#emploi michael page

[bookoftheironfist]

Foggy: "What are you guys doing here?" Danny: "We're friends. You're in trouble." Foggy: "I-I didn't even know you were still together." Danny: "Special occasions." Daredevil vol. 2 #78-79 by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, Dave Stewart, and Cory Petit

Danny and Luke rescue Foggy Nelson from Reporter Hell.

This takes place during the "Murdock Papers" storyline, in which Matt Murdock's secret identity has become front page news for the second time in a very short period of time. Matt himself has vanished (he's gone off to try and solve the problem as Daredevil), leaving Foggy, his law partner and best friend, to face the hordes of reporters who failed to break the story the first time around and are eager for a second crack at it. A unique and, to me, compelling element of the Bendis/Maleev DD run is the heavy presence of the news media—through the spotlighting of characters like Ben Urich and J. Jonah Jameson, and also through the press's inclusion in the run's broader exploration of superheroes as public figures.

Luke and Danny first met Foggy back in the early 80s via Heroes for Hire, when Foggy employed them to serve as bodyguards for Matt, who (gasp! shock!) had found himself in the mob's crosshairs. They previously knew him, however, by reputation; Nelson & Murdock was a high-profile law firm, and Foggy had also recently served a term as the New York District Attorney. Following the bodyguarding job (which did not go well) and then a team-up with both Daredevil and Foggy (which went a bit better), the group ended up becoming close acquaintances, and eventually, close friends. While it is unsurprising for Danny and Luke to hang out with Matt, as fellow NYC superheroes with frequent team-up opportunities and a lot in common, it is even more meaningful to me to see their fondness for Foggy, who they continued to protect through the rest of Daredevil volume 2 and, notably, during the "Shadowland" event, where Foggy's life was actively in danger. I also love the way Luke and Danny's time-honed and trademark teamwork is on full display here, even in this relatively low-stakes situation, with Danny stealthily checking in on Foggy and hurrying him away while Luke stands out front, drawing the attention and metaphorical bullets while telling the crowd to %@$# themselves.

There is a parallel that I greatly enjoy between Danny and Luke and Foggy and Matt as two of Marvel's most prominent and enduring pairs of business partners/best friends. As Danny says here, they weren't officially operating as the Heroes for Hire at this time. But Luke and Danny are only ever "not together" in the same way that Foggy and Matt are ever "not together": they are a matched set, a bonded pair, brothers (their words) for life, and so in one way or another, they are always together.

(As a side-note: I'm almost positive that Alex Maleev was trying to draw Danny's costume from memory in those initial panels, because what the heck is he wearing?)

[beardedmrbean]

Biden supporters are raising Trump's associations with Jeffrey Epstein — again.

Recently-released docs in the Epstein investigation make no mention of Trump.

Democrats have tried deflecting concerns about Biden's age by bringing up Trump's past.

Some Joe Biden supporters are employing a tried-and-true strategy to fend off rampant debate over the President's age and mental acuity: deflection.

On social media — and even in the halls of Congress — certain Biden supporters are using Donald Trump's associations with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein as an argument to disqualify him.

Discourse about Trump and Epstein was reignited after documents from Epstein's first Florida investigation in 2006 were released last week.

But the 158-page document — a grand jury transcript showing prosecutors heard testimony that Epstein raped girls as young as 14, then still cut him a sweetheart plea deal — makes no mention of Trump himself.

Still, some seized the news cycle as a way to counteract doubts about Biden's own fitness to run for office in 2024.

Why no one's writing about Trump and Epstein

During a press conference on Tuesday, Rep. Ted Lieu of California urged more media coverage of the "Epstein files," adding that a "highly disturbing" hashtag about Trump and Epstein was trending on X.

Trump had previously been photographed with Epstein, Lieu said, had flown with him on planes with young girls on board, and the two were listed on call logs together.

"It shows that Donald Trump is unfit for office," the congressman said, adding Trump was also convicted of sexual abuse in civil court.

Ben Meiselas, the cofounder of liberal news network Meidas Touch, also posted on X about "the release of new Epstein files with Trump's name on it." Other Biden boosters have suggested a coordinated media cover-up to boost Trump's chances or doom Biden's.

But Trump isn't named in the latest records, a fact reiterated on X by Julie Brown, the Miami Herald investigative journalist who helped break the Epstein story.

Media outlets haven't reported on Trump's connection to the new Epstein files because there isn't one.

What we know about Trump's relationship with Epstein

Trump has appeared in previous unsealed and uncovered documents connected to the Epstein case.

Trump was also connected to 14 different numbers in Epstein's little black book of contacts that surfaced before the financier's arrest on sex trafficking charges in 2019. Among the contacts were Trump's wife, Melania; ex-wife, Ivana; and daughter, Ivanka.

The contact book also included the names of high-profile celebrities like Courtney Love, Alec Baldwin, and Naomi Campbell, as well as politicians and dignitaries like John Kerry, Michael Bloomberg, Henry Kissinger, and Prince Andrew.

Unsealed flight logs in 2019 revealed Trump took a flight on Epstein's private jet in 2017; billionaire couple Glenn and Eva Dubin joined him on the flight from Palm Beach to Newark.

And in January, a Business Insider analysis of then-unsealed court records determined Trump appeared in the documents multiple times under the moniker "Doe 174."

However, the mentions in those documents weren't all damning for the former President, BI's Jacob Shamsian reported at the time.

In one instance, a woman denied in a deposition that she'd massaged Trump. In another, a woman claimed — then recanted — that her friend had had sex with him. And Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of the key accusers of sexual abuse by Epstein and his associates, said in one document that she didn't think Trump was involved.

Trump had previously faced allegations by an anonymous woman that claimed he had violently raped her at an orgy when she was 13 years old. The woman — who went by the pseudonym "Katie Johnson" — even filed a lawsuit against Trump, twice.

The first was a civil rights suit in April 2016 that was thrown out on a technicality. Vox noted that the original suit listed the woman's apparent address as an abandoned home.

She filed a second lawsuit that removed some of the lurid details. Still, the case was connected to strange characters, including a Jerry Springer producer who tried to sell a video of the purported accuser to news outlets for $1 million and an anti-Trump activist who promoted the lawsuit — and had a history of spreading untrue gossip.

The woman abruptly dropped the lawsuit in November 2016, just days before the election that Donald Trump would win. Her lawyer didn't share a reason for why the lawsuit was dropped at the time.

Trump had publicly praised Epstein before his sexual abuse allegations came to light. He called Epstein a "terrific guy" in 2002, adding, "It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side."

But the Washington Post reported the two men had a falling out in 2004 after they both wanted to buy a prime Palm Beach property.

After Epstein's arrest, Trump told reporters, "I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you." Trump has also said he barred Epstein from Mar-A-Lago.

Four Pinocchios from WaPo for congressman Lieu's claims about Trump in the epstein files, that's gotta hurt both wapo and lieu

Guy must think everyone else is a idiot and will take him at his word instead of actually looking,

[vintagerpg]

OK, this is Expedition to the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk (2007), a late-in-3.5E campaign book. It is a return of sorts — in 1990, TSR released WGR1: Greyhawk Ruins, which was an earnest attempt at creating a published version that matched the vibe Gygax’s ur-dungeon. That remains a somewhat obscure supplement, but forms the basic foundation of this campaign.

There is a fair amount of material on the city of Greyhawk and some important world lore before getting to the ruins themselves. The upper works are the remains of three towers — Zagig’s, Magic and War — each with voluminous, interconnected subterranean regions. These are vast, and not fully detailed. Rather, the book employs a system of encounter spaces and connections that creates an illusion of endless detail without the slog (or the page count). It feels super usable, with all the information for a given encounter (attributes, maps, tactics) all laid out on one or two pages.

I don’t know how I feel about it, though. It feels very very 3.5, for better and worse. Even allowing for that, this all feels somewhat disappointing, if only because it is trying to reconstruct a thing that never truly existed. The original, likely lost or unpublishable Greyhawk dungeon wasn’t a sensible place to explore, with a cohesive plot or anything like that. It was irrational, built on the fly literally to test new mechanics during the development of the game. It had a bowling alley for giants, and a portal to King Kong’s Skull Island. This book is, weird to say, too cool to be Castle Greyhawk. Or, at least, the Castle Greyhawk I am interested in reading about.

I don’t find the art direction very helpful. Michael Komarck’s cover has baldy Mordenkainen pondering his orb, in which a not-nearly-ruined-enough castle appears. Its the most distinct piece of art in the book, the rest of which is done by a gang of artists whose names I don’t recognize; it’s all workmanlike and adheres closely to the 3E art direction.

I dunno, this is fine, probably.

[feketeribizli]

okay wait marci questions. how does he feel about media stuff? press, sponsored posts, the obligatory slash forced social media goofing etc. actually what's his social media presence like in general. also does he have pets..... did he grow up idolising anyone currently on the grid? how does he feel about racing his childhood heroes if yes? also, what's his favourite colour? capping it here but i want it known that he has eaten my brain 👍

hiii thank youuuu absolute bangers from you as always mwuah mwuah 😁🫶

nearly wrote a thousand words LMAO im putting a readmore somewhere to save yall... thank you for your time everyone 🫡

with all the live cockslip talk i thought itd be fun to delve into his social media presence for real... team and personal brand posting he doesnt mind per say, he got that goober in him that doesnt take oneself too seriously so hopping on silly trends hes almost looking forward to it. aston socials esp their tiktok is like my fave thing in the world lol id love to see him recreate the adam security & gf trend with padre

marci mostly uses instagram and its a mess... i barely follow any drivers but ive noticed they almost always got a certain aesthetic they try to keep up and well. marci dgaf. theyd try to put some color grading filter on the first photo in his dumps so at least theres some harmony to his page but its atrocious

he obviously has an official account on every other site but its usually for stuff his management posts on there (and an empty tiktok profile where his reposts are public. surely nothing weird or suspicious to see)

back to press and shit... hes not a fan 🧍‍♂️ he prefers the scripted stuff and when he can have like three takes to say something cause when its just him and twenty cameras broadcasting live... he still gets nervous and then the accent slips in and he stumbles his speeches and words things in a way people could twist what he said around easily (moment of silence and empathy for little lando norris). hes a small scale driver so the world doesnt hang on every word he says but yknow how it is

oh now im yapping like crazyyy... this part could get a whole new post but its kinda media related and ive been thinking and wanna talk about it a bit... if youve read this far kisses xx 😘

but yeah since im inserting marci into the canon events of real life theres bound to be loud media frenzy around his arrival especially since its aston. and in lances place (gotta work more on this but i was thinking lance has a kinda bad crash somewhere in the beginning of the 2024 season and my guy gets summoned out of thin air colapinto style to fill his place in until recovery but out of nowhere lance is like id like to temporarily step back lol 😋✌️ and the world explodes and marc is full time employed now)

and like idk how the hungarian public would react to a hun on the grid after twenty years (hes faggy so id care. otherwise idgaf about hungarian athletes for the most part) but that combined with the guy the world seems to hate a lot finally stepping down (NOT ME LANCE I LOVE YOU this is me trying to help this is me putting you in good situations) the commotion would be a major event with marcis name in the tabloids for a bit

all im trying to say is that his f1 entry would probably be very overwhelming and hes this shy guy no one has ever heard about before blabbering at stupid fucking press questions while glued to fernandos side. who is he whats his deal

ok lets put a hold on media for now 🧍‍♂️ as for pets... an old bernese back at home :-) marci kind of grew up with her (as much as he was at home. or the country even)... management posting ten-year-old marci at his first karting event with the puppy in his hands and then twenty-year-old marci after his first grand prix facetiming his family in the aston garages with the dog on the phone too... ack

about idols... his big thing is michael schumacher i know that for sure. marc generally looks up to everyone and has immense respect for most drivers. the more i think about it the more im like maybe bro got a thing for psychosexual warfare kinda drivers (schumi, vettel, alonso...) like yayyy to on and off track terrorism when its not aimed at me 😁

confession i kind of made him to deal with my conflicting feelings about aston martin as a whole lol and well. anyway he still shivers hot and bothered sometimes when fernando is around. gets a bit self conscious about it too but nothing that taking it up in the ass couldnt fix

fave color is greeeeen 😁 as i said match made in heaven with aston. team merch is glued to his body

WHEWH what an essay and i dont even know if im making sense lol ! marci is taking shape and becoming rock solid in my head im very happy about it 😋🫶 shoutout again to everyone intrigued i love cooking up the guy im having sooo much fun ‼️💥❣️

[justforbooks]

Eddie Jordan

Flamboyant Formula One team boss who was also an entrepreneur and skilled deal-maker

Viewers of Netflix’s Drive to Survive have become accustomed to the modern Formula One world of enormous hi-tech teams supported by armies of corporate sponsors and marketing, media and PR specialists. Eddie Jordan, who has died aged 76 of prostate cancer, represented a previous era of buccaneering individualists who made their own luck and built their teams in their own image.

“We were johnny-come-latelies, noisy, brash, having a good time, giving the establishment two fingers,” Jordan told MotorSport magazine. “So we got lots of attention, lots of value for our sponsors, and a huge fanbase.”

Jordan Grand Prix draped Page 3 models over their cars and were the rock’n’rollers in the F1 paddock, not least because Jordan could frequently be seen flailing away behind his drumkit in his band Eddie’s Pitstop Boogie Boys (who often played at Silverstone after the British Grand Prix) or subsequently Eddie & the Robbers. He was good friends with rock stars including George Harrison, Genesis’s Mike Rutherford, Chris Rea and John Lydon, and when Led Zeppelin staged their one-off reunion at London’s O2 Arena in 2007, Eddie was there.

But he was also a brilliant entrepreneur and deal-maker. He gave Michael Schumacher his first Formula One drive, and his efforts also ensured that Jordan came fifth in the World Championship in their debut year of 1991, a remarkable achievement for a fledgling independent team. During his team’s lifespan from 1991 to 2005, he employed numerous top drivers including Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichello, the 1996 world champion Damon Hill, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jean Alesi.

In 1998, Hill brought the team their first win at the Belgian Grand Prix, and Frentzen added two more the following year, helping Jordan to reach third place in the World Championship, their best performance. In 2003 Giancarlo Fisichella won the team’s final victory at Interlagos in Brazil.

Jordan was a close friend of F1’s eminence grise Bernie Ecclestone, and shared something of his deal-making instinct. In 1995 he made a small fortune by selling Irvine’s contract to Ferrari. He explained: “Irvine would come to me for free and I’d give him a three-year contract, and build him up, and build him up, and then sell him to Ferrari. He’d get 13 or 14 million and Ferrari would pay me five.” A major sponsorship deal with Benson & Hedges for the 1996 season prompted Jordan’s cars to turn yellow.

In 1998, Jordan sold half his shares to the private equity firm Warburg Pincus, then bought them back at a substantial profit. On Ecclestone’s recommendation, he sold Jordan Grand Prix to the billionaire Alex Schnaider for a reported $60m, and in 2006 the team became Midland F1 (and would subsequently become Spyker and Force India before its latest iteration as Aston Martin).

He pulled off another entrepreneurial coup in 2024, when acting as manager for Adrian Newey, arguably the greatest car designer in F1 history. He negotiated Newey’s transfer from Red Bull to Aston Martin, based at Jordan’s original Silverstone site, for a rumoured salary of £30m.

After selling his team, he had a media career as an F1 pundit, for BBC Sport’s Grand Prix programme from 2009, then for Channel 4’s F1 coverage from 2016. He presented Top Gear in 2016-18, and in 2023 he and David Coulthard launched their podcast, Formula for Success.

Eddie was born in Dublin, the son of Paddy and Eileen Jordan. His father was an accountant for the Electricity Supply Board, and his mother a housewife. He also had an elder sister, Helen. “My mother was the boss and head of the family, and I think I took a lot from her,” Eddie told the Sunday Telegraph. “We had that strong mother-and-youngest-son bond. I was driven.”

He attended Synge Street Christian Brothers school, displaying early entrepreneurial flair by dealing conkers, marbles and school textbooks, and at one point considered becoming a priest (his father’s twin sister was a senior nun with the Irish Sisters of Charity). He briefly considered dentistry but then got a job in the Bank of Ireland. In 1970, a banking strike prompted him to move to Jersey to earn money, where he not only trained in accountancy but tried go-karting, and became infatuated with it.

Back in Ireland, he pursued his karting hobby and was successful enough to win the Irish Kart Championship in 1971. He then moved up to Formula Ford (partly sponsored by a Dublin carpet shop), although he suffered a temporary setback when he broke both legs in a crash at the Mallory Park circuit in Leicestershire in 1975. He bounced back in Formula Atlantic, and won the Irish Formula Atlantic title in 1978.

He then moved to England and, now married to Marie McCarthy (a former basketball player for Ireland), tried his luck in Formula Three, but with little success. He decided to switch from driver to team owner, and formed Eddie Jordan Racing (EJR) in 1979.

The team enjoyed a standout season in F3 in 1983, when their driver Martin Brundle came a close second to the gifted Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna. “We so nearly won the championship because we psyched Senna, and he started to make mistakes,” Jordan said.

In 1987 Johnny Herbert won the British F3 title with EJR, then in 1989 EJR’s new signing, the French driver Alesi, won the F3000 title. Herbert had now entered F1 with the Benetton team, and Alesi followed suit with Tyrrell (assisted by Jordan’s sponsorship contacts with the Camel cigarette brand).

This inspired Jordan to make the leap to F1 himself. He assembled a team including the designer Gary Anderson, and attracted sponsorship from Marlboro, 7UP and the Irish government.

He signed up the drivers Andrea de Cesaris and Bertrand Gachot, who racked up some solid results before Gachot was involved in a bizarre road-rage incident at Hyde Park Corner in London in which he sprayed a taxi driver with CS gas. This earned Gachot a prison sentence, and as replacement Jordan signed Schumacher for his F1 debut.

Schumacher only drove once for Jordan, at Spa in Belgium, but his performance was so sensational that he was scooped up by the Benetton team, even though Jordan apparently had a watertight contract with him. The episode highlighted the machiavellian politics lurking behind the glamorous facade of F1.

Jordan had numerous interests outside motor racing, building up a substantial property portfolio as well as being a shareholder in Celtic FC and co-owner of the London Irish Rugby Club. He had investments in gaming and entertainment businesses, and launched his own V-10 vodka and the energy drink EJ-10. He also owned several luxury yachts.

He was a patron of the child cancer charity CLIC Sargent and the youth charity the Amber Foundation. In 2012 he was appointed an honorary OBE for his services to charity and motor racing. His autobiography, An Independent Man, was published in 2007.

On Jordan’s death, Ecclestone commented: “Eddie was a special guy. Tell me which team principal today is like him. You can’t give me one because there isn’t one. They don’t make them like that now. We will never replace him in Formula One.”

He is survived by Marie and their children, Zoe, Miki, Zak and Kyle.

🔔 Edmund Patrick Jordan, motor racing entrepreneur, driver, businessman and broadcaster, born 30 March 1948; died 20 March 2025

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[tia-amorosa]

Episode 29: Examinations (Part 1)

The drive to the medical center didn't take very long and when they arrived, they were lucky that there didn't seem to be many people in the waiting room. Peter signed in and was asked to take a seat in the waiting area. Michael walked along the window front for a while and looked around the room. Then he sat down too.

“Do you want to be examined first, or should I?”. Michael looked briefly at Peter with rolling eyes and then back to the window. “You were the one who made the appointment, so you go first…”/ "hn, okay. Would you like to come in too?“/ ”And watch someone groping my boyfriend? No thanks“/ ”hnhn, the guy's a doctor, he has to do that“/ ”mmh… I know".

“How is training going at the moment?”/ "My coach is tough as nails. He made me jump 10 laps over hurdles yesterday. That was intense“/ ”So, did you make it?“/ ”I think I knocked down five or six , so it went really well"./ „hn, o.k.“. Then they heard a door open and footsteps coming across the floor. “O.k, so…. Mr. Landgraf?”

The two stood up at the same time and turned in the direction of the doctor's voice. Michael was quite surprised at how young the doctor was. He had actually expected someone much older. “Hello…”/ “Hi…”/ “You wanted to see me today for a general routine check-up?”/ "Yes, right, and so did my partner. “/ ”mhm, and who would like to go first?". Once again, Peter's eyes went to Michael. But he just shook his head. “I told you, I'll wait…”/ “All right…”.

Peter gave Michael another kiss on the cheek and then went to the Dr. He was indeed still quite a young man, but he already had a lot of experience, otherwise he wouldn't have been employed here in the medical center. . "We spoke on the phone, didn't we? I'm sorry that the old colleague can no longer look after you“/ ”That's OK“/ ”All right, then please come with me for now".

After Peter had disappeared into the examination room with the doctor, Michael stood alone in the waiting area. And he had some unpleasant thoughts running through his head. But that was actually unnecessary. He knew that himself. He was actually much more afraid of his own examination. He would almost have preferred it to be done by a woman. "He's just doing his job, isn't he? Oh boy…" .

After the doctor had arrived in the examination room with Peter, he sat down nd asked Peter to do the same. “I've already looked at your file a bit.”/ “So you've taken on all your predecessor's patients now?”/ “Exactly…”.

“I'm a little surprised, you look like a student”/ "Yes, I hear that a lot. Nature has been a little too kind to me and made me look like someone who's just finished school. I'm 31“/ ”what, really? O.k.“/ ”hnhn, well, we're not here for me. How are you doing? Are there any problems at the moment?"

While Peter is being questioned and examined by Dr. Valentino, Michael had taken one of the various medical guides from the shelf. But he simply leafed through the many pages, which contained hardly any pictures and literally forced the reader to read something.

After they getting to know each other by seeing and talking to each other, the Dr. began his examination. “You're an athlete, aren't you?”/ ‘„correct’/ "Ah, okay, then you've trained well. Does it hurt when I press here on your back?“/ ”Should anything hurt?“/ ”hn, no".

The Dr. slowly felt Peter's spine from top to bottom. "Mmm, nice and straight, no curvature. I've never seen anyone with so many pigment spots before“/ ”Is that so unusual?“/ ”Oh, no. Some people don't like them and prefer to have them removed by laser treatment.“/ ”They don't bother me".

A few minutes later. "OK, you can get dressed again. I have nothing to complain about at the moment, you're pretty fit. I'd still like to take some blood samples to check everything. I hope the examination wasn't unpleasant for you. Peter looked at him and shook his head with a smile. “Mm, no, normal”.

“Sorry to pry, by partner you meant…”/ "That we're together, yes. Is that a problem?“/ ”Oh, no, not at all. He just didn't seem quite so fit to me. and he looked a bit skeptical“/ ”he's not so good with doctors…". The Dr. raised his eyebrows and nodded in understanding. "I see. I'll probably take a little more time with him then��/ ”yes, that would be good".

After the examination was finished, Peter went back outside, where Michael was already pacing back and forth impatiently waiting for him. “So, is everything OK?”/ "The doctor was quite happy with me. My blood is still being tested. Oh, and he's very gentle," said Peter with a provocatively mischievous smile. “Don't make such a stupid joke, okay?”/ "Hey… He's really good, you don't have to worry. Shall I come with you?".

"Man, I'm not a wimp. I know he's just doing his job…“/ ”You see. And he listens and takes his time with the patients, so you can tell him everything that's bothering you at the moment. And if you do feel uncomfortable, just give me a call. I'll grab a coffee from the vending machine while I'm there.“/ ”OK, then… See you in a minute." With mixed feelings, Michael released himself from the embrace and also went to the examination room.

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

@greenplumbboblover , @solorisims , @honeywinesims ☀

[sargeantposting]

ARTICLE: The Florida Man of Formula 1 (2023)

Source: Michael M. Grynbaum, The New York Times Series: F1, 2023

Logan Sargeant, the only American driver in Formula 1, is zipping around the narrow streets of Baku, Azerbaijan, at roughly 200 miles an hour. His head bounces inside the cockpit as a wheel shudders over a rumble strip. It’s hard to hear over the banshee shriek of his V6 engine, carrying three times the horsepower of a run-of-the-mill Porsche Carrera.

Then the noise stops, and Baku vanishes. We’re inside a low-slung brick building nestled in the Oxfordshire countryside. The track, projected onto a CinemaScope-sized wraparound screen, was a mirage, part of a sophisticated training simulator. (F1 rules prohibit driving the real cars between races.) Mr. Sargeant climbs out of a replica driver’s seat wearing athletic pants. He won’t need a fireproof suit until later.

In three weeks’ time, Mr. Sargeant will do this for real: wind whipping his visor, G-forces of up to six times his body weight pressing on his neck, the ever-present threat of a catastrophic crash as he is watched by roughly 70 million people around the world. For now, it’s time for lunch. “Is chili bad for you?” he asks, digging into a bowl at his team’s commissary. “I don’t think it’s that bad.”

Williams Racing, in Grove, England. It was founded in Oxfordshire in the 1970s, but it’s now an American subsidiary: a Manhattan private equity firm, Dorilton Capital, bought the company in 2020 for an estimated $200 million.

F1 teams employ hundreds of employees and spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing the world’s most sophisticated racecars.

Reaching Formula 1, the highest level of international motor sport, is a big step for Mr. Sargeant, 22, a South Florida native who began racing rudimentary cars known as karts at 6 years old and this year joined the Williams Racing team as the first full-time American F1 driver since 2007.

For Formula 1 itself, finding a hometown hero for American fans is a giant leap.

Although it is enormously popular in Europe, F1 struggled for decades to break into the United States. That began to change in 2016, when the sport was purchased for $4.4 billion by the Colorado-based Liberty Media, owned by the cable magnate John Malone. Liberty ramped up its social media — F1 had barely kept a YouTube page — and backed a popular Netflix documentary series, “Drive to Survive.” Once geared toward aging white men, F1 now has a younger and more diverse fan base. American TV viewership is up 220 percent from 2018, and the sport made $2.6 billion in revenue last year.

Still, a subset of F1 devotees complain about what they see as an overemphasis on entertainment and ginned-up drama. Under Liberty, they argue, pure racing is taking a back seat to cheap tricks to reel in casual viewers. And they often use a dirty word for it: Americanization. “It is becoming more and more like Formula Hollywood,” Bernie Ecclestone, the 92-year-old Briton who built F1 into a global business, griped last year. “F1 is being made more and more for the American market.”

The backlash reached a crescendo at last week’s Miami Grand Prix, which was added in 2022 as a showpiece for American fans. In a prizefight-style pre-race ceremony, the rapper LL Cool J introduced the 20 drivers one by one amid swirling smoke and a squad of cheerleaders. Nearby, Will.i.am conducted a live orchestra playing the rap song he recently recorded with Lil Wayne as part of a “global music collaboration” with Formula 1. (The lyrics rhyme “Max Verstappen,” the name of the sport’s top driver, with “your champion.”)

“Pandering to the American audience is killing @F1,” wrote one fan on Twitter, echoing criticism that bubbled up across numerous F1 websites. Even the racers complained: “None of the drivers like it,” groused Lando Norris, a Briton who drives for McLaren. Undeterred, Liberty announced that the bombastic pre-race sequence would be featured at several more grands prix this year.

In the United States, F1 has long been associated with a certain European mystique, most famously, the louche glamour of the Monaco Grand Prix.

In the United States, F1 has long been associated with a certain European mystique. Its drivers race across the Ardennes forest (Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium), the plains of Lombardy (Italy’s Autodromo Nazionale di Monza) and, most famously, the louche glamour of the Monaco Grand Prix. The sport’s stateside image could be summed up by the 2006 comedy, “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” which featured Sacha Baron Cohen as a pretentious French F1 driver named Jean Girard, a snooty Eurotrash foil to Will Ferrell’s macho NASCAR cowboy.

In 2023, F1 can feel a bit more Ricky Bobby than Jean Girard. In Miami, drivers circled a track built in the parking lot of the Dolphins football stadium, past an artificial Monaco-style “harbor”: blue-painted asphalt topped with ersatz yachts. A new Las Vegas race in November will have cars zooming down the Strip past Caesars Palace. Meanwhile, traditional races in France and Germany are gone.

Katy Fairman, a journalist based in Brighton, England, who runs the F1 podcast “Small Torque,” said she was surprised by the spectacle when she attended a race in Austin, Texas. “There were girls with pompoms,” she said. “I remember watching it and thinking, Oh my gosh, this is so different from anything I’d seen F1 do in a long time.”

Ms. Fairman conceded that some Europeans find the American hullabaloo “tacky.” But she added: “When it’s something to do with America, I think Europeans are quite judgmental. I think it’s just a bit of lighthearted fun. You guys like to have a party.”

The arrival of Mr. Sargeant, who grew up about an hour’s drive from the Miami racetrack, has spurred new interest, including a profile and photo shoot in GQ, and he’s happy to play the part. “What’s up America, let’s bring that energy!” he shouted to the cameras after LL Cool J introduced him as “the local boy done good.”

But as with F1, there are growing pains. In Miami, Mr. Sargeant finished last, his race ruined on the first lap when he damaged a front wing. After the checkered flag, he apologized to his team, his voice barely a whisper: “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe it.”

Weeks earlier, in an interview in England, Mr. Sargeant had demurred about the pressure of wearing the stars and stripes. “I try not to get too caught up in the talk of the role of ‘first American,’” he said. “It’s still very early for me, and I have a lot to learn still.”

If Mr. Sargeant doesn’t perform, there are dozens of drivers eager to take his spot. “At the moment,” he said, “I just have to worry about staying here.”

For a globe-trotting athlete, Mr. Sargeant can be soft-spoken and endearingly self-conscious. 

‘I just want to get back in the gym.’

Before his tough Miami weekend, Mr. Sargeant was asked how he would celebrate a top 10 finish. “Honestly, it might sound lame, but probably just go back to my house and get in my bed for another night before I go back to London,” he replied. “That’s all I want to do.”

For a wealthy, handsome, globe-trotting athlete, Mr. Sargeant can be soft-spoken and endearingly self-conscious. It’s not unusual for someone who, like a tennis prodigy or Olympian gymnast, has devoted their life since childhood to a sole pursuit.

Mr. Sargeant was 6 when he and his brother Dalton got a kart from their parents for Christmas. “No one in the family was really even that much into racing,” Logan said. “We just picked it up as a hobby, something to do on the weekend.” He began winning junior races around the country — too easily. To reach the next level and pursue Formula 1, he’d have to leave behind his friends and beloved fishing excursions for life on a different continent: “We just needed a higher level of competition, and at the end of the day, that was in Europe.”

Mr. Sargeant left Florida before his 13th birthday, bouncing between Italy, Switzerland and Britain as he raced on the European junior circuit; in 2015, he became the first American to win the Karting World Championship since 1978. “As a kid, it was tough,” he recalled. “Coming from Florida, being outdoors all the time on the water, great weather — it was literally vice versa.” He eventually settled in London, where he spends most days working out with a trainer. “I get away from a race weekend, and I just want to get back in the gym,” he said. “I hate that feeling of leaving slack on the table.”

It is incredibly difficult to nab a seat in Formula 1. Today’s drivers are physical dynamos trained to optimize their reflexes and performance levels down to how well they can withstand jet lag — critical in a sport that this year will include 23 grands prix spread over five continents. F1 teams employ hundreds of employees and spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing the world’s most sophisticated racecars. But it’s ultimately up to the driver to execute.

It also helps to have money. Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion and F1’s only Black driver, is an exception, having grown up on a London council estate. Many F1 competitors are the sons of multimillionaires (and some billionaires) who can bankroll pricey travel and high-tech cars.

Mr. Sargeant falls into the scion category. He hails from a wealthy Florida asphalt shipping family. His uncle, Harry Sargeant III, is a former fighter pilot and onetime finance chair of Florida’s Republican Party who has been sued by the brother-in-law of King Abdullah II of Jordan and whose name turned up, tangentially, in the 2020 impeachment of former President Donald J. Trump. (Harry was not accused of any wrongdoing.)

Logan’s father, Daniel Sargeant, worked alongside Harry until the brothers had a falling out. In a 2013 lawsuit, Harry accused Daniel of misdirecting $6.5 million in corporate funds “for the purpose of advancing the international cart racing activities” of his sons, Logan and Dalton; that litigation was eventually settled.

In 2019, Daniel Sargeant pleaded guilty in federal court in New York to foreign bribery and money laundering charges related to his business dealings abroad. He is free on a $5 million bond and is awaiting sentencing. A Williams spokesman said that Logan Sargeant was not “in a position to comment” on any of the legal matters involving his family.

In F1, none of this particularly stands out. The mother of Mr. Sargeant’s Williams teammate, Alexander Albon, was jailed in Britain for swindling millions of pounds in fraudulent sales of high-end cars. A Russian racer, Nikita Mazepin, was booted from the sport after his oligarch father, a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin, was sanctioned following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

James Vowles, the Williams team principal, said in an interview that he hired Mr. Sargeant for his speed, not his U.S. passport. “I’m incredibly pleased that the sport is growing in America, but I think it would be anything but disingenuous to say that Logan’s here for any other reason than I think he’s got this pure talent,” he said.

In his F1 debut in Bahrain in March, Mr. Sargeant finished 12th, outpacing this year’s two other rookies. “He has this insatiable desire to be better, to want more,” Mr. Vowles said. “He’s a perfectionist, and I like that in him.”

Tooting around in a Vauxhall Astra

Britain, where Formula 1 originated in 1950, remains the sport’s spiritual home, where most of its 10 teams are based. Williams was founded in Oxfordshire in the 1970s, but it’s now an American subsidiary: a Manhattan private equity firm, Dorilton Capital, bought the company in 2020 for an estimated $200 million.

It was an important cash infusion for a team that had struggled to keep up with rivals. Manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz pour enormous resources into their F1 teams, which double as an elaborate global marketing campaign and an in-house innovation farm; tech developed for F1, like engines that recycle braking energy as an accelerant, can trickle into consumer vehicles.

Formula 1 car simulators at the Williams Racing factory.

Formula 1 drivers practice on sophisticated training simulators.

The Williams campus is a humdrum brick pile that could be mistaken for an office park — a far cry from McLaren’s space-age complex an hour’s drive away. Many F1 teams provide their drivers with a high-end sports car for personal use; Mr. Sargeant commutes in a Vauxhall Astra, a compact.

Even the team’s sponsors are relatively down-market; whereas the official watch of Ferrari is Richard Mille (starting price: $60,000), Williams has a deal with Bremont, whose timepieces retail for significantly less. (On a recent visit, a Williams press aide was quick to extract a spare Bremont watch from his pocket and ensure Mr. Sargeant was wearing it whenever a photographer hovered.)

Given the huge costs, corporate partnerships are crucial to F1, part of the reason the American market, with its abundance of affluent consumers and wealthy brands, has proved so tempting. Gerald Donaldson, a journalist who has covered F1 for 45 years, recalled how cars were gradually taken over by corporate logos starting in the late 1960s.

“Marlboro paid all the Ferrari bills, including the drivers, for many years,” he said in an interview. “There are eager companies who want the publicity.” Mr. Sargeant’s car features ads for Michelob Ultra beer and an American financial firm, Stephens. In Miami last weekend, beachgoers spotted an airborne banner reading “Go Logan!” alongside the image of a Duracell battery.

Last year, the Miami race was viewed on ABC by 2.6 million people, the biggest American audience for a live F1 telecast. Ratings for this year’s race fell about 25 percent, perhaps a result of a duller-than-usual season dominated by one team, Red Bull.

Still, viewing data show that F1 is expanding beyond affluent cities associated with elite sports: In 2022, its top five American TV markets included Asheville, N.C., and Tulsa, Okla. ESPN is clearly betting on more growth. When the sports network renewed its broadcast rights last year, it agreed to pay $90 million annually — up from the $5 million-a-year deal it signed in 2019.

Liam Parker, a former adviser to Boris Johnson who now leads communications at F1, said the sport was intent on rectifying past mistakes. “We were too arrogant,” he said. “We couldn’t understand why the American fan base wasn’t falling in love with us.” But he also pushed back on the complaints that Liberty’s efforts to raise the entertainment factor had stripped F1 of something essential.

“This whole argument of ‘Americanization,’ it’s a very crude way to describe things,” he said. “We shouldn’t ignore things that can improve things for new and core fans. It’s about giving people more choices in the modern era. It’s modernization of access to everyone.”

Mr. Hamilton, arguably the biggest celebrity of the current F1 lineup, has offered his own endorsement of Liberty’s approach. “I mean jeez, I grew up listening to LL Cool J,” he told reporters in Miami. “I thought it was cool, wasn’t an issue to me.”

For all the debates over elitism, good taste and corporate rap collaborations, the core appeal of F1, when you get right down to it, may be something simpler — something Mr. Sargeant got at when asked in the interview if he had loved cars as a kid.

“I absolutely love driving, as you can imagine,” he said. “But to be honest, I’m not one of those people who studies cars and, you know, likes to know every detail of every single car. It doesn’t really interest me.”

“The part that interests me,” he concluded, “is driving them as fast as I can go.”

Eliza Shapiro contributed reporting from Miami. Kitty Bennett contributed research. Michael M. Grynbaum is a media correspondent covering the intersection of business, culture and politics.  A version of this article appears in print on May 14, 2023, Section BU, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: The Florida Man Of Formula 1.

[geniuscomediae]

Hi guys, I wrote a silly tiny self-indulgent gerrymichael fic!

AO3

warnings: internalized transphobia

She is cute and bubbly and shy and lovely, and something feels off about her. Gerry applies all of his knowledge about the supernatural to try and figure out whether something is wrong with her, he tries to warn Gertrude – she brushes his worries off, wich is unusual of her – and even manages to investigate her past and present, but finds nothing. She seems like a normal person, who just so happened to be the youngest and weirdest archival assistant he has ever seen.

Gerry knows she is twenty, – a year and a half older than him – she is both intelligent and academically smart, she likes Shakespeare and ABBA, she likes cats more than dogs and prefers tea over coffee. Digging through everything he can find about her Gerry finds out there were recurring incidents with a strange door in her childhood that almost made her psychiatrist she sees once every three months diagnose her with schizophrenia, but something convinced him otherwise. As far as Gerry is aware, she doesn't know it was the Spiral; she isn't aware of the Dread Powers at all, wich is worrying, because how the fuck didn't Gertrude think about telling her? Girl might be in danger if she's chosen by the Spiral. Gerry feels strange, he wants to protect her, he finds a strange resemblance in her even though they are completely different.

One day he finds her on her break in the library, sitting on the floor with a notebook and doodling. A cup of herbal tea she brings wuth her from home sits beside her, visibly cold and forgotten. He catches a glimpse of a page of her notebook with one name written several times, before she slams it shut and looks up at him, unsuccessfully trying to hide fear and shame.

"Good afternoon, Gerard," – she is, as always, polite and formal, even though they formed some sort of workplace friendship over the year. Gerry wonders if she would be less if he was officially employed, – "did you want something from me? I'm on my break right now, but I will gladly help you."

"No, no, don't worry", he waves his hand dismissively and sits down next to her. She anxiously fixes her sweater and he notices that something is even more off than usually.

"Actually, I'm here to talk. About a serious matter."

"Oh."

She looks almost as if she's in panic. She drags her knees to her chest, and Gerry finally notices what his mind ringed as wrong: it looks... Flatter. Not like she has lost some weight – Gerry doesn't think she should, but she told him once she doesn't feel comfortable in her body – but like something is flattening it.

"I- I didn't-" she stutters and tries to squirm further from him, but he interrupts her.

"It will probably sound invasive, but who is Michael?"

She freezes and he tries to fix whatever damage he has just dealt.

"Look, Curls, I'm an asshole and I work for the paranormal research institute and shit felt wrong about you since the day we met, so I investigated you. I was worried you might be a... a doppelganger, and your remarks about you feeling unwell in your body, and the talk we had about the superpowers and you picking the shapeshifting, and when I was sure you are a normal human being I started worrying you are stalked by something paranormal, and..."

He catches a breath, and she looks at him with wide eyes.

"And if you feel like this Michael, whoever he is, is a danger, you can tell me. Even if he's just a weird guy who makes you uncomfortable. I'm your friend after all, am I not? And... And I like you, and you know I don't give this kind of affection away easily, and I just want you to be safe, okay?"

The silence is almost deafening while she adjusts her glasses.

"Well..." she starts carefully, "You don't have to worry about Michael. And- and about me. I'm just... I don't know."

They sit in sikence again for some time.

"Can I trust you?" she asks suddenly, eyes slightly watery and lips pressed into a thin line.

"Of course. You can trust me with anything, Curls, I'm great at keeping secrets."

"I think I might not be a girl," she mutters, gripping the edge of her sweater. "I always felt good when I was mistaken for a boy. I know I'm soft and I like girly things, and skirts look good on me, and I love my hair long, but I'm just chasing this image of me that strangers will take for a young man and... And I hate my life so much."

He is looking away from Gerry the whole time he is speaking, on the verge of tears and trembling. Gerry reaches out and carefully hugs him, drawing him closer.

"Don't worry, Curls, I know what it feels like."

"Do you... Do you think you should be a girl?" he asks, wiping off tears from his cheeks.

"Holy fuck, no," Gerry laughes, shaking his head. "Been there, done that, not my cup of tea. I'm the same way you are, definitely not a girl."

Gerry feels so easy, almost as if he was drunk. This whole time the strange feeling about his almost-coworker was just a going off trans radar, not a subconscious awareness of paranormal shit or anything like that. He laughes again and pats him on the head.

"So," they say together and both stop, waiting for the other. Gerry gestures, inviting him to continue.

"About you liking me," he mumbles, blushing and looking away again. "Will that change now that you know I'm weird?.."

"Hell no, I like both girls and boys. Actually, I think I only like boys, since I was sure you were a first girl I fell for. Well, silly me. Okay, my turn: I'm not sure if I'm right, but I suppose you'd like me to call you Michael?"

"Yeah," he nods, smiling softly. "I would quite like it."

"So, Michael, are you free tonight?"

[brokehorrorfan]

Aliens: Bishop will be published in hardcover, e-book, and audio book on December 12 via Titan Books. The 496-page novel is written by T.R. Napper (36 Streets, Neon Leviathan).

It serves as a direct sequel to Aliens and Alien 3 in which Weyland-Yutani, Colonial Marines, and Bishop’s creator all pursue the android for the Xenomorph data contained in his brain.

Massively damaged in Aliens and Alien3, the synthetic Bishop asked to be shut down forever. His creator, Michael Bishop, has other plans. He seeks the Xenomorph knowledge stored in the android’s mind, and brings Bishop back to life—but for what reason? No longer an employee of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, Michael tells his creation that he seeks to advance medical research for the benefit of humanity. Yet where does he get the resources needed to advance his work. With whom do his new allegiances lie? Bishop is pursued by Colonial Marines Captain Marcel Apone, commander of the Il Conde and younger brother of Master Sergeant Alexander Apone, one of the casualties of the doomed mission to LV-426. Also on his trail are the “Dog Catchers,” commandos employed by Weyland-Yutani. Who else might benefit from Bishop’s intimate knowledge of the deadliest creatures in the galaxy?

Pre-order Aliens: Bishop.

[librarycomic]

Masterpiece by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. Dark Horse, 2024. 9781506730493. 175pp including a cover gallery and some sketchbook pages by Maleev.

Masterpiece Lawford is arrested by "FBI agents" during class in front of her high school classmates. Turns out the agents are goons in the employ of a rich a-hole who just discovered she exists, and who still wants revenge on her parents for what they stole from him fifteen years ago, and despite the fact that everyone is pretty sure they're dead. He wants Masterpiece to hit a wealthy target of his choosing just as hard as her parents hit him. Masterpiece decides to bring them both down, since the target seems like an awful person, too.

On her side is the person who raised her, plus a really good friend who wants to help, and maybe The Paragon, a masked vigilante known for beating the crap out of famous bad people. And that's is just the beginning of Masterpiece's crew.

Bendis and Maleev created my favorite run of Marvel's Daredevil, and I loved their Scarlet and Spider-Woman books too. This graphic novel feels like the love child of my three favorite heist movies: Ocean's Eleven, David Mamet's Heist, and 1992's Sneakers. It's fun, it has a brilliant teenage protagonist, and the twists and turns are fun. (And for some reason it has me mourning River Phoenix's death all over again.)

bookreview #graphicnovel #graphicnovelreview #yagraphicnovel #crime #heist #revenge

[sefaradweb]

📜 La Haggadah Dorada, una joya medieval del arte judío

🇪🇸 La Haggadah Dorada es un manuscrito iluminado de lujo, creado entre 1320 y 1330 en Cataluña, España, y actualmente conservado en la Biblioteca Británica de Londres. Sus ilustraciones, adornadas con fondos de pan de oro, narran episodios bíblicos desde el Génesis hasta el Éxodo, con un enfoque en el relato de la Pascua Judía. Este manuscrito, compuesto por 56 escenas en 8 páginas dobles, fusiona arte y narrativa, reinterpretando motivos cristianos en clave judía, según el análisis innovador del historiador del arte Marc Michael Epstein. El manuscrito incluye elementos únicos: mujeres prominentes en 46 escenas, como Miriam liderando el canto tras cruzar el Mar Rojo, un tema inusual y destacado. Además, utiliza patrones visuales diagonales y secuencias narrativas que evocan la exégesis judía medieval, combinando el pshat (interpretación literal) y el drash (interpretación homilética). Las imágenes trascienden lo literal, tejiendo comentarios sobre temas como la misión divina y la fecundidad judía. Incluso se especula que este tesoro podría haber sido creado para una mujer, posiblemente en duelo por un hijo perdido. La Haggadah Dorada no solo es un ejemplo de arte medieval, sino también un puente entre pasado y presente, mostrando la complejidad y riqueza del pensamiento judío.

🇺🇸 The Golden Haggadah is a luxurious illuminated manuscript, created around 1320–1330 in Catalonia, Spain, now housed in the British Library in London. Its illustrations, adorned with gold leaf backgrounds, narrate biblical episodes from Genesis to Exodus, with a focus on the Passover story. Consisting of 56 scenes across 8 double pages, this manuscript blends art and narrative, reinterpreting Christian motifs with a distinctly Jewish lens, as analyzed by art historian Marc Michael Epstein. A unique feature is the prominent role of women, appearing in 46 scenes, such as Miriam leading the song after crossing the Red Sea, an unusual and highlighted theme. Additionally, it employs diagonal visual patterns and narrative sequences reflecting medieval Jewish exegesis, combining pshat (literal interpretation) and drash (homiletic interpretation). The images go beyond illustration, weaving commentary on themes like divine mission and Jewish fertility. It is speculated that this treasure may have been created for a woman, possibly mourning a lost child. The Golden Haggadah stands not only as an example of medieval art but also as a bridge between past and present, revealing the depth and complexity of Jewish thought.

[brainwavejrsoldermankink]

i think mister terrific should fuck hal stupid on page. as a treat. to me not them this has now been tzken over by my intense dislike of tge post all in and absolute power universe. why is airwave living in the walls why is terrific a shady bitch in challengers i just cant handle a universe wherein batman throws shade at holt for 'methods he wouldnt employ himself'.

so. would michael tie hal up, or like idk. kinkiest position you can think of. imagine tge role play possibilites there

Literally what method has Batman not employed other than the time Zatanna and Barry were like "let's mindwipe our villains! yay!" but even then I suspect he would do it he was just mad he hadn't thought of it first. (also Airwave even if he isn't an adult yet is Hal's cousin who used to live with Jack a lot and I know Jack is dead... for some reason... still... but since every other Jordan family member is alive)

and also it is called All-In but WHERE is Hank. Hank entitled to beat everyone up for this.

Hal should get tied up and filled with T-Spheres

[alephskoteinos]

The strange fellow

Something strange made its way to me in the weekend and I've been kind of sitting on it since, and then I already posted about it everywhere except here, so let's just do it.

This is about the strange history of a Christian church that somehow worships Jesus and Lucifer as the same being. This church is called the Church of Light and Shadow. I remember hearing about them about 4 and a half years ago. They are a Liberal Catholic church which claims to be an independent and autonomous Apostolic and Sacramental body, unconnected to the See. They also say they synthesize Christian mysticism and Traditional Witchcraft, celebrating both Catholic Christian holidays and things like Sabbats and Esbats. They often employ "Luciferian" twists on Catholic lore, even including ideas about Lucifer that are based on apparent folklore concerning the Devil and the Queen of Elphame, which suggests that they both deny the concept of Lucifer as the Devil *and* venerate a devil-like Lucifer alongside Jesus.

Now here's the funny part. This church was founded by a man named Mal Strangefellow, whose real name appears to be James F. Foster. And, before he got into liberal Catholicism, Christian mysticism, and Gnosticism, he was actually a clerical member of the Temple of Set. His homepage doesn't mention the name James Foster anywhere, but it does say that he used to be a "Former III* Priest of Set in the Temple of Set".

Some interesting credentials alongside that as well (such as having apparently studied with Jason Miller).

It's unclear when exactly Foster stopped being a member of the Temple of Set, but he was active on the Temple's official forum, Xepera-1. He may have also run the forum as an admin.

There was also some drama back in 2001 where Foster got into arguments with other ToS members, and then he and another apparent ex-priest created a podcast called Radio Free Setian.

Michael Aquino, ToS founder and then-leader, didn't seem very happy about that. A ToS Magister named Dubin (who btw might have been a known white supremacist and a Charles Manson fan) talked about doxxing Foster in the hopes of "shutting him up", which Aquino seems to have opposed because it would eventually come back to the ToS. Someone named "Mr. Scratch" suggested reporting ToS who harrassed Foster and others off the internet to US authorities. As an apparent testament to the sordid behaviour of the Temple of Set, "Mr. Scratch" also said that both he and Foster were targeted by ToS members or Aquino himself trying to harass or discredit them within the Temple by revealing embarassing information about them.

Without being certain when exactly he left the ToS or stopped being a Setian, I think I can see why he would have left. In fact, a lot of that lines up with something I remember being told about the ToS between 11 and 13 years ago, how they would spy on their members for some reason.

Anyway, it seems that in the year 2000, while he was still a member of the Temple of Set, Foster founded a Gnostic Christian church called "The Church of the Holy Grail", which soon afterwards became the "Apostolic Johannite Church". The "Apostalic Johannite Church" seems to have been accused of being a Satanist organisation at some point, probably by tradcaths, because in 2011 they wrote a letter responding to such allegations, in which they mention that Foster explored the Left Hand Path and was a member of the Temple of Set.

Foster apparently left the AJC at some point, not exactly sure when. He founded another church called the Liberal Gnostic Church (Ecclesia Gnostica Liberalis), and went by The Most Rev. Dr. Barnabas Foster. He also went by Tau Barnabas or Tau Iohannes III. The Apostolic Succession page for the Church of Light and Shadow says that Tau Barnabas was consecrated as a bishop for multiple Gnostic and Liberal Catholic Christian churches and organisations on July 14th 2002.

The name The Most Rev. Dr. Barnabas Foster and the name James Foster still appear on official signed letters from the Church of Light and Shadow, so I doubt that he's hiding his real name at this point. However, for some reason or another, the Liberal Gnostic Church does not appear on his About page, whereas it does appear on what seems to be his faculty page from The Society of Royal Philosophers.

There's a lot about how Foster ended up where he is now that still isn't entirely clear to me but the gist is there's a Gnostic/Liberal Catholic Christo-Luciferian group run by a guy who became a Gnostic Christian bishop after being basically chased out of the Temple of Set. I don't know why he was into Gnostic Christianity specifically but I have my suspicion that the Temple of Set being an abusive cult would explain some of it.

[girlactionfigure]

The dark-haired girl on the right with the impish smile, her name was Eddie Lou, she was about 8 years old when this photo was taken in 1909. The picture was taken at the Tifton Cotton Mill, Tifton, Georgia. The girls worked there.

The photograph was taken by Lewis Hine, who visited factories such as this mill and took photographs of the children who worked there as evidence for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC).

In another part of the country, Mary Harris Jones, also known as "Mother Jones", led a march of children from Philadelphia to New York in what would be known as the March of the Mill Children, a three-week trek by striking child and adult textile workers on July 7, 1903.

Children had been forced to work in coal mines and mills, when their fathers were killed or injured, unable to support the families. As a result, many children suffered stunted growth and were injured, maimed. Mother Jones described the children, "some with their hands off, some with the thumb missing, some with their fingers off at the knuckle. They were stooped things, round shouldered and skinny. Many of them were not over ten years of age, the state law prohibited their working before they were twelve years of age."

“Since 2000, for nearly two decades, the world had been making steady progress in reducing child labour,” according to the United Nations. “But over the past few years, conflicts, crises and the COVID-19 pandemic, have plunged more families into poverty – and forced millions more children into child labour. Economic growth has not been sufficient, nor inclusive enough, to relieve the pressure that too many families and communities feel and that makes them resort to child labour. Today, 160 million children are still engaged in child labour. That is almost one in ten children worldwide.”

This is an update of a series of stories that have been posted for Labor Day. You can find those stories in the Peace Page archive or Google the information on your own to find out more.

~~~~~

“Over 100 years ago, the National Child Labor Committee used photos of children doing industrial work to demand change in America. Several states adopted child labor laws, and after much debate and several setbacks, the Fair Labor Standards Act became law in 1938. Its protections included the nation’s foundational child labor laws, including restrictions on the age of workers and hours they can toil,” wrote Michael Lazzeri, regional administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division in Chicago

Max McCoy of the the Kansas Reflector wrote today on September 3, 2023:

“After more than a century of progress, you might think child labor is a thing of the past, something we condemn other countries for but that we don’t need to worry about here. Tragically, that shadow army of workers is still with us, and many of those workers are children. These underage exploited are often immigrants . . .”

“In February of this year, a cleaning company was fined $1.5 million for employing children ages 13 to 17 at meatpacking plants in eight states. The firm, Packers Sanitations Services Inc., was the target of a federal Department of Labor investigation that found 102 children working illegally, including 26 at the Cargill meatpacking plant at Dodge City.

“Appallingly, many states are now racing to loosen — not tighten — child labor laws.

“Arkansas, for example, in March did away with the requirement that the state’s Division of Labor had to give permission or verify the age of children under 16 to be employed. Although those under 14 still cannot be employed, the ending of age verification requirements is an invitation to child labor abuses.

“Other states are making similar moves.

“Iowa, for example, has made it legal for teenagers to work in meatpacking plants and children as young as 16 to bartend. New Jersey and New Hampshire have also lowered ages for some types of work. The argument goes that work builds character and that overly restrictive laws prevent young people from fully developing their capacity to earn a living.

“But such arguments stink like the stuff you find on a slaughterhouse floor.”

~~~~~

"In the early 1900s, Hine traveled across the United States to photograph preteen boys descending into dangerous mines, shoeless 7-year-olds selling newspapers on the street and 4-year-olds toiling on tobacco farms. Though the country had unions to protect laborers at that time — and Labor Day, a federal holiday to honor them — child labor was widespread and widely accepted. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that around the turn of the century, at least 18 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 15 were employed," according to the Washington Post.

Mother Jones would say after the march, "I held up their mutilated hands and showed them to the crowd and made the statement that Philadelphia's mansions were built on the broken bones, the quivering hearts and drooping heads of these children. That their little lives went out to make wealth for others. That neither state or city officials paid any attention to these wrongs. That they did not care that these children were to be the future citizens of the nation."

Many industries hid the fact that they employed children. They took advantage of poor families, such as Eddie Lou's family. Eddie Lou's father had died and left her mother with 11 children and no income. Her mother was forced to work at the cotton mill for $4.50 a week. Eddie Lou and four siblings also worked there and they were all together paid $4.50 as well. Eddie Lou and her youngest siblings would eventually be sent to an orphanage because her mother wasn't able to provide for them.

“If we don’t hold the line on child labor, we risk losing one of the things the has sets us apart as a nation founded not only on laws, but of morals,” wrote McCoy. “Of course children provide cheap labor, but business profits should not be the gauge of our society. In addition to the mental and physical tolls that children suffer in jobs that are inappropriate — and can you really imagine a 16-year-old wiping down the bar and asking what’s your poison? — there’s also a danger these children will become primary breadwinners for their families, with their educations coming a distant second.”

The children at the march carried banners that said, "We want more schools and less hospitals" and "We want time to play."

~ jsr

The Jon S. Randal Peace Page

[seaemberthesecond]

for the ask game…2 & 13 for Declan and 12 for carmy hehehe

Heheheheh thank you for the ask ❤️

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

asdgfhdha I've been a declan stan since day 1 baybee. I read 'don't we look like lobster tonight?' and I LOCKED IN. But I think my favourite thing about him is the same thing that drew me in, in the first place. Which is that there's a dissonance between the way characters think of him and the way he presents himself and his actual actions on-page.

Ronan insists he's a bad brother, that he hates ronan, but he's getting kicked around by an assassin and refusing to turn his brother in, he's making a four hour round trip every weekend to sit in a pew with his brothers, he's begging please let's leave let's just go. That dissonance is SO compelling to me because it suggests there's a lot going on under the surface.

And then it turns out under the surface of a grey suit, and a bland smile, and a smarmy voice is an immense capacity for love, and a staggering force of will, and a deep appreciation of art and beauty all mixed together with seething resentment and a boatload of eldest daughter syndrome, What's not to love?

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

#F5F5DC. The hex code for the colour beige.

(the only emoji declan uses is the thumbs up one and he employs it as liberally as the average middle-aged dad.)

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Carmy had a little fling with Luca when they were in Noma <3

(and he spent the whole time terrified that somehow Michael had found out and that's why he was ignoring him)

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

What kind of members were Michael Warder and Gary Jarmin?

Another re-posting of Don Diligent’s research – this one from February 7, 2017 – “What kind of members were Michael Warder & Gary Jarmin?! How dangerous is the Council for National Policy?!”

Some editing and re-formatting not done by Don Diligent (Ed Coffman) on this page – bolding added for emphasis or to point out people of interest

▲ Mother Jones (link) - May 1981 - Page 14 - article that goes into Warder, Jarmin, and Moon’s organizing in D.C.

“Moonies in Reagandom” article in Mother Jones:

Two former top leaders of the Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church have landed big jobs in right-wing bases in Washington, D.C. Michael Young Warder…is now director of administration at the Heritage Foundation…meanwhile, Gary Jarmin…is now legislative director of the Christian Voice Lobby. Both men say they are no longer associated with Moon. Former Moonies have been eagerly awaiting the defection of someone on Warder’s level. But when telephoned by “Ex-Moon”, the national coalition of apostate Moonies, the former publisher wouldn’t talk. When “Mother Jones” called Warder to ask if he is a mole for Moon, he denied the charge. Stressing that he has made a clean break… But he declined to reveal any information on the operations of the Moon projects he led. Over at Christian Voice, Gary Jarmin insisted to us. “I’m no longer affiliated with the church; “I’m not a member of it and I don’t consult with their people…I think my actions speak louder than my words.” Some of Jarmin’s actions however, seem to speak out of both sides of his mouth. The February 20 edition of the Moonie student newspaper ran a lengthy interview with him, in which he hyped Christian Voice but did not mention his own history with Moon.

▲ 1800 Couple Blessing (February 8, 1975) list with Michael Warder and Cheryl Gilkerson (tparents.org) Michael Warder remains married to the wife he was “blessed” to in the Unification Church’s 1800 blessing. 

▲ A snippet from the Fraser report LINK Investigation of Korean-American Relations (Moonies, aka Unification Church) – Diplomat National Bank – Page 35:

The subcommittee’s interest in the Diplomat National Bank resulted from an allegation that persons associated with Sun Myung Moon and Tongsun Park tried to gain control of the bank…The Diplomat National Bank of Washington, D.C. opened on December 15, 1975…the chairman was Charles Kim. During the summer of 1975, when Charles Kim was soliciting stock subscriptions…Pak arranged a meeting at Moon’s residence in Tarrytown, N.Y., attended by Charles Kim, Jhoon Rhee, and Raymond Gilkerson, a businessman with banking experience whose son-in-law was prominent in the Moon Organization.

Power Elites: The Merger of Right and Left - Heritage Foundation - The Moon Connection (archive.org):

Edwin J. Feulner, Jr. was recruited in 1977 by Richard Scaife to become Heritage president…The 1975 Congressional investigation of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) activities in the U.S. noted a connection between Heritage and the Rev. Sun Myung Moon; ‘In 1975, Ed Feulner…was introduced to KCIA station chief Kim Yung Hwan by Neil Salonen and Dan Feffernan of the Freedom Leadership foundation.’ The Heritage offices in Washington, D.C. have housed and employed a number of Unification Church operatives: ‘Heritage’s Director of Administration in 1980 was Michael Warder, who was a key leader of Moon’s Unification network in the United States …

▲ Dr. Edwin J. Feulner, Jr of the Council for National Policy (CNP) The Council For National Policy – Past/Present Officers & Prominent Member Profiles (archive.org):

▲ Michael Warder in more recent years Southern Poverty Law Center – The Council For National Policy: Behind the Curtain – May 17, 2016 (splcenter.org)

The Council for National Policy (CNP) is, in the words of The New York Times, “a little-known club of a few hundred of the most powerful conservatives in the country,” an organization so tight-lipped that it tells its people not to admit membership or even name the group. It is important enough that last fall, according to an account in The National Review, Donald Trump and five other Republican presidential candidates each took 30 minutes to address the group; the conservative journal reported that Trump was by far the favorite candidate. The 2014 CNP directory is a remarkable roster of significant figures on the political and religious right…What follows is a list of leading officials of right-wing or conservative media organizations who are also members of the Council for National Policy (CNP) [ … ] the Washington Times - David Keene, Opinion Editor [ … ] The following list of 20 college and university officials at 16 schools who are also members of the Council for National Policy (CNP) gives a sense of how far the group has reached into conservative academia, particularly religious institutions. Two of those listed are also members of the CNP’s Board of Governors. [ … ] Pepperdine University - Vice Chancellor Michael Y. Warder

▲ Gary Jarmin The Council for National Policy - Selected Member Biographies (archive.org)

Gary Jarmin - CNP 1984-85, 1988, 1996, 1998…president, Jar-Mon Consultants, Inc;  Legislative Director, Christian Voice, a front for the Unification Church; Lobbyist and political consultant in Washington, D.C.; President of Jar-Mon Consultants, Inc., a firm specializing in political activism, election campaigns and foreign policy matters in East Asia; designed and directed registration drive in 1984 for American Coalition for Traditional Values; Chaired Christians for Reagan campaign in 1980 and 1984; Former leader of the Student Alliance for Education, former secretary general of Moon’s Freedom Leadership Foundation; 1975 worked for American Conservative Union, a senior group founded by Young Americans for Freedom, stayed as legislative director four years. Knew Moon since 1969.

Federal Election Commission (archive.org) - Page 19 and Page 156:

American Conservative Union……1976…Charles Black, David Keene, Donald Devine, and Phil Crane were both ACU directors and CFR regional coordinators [ … ] 1976 [ … ] Gary Louis Jarmin serves as legislative director of ACU and as director of ACU’s "bureaucratic watchdog project”, Public Monitor. He is responsible for ACU’s congressional lobbying efforts and for editing the Public Monitor Report. His supervisor is the ACU Executive Director. His subordinates are part-time student interns placed in his charge.

▲ Covert Action issue with an indepth article on Moonie politics that gives some history of the UC’s cooperation with both the Japanese and South Korean governments 

Covert Action Information Bulletin – Spring 1987 - Phasing out Democracy: Moon’s Law by Frederick Clarkson – Undercover Moonie - Gary Jarmin (Pages 44-45) (archive.org):

Christian Voice has come under fire recently for misrepresenting itself, and for its ties to the Moon organization…At the center of this controversy is lobbyist Gary Jarmin, a Moonie from 1967-1973(4?) who was active in Moon’s Freedom Leadership Foundation and who many suspect may be a Moon agent in the New Right. A May 1981 article in “Mother Jones” raised this question … [… ] by February 1983 Jarmin had helped organize the first CAUSA North America conference, held in Jamaica. Also in attendance were Christian Voice chairman Robert Grant and Advisory Board members W. Steuart McBirney and Ray Allen, and political strategist Colonel V. Doner. The relationships go even deeper. The three-member board of Christian Voice’s political action committee is chaired by Jarmin, and includes Rev. Don Sills of the Moon-funded Coalition for Religious Freedom. In August of 1985, Jarmin helped organize CRF’s God and Freedom Banquet held in celebration of Moon’s release from jail. He also led legislative workshops at secretive CAUSA indoctrination sessions for American state legislators during 1986. These events drew about 100 conservative legislators from both parties to all-expense-paid junkets, ostensibly to discuss the Constitution. A more elite version of these meetings is the CAUSA-sponsored American Leadership Conference, where Jarmin has spoken. Jarmin has been joined at other CAUSA events by Robert Grant, who addressed the 1985 CAUSA National Conference in San Francisco. Grant currently chairs the Executive Committee of the Coalition for Religious Freedom.

Power Elites: The Merger of Right and Left – Heritage Foundation – The Moon Connection (archive.org):

Christian Voice is one Moon-connected group that has operated out of the Heritage building. A ‘former’ Moon operative, Gary Jarmin joined the Christian Voice (CV) staff. CV’s chair, Robert Grant, has been a leader of Moon’s Unification network front groups such as the American Freedom Coalition.

*ADDITIONAL NOTE - added since Ed Coffman’s death:

Ex-Moonie Profile: Michael Warder (WIOTM):

Michael Warder, 1968 graduate of Stanford University with a degree in Political Science, quickly became a top Moonie directly reporting to Moon, rubbing up against known KCIA/CIA operatives, including Tom Ward and Bo Hi Pak. Michael Warder was a Director of the Unification Church of America in 1977. He was listed as Director of Tong II in 1978, and was the largest American stockholder of Tong II Enterprises in the 1970’s. He was Secretary of the International Cultural Foundation. He had an editorial position in News World Communications which published the UC New York newspaper, ‘The News World’ – later called ‘The New York Tribune’. Cheryl Gilkerson, his wife, joined the church in Paris, where Tom Ward also joined the church as a student around the same time. Cheryl and Michael left the church in 1979 and remain married, and Michael continues to be a proponent of right-wing politics, employed for years by the Claremont Institute, a conservative think thank. Their son Michael Warder Jr. also went into political science,  and later law. He spent five years in the Marine Corps. He founded the “Russian Club” at school. Their daughter Amy Lynn went into law as well.

Related:

The Curious Case of Gary Jarmin

Gary Jarmin was recruited to the Unification Church as a teenager from a trouble teens camp

More on Gary Jarmin

From Korea with love (1974) – the article that changed Jarmin’s trajectory in the Unification Church

Michael Warder’s reasons for leaving. As a top UC leader in the US in the 1970s he reported directly to Moon.

Former Unification Church Official, Michael Warder, Analyzes Moon’s Organization

Michael Warder explains Moon’s News World media strategy

Moon wanted a “Vast conglomerate of mutually supporting businesses”

The Unification Church and KCIA: Some Notes on Bud Han, Steve Kim, and Bo Hi Pak

Michael Warder: Another CIA Moonie Asset?