses, comments from dead people, comments from sitting US Senators who support Net Neutrality) and declared open season on American internet users:

https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/attorney-general-james-issues-report-detailing-millions-fake-comments-revealing

Now, Biden's FCC is set to reinstate Net Neutrality – but with a "compromise" that will make mobile internet (which nearly all of use sometimes, and the poorest of us are reliant on) a swamp of anticompetitive practices:

https://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2024/04/harmful-5g-fast-lanes-are-coming-fcc-needs-stop-them

Under the proposed rule, mobile carriers will be able to put traffic to and from apps in the slow lane, and then extort bribes from preferred apps for normal speed and delivery. They'll rely on parts of the 5G standard to pull off this trick.

The ISP cartel and the FCC insist that this is fine because web traffic won't be degraded, but of course, every service is hellbent on pushing you into using apps instead of the web. That's because the web is an open platform, which means you can install ad- and privacy-blockers. More than half of web users have installed a blocker, making it the largest boycott in human history:

https://doc.searls.com/2023/11/11/how-is-the-worlds-biggest-boycott-doing/

But reverse-engineering and modding an app is a legal minefield. Just removing the encryption from an app can trigger criminal penalties under Section 1201 of the DMCA, carrying a five-year prison sentence and a $500k fine. An app is just a web-page skinned in enough IP that it's a felony to mod it.

Apps are enshittification's vanguard, and the fact that the FCC has found a way to make them even worse is perversely impressive. They're voting on this on April 25, and they have until April 24 to fix this. They should. They really should:

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-401676A1.pdf

In a just world, cheating ripoff ISPs would the top tech policy story. The operational practices of ISPs effect every single one us. We literally can't talk about tech policy without ISPs in the middle. But Net Neutrality is an also-ran in tech policy discourse, while AI – ugh ugh ugh – is the thing none of us can shut up about.

This, despite the fact that the most consequential AI applications sum up to serving as a kind of moral crumple-zone for shitty business practices. The point of AI isn't to replace customer service and other low-paid workers who have taken to demanding higher wages and better conditions – it's to fire those workers and replace them with chatbots that can't do their jobs. An AI salesdroid can't sell your boss a bot that can replace you, but they don't need to. They only have to convince your boss that the bot can do your job, even if it can't.

SF writer Karl Schroeder is one of the rare sf practitioners who grapples seriously with the future, a "strategic foresight" guy who somehow skirts the bullshit that is the field's hallmark:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/07/the-gernsback-continuum/#wheres-my-jetpack

Writing on his blog, Schroeder describes the AI debates roiling the Association of Professional Futurists, and how it's sucking him into being an unwilling participant in the AI hype cycle:

https://kschroeder.substack.com/p/dragged-into-the-ai-hype-cycle

Schroeder's piece is a thoughtful meditation on the relationship of SF's thought-experiments and parables about AI to the promises of AI hucksters, who promise that a) "general artificial intelligence" is just around the corner and that b) it will be worth trillions of dollars.

Schroeder – like other sf writers including Ted Chiang and Charlie Stross (and me) – comes to the conclusion that AI panic isn't about AI, it's about power. The artificial life-form devouring the planet and murdering our species is the limited liability corporation, and its substrate isn't silicon, it's us, human bodies:

What’s lying underneath all our anxieties about AGI is an anxiety that has nothing to do with Artificial Intelligence. Instead, it’s a manifestation of our growing awareness that our world is being stolen from under us. Last year’s estimate put the amount of wealth currently being transferred from the people who made it to an idle billionaire class at $5.2 trillion. Artificial General Intelligence whose environment is the server farms and sweatshops of this class is frightening only because of its capacity to accelerate this greatest of all heists.

After all, the business-case for AI is so very thin that the industry can only survive on a torrent of hype and nonsense – like claims that Amazon's "Grab and Go" stores used "AI" to monitor shoppers and automatically bill them for their purchases. In reality, the stores used thousands of low-paid Indian workers to monitor cameras and manually charge your card. This happens so often that Indian technologists joke that "AI" stands for "absent Indians":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/29/pay-no-attention/#to-the-little-man-behind-the-curtain

Isn't it funny how all the really promising AI applications are in domains that most of us aren't qualified to assess? Like the claim that Google's AI was producing millions of novel materials that will shortly revolutionize all forms of production, from construction to electronics to medical implants:

https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/millions-of-new-materials-discovered-with-deep-learning/

That's what Google's press-release claimed, anyway. But when two groups of experts actually pulled a representative sample of these "new materials" from the Deep Mind database, they found that none of these materials qualified as "credible, useful and novel":

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemmater.4c00643

Writing about the researchers' findings for 404 Media, Jason Koebler cites Berkeley researchers who concluded that "no new materials have been discovered":

https://www.404media.co/google-says-it-discovered-millions-of-new-materials-with-ai-human-researchers/

The researchers say that AI data-mining for new materials is promising, but falls well short of Google's claim to be so transformative that it constitutes the "equivalent to nearly 800 years’ worth of knowledge" and "an order-of-magnitude expansion in stable materials known to humanity."

AI hype keeps the bubble inflating, and for so long as it keeps blowing up, all those investors who've sunk their money into AI can tell themselves that they're rich. This is the essence of "a bezzle": "The magic interval when a confidence trickster knows he has the money he has appropriated but the victim does not yet understand that he has lost it":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/09/autocomplete-worshippers/#the-real-ai-was-the-corporations-that-we-fought-along-the-way

Among the best debezzlers of AI are the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy's Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor, who edit the "AI Snake Oil" blog. Now, they've sold a book with the same title:

https://www.aisnakeoil.com/p/ai-snake-oil-is-now-available-to

Obviously, books move a lot more slowly than blogs, and so Narayanan and Kapoor say their book will focus on the timeless elements of identifying and understanding AI snake oil:

In the book, we explain the crucial differences between types of AI, why people, companies, and governments are falling for AI snake oil, why AI can’t fix social media, and why we should be far more worried about what people will do with AI than about anything AI will do on its own. While generative AI is what drives press, predictive AI used in criminal justice, finance, healthcare, and other domains remains far more consequential in people’s lives. We discuss in depth how predictive AI can go wrong. We also warn of the dangers of a world where AI continues to be controlled by largely unaccountable big tech companies.

The book's out in September and it's up for pre-order now:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/ai-snake-oil-what-artificial-intelligence-can-do-what-it-can-t-and-how-to-tell-the-difference-arvind-narayanan/21324674

One of the weirder and worst side-effects of the AI hype bubble is that it has revived the belief that it's somehow possible for giant platforms to monitor all their users' speech and remove "harmful" speech. We've tried this for years, and when humans do it, it always ends with disfavored groups being censored, while dedicated trolls, harassers and monsters evade punishment:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/07/como-is-infosec/

AI hype has led policy-makers to believe that we can deputize online services to spy on all their customers and block the bad ones without falling into this trap. Canada is on the verge of adopting Bill C-63, a "harmful content" regulation modeled on examples from the UK and Australia.

Writing on his blog, Canadian lawyer/activist/journalist Dimitri Lascaris describes the dire speech implications for C-63:

https://dimitrilascaris.org/2024/04/08/trudeaus-online-harms-bill-threatens-free-speech/

It's an excellent legal breakdown of the bill's provisions, but also a excellent analysis of how those provisions are likely to play out in the lives of Canadians, especially those advocating against genocide and taking other positions the that oppose the agenda of the government of the day.

Even if you like the Trudeau government and its policies, these powers will accrue to every Canadian government, including the presumptive (and inevitably, totally unhinged) near-future Conservative majority government of Pierre Poilievre.

It's been ten years since Martin Gilens and Benjamin I Page published their paper that concluded that governments make policies that are popular among elites, no matter how unpopular they are among the public:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B

Now, this is obviously depressing, but when you see it in action, it's kind of wild. The Biden administration has declared war on junk fees, from "resort fees" charged by hotels to the dozens of line-items added to your plane ticket, rental car, or even your rent check. In response, Republican politicians are climbing to their rear haunches and, using their actual human mouths, defending junk fees:

https://prospect.org/politics/2024-04-12-republicans-objectively-pro-junk-fee/

Congressional Republicans are hell-bent on destroying the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau's $8 cap on credit-card late-fees. Trump's presumptive running-mate Tim Scott is making this a campaign plank: "Vote for me and I will protect your credit-card company's right to screw you on fees!" He boasts about the lobbyists who asked him to take this position: champions of the public interest from the Consumer Bankers Association to the US Chamber of Commerce.

Banks stand to lose $10b/year from this rule (which means Americans stand to gain $10b/year from this rule). What's more, Scott's attempt to kill the rule is doomed to fail – there's just no procedural way it will fly. As David Dayen writes, "Not only does this vote put Republicans on the spot over junk fees, it’s a doomed vote, completely initiated by their own possible VP nominee."

This is an hilarious own-goal, one that only brings attention to a largely ignored – but extremely good – aspect of the Biden administration. As Adam Green of Bold Progressives told Dayen, "What’s been missing is opponents smoking themselves out and raising the volume of this fight so the public knows who is on their side."

The CFPB is a major bright spot in the Biden administration's record. They're doing all kind of innovative things, like making it easy for you to figure out which bank will give you the best deal and then letting you transfer your account and all its associated data, records and payments with a single click:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/21/let-my-dollars-go/#personal-financial-data-rights

And now, CFPB chair Rohit Chopra has given a speech laying out the agency's plan to outlaw data-brokers:

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/prepared-remarks-of-cfpb-director-rohit-chopra-at-the-white-house-on-data-protection-and-national-security/

Yes, this is some good news! There is, in fact, good news in the world, bright spots amidst all the misery and terror. One of those bright spots? Labor.

Unions are back, baby. Not only do the vast majority of Americans favor unions, not only are new shops being unionized at rates not seen in generations, but also the largest unions are undergoing revolutions, with control being wrestled away from corrupt union bosses and given to the rank-and-file.

Many of us have heard about the high-profile victories to take back the UAW and Teamsters, but I hadn't heard about the internal struggles at the United Food and Commercial Workers, not until I read Hamilton Nolan's gripping account for In These Times:

https://inthesetimes.com/article/revolt-aisle-5-ufcw-grocery-workers-union

Nolan profiles Faye Guenther, president of UFCW Local 3000 and her successful and effective fight to bring a militant spirit back to the union, which represents a million grocery workers. Nolan describes the fight as "every bit as dramatic as any episode of Game of Thrones," and he's not wrong. This is an inspiring tale of working people taking power away from scumbag monopoly bosses and sellout fatcat leaders – and, in so doing, creating a institution that gets better wages, better working conditions, and a better economy, by helping to block giant grocery mergers like Kroger/Albertsons.

I like to end these linkdumps on an up note, so it feels weird to be closing out with an obituary, but I'd argue that any celebration of the long life and many accomplishments of my friend and mentor Anne Innis Dagg is an "up note."

I last wrote about Anne in 2020, on the release of a documentary about her work, "The Woman Who Loved Giraffes":

https://pluralistic.net/2020/02/19/pluralist-19-feb-2020/#annedagg

As you might have guessed from the title of that doc, Anne was a biologist. She was the first woman scientist to do field-work on giraffes, and that work was so brilliant and fascinating that it kicked off the modern field of giraffology, which remains a woman-dominated specialty thanks to her tireless mentoring and support for the scientists that followed her.

Anne was also the world's most fearsome slayer of junk-science "evolutionary psychology," in which "scientists" invent unfalsifiable just-so stories that prove that some odious human characteristic is actually "natural" because it can be found somewhere in the animal kingdom (i.e., "Darling, please, it's not my fault that I'm fucking my grad students, it's the bonobos!").

Anne wrote a classic – and sadly out of print – book about this that I absolutely adore, not least for having one of the best titles I've ever encountered: "Love of Shopping" Is Not a Gene:

https://memex.craphound.com/2009/11/04/love-of-shopping-is-not-a-gene-exposing-junk-science-and-ideology-in-darwinian-psychology/

Anne was my advisor at the University of Waterloo, an institution that denied her tenure for fifty years, despite a brilliant academic career that rivaled that of her storied father, Harold Innis ("the thinking person's Marshall McLuhan"). The fact that Waterloo never recognized Anne is doubly shameful when you consider that she was awarded the Order of Canada:

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/queen-of-giraffes-among-new-order-of-canada-recipients-with-global-influence

Anne lived a brilliant live, struggling through adversity, never compromising on her principles, inspiring a vast number of students and colleagues. She lived to ninety one, and died earlier this month. Her ashes will be spread "on the breeding grounds of her beloved giraffes" in South Africa this summer:

https://obituaries.therecord.com/obituary/anne-innis-dagg-1089534658

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/13/goulash/#material-misstatement

Image: Valeva1010 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hungarian_Goulash_Recipe.png

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

[mariacallous]

MADISON, Wis. — A bombshell report this morning from Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel revealed that Banco Azteca, a bank reportedly tied to the Mexican cartel flew $26 million of cash across the U.S.-Mexico Border to Eric Hovde’s bank in California.

As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel detailed, Banco Azteca was cut off by several other U.S. banks over “risk and compliance concerns” after reporting linked it to cartel activity. An executive of the bank was recently implicated in a federal indictment detailing his attempts to bribe a member of the U.S. Congress to get U.S. banks to once again do business with the bank. Despite this, Eric Hovde’s bank flew $26 million of cash from Mexico City to Irvine, California as part of a deal with Banco Azteca last December.

This shocking revelation comes as Hovde has refused to disclose which foreign banks and governments his bank has done millions of dollars of business with. What else is Hovde hiding?

Read more below:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bice: Democrats question Eric Hovde over his bank’s $26M deal with a troubled Mexican bank

By: Dan Bice

Banco Azteca, the 10th largest financial institution in Mexico, has had its share of problems in recent years.

Accused in past news stories of having links to the Mexican drug cartel.

Dropped as a financial partner by some U.S. banks because of “risk and compliance concerns.” 

And now caught up in a Texas bribery scheme with an American congressman.

But Sunwest Bank, the Utah-based financial institution run by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde, doesn’t mind doing business with it.

In December, Banco Azteca sent $26.2 million in cash to Sunwest on four airplane flights as part of a massive currency conversion called “repatriation,” records show. Hovde, who is running against Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, is chairman and CEO of Sunwest.

Now Democrats are questioning the deal, saying it gives voters a window into how Hovde runs his businesses by putting personal financial stakes above other issues.

Arik Wolk, spokesman of the Democratic Party, said Sunwest’s transactions with Banco Azteca are “extraordinarily concerning,” especially given the alleged past ties between Azteca and the drug cartel. He added, however, that Democrats were not suggesting Hovde or Sunwest had done anything illegal.

“Hovde is willing to do anything to enrich himself, even flying cash across the border for a bank suspected of working for criminal groups that are pouring deadly fentanyl into our state,” Wolk claimed.

As recently as 2021, Banco Azteca had no correspondent banks in the U.S. with which it could transfer U.S. currency.

Over the past decade, several news accounts, including two by Reuters, have drawn links between Banco Azteca and Mexican gangs, which are the leading suppliers of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and other illicit narcotics to the U.S.

In 2023, a Reuters reporter wrote that drug cartels are using remittances – money transfers favored by migrant workers – to send illicit earnings back to Mexico. 

The Reuters reporter said he witnessed five individuals on motorcycles collecting cash from people leaving branch offices of three banks, including Banco Azteca. Locals said these were couriers for the Sinaloa Cartel picking up drug money sent as remittances.

In a 2014 story, Reuters quoted a prominent anti-kidnapping activist saying Mexican gangs involved in kidnapping migrants ask for the money to be sent to Banco Azteca. Also, the Yale Journal of International Affairs reported that Banco Azteca was one of four banks that the Mexican cartel was using to process extortion payments.

A little more than a decade ago, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency investigated Banco Azteca’s ties with its then-correspondent bank in the U.S., Lone Star National Bank of Pharr, and turned up money-laundering concerns. Repeatedly cited and fined, Lone Star soon ended its relationship with Banco Azteca.

Other financial institutions, including Fifth Third Cincinnati and CBW Bank, soon followed.

According to a May story in the Wall Street Journal, Banco Azteca has struggled doing business with U.S. banks since regulators began enforcing rules cracking down on money laundering from drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion. Many U.S. banks have cut ties with Banco Azteca because of “risk and compliance concerns.”

For years, that left Banco Azteca holding onto large sums of U.S. currency with no place to offload it.

[i-was-today-years-old-when]

i learned just how ruthless Pablo Escobar was.

Known as the "King of Cocaine," Pablo Escobar was a notorious Colombian drug lord who headed the Medellín Cartel. His ruthlessness and cunning tactics contributed to his rise as one of the wealthiest and most feared criminals in history. Throughout his reign, he showed no mercy to those who stood in his way, employing brutal tactics to maintain power and instill fear.

Escobar's rise to power began in the 1970s when he started smuggling cocaine into the United States. As his operations expanded, he eliminated rival drug traffickers and built alliances with powerful criminal organizations. He was responsible for a significant portion of the world's cocaine supply, which fueled his vast fortune and enabled him to construct an empire of terror.

One of the most ruthless aspects of Escobar's rule was his use of sicarios, or hitmen. These individuals were often recruited from poor neighborhoods and were fiercely loyal to him. They were responsible for carrying out assassinations, kidnappings, and acts of violence on behalf of the cartel. It's estimated that the Medellín Cartel was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people during its existence, including police officers, judges, politicians, and innocent civilians.

To maintain control and evade law enforcement, Escobar employed a strategy known as "plata o plomo," which translates to "silver or lead." This phrase meant that officials and others in positions of power were offered a choice: accept a bribe (silver) or face the consequences, usually in the form of violence or death (lead). Many who refused his bribes were brutally murdered, serving as a chilling reminder to others of the consequences of defiance.

One of the most significant displays of Escobar's ruthlessness occurred in the late 1980s when he waged war against the Colombian government. In an effort to avoid extradition to the United States, he unleashed a wave of terror that included bombings, assassinations, and kidnappings. The most notorious of these attacks was the bombing of Avianca Flight 203 in 1989, which killed all 107 passengers on board. The target was presidential candidate Cesar Gaviria, who was not on the flight, but the cartel showed no remorse for the loss of innocent lives.

Escobar was also known to hold lavish parties and indulge in extravagant displays of wealth. However, this opulence was built on the suffering of countless individuals who fell victim to the violence and addiction caused by his drug empire. Despite his brutal reputation, he was regarded as a Robin Hood figure by some in Colombia, as he provided housing and support for the poor in his hometown of Medellín.

[beardedmrbean]

TD Bank is the 10th-largest bank in the country – but for a while was the No. 1 choice for criminal organizations laundering drug money, according to federal prosecutors.

The bank's $3 billion plea deal shocked the finance world but prompted a U.S. senator to slam the Justice Department for "absurd legal gymnastics" that she says were too soft on executives.

For years, the bank prioritized growing its profits without investing in mandatory precautions to prevent cartels and other organized crime groups from using its systems to launder money, allowing crooks to shuffle $671 million in secretive transfers that should have been flagged and reported to authorities – sometimes with the help of corrupt bank employees, according to the plea agreement. 

"By making its services convenient for criminals, TD Bank became one," Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters in October, announcing the bank's guilty plea. 

CHINESE MONEY LAUNDERING CRIMINALS TEAM UP WITH MEXICAN CARTELS TO MENACE US, OFFICIALS WARN CONGRESS

"TD Bank also became the largest bank in U.S. history to plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act program failures, and the first U.S. bank in history to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering," he added. "TD Bank chose profits over compliance with the law – a decision that is now costing the bank billions of dollars in penalties."

At the time, he said the investigation was ongoing and warned that more charges could be coming.

An admitted international money launderer in another case, Da Ying Sze, a 45-year-old from New York, bribed bank employees with almost $60,000 in gift cards. He pleaded guilty in his own case to a conspiracy that laundered $653 million on behalf of criminals in the U.S., China and Hong Kong.

Some of it was drug money. And $470 million went through TD Bank, according to federal prosecutors. 

For almost a decade – between January 2014 and October 2023 – the bank failed to comply with mandatory anti-money laundering regulations that required it to flag suspicious transactions, according to court documents. Instead of updating their system to keep up with emerging technology, bank officials saved money by leaving an outdated anti-money laundering program in place.

The anti-money laundering program was known to executives and so ineffective that employees joked about it, according to federal prosecutors. 

"These failures enabled, among other things, three money laundering networks to launder over $600 million in criminal proceeds through the Bank between 2019 and 2023," federal prosecutors wrote in court documents. "These failures also created vulnerabilities that allowed five Bank store employees to open and maintain accounts for one of the money laundering networks."

OPINION: CHINESE ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSINGS SPIKE BY 7,000%. ONLY CHINA KNOWS WHY

Those five corrupt employees helped criminal organizations launder $39 million to Colombia through nearly 200,000 ATM withdrawals. 

Even with the massive corporate fine and an "asset cap" that places a tight restriction on the bank, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., blasted the Justice Department for "legal gymnastics" that let top executives off the hook. 

"The way that DOJ structured the plea agreement ensures that TD Bank will not face the full range of penalties that Congress has enacted for banks that engage in criminal money laundering," she wrote in a public letter to Garland.

"These shocking failures enabled three separate money laundering syndicates to launder more than $670 million through the bank between 2019 and 2023," she continued. "The magnitude of the dollar value of these illicit transactions is dwarfed only by the obviousness of the criminal activity."

In all, criminal organizations laundered more than $670 million, according to authorities, and the total fines were set at $3 billion.

Without consequences for the executives, she argued, banks can just write off billion-dollar government fines as a business expense in the future.

The bank did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The bank's CEO, Bharat Masrani, told The Associated Press that steps were being taken to fix the deficiency and end the corruption after the bank pleaded guilty last month.

"We know what the issues are, we are fixing them," he said. "As we move forward, we’re ensuring that this never happens again, and I’m 100% confident that we get to the other side and emerge even stronger."

To address the money laundering problem, the bank says it began a multi-year security boost that included hiring dozens of new leaders and hundreds of experts on money laundering prevention and fighting financial crime.

[mightyflamethrower]

Donald Trump's plan to end the drug epidemic in America by declaring war on the drug cartels. "We will show no mercy on the cartels."

1. "Deploy all necessary military assets, including the US Navy to impose the full naval embargo and the cartels."

2. "Guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country."

3. "Order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces cyber warfare and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."

4. "Designate the major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."

5: "Sever their access to global financial systems."

6. "Get the full cooperation of other governments to stop [the cartels], or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign."

7. "Ask Congress to pass legislation ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the de*th penalty." "When I'm back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again."

[raisongardee]

"Comment c’est fait l’opinion ? C’est bien simple, c’est fait à Paris. Un Parisien comment c’est fait ? C’est bien simple ça vient de la campagne. Ça vous arrive un beau matin, en petite valise, wagon pommes. Voici l’homme sur le pavé. Le Juif est là qui l’attend, avec sa presse, sa radio […] En huit jours il se reconnaît plus. Un vertige d’intelligence ! Le chef-d’œuvre des 22 siècles ! C’est lui l’unique et pas un autre ! Tout des sauvages partout ailleurs ! Des gens qui n’existent pas… des pays de minables et d’affreux, des queues-dans-le-dos !... […] C’est plus que de le faire boire un peu, de l’étourdir au cinéma, de le faire passer aux Folies, qu’il se déprave éperdu Grand Luxe, qu’il se damne aux nénés-sortilèges, aux mirages de hautes priaperies, le voilà tout gâteux à fondre, déconnant le nord pour midi, la droite pour la gauche… Il a oublié son clocheton, son pissenlit, sa chèvre borgne, il est perdu. Rupture des labours, Paysan renié par ses vaches. Même pauvre à bouffer du rat, c’est lui le plus fort armé du monde ! délirant à plein univers ! il défie la Terre ! l’Amérique ! il lance des cartels au Zénith ! il a des canons pour la Lune ! il la traverse aller et retour ! Il est plus comparable à rien, il est plus montrable, plus sortable, plus écoutable sans rougir. Voici l’homme fou à ligoter, citoyen grisé de conneries qu’a perdu tout sens du ridicule. Il sait plus ce qu’il fait, ce qu’il ne fait pas. Il a plus que des velléités, des ébauches, des bribes, il sait plus rien entreprendre, il comprend plus rien. Il a perdu ses racines. Il est l’homme des publicités, rincé, délavé, chiffe crâneuse. Il va où sa connerie le pousse, où le juif lui souffles les slogans."

Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Les beaux draps, 1941.

[fixfoxnox]

Does the ultranationalist roach AU end with roach winning and settling with his little harem, or with Price recruiting Alejandro/Rudy/Alex/Farah and taking him down??? Bc honestly, it would swing either way and I would love a drabble of how the ending works out ����👈

Roach's Darling Boy (1)

Warnings: Kidnapping, Threats, Stockholm Syndrome, Suicidal thoughts implied

Note: This is technically the first part of Price's kidnapping lmao, but it doesn't cover anything after, so: essentially Roach wins in this universe. He gets all the boys, turns them to his side, technically turns Alex, Farah, Alejandro, and Rudy to his side and later convinces Laswell to join the Ultranationalists!

"Let's have a conversation," Roach gave the two men a bright grin, leaning back in the little recliner he'd sat himself in. Despite his calm demeanor, the two men in front of him stood tensely. Stripped of all of their weapons and with a gun trained on them both, neither of them could feel as comfortable as Roach so clearly did.

"Conversation?" Alejandro gave a cynical laugh, "We don't talk with terrorists, pendejo."

Roach didn't react to his insult, he just maintained his grin. "I'm here to make a deal with the two of you. One that I think you'll both like."

Alejandro gave a low growl, "We don't-"

"Make deals with terrorists," Roach rolled his eyes, "Blah, blah, blah!" His smile fell only a small bit, "You've just not had a terrorist offer you something good enough yet."

"We don't take money," Rodolfo finally spoke, "We don't take bribes. We aren't low enough for that."

"Even if I could promise to wipe the cartel from Las Almas?" Roach shot back, an eyebrow raised, "Even if I promised that your home and you would have my protection from any outside threats?" He tilted his head at the men, observing the way that they both stared at him, shock written on their faces.

"That is," Rodolfo started slowly, "Why? Why would you do that?"

"Because I want something in return," Roach responded simply.

"We won't kill people," Alejandro was the one who answered, "We won't stoop to your level."

"I wouldn't ask you to," Roach responded quickly. "My request is very simple. All I'm asking you to do is say no to someone."

"What?"

Roach gave the two men a slow smile, he could see that he had their attention. After all, they knew how powerful he was, what type of resources and connections he had. They knew that he could make good on his promise. And he knew that all they wanted was for their home to finally be rid of the cancer that had flooded it.

"In several days," he started carefully, "Captain John Price is going to come to you and ask for your help for a mission. I want you to tell him no."

"That's all?" Rodolfo shook his head, crossing his arms with narrowed eyes. "I'm not buying it. What do you get out of that."

"Well," Roach stretched up carefully, "The mission is to kill me, so I suppose I get that."

"I don't blame Price for wanting to kill you," Alejandro snapped out, "If he asked me to help I would certainly say yes." He gave a few low curses in Spanish.

Roach gave the man a pout, "Now what have I done to earn so much ire?"

"Four of our friends are dead because of you," Rodolfo responded carefully, his own voice quite harsh despite his calm demeanor.

"Is that your hang-up?" Roach gave a slow chuckle, pulling his phone from his jacket to click several buttons. Within a few moments there was a distinct voice floating through the phone, one that both Alejandro and Rodolfo recognized immediately, much to their shock.

"Roach!" Soap's voice was excited. Roach brought a finger up to his mouth, indicating for Alejandro and Rodolfo to be quiet as Soap continued, "How is your trip going? Everything good?"

"Everything is going amazing, sweet boy." Roach gave a grin, "I just wanted to check in with you and the others. How are my boys doing?"

"We're doing good! Makarov's already finished that book you bought for him a few days ago and now he's moaning about having nothing to do, though. It's been a bit annoying. Me and Ghost finally think we've perfected that salmon recipe we were working on! Gaz has been holed up with Jackson practically the whole time, so we've not seen too much of him."

"Well," Roach started with a grin, "I look forward to seeing you sweet boys again soon. Tell Volodya that I'll have a new book in for him in a few days. I love you."

"Love you!" With that, Roach hung up the phone and met the wide eyes of both Alejandro and Rudy.

"Your friends aren't dead, they're very happy. All you have to do to keep it that way, to get rid of the sickness that has plagued your home, and to give Captain Price a chance to see his boys again, is to say no." He stood from his seat, a careful grin on his face, "So, what do you say?

"You expect us to say yes to this?" Farah scoffed, shaking her head as anger burned in her eyes. "Captain Price is our friend, if he comes to us for help we will give it to him."

"I can provide you and your army with invaluable resources," Roach started calmly, "I can ensure that this war you have is won within two years." He leaned forward against the table, tilting his head at Farah and Alex carefully, "That is your people free from Al Quatala, from outside sources looking to harm you, from all of it. And all you have to do is say no."

"My people will be free in time," Farah leaned against the table, meeting his eyes with a low snarl rising to her lips, "But I will not betray Price."

Roach watched her for a moment, observing her face. "Alright," he said after a moment. He gave a short shrug. "That's fine with me. I'll just take all of the resources that I just offered you, and give them to," he pretended to think for a moment, "AQ fighters. How's that sound?"

Farah reeled back from the table, her face twitching in anger, "You would give resources to men that wish destruction upon your country?"

Roach shrugged, "Even men with the strongest hatred wouldn't dare to bite a hand that feeds them well. They would know not to cross me." He tilted his head, "I suppose the question now is...will you cross me, Karim? Or will you take my offer?"

"You can't help?" Price's voice broke somewhere close to the middle and he looked far more defeated than either Farah or Alex had ever seen him. They shared a glance with one another. Both of them hated this, but at the end of the day they knew that Sanderson would make good on his threat if they didn't follow through.

"I am sorry Price," Farah spoke carefully, "But we can't risk leaving now. The balance of things is finally tipping in our direction and if we let up for even a second, AQ will regain its footing." She paused for a moment before adding, "You know we would help if we could."

Price gave a defeated sigh, a hand rubbing over his face harshly. They could both see the rage that had painted the other man's face as he spoke and even now, through the defeat, they could see that rage simmering under the surface. "It's alright," he said finally, "Alejandro and Rudy said they couldn't help either, seems we're all busy this week."

Farah and Alex shared another glance. Surely Sanderson hadn't gotten to them too? The timing just seemed so...convenient. "We are sorry, Price," Alex spoke carefully, "I know you were set on trying to go after the guy."

There was a glint in Price's eyes, something that had both Alex and Farah tensing. That was not the look of a man who was ready to stand down. "Captain," Farah started carefully, "You don't still plan on going after him, right?"

"Of course," Price agreed. "Good luck with everything Farah, I'll speak to you both again sometime." He cut the video call off with no further words spoken between them.

Alex and Farah were quiet for several moments, neither of them knowing quite what to say. They both knew, though, that Captain Price was going to try to go after Gary Sanderson on his own.

"Where are you?"

Price didn't respond to Laswell at first, he just watched the small factory, puffing on his cigar carefully. The factory was lit up by all sorts of flood lights. It was going to be difficult to sneak in, but nothing that he hadn't done before.

"I think you know," he finally responded. He snuffed his cigar out and tucked it back into his vest. It was a nice last treat to himself, but he couldn't wait any longer.

"John," Laswell sounded sick over the line, sick and terrified, "Don't do this. This won't bring them back."

"I know that," Price responded carefully. He checked over his guns for several moments, making sure that they would all work properly, "But I have to do it. I have to kill him. For them."

"You can wait," Laswell pleaded again, "Until Alejandro and the others are able to help. It doesn't have to be now."

"You and I both know," he started down the hill toward the factory, his movements careful, "That that isn't true. This is the best chance we'll have Kate. I'm sorry." He paused for a moment before, "Going dark." He cut off his comms and took in a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to do.

He didn't expect to wake up. He'd gone to that factory to die, to die in one last attempt to kill the man who'd taken his entire team from him. The man who'd snuffed out the light of four men who he considered his family. It was a suicide mission. He hadn't expected to wake up.

So when he did wake up, even with a pounding in his head, he knew that something was wrong. He should be dead. Why wasn't he dead? There was something else too, something else.

A pleasant sensation. Hands brushing through his hair gently, occasionally tracing over his forehead. What was happening? He wasn't dead and someone was touching him.

After several moments of working up his energy. He started to slowly peel his eyes open, groaning as he was blinded by the bright white of the lights of the room. Was this a hospital?

There was a small chuckle from behind him at his groan and he realized that his head was in someone's lap, pressed against their legs. The same person brushing through his hair. His eyes began to adjust and, ever so slowly, he could begin to make out the figure looking down at him.

His heart stuttered over in his chest. A grin met his eyes. Rage flooded him.

"Hello my Darling boy," Sanderson cooed from above him, "Sleep well?"

Bonus! Missing Scene for funsies:

"Oh, by the way," Roach stopped in the doorway of Alejandro and Rodolfo's home, a bright grin on his face, "If either of you ever decide that you want to retire and have someone take care of you? Just call me, I'd be more than willing to take care of you both." He shot a quick wink toward Rodolfo, "Especially you, Angel."

He ducked out of the house quickly after, the sounds of his chuckles intermixing with the sound of Alejandro's curses following after him.