#national advertising division

[nationallawreview]

How to Succeed in Environmental Marketing Claims

Environmental marketing claims often present something of a Catch-22—companies that are doing actual good for the environment deserve to reap the benefits of their efforts, and consumers deserve to know, while at the same time, heightened scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the National Advertising Division (NAD), state regulators and the plaintiffs’ bar have made such claims…

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lisa Needham at Public Notice:

Elon Musk is busy. No, not because he’s attending to any of his multibillion-dollar companies. For Tesla and SpaceX and Starlink, he’s full of wild promises with very little actual progress. But what Musk is really spending time on these days is attacking the core foundations of American democracy on multiple fronts. There’s his thus-far successful effort to get rid of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). There’s his political action committee, America PAC, which pretends to help register people to vote but is just hoovering up voter data to give to the Trump campaign. And there’s his lawsuit seeking to force companies to advertise on X, despite the fact advertisers generally do not want their ads running next to the Nazi content X is full of now. All of these efforts have the potential to succeed because the federal courts are broken, and the administrative state is dying a slow and painful death. 

Immiserating workers

Let’s start with the NLRB. It’s no surprise that Musk is no friend to labor. He doesn’t believe in unions, saying that they create “a lords and peasants sort of thing,” whatever that means. When workers at his Fremont, California, plant began an organizing campaign, he tweeted that they would lose their stock options if they joined the union. This sort of threat is extremely illegal, and the NLRB sided with the workers who brought multiple unfair labor practices charges against Tesla. Tesla also prohibited workers from wearing t-shirts with union insignias, even though the right to wear pro-union clothing at work has been a legally protected activity for several decades. Then, of course, there’s the class-action lawsuit in California state court, where almost 6,000 Black workers at the Fremont factory recently got the right to sue Tesla for ignoring massive racism at that plant. How massive? Nooses at the workstations of Black workers massive.  [...]

A scam PAC

America PAC purports to help people register to vote. If you live in a state that isn’t a swing state, that’s what the PAC’s website does — sends you over to your state’s voter registration page. But if you live somewhere in play this November, the America PAC website asks you for detailed personal information, including things utterly unrelated to voter eligibility, like your cellphone number. After all that is entered, the PAC doesn’t register you at all. It doesn’t even send the user to their state registration website. It just displays a “thank you” page.  So, swing state voters may think they’re registering, but they’re not. Instead, they’ve handed over their data to a PAC that is coordinating with the Trump campaign. While PACs are generally not allowed to work directly with campaigns, America PAC is a door-to-door canvassing group, and those, inexplicably, can work hand in hand with a candidate. However, pretending to register people to vote is probably a bridge too far.

[...]

Suing advertisers

Mr. Free Speech is also availing himself of the courts to try to force companies to advertise on X. On Tuesday, X filed a lawsuit against the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), an advertising trade group, in the Wichita Falls Division of the Northern District of Texas. Why Wichita Falls, some 300 miles from Austin, where Tesla is located? Because the Northern District of Texas enthusiastically embraces judge shopping, and every case in Wichita Falls goes to Reed O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee who routinely tries to throw out the whole of the Affordable Care Act and is a reliable vote for anything conservatives want. (The WFA announced Thursday that it’s shutting down because it does not have the financial resources to fight X in court.) Musk already has another case before Reed O’Connor on a similarly twisted legal theory.

Late last year, X sued Media Matters in O’Connor’s court after Media Matters accurately pointed out that ads were appearing next to the Nazi and white nationalist content that is rife on X now. That case shouldn’t exist, period, and it especially shouldn’t be in O’Connor’s courtroom. As Mike Masnick pointed out over at Techdirt, X is incorporated in Nevada, with headquarters in California. Media Matters is in DC, and the Media Matters writer named in the suit is in Maryland. The only connection to Texas is that Reed O’Connor is very friendly to conservatives.

Elon Musk is selling out to enemies of America who seek to erode our democracy.

[ausetkmt]

At President Trump's rally in Tampa last week, a familiar face made it back in the national news. Maurice Symonette, also known as Michael the Black Man, was front and center in a crowd hurling invective at CNN reporter Jim Acosta, waving a "Blacks for Trump" sign.

Symonette has been a regular at Trump rallies all over Florida and as far away as Arizona. Just last month, he popped up at the U.S. border to appear in a video with disgraced sheriff-turned-pardoned-Senate-candidate Joe Arpaio.

All that national exposure raises an obvious question: Who is paying the bills for Symonette, a former member of Miami's murderous Yahweh ben Yahweh cult, to represent "Blacks for Trump" at Trump rallies? 

Since Blacks for Trump isn't a registered political organization with the Florida Division of Elections or the Federal Election Commission, there are no public records of any donations funding the group's operations.

It seems unlikely Symonette is fronting the cash for his travel himself because he filed for bankruptcy this past May. In federal court records, he reports that he's unemployed, generates no income, and has $0 in the bank. He also says four banks have staked claims on $2.9 million worth of property around Dade County. 

So how is he getting to Arizona and Tampa to stand behind Trump on national TV?  Reached on his cell phone, Symonette declined to discuss his group's financing. "You guys are horrible racists," he said. "You are lawbreakers and you're mean... God is going to punish you horribly."

Throughout the '80s, Symonette — then known as Maurice Woodside — was a devoted follower of Yahweh ben Yahweh, a charismatic preacher who wore white robes and called himself the Messiah.

Federal prosecutors later accused Yahweh, whose real name was Hulon Mitchell Jr., of ordering his followers to murder at least 14 people, including random white vagrants who were massacred as an initiation rite.

Symonette was charged in federal court along with Mitchell and 15 other followers in 1990; while the cult's leader was later convicted of 14 charges of murder conspiracy and served nearly two decades in prison, Symonette and six other cult members were acquitted.

In the decades since, Symonette has been charged with crimes including grand theft auto, carrying a weapon onto an airplane, and threatening a police officer, but has never been convicted. (He does have a pending case on a municipal ordinance charge in Hollywood after police showed up to a really loud party he threw.)

Since Trump's election, Symonette has carved out an unlikely new niche as one of President Trump's most visible African-American supporters. He has a knack for getting prime placement directly behind Trump and has handed out hundreds of his "Blacks for Trump" signs.

They advertise his website, which is full of conspiracy theories about Cherokees running the U.S. banking system. (Really.)

Symonette was even featured at a Miami Trump rally that prosecutors later alleged had been funded by Russian nationals looking to disrupt the election.

Symonette filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on May 16, listing Washington Mutual, Homecomings Financial, HSBC Bank, and Indymac Bank as his creditors; each institution laid claim to one of four houses. Three are in North Miami-Dade County, and one is near Kendall.

In court docs, his only listed assets are clothing, watches, various household items, and a pool table. He does say that his live-in girlfriend, whom he doesn't identify by name, provides him with $2,000 per month.

Could that money from his significant other cover Blacks for Trump's various trips around the country to support the president on TV? Symonette wouldn't discuss that with a New Times reporter. 

Instead, he spoke at length about his belief that the banking system is corrupt. He added that "Trump being the president is the greatest blessing we have ever had."

In his bankruptcy case, he's repeated those allegations about the banking system being crooked to Judge Laurel M. Isicoff. He's also repeatedly sought to change hearings that overlapped with Trump events. Symonette suggested the scheduling conflicts are a sinister plot to keep him away from the spotlight at Trump rallies.

"Creditors know that I have a rally in Arizona on July 25 and deliberately set the hearing on that date to cause me and my musical band to miss the performance and the rally with the bus we rented," he wrote in a motion filed the same morning as the Phoenix rally. "The creditors overheard that at the house we are disputing... and set that hearing on the same date just to harm me."

That motion was denied, as was another he filed on July 30, just before Trump's Tampa rally. "As founder of Blacks for Trump, (I) have rented vans to go to Trump's rally. We need to make the country aware how the banks (FOREIGNERS FROM THE EAST) are illegally taking WHITE AND BLACK PEOPLE'S houses away."

Maurice Symonette's story is baffling, to put it mildly. Symonette, who also goes by the name Michael the Black Man, somehow went from being part of the murderous Yahweh ben Yahweh cult to getting acquitted of murder charges himself to being a staple at Donald Trump's presidential rallies all over the country. Even among the rogue's gallery of rodeo clowns and Bond villains who make up Trump's core cadre of supporters, Symonette might legitimately be the weirdest person hovering around Trumpworld

.

After Michael the Black Man turned up at a Tampa-area Trump rally last week and led anti-press chants, it's worth taking note of all the bizarre places he's materialized since becoming a prominent Trump supporter:

1. At the original October 2016 Trump rally where he first popped up on TV:

Conservative Twitter is abuzz this afternoon with a trending hashtag: #BlacksForTrump. The spark is clear: Thousands have retweeted photos from Trump's rally in Lakeland, Florida, this afternoon showing a small group standing directly behind the Donald while enthusiastically waving "Blacks for Trump" signs. "Blacks are for Trump and the left can't stand it," writes @LawlessPirate, with another pic of the sign-waving man wearing a shirt reading "Trump & Republicans Are Not Racist." So who is this new face of Trump's elusive black support? He's none other than Michael the Black Man, also known as Maurice Woodside or Michael Symonette, who has made waves in Miami in recent years with protests against the Democratic Party and rallies for the GOP. He's also a former member of the murderous Yahweh ben Yahweh cult, which was led by the charismatic preacher Hulon Mitchell Jr., who was charged by the feds in 1990 with conspiracy in killings that included a gruesome beheading in the Everglades. Michael, along with 15 other Yahweh followers, was charged for allegedly conspiring in two murders; his brother, who was also in the cult, told jurors that Michael had helped beat one man who was later killed and stuck a sharpened stick into another man's eyeball. But jurors found Michael (and six other Yahweh followers) innocent. They sent Mitchell away for 20 years in the federal pen. In the years that followed, Michael changed his last name to Symonette, made a career as a musician, started a radio station in Miami, and then reinvented himself as Michael the Black Man, an anti-gay, anti-liberal preacher with a golden instinct for getting on TV at GOP events. He's planned events with Rick Santorum and gotten cable news play for bashing Obama. Since 1997, he's been charged with grand theft auto, carrying a weapon onto an airplane and threatening a police officer, but never convicted in any of those cases. 

2. At a Trump rally in Bayfront Park in Miami just before the election: 3. At a rally allegedly organized with the help of Russian agents:

A federal grand jury filed charges against 13 Russian nationals [in February 2018] for allegedly stealing identities, wiring money overseas, and staging a small series of flash mobs to help tip the 2016 election in Donald Trump's favor. It's unclear whether the social media campaign had any actual impact on voting, but the FBI alleges Russian money indeed affected one small group of Miamians who unknowingly used Russian cash to pay for supplies for an unnamed rally the September before the presidential election. There still seem to be online traces of that Moscow-funded rally. Only one publicized, pro-Trump rally appears to have taken place in the Miami area — #LatinosConTrump in Doral at 1 p.m. September 11, 2016. The event was pitched as an "anti-media" protest outside the town's Univision offices. The national group Latinos With Trump created flyers for the rally and noted that virtually all of Miami's most prominent pro-Trump groups — Cubans 4 Trump, Hispanas for Trump, Latinas for Trump, and the official Miami Trump Volunteers — would attend.

4. At a 2017 Trump rally in Phoenix, per the Washington Post:

And so it was Tuesday night before a crowd of Trump supporters in Phoenix who had come to watch another show. There was the president, whipping up the wildly cheering crowd, and then there was Michael the Black Man, chanting just beyond Trump’s right shoulder in that trademark T-shirt. The presence of Michael — variously known as Michael Symonette, Maurice Woodside and Mikael Israel — has inspired not only trending Twitter hashtags but a great deal of curiosity and Google searches. Internet sleuths find the man’s bizarre URL, an easily accessible gateway to his strange and checkered past. The radical fringe activist from Miami once belonged to a violent black supremacist religious cult, and he runs a handful of amateur, unintelligible conspiracy websites. He has called Barack Obama “The Beast” and Hillary Clinton a Ku Klux Klan member. Oprah Winfrey, he says, is the devil. Most curiously, in the 1990s, he was charged, then acquitted, with conspiracy to commit two murders.

5. With noted racist Sheriff Joe Arpaio at the U.S.-Mexico border just last week:

Via our sister paper Phoenix New Times:

Former sheriff Joe Arpaio filmed a video at the U.S.-Mexico border with a former Florida cult member who goes by the name Michael the Black Man. In the video posted on Thursday, Michael has his arm around Arpaio as the ousted former sheriff promotes his improbable race for Arizona's open Senate seat during a visit to the border fence in Naco, Arizona. Michael was a follower of the Yahweh ben Yahweh cult, a black-supremacist religious sect in Florida. In 1990, the feds charged Michael and over a dozen fellow cult members with conspiracy related to brutal murders in Florida. Alongside Arpaio and Michael in the video is an independent Senate candidate in Massachusetts, Shiva Ayyadurai, who shared the live video on Twitter. Born in India, Ayyadurai is a scientist and MIT graduate who claims that he invented email. He began his Senate campaign as a Republican before switching to run as an independent. Ayyadurai’s campaign uses the slogan, “Defeat #FakeIndian Elizabeth Warren,” as a derogatory jab at his Democratic opponent. “First of all, I’m from Massachusetts, so of course I’m supporting this great guy,” Arpaio says of Ayyadurai in the video. “He’s gonna win.” Michael says, “We’re at the border right here, between Arizona and Mexico.” He turns to Arpaio to ask if he has anything to say to the camera. The aging former sheriff brings up his law enforcement background. “It’s great to see the border again; I haven’t seen it in a while,” Arpaio says. 

If you've got any info on who's paying Symonette's travel bills to Trump rallies, email [email protected] or [email protected]

For a second, Donald Trump seemed to be backing off his vitriolic attacks on the free press. After five journalists were massacred at the Annapolis Capital Gazette, Trump briefly toned down his slurs. He even invited New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzburger to the White House to clear the air. But it didn't last.

Trump quickly returned to his Stalinist, enemies-of-the-people label for journalists and then lied about his meeting with Sulzburger to insist that truthful reporting is "fake news." Those insults have a real effect, and that fact was never frighteningly clearer than at Trump's rally last night in Tampa, where an unhinged-looking mob screamed insults and waved middle fingers at journalists, particularly CNN's chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta.

The scene left many political watchers deeply shaken, including Acosta:

Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy. pic.twitter.com/IhSRw5Ui3R— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 1, 2018

But most national press watchers didn't notice who was right at the center of that mob hurling invective at Acosta and his colleagues: Yep, it was Michael the Black Man, AKA Maurice Symonette, a former member of Miami's murderous Yahweh ben Yawheh cult who once faced charges of conspiring in the group's murders.

That's him with his instantly recognizable "Blacks for Trump" sign:

.@Acosta is trying to do a stand-up at #trumptampa and the crowd is booing and chanting “CNN sucks” behind him. pic.twitter.com/XiULajB1Li— Emily L. Mahoney (@mahoneysthename) July 31, 2018

Symonette has been a mainstay at Florida Trump rallies and over the past year has popped up at other Trump-linked events around the nation. Just last week, he flew to Arizona to film a video at the border with disgraced former sheriff Joe Arpaio. Trump's staff regularly gives Symonette front-and-center seats where he waves his black-and-white sign on national television.

Here's some background on Symonette from New Times' earlier reporting on him:

He's also a former member of the murderous Yahweh ben Yahweh cult, which was led by the charismatic preacher Hulon Mitchell Jr., who was charged by the feds in 1990 with conspiracy in killings that included a gruesome beheading in the Everglades. Michael, along with 15 other Yahweh followers, was charged for allegedly conspiring in two murders; his brother, who was also in the cult, told jurors that Michael had helped beat one man who was later killed and stuck a sharpened stick into another man's eyeball. But jurors found Michael (and six other Yahweh followers) innocent. They sent Mitchell away for 20 years in the federal pen. In the years that followed, he changed his last name to Symonette, made a career as a musician, started a radio station in Miami and then re-invented himself as Michael the Black Man, an anti-gay, anti-liberal preacher with a golden instinct for getting on TV at GOP events. He's planned events with Rick Santorum and gotten cable news play for bashing Obama. Since 1997, he's been charged with grand theft auto, carrying a weapon onto an airplane and threatening a police officer, but never convicted in any of those cases. 

In other words, he's exactly the kind of guy you might not want to drive into a blind rage at journalists who are just trying to do their jobs. Yet there he was in Tampa, right in the middle of the crowd screaming at Acosta — who, incidentally, took time to talk to the crowds who were so angry with him:

After each live shot, @Acosta would walk down and politely talk to the people who just heckled him. He talked to one group for at least 15 minutes. pic.twitter.com/J26nlxfD6k— Christopher Heath (@CHeathWFTV) August 1, 2018

There are two safe bets on this topic going forward: Trump won't stop throwing insults at the media, and wherever the president is whipping up that anger, Michael the Black Man will probably be there with his signs, happily taking the bait.

[corporationsarepeople]

The job posting by Ashburn-based Arthur Grand Technologies Inc. was published in March 2023 and said that the company was only looking for “U.S. Born Citizens [white] who are local within 60 miles from Dallas, TX [Don’t share with candidates],” according to a Justice Department news release.

The Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section opened an investigation in May 2023 and “determined that Arthur Grand discriminated based on citizenship status and national origin after a recruiter working for Arthur Grand’s subsidiary in India posted the advertisement on the job website Indeed.”

Wait, I thought US racism had ended. That what John Roberts told me.

[starseedpatriot]

RFK Jr. Announces His Run for the Presidency as an Independent (6 minutes, 52 seconds): "I'm here to join you in making a new declaration of independence for our entire nation. We declare independence from the corporations that have hijacked our government. And we declare independence from Wall Street, from Big Tech, from Big Pharma, from Big AG, from the military contractors and their lobbyists. And we declare independence from the mercenary media that is here to fortify all of the corporate orthodoxies from their advertisers and to urge us to hate our neighbors and to fear our friends. And we declare independence from the cynical elites who betray our hope and who amplify our divisions."

I'm still for Trump 117%, but I'm glad a true, old-school anti-war, free speech liberal is running against Biden.

[rjzimmerman]

Harris Goes Light on Climate Policy. Green Leaders Are OK With That. (New York Times)

Excerpt from this New York Times story:

In the 2020 presidential election, climate activists demanded that Democratic candidates explain, in detail, how they planned to tackle the planet’s greatest environmental threat.

But in the weeks since Vice President Kamala Harris ascended the 2024 Democratic ticket, she has mentioned climate change only in passing, and offered no specifics on how she would curb dangerous levels of warming. Climate leaders say they are fine with that.

“I am not concerned,” said Jay Inslee, the Democratic governor of Washington, who made climate change the centerpiece of his own 2019 bid for the presidency. Mr. Inslee said he believes it is more important for Ms. Harris to draw a distinction between her and her Republican rival, former President Donald J. Trump, than to drill down on policy nitty-gritty.

“I am totally confident that when she is in a position to effect positive change, she will,” Gov. Inslee said.

As Ms. Harris prepares to address the nation on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention, she faces the challenge of energizing party loyalists while also reaching out to disaffected Republicans and moderate voters. So far Ms. Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, have embraced a pragmatic agenda, calling for things like a minimum-wage increase and child-care funding.

While President Biden has made climate change a signature issue, signing into law the largest clean energy investments in American history, Ms. Harris has yet to detail for voters her climate or clean-energy positions. Some analysts chalked that up to strategy and said new promises to slash greenhouse gas emissions or rein in fossil fuels could alienate voters particularly in the energy-rich swing state of Pennsylvania.

“This doesn’t look accidental, it looks like a deliberate choice,” said Kevin Book, managing director of ClearView Energy Partners, a Washington-based research firm, referring to the sparse mentions of climate change in the speeches of Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz.

“I think they are worried if she takes a strong position on climate, even it fits the same position that Biden took, it will make her look too progressive,” Mr. Book said, adding, “It’s a divisive issue and they need both sides as much as possible to win Pennsylvania.”

Others said Ms. Harris already has voters who care about climate change locked up and doesn’t need to court them. Climate groups this week announced a $55 million advertising campaign to support the Harris ticket.

[skippyv20]

Authors who lie = Fraud = Liability = Litigation

Hi Skippy & Friends-Pilgrim checking in on this crisp, sunny Sunday morning with a few factoids to help us understand JH and ILBW’s new legal mess. Penguin Random House is continuing to sell Spare advertising"…For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.“ Oh Ohhhh…It even says about the audio book, "Written by Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex …” The fawning by literary critics and TV shows when it came out is laughable now.

Here is a solid legal note from Sidebar Saturdays, “where the practice of law meets the profession of writing. We are a group of attorneys with a wide range of legal experience who write thrillers, mysteries, and works of non-fiction.” This next quote from them applies to writing an autobiography which is what JH did. No wonder the top ghost writer threw in the towel knowing the rules and legal ramifications of the industry, refusing to get caught up in their relentle$$ need for revenge.

“Consumer Fraud and Breach of Warranty -Fake memoirs and fraudulent autobiographies happen. Just check out this long list on Wikipedia if you need examples. A writer who lies about stories or events which are later discovered to be false runs a high risk of being sued, usually in a class action lawsuit by readers claiming to have been deceived and possibly by the publisher for breach of warranty in the publishing agreement, as well as suffering public disgrace.While most cases of fraud due to authors falsify accounts of their own lives are settled or withdrawn before ever making it to court, no one needs that sort of hassle. Granted, most memoirs and autobiographies have numerous falsehoods and inaccuracies. Memory is a sketchy thing sometimes. But willfully lying about one’s life has legal consequences. Avoid fabrication. You do not want to endure the litigation nightmare that James Frey did, nor do you want to subject your publisher to such liability either (or be on the hook for your publisher’s damages and legal fees because you breached your promise to tell the truth).”

One of the examples in the Wikipedia list is fascinating, involving none other than Oprah! “James Frey, A Million Little Pieces, Doubleday Books (a division of Random House) (2003) is a bestselling memoir in which the author created and exaggerated significant details of his drug addiction and recovery. The author appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and in September 2005, the book became an Oprah’s Book Club selection. However, when the book’s authenticity was called into question, the author and publisher Nan Talese were invited back and publicly scolded by Winfrey in a live face-to-face confrontation. The media feasted over the televised showdown. David Carr of the New York Times wrote, "Both Mr. Frey and Ms. Talese were snapped in two like dry winter twigs.”[37] “Oprah annihilates Frey,” proclaimed Larry King.[38] New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote, “It was a huge relief, after our long national slide into untruth and no consequences, into Swift boating and swift bucks, into W.’s delusion and denial, to see the Empress of Empathy icily hold someone accountable for lying,”[39] and the Washington Post’s Richard Cohen was so impressed by the confrontation that he crowned Winfrey “Mensch of the Year.”[40]“

Will she do the same thing now? LOL. Over and out for now…

Fantastic post dear Pilgrim!  Thank you so much!😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[collapsedsquid]

Known in esoteric meme circles as the psy-op girl, Haylujan, also known simply as Lujan, is a self-described “psychological operations specialist” for the US Army, whose online presence has led to countless memes speculating that she is a post-ironic psy-op meant to recruit people into the US army. Lujan, who’s actually employed by the US army psy-ops division, posts countless TikToks and memes that play into this (her official website is called sikeops). “My own taxes used to psy-op me,” says one commenter. “Definitely a fed (I’m signing up for the army now)” writes another.

[...]

We’ve entered an era of military-funded E-girl warfare. In what would’ve felt unimaginable only a few years back, influencers are the hottest new weapon in the government’s arsenal. Here, cosplay commandos post nationalist thirst traps to mobilise the SIMPs, attracting the sort of impressionable reply guys and 4chan lostbois who message “OMG DM me🔥” on every post. Sanitising the harsh realities of US imperialism with cute E-girl-isms, it promotes the sort of hypersexualised militarism that reframes violence as something cute, goofy and unthreatening – a subversion of the beefy special forces stereotype in the mainstream. Arguably far more unsettling than any 20th-century CIA covert ops, there’s no hush-hush to this operation. Rather it hides in plain sight, capitalising on online irony to lull you into a false sense of security with #relatable content and the sort of tapped-in memery that can only come from years of being terminally online (she’s just like me, fr).

“Don’t go to college, become a farmer or a soldier instead,” Lujan urges her audience in a recent TikTok, before going on an anti-liberal rant about the metaverse and Impossible Burgers. Realistically, it’s not that the US army is actively funnelling trad ideology via a 20-year-old influencer – posting hot girl content as a soldier online benefits Lujan’s personal brand too – but when you consider how enlistment rates among Gen Z have plummeted, unofficial pro-military content like Lujan’s undeniably plays into the US army’s motives. See: “When the Army spends $100 million on advertisement each year just to get ratio’d by a 21-year-old girl with a Tiktok.”

More embarassing to simp for the nation than simp for an egirl

[luimagines]

Fck it Droid AU headcanons? Or just a small thing with Skydroid / Twidroid?

Droid au lives on forever

Let’s introduce the rest of the boys

Masterlist

Content under the cut!

Sky

Model SKYLNK

Programmed to be a domestic droid

Babysitter, cook, butler

Tutors the small children, watches over them, and takes care of pets as well

Due to it’s softer programming, when working in the public, it tends to work in bedside manner

Like nurses and nannies

The kind to work in hospitals and elderly living

Not necessarily the newest model on the block, but is one of the most affordable one

Commonly seen in the homes of the middle class

This droid is known for having very little drive deviate from orders

There’s very little facial expressions for newer models

Some, however, have been seen to mimic the facial expressions of the people they serve due to the acclimating programming naturally found in all droids 

The droid is built for handy work around the house

But not designed for hard labor or any heavy lifting

Perfect designed to keep things moving smoothly through the unit it’s assigned to

However- newer models have been seen to come with relationship programming (a new project from Hylia.Inc) 

Further development is yet to be seen

Time

Model TIMLNK

One of the few adults droids on the market

Versatile for many upgrades and job applications

Heavy work? Built for it

Domestic droid? On it

Teacher, hospital nurse, secretary? Just download the needed package for him to take on what job you need him to do

There are certain things that maybe a bit awkward for him to do

Like translating or babysitting

But it works in a pinch

Also sought out as a companionship droid

Takes on a lot of brunt work

While he has a lot of packages that came with time (ha), he is used more for heavy work, like cargo or supply shipments

Isn’t so much for public availability despite the company’s best efforts to expand his roles in society

Not very expressive due to the shift in attention when he was being designed

This is probably why he’s not bought for public use even if he can do the jobs

But he is programmed to be hard working and the robotic equivalent to compassionate 

So this guy never really stops working if the data received can be interpreted as contributing

Legend

Model LGNLNK

Teenage Domestic droid

Known for it’s extensive programming

In the highest demand due to the versatile talents that goes into him

Is used beyond domestic circumstances

Is typically found in place of a translator for political or high standing communal events

Can cook

Clean

Teach

Can directly call emergency services 

Known for the original intention of keeping younger children company or for acting as a Jiminy Cricket for older children

Also originally advertised for older couples who wanted a younger energy in their empty nest

As since branched out to include the other features and is the more commonly seen droid out in public

Also the most customizable out of all of the publicly made droids

Is the only droid available beyond national borders

Other, more advanced models are in progress

Hyrule

Model TRVLNK

A multi-purpose droid

Designed for human relation work or bedside manner

Typically a nurse droid

But not designed for domestic use

Is designed with high grade professional use in mind

Is commonly found in nursing homes or in children’s hospitals

Is also a part of public staff in very highly populated common areas

Like carnivals and amusement parks and zoos and museums and the like

Also acts as tour guide in many other places where travel agencies send tourists for their holiday vacations

Is one of the few droids on the market that can connect to GPS

When droids begin to start working for the public division, they were at first found in buses, driving people from destination to destination

Naturally this upset many people and bus use fell around 19%

But with time people got used to it’s features and the buses ran on time for a change

Not to mention his pleasant demeanor and over all cheerful disposition in his programming made this model likable by many who had to see him on a day to day basis

Four

Model FSWLNK

Meant to be the successor to the WNDLNK model

Used as a child support droid

But also a family companion for lonely, childless adults who want youthful energy in the household

Because of his youthful appearance but older programming, this model tends to be used for public service more so than private ownership

Even if this model is seen nearly in every family friendly public space, there are a few who do accompany children as a family owned appliance

The reason he’s more corporately owned than privately is because he is also used as a child safety surveillance system

Like at public places where children can easily be lost

Like at the zoo, museum, festival, carnival, you name it

They are looking for kids without supervision or who appear to be in danger

It took a lot of training to get that programming even marginally successful

Because they need a lot of of the droids on surveillance, they tend to wear different colored uniforms so people can identify what job that specific droid is doing

Can also be found in child counseling offices or therapy clinics (physical therapy included)

One of the more easy going personality programs

Easy to get along with and easy to like

Is programmed to work with multiple units despite the success in privately owned facilities

Wild

Model CALLNK

Meant for high paced, highly demanding work

A public service droid by nature

Meant to work in the police force

Also found in office facilities 

Or a high scale kitchen where orders have to leave in the matter of minutes

Used as a security droid in a lot of places as well

But more so as a security droid for high profile individuals

Meant to defend and protect no matter the cost

Even if it includes damage to self in the process

Not very expressive in nature

Due to the difficulties and intricacies in programming, they forgo any need for there to be a personal expression in this particular model

So he’s always straight faced no matter what the circumstances are

It’s very unusual for this model to be found in the private or commercial sector

As mentioned before those who use this model for private use are high profile people and people with money

One of the most expensive models on the market

Very few even know he exists

Wind

Model WNDLNK

Child Domestic Droid

One of the first models made by Hylia.INC

Made as an support companion

Later tweaked for homes where children are wanted but not available for whatever reason

As support companions they were designed to help children with special needs, whatever it may be

From reminding children to take their medicine on time, to helping them keep to a schedule and remembering chores as well as simply being emotional support 

The concept was at first a personified tablet

But later on, newer models became more life like and more attuned for family life

Even more later on, they were designed for aforementioned concept of lonely adults who wanted to have children without the cost or mess or real children (Take that as you will)

Is sensitive to temperature

Occasionally feels “hunger” to simulate taking care of another human

Very playful in nature

Few models can be seen in schools with a little more money to float around, helping children where Paras are hard to find

Typically used in school with younger children as the older ones tend to be a little put off by his young appearance

A people pleasure by default, but no one knows if it’s based on his programming or on his need to see though with his missions for the day

Warrior

Model WARLNK

Consort Droid- built for relationships

Has been used for espionage purposes

Doubles as a security droid as well

Is seen typically working a desk job as well

Secretary models, am I right?

Someone has to handle all the forms and PAs and meetings and names and appointments

Not just desk jobs, but also customer service

Is very much used for the public service

Only the rich have it for personal use since it would have added features regarding said spy ware and filtrations mannerisms

Or just to have a pretty thing around

Some people are into that so he’s also for them

Service with a smile~

(potential angst for android War? Definitely.) 

That being said, due the upgraded systems used for both security work and espionage

WARLNK models have also been integrated into public police forces

Public opinion varies heavily on either side

But their effectiveness cannot be ignored when investigating a crime scene

Twilight

Model TWILNK

Heavy work load droid

Handy man is all aspects

Meant to be put to work

Known from farms to construction sites

Programmed to be very loyal to the cause

Lives to serve so to speak

Needs to receive feed back to know if it’s contributing to the community

While not the typical domestic droid, some houses have been known to have a model or two around

Some companies rent out their models to the common folk to help with renovations, or moving, or landscaping, or plumbing- even electrical work

In this au, a lot work for “Got Junk?” 

There has been the one in a million celebrity that has managed to find customization locals and renovate the model to be that of an escort droid

But that’s a very expensive process

And frankly, it’s easier to change the hardware than the software

Is also the occasional nursing droid

Known to be working in nursing homes and independent living units, where it might be required to lift an entire body as dead weight for whatever reason

Is the strongest droid on the market

[lboogie1906]

Ann Marie Brown Fudge (born April 23, 1951) in DC to Malcolm R. Brown, an administrator at the US Postal Service, and Bettye Lewis Brown, a manager at the National Security Agency.

She married Richard Fudge, Sr. (1971) an educational and training consultant. They have two sons. She received a BA in Retail Management from Simmons College and earned her MBA from Harvard University Business School.

She was the workforce specialist with the General Electric Company. he worked with General Mills Corporation in several leadership positions including marketing assistant, assistant product manager, product manager, and marketing director. She joined Kraft General Foods where she was associate director of strategic planning. She became vice president for marketing and development in the Dinners and Enhancers division at Kraft. She received the Black Achievers Award from the Harlem YMCA.

She was named by Kraft Foods president of the Maxwell House Coffee division, she became the first African American woman to head a corporate division. She was named by Fortune magazine as 30th on the 50 Most Influential Women in American Business. Adelphi University, Howard University, Marymount College, and Simmons College all awarded her an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.

She was the chairman and CEO of Young and Rubicam Advertising in New York City. She became a member of the Board of Trustees at Morehouse College, as well as a Trustee with the Rockefeller Foundation.

She was a member of the Barack Obama presidential campaign’s finance committee and was named by President Obama to the 18-member National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

She joined the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. She served on the boards of directors of General Electric, Novartis, and Unilever. She served as chair of the US Programs Advisory Board of The Gates Foundation and as vice-chair of the Harvard Board of Overseers. She was installed in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture in the District of Columbia. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[ilmibuzz]

AWC Air Weapon Complex Jobs 2024

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Air Weapon Complex Jobs 2024 Last Date to Apply Online

The Air Weapons Complex (AWC) is a branch of the Pakistan Air Force established on February 18, 1992. It houses several science and research labs focused on developing airborne systems, especially in rocket science and explosives. Now, Air Weapon Complex is looking for qualified male and female applicants in 2024. If you are interested, simply click on the provided apply online button. Or visit the official website of AWC (Air Weapon Complex).

How to Apply for Air Weapon Complex Jobs 2024 Online?

The organization may withdraw or cancel vacancies at any time or reject applications without giving a reason.

If there are many applications, only the most eligible candidates with relevant experience will be shortlisted for the test/interview.

For eligibility, if the last degree is First Division, only one Second Division from Matric onward is acceptable; Third Division candidates are not eligible.

First Class/1st Division requires a CGPA of 2.5/4.00 for the semester system or a minimum of 60% marks for the annual system.

The maximum age limit is 35 years, with relaxation for government employees as per rules.

Candidates from government organizations must bring an NOC and attested academic documents for tests/interviews.

Degrees/Certificates must be from recognized universities/institutions by HEC and PEC.

Provide a valid postal address/contact number for test/interview information.

Only Pakistani nationals are eligible to apply; dual nationality holders are not eligible.

Selection will be provisional, pending Security Clearance and Medical Fitness.

Academic Certificates will be verified from issuing authorities before joining.

No TA/DA will be provided.

AWC Jobs Benefits & Salary

ایئر ویپنز کمپلیکس کی انتظامیہ اپنے ملازمین کی مدد کرنے میں بہت زیادہ سرمایہ کاری کرتی ہے، کیریئر کی ترقی اور مالی تحفظ کے مواقع فراہم کرتی ہے۔ ایئر ویپنز کمپلیکس اپنے ملازمین کو فراہم کرتا ہے کچھ فوائد یہ ہیں۔

Good Salary Package

Job Security & Advancement

Retirement Plan

Pension

Medical Care

Cooperative Management

Paid Time Off

Free Meal

Check Also: Defence Housing Authority Bahawalpur Jobs 2024 Application Form 

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[tomorrowusa]

Canada is joining the advertising exodus from Elon Musk's hate-filled platform. 🇨🇦

Ads for several prominent Canadian companies and organizations have been appearing in the feeds of extremist accounts on X, prompting some of them to pause advertising on the social media platform following an investigation by CBC News. They join a growing number of brands that are backing away from X, formerly known as Twitter, amid the unchecked rise in hateful content and owner Elon Musk's seeming endorsement of antisemitic and other far-right conspiracy theories.

There are still ads by well known companies which are showing up next to extremist posts.

A review by CBC News of about two dozen accounts linked to white nationalists, white supremacists, misogynists and other extremists found ads by major brands such as Samsung Canada, CF Montréal and Pathways Alliance, an oil industry lobby group. Ads for Samsung's new Galaxy flip phone appeared in the results when searching for a hashtag used to circulate racist content, where other posts included messages such as "Keep Europe White." Samsung ads also appeared in the feed of an account that the Tech Transparency Project, a watchdog group, flagged for spreading Islamophobic and antisemitic conspiracy theories. In addition, Samsung ads were spotted in the feeds of Libs of TikTok, which LGBTQ advocates say stirs up anti-trans hatred, and Mike Cernovich, who has been described by extremism researchers as a "male supremacist."

But others have left after being informed of their ads appearing next to purveyors of hate.

Other companies and organizations, though, said they halted advertising on X when informed by CBC News about where their ads were appearing. Bell Media suspended advertising on X after it was informed that an ad for a subsidiary, the news division of Quebec TV network Noovo, appeared in the feed of the far-right fitness leader. The ad appeared over a post that called journalists "priests of ruin" and featured the slogan "all journos are bastards." "Despite putting measures in place to protect Noovo from such a situation, it seems that X considered the offensive content from a third party to be moderate, which allowed our ad to appear alongside it," Patrick Tremblay, a Bell Media spokesperson, said in a statement to CBC News last week. "This situation is unacceptable. As a result, we have interrupted Bell Media advertising campaigns on X."

But wait, there's more!

Our team met with X representatives in the past month to confirm that our ads account is set up with the most stringent sensitivity settings X offers. In this case, those controls appear to have failed," Spencer Reynolds, director of marketing and communication at Angus Reid, said in an email. "Angus Reid Forum has ceased all activity on X indefinitely pending a comprehensive review." The Appraisal Institute of Canada, an association of real estate valuation experts, paused its advertising campaign on X after it was informed its ads were appearing in the feeds of Carl Benjamin, Richard Spencer and an account linked to the white nationalist and antisemitic Groyper movement. Ads for insurance giant Sun Life appeared in the feeds of multiple accounts of extremists, including Spencer's, as part of a sponsored content campaign with the National Post. Sun Life stopped advertising on X after Musk took over the platform last year, and the placement of the sponsored content ad was an error, a Sun Life representative said.

There are some thoroughly bad people out there and Elon Musk has decided to provide them with a comfortable digital home.

[petervintonjr]

For only the second time since beginning this series in the summer of 2020, I have had to resort to drawing a much more abstract illustration --in this instance, the long-demolished President's House in Philadelphia-- as there appears to be no visual representation of the individual that I want to talk about (which in itself already speaks volumes).

Almost paralleling these last three years of this series, there has been an embarrassing (nay, alarming) uptick in the number of proposed so-called "divisive concepts" legislation brewing in various state legislatures. The (stated) intent behind such performatively-drafted law is to "protect" public school students from the "trauma" of studying American history in such a way that they won't be made to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable about the history of their own country; that the curriculum should instead focus primarily on instilling an all-pervasive sense of pride and patriotism. I think on this creeping propaganda (against which my own home state is sadly not immune), and immediately begin to reflect on the life trajectory of Oney Marie Judge (in some instances spelled Ona), whose greatest claim to fame (if one can call it that) is having been one of President George Washington's slaves. Oney Judge is assumed to have been born sometime in 1773 at Washington's Mount Vernon estate --the daughter of an enslaved mother, Betty; and a white English father who had been hired by the Washingtons as a tailor. As was so often the norm for the time, Oney's relatively light complexion promoted her to house status instead of field hand, and by the age of fifteen had become Martha Washington's personal maid. On paper, Oney and her mother Betty were considered to be the property of the Custis estate, and would pass back to the ownership of that family upon Martha's death --specifically to Martha's granddaughter Elizabeth ("Eliza") Custis.

After his popular election in 1787, Washington travelled first to New York, and then to Philadelphia, to serve as President of the new nation while a more permanent capital city was being constructed. Washington brought Judge and seven other slaves with him from Mount Vernon, taking up residence in what would become known as The President's House at the corner of 6th and Market Streets. Significantly, as befit her elevated status (such as it was), Judge was permitted to travel about the city unescorted and pay for such things as shows, dresses and other clothing, and even making social visits on Martha's behalf. Judge intermingled with Philadelphians and became VERY aware of the city's abolitionist sentiment and its markedly large population of free Black people. Philadelphia had passed an Emancipation law in 1780 (one of the very first such laws in the new nation), which included a Gradual Abolition Clause; a policy of automatic emancipation of any slaves who remained in the city limits beyond a six month time-frame. For obvious reasons George and Martha took particular care to strategically rotate out their slaves, each time sending them back to Mount Vernon "to visit family" just shy of this deadline.

On May 21, 1796, under the guise of appearing to pack for her next not-quite-sixth-month return to Virginia, Judge fled, and escaped aboard a ship called the Nancy bound for Portsmouth, New Hampshire. An advertisement went out on May 23rd asserting that the escaped slave had "no good reason for running away." By September of that year a family friend of the Washingtons recognized Judge in Portsmouth and sent word back to Philadelphia. Under the terms of the very Fugitive Slave Act that he himself had signed into law three years earlier, Washington could have forcibly kidnapped Judge back to Virginia, but undoubtedly mindful of the public optics, he opted not to take action. While he expressed undisguised annoyance at Judge's actions and wrote at length about "loyalty" and "unfaithfulness," privately his real resentment was that he would be expected to reimburse the Custis estate for lost property. After Washington's term in office ended, he made another attempt to retrieve Judge, this time asking the help of a nephew and several New Hampshire public officials to do so. Fortunately then-Senator John Langdon got wind of this attempt and warned Judge, who then fled to the town of Greenland where she eventually settled, learned to read and write, became a devout Christian, married, and had three children --even though she legally remained a Fugitive Slave to her dying day.

Judge's story would have faded into history as just another footnote to the life of George Washington, had it not been for a lengthy interview she gave many years later in an 1847 issue of William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator. In the article she detailed the events of 1796 from her point of view, which had never before been known, though she never gave up the name of the Nancy's captain nor crew, nor the names of anyone else --including many free Black people in both Pennsylvania and in New Hampshire-- who had aided her. This very month (March 2023) a mural to Judge's bravery is underway in Portsmouth as part of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire: https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/local/2023/03/03/black-heritage-trail-nh-seeks-to-honor-ona-judge-staines-with-mural/69957500007/

Which brings me back to my earlier point about "divisive concepts" legislation and its stated intent --and the hard, un-ignorable truths that such laws intend to erase from the public discourse. Truths such as the fact that it is not possible to study, in any meaningful way, anything about the administration of our country's literal first President, nor his time in office, without eventually bumping up against the reality of Oney Judge and what she endured. The phrase "Black history is American history" is neither hyperbole nor a trendy slogan --it is an objective fact. And even as Women's History Month 2023 draws to a close, I can assure you that this art series will continue to throw light on that fact. For as long as it needs to.

[minato-division03]

Reiaki’s Thoughts on Okinawa Division

Ace Douglas

“Ohhhhh I didn’t think the ambassador himself would be taking part in this crazy tournament! A big national tournament that doesn’t really involve America, who would’ve thought, huh?”

Reiaki smiled brightly. “I doubt this guy remembers me! I looked pretty different a few years ago, but I used to attend lots of oversees galas when my father and younger brother were still alive, and I’ve seen this guy with his dad a few times! I didn’t really converse with him enough to get a feel of his character, I only ever saw him from afar… Oh well! Maybe ‘cuz of his high status, he has more training with his mic… Eek! That gives me high hopes!”

Evelyn Rose

"Oh, her! She’s a super cute one! I don’t work with her all that often since I don’t really see her for horror films, but she can be a real treat to work with! She’s just the sweetest~ If only you knew how excited I get when I see Evelyn-chan’s name in my client list! She’s big here in Japan, but I sure hope she makes it bigger in Hollywood! I think she’s got what it takes— and I’ve worked with lots of Japanese and Hollywood actors.”

Rashaad Young

"Oh hell yeah, this guy! So I vlogged my first visit to his bar and that did super well! Then when I visited a second time, I got the guy to let me advertise the place some more! We get along pretty well, I’d say! He doesn’t talk about himself all that much— I mean, I don’t, either— but he’s a pretty chill guy and he makes for a good conversation partner.”

Liberty Guild

“I fucking love this lineup! A group full of foreigners? That’s new! Bring it on, you guys! Don’t think just ‘cuz I like you guys, that I plan on letting you guys off easy on the battlefield!” Reiaki’s lips lifted into a cheeky, mischievous smile. “Our team leader gave us instructions, so you guys better give it your all! Bring it on! Man, I’m so excited…!”

[historicsaranaclake]

Once in a Lifetime by Amy Catania

Last week I drove from Saranac Lake to Mansfield, Ohio, tracing the path of totality to visit the grave of John Baxter Black.

John Black was born on this day in 1896, and he lived for just 27 years. He died of tuberculosis in Saranac Lake 101 years ago, but here at the museum he feels like an old friend. We see his portrait every day, and we’ve read his letters from Europe during the first World War. A century after his death, John's story links us to another time and place.

History connects people, and so do rare events like total solar eclipses. The wobbly axes of the moon and earth have to align perfectly, and you have to be in just the right place at the right time. The last total solar eclipse occurred in Saranac Lake 675 years ago. After April 8, we’ll have to wait 375 years to see the next one here.

[Read the full post on our blog at the link in bio!] The last major (although not quite total) eclipse came over Saranac Lake in 1925, two years after John Black died. The newspaper reported, “the beauty of the Adirondack country as revealed by these conditions was beyond description.” TB patients observed the sky from their porches at the Trudeau Sanatorium, protecting their eyes with "darkened bits of glass and old camera plates and films." Hundreds listened to a special radio program broadcasting reactions to the big event.

We no longer gather together around the radio, but collectively we sense something magical is about to happen. Each town between here and Ohio is conjuring a pot of gold on the other side of the moon’s shadow. Billboards seek to attract hordes of tourists, from Cleveland’s “A Blackout to Remember” to Watertown's "Total Eclipse of the Park."

Tupper Lake is one of the smaller communities in the path of totality, but it boasts one of the best marketing campaigns, "Totality in Tupper." With their new observatory, Tupper Lakers are well-positioned to pay attention to the sky. And observatory board president Seth McGowan has helped stir up excitement, having personally witnessed this country’s last total eclipse in Tennessee in 2017.

Seth describes experiencing a wonderful sense of unity among the crowd of onlookers at the last eclipse. He also warns about the chaos that ensued when over 116,000 people descended on Hopkinsville, TN (population 30,600). Seth explains, “You need to pay attention to the three T’s — transportation, trash, and toilets.”

In these divisive times, it can be hard to embrace strangers or even neighbors, especially when you are worrying about the three T’s. On my way to Ohio, I passed through one community after another where eclipse advertising competes with strident political yard signs as the country gears up for another national election. Perhaps our fascination with the eclipse is, to some degree, a response to our fractured society. Wearing our special glasses, we eagerly turn our heads towards a phenomenon greater than the forces that divide us.

As I drove home from Ohio, I thought about the pull of the eclipse and the power of history. The total eclipse will happen only once in our lifetime. It probably won't make us rich or heal our society. But as we gather in the path of totality, we might share a sense of the history that binds us. We might just look up and notice each other.

For Andy Pederson.

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