#public relations firms in washington dc

[thesproutpr]

Public Relations Agencies NYC | The Sprout PR Seeking effective Public Relations Agencies in NYC? These agencies excel in media relations, crisis management, and strategic communication, enhancing public images and fostering positive audience relationships.

[swldx]

BBC 0407 7 Jun 2024

12095Khz 0358 7 JUN 2024 - BBC (UNITED KINGDOM) in ENGLISH from TALATA VOLONONDRY. SINPO = 55434. English, dead carrier s/on @0358z then ID@0359z pips and newsday preview. @0401z World News anchored by Chris Berrow. Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail Thursday with a trip to Arizona, his first appearance in a battleground state since he was convicted in a hush money scandal, repeating his critiques of the case against him as politically motivated and calling for his conviction to be overturned on appeal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address US lawmakers in Washington DC on 24 July, congressional leaders announced on Thursday. Republicans and Democrats both invited the prime minister to speak, but the date of his speech was not made official until Thursday. Last month the International Criminal Court's prosecutor applied for arrest warrants against the Israeli leader and his defence minister, Yoav Galant, on charges related to the war. A Samsung Electronics union staged its first walkout on Friday, signalling more assertiveness among workers just as South Korea's most powerful conglomerate races to catch up in chips used in artificial intelligence (AI). Samsung Electronics said there was no impact on production or business activity. The strike fell a day after a public holiday and the number of employees on annual leave was fewer than on the equivalent day last year, the firm said. President Emmanuel Macron said France plans to provide Mirage 2000 warplanes to Ukraine and train Ukrainian pilots this summer. Mr Macron did not specify how many single-engine jet fighters would be provided, by when or under what financial terms. He said France had proposed to train 4,500 Ukrainian soldiers but did not clarify where the soldiers would be trained. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he could deploy conventional missiles within striking distance of the United States and its European allies if they allowed Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia with long-range Western weapons. Putin, in his first face-to-face meeting with senior editors of international news agencies since the war in Ukraine began, said the West was wrong to assume Russia would never use nuclear weapons, and said the Kremlin's nuclear doctrine should not be taken lightly. At least 150 people, including 35 children, are feared dead in a massacre in a village in central Sudan blamed on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group fighting the army. The rivals have been battling over control of the country for more than 13 months. The RSF has not commented on the accusations, but on Thursday boasted of attacking two army positions. The U.S. military said on Thursday it had destroyed eight Houthi drones and two uncrewed surface vessels in the Red Sea in the past 24 hours. The U.S. military's Central Command said its forces had also successfully engaged a drone launched from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen and that Houthis had launched an anti-ship ballistic missile. There were no reports of damage or injury, it said. The woman who identified herself as the inspiration behind the character Martha Scott in the Netflix hit drama series Baby Reindeer has filed a $170m lawsuit against the streaming giant. In a lawsuit filed on Thursday in the US district court for the central district of California, Fiona Harvey accused Netflix of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, gross negligence and violations of her right of publicity. @0406z "Newsday" begins. Backyard fence antenna, JRC NRD-535D. 250kW, beamAz 315°, bearing 63°. Received at Plymouth, MN, United States, 15359KM from transmitter at Talata Volonondry. Local time: 2258.

[macreedlaw]

The District of Columbia Bar, commonly referred to as the DC Bar, is a professional organization that governs the legal profession in Washington, D.C. Established in 1972, the DC Bar ensures high standards of competence, professionalism, and integrity within the legal profession. It regulates attorney admissions, conduct, and discipline, promoting ethical behavior and public trust. The DC Bar offers educational resources, networking opportunities, and pro bono initiatives to support attorneys. For expert counsel on Bar Complaint Defense, contact the McGavock Reed Law Firm for assistance with attorney ethics, discipline, or bar-related matters.

[lboogie1906]

Rodney Earl Slater (born February 23, 1955) former cabinet member, attorney, and state government official, was born in Marianna, Arkansas. He graduated from Eastern Michigan University. He earned his JD from the University of Arkansas.

In 1980, he became the Assistant Attorney General for the litigation division of Arkansas’s Attorney General’s Office. He served as Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton’s executive assistant for Economic and Community Programs and as the Special Assistant for Community and Minority Affairs (1983-87). In 1987, Clinton appointed him to the Arkansas Highway Commission. He held other positions in the state of Arkansas such as Director of Governmental Relations at Arkansas State University and was a special liaison for Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed him as the Administrator of the FAA. His effectiveness in that position catapulted him into the position of Secretary of Transportation in 1997.

In June of 2001, he joined the private sector as a director of the Kansas City Southern, Inc., a major interstate railroad. He became a partner in the public policy practice group of a leading DC law firm, Patton Boggs LLP. While there he concentrated on transportation law. He is a member of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity.

He has received numerous honors such as an honorary doctorate from Howard University, the Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award from the Hugh O’Brian Leadership Foundation, the Lamplighter Award for Public Service from The Black Leadership Forum, and the Trailblazer Award from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. In 1998, he received awards from The Congressional Black Caucus; Ebony Magazine, The National Bar Association, and The Arkansas Times.

In 2006, he belonged to a group of investors that purchased the Washington Nationals. He and his wife, Cassandra Wilkins, have a daughter. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #sigmapiphi

[coinnewz]

Deloitte, Chainalysis alliance to give law enforcement a crypto edge

Professional services giant Deloitte is set to boost its clients’ blockchain-tracking capabilities following a strategic alliance with crypto analytics firm Chainalysis. Announced during a Chainalysis conference in Washington DC on July 25, the tie-up will see Chainalysis’ blockchain datasets, analytics software and training programs assist Deloitte’s clients with their crypto forensic, investigative and compliance needs. A Chainalysis spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the alliance had been in the works for years, with the aim of helping more organizations to adopt blockchain technology. Our alliance with @Deloitte, announced today at #TraceDC, will provide public and private organizations with bespoke solutions and specialized services related to risk, compliance, and investigations. Read more:https://t.co/NqbPPA6HYb pic.twitter.com/I48lKhhInb — Chainalysis (@chainalysis) July 25, 2023 Thomas Stanley, president and chief revenue officer of Chainalysis said the collaboration is aimed at their mutual clients, including law enforcement agencies, regulators and financial institutions. "We’re starting with a focus on regulators, law enforcement, and financial institutions given where they are at in their adoption of this technology and the unique overlap of our customer base," the spokesperson added, noting that it will be introduced United States first.  "We're initially rolling this out in the United States, but it is something that other markets can readily adopt. It’s our belief that other global markets will follow suit." In a document outlining the alliance, Deloitte said some of the challenges faced by government agencies include when cryptocurrencies are used to obfuscate transactions and launder the proceeds of crime, while the international regulatory landscape creates difficulty obtaining information from foreign exchanges. Some of the challenges government agencies face when it comes to crypto. Source: Deloitte Deloitte said the partnership with Chainalysis could help “identify the actors behind the keyboard and effectively prosecute them,” including tracing the flow of funds to high-risk or sanctioned entities.  Related: How the IRS seized $10B worth of crypto using blockchain analytics “Chainalysis will work with Deloitte’s blockchain and digital assets practice across cryptocurrency and digital asset risk, analytics, investigation, anti-money laundering/know your customer (AML/KYC), and regulatory compliance,” added Chainalysis. Deloitte, known as one of the world’s Big Four accounting firms, recently posted over 300 job listings for cryptocurrency-related roles, 97 of which were based in the United States. In late February, Deloitte announced a partnership with Web3 platform Vatom to provide immersive experiences to different industries, from using virtual reality for events, meetings and employee training to brands focused on building community engagement with metaverse experiences.  Magazine: Tornado Cash 2.0 — The race to build safe and legal coin mixers Source link Read the full article

[ultraheydudemestuff]

Warder Public Library

137 E. High St.

Springfield, Ohio

Warder Public Library is a historically significant building at E. High and Spring Sts. in Springfield, Ohio. A robust example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture, it was a gift to the city from industrialist Benjamin H. Warder, and served as the main branch of the Clark County Public Library from 1890 to 1989. Warder (1824–1894) was president of Warder, Bushnell and Glessner Company (established 1879), headquartered in Springfield, manufacturers of Champion harvesters and farm machinery. In 1902, Warder's company merged with four others — McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, Deering Harvester Company, Milwaukee Harvester Company, Plano Manufacturing Company — to form International Harvester.

Warder and his business partners, Asa S. Bushnell and John J. Glessner, each hired Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson to design a house: the Warder Mansion in Washington, DC. (1885–88); the Bushnell Mansion in Springfield, Ohio (1885–88); and the John J. Glessner House in Chicago, Illinois (1885–87). Richardson died in 1886, but architects in his office completed the houses and formed a successor firm: Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge. Warder hired them to design the library. The L-shaped building is located at the southwest corner of High Street and Spring Avenue. It is constructed of Ohio buff sandstone trimmed with Worcester brownstone, under a red slate roof. The east wing features an arcaded entrance porch; at the juncture of the wings is a tower that contains the staircase. The main reading room features a massive stone fireplace, 18 feet tall and 12 1/2 feet wide. In plan and massing, the building is closely related to Richardson's Converse Memorial Library (1885) in Malden, Massachusetts.

Warder donated the building as a memorial to his parents. A plaque reads: “This library has been erected in memory of Jeremiah and Ann A. Warder by their son Benjamin Head Warder. It is given to the people of Springfield for their free enjoyment and is left in their charge forever. Dedicated June 12th, 1890.” The Warder Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 17, 1978. In 1989, the main branch of the Clark County Public Library was moved to a modern facility at 201 South Fountain Avenue. This gift of local businessman Benjamin Warder, now houses the Clark County Warder Literacy Center.

[mariacallous]

Albania’s opposition Democratic Party has filed a request for a parliament’s investigative committee on Thursday, after Prime Minister Edi Rama dismissed claims that his government bribed a former FBI official to push for FBI investigations into matters that damaged the Albanian opposition.

The request said it should investigate relations between Rama and Charles McGonigal, the nature of that relationship and any possible benefits granted to him or people connected to him by the Albanian government.

The request calls for an investigation into whether the Tirana government “incited, influenced, ordered or used public assets, bribes or other favours for the FBI former agent at the expense of the opposition”.

It also wants to investigate whether the government favoured the business connections of McGonigal and other people connected to him, with the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

On Thursday, the opposition called for Rama to be questioned before a plenary session. Rama refused to attend, claiming he was too busy. He dismissed the opposition claims in a Twitter post.

“This is complete abuse of freedom of the speech, of the truth, of the public,” Rama wrote. “Extreme slanderous statements are being used to manipulate public opinion on a matter investigated by US Justice that has been handled to the courts and has absolutely nothing to do with us here,” he added.

McGonigal, who worked for 20 years at the FBI and retired as chief of the New York Counterintelligence Division faces two separate sets of charges, one in New York and another in Washington DC.

He is charged in New York with breaking the law by working for Deripaska, a Russian oligarch. The other charges claim he failed to disclose his relations with the Albanian government, several Albanian citizens and with a Kosovo politician and two Bosnian politicians.

Prosecutors believe that in August 2017, McGonigal met Agron Neza, an Albanian-born naturalized American, who was described in the indictment as Person A, “and inquired as to whether Person A could provide money for him”.

Over the following months, Neza handed him three tranches of cash, totaling to $225,000 US. Along with Neza, McGonigal traveled to Albania several times, with their expenses covered, met Rama in Tirana and dinned with him in Washington, and opened investigations into the Albanian opposition over the alleged financing by Russian money of its US lobbying effort.

In September 2018, McGonigal resigned from the FBI. In April 2019, he and three associates joined an Albanian law firm. The business folded without much success.

As for the 225,000 US dollars that Neza handled to him in autumn 2017, while he was with the FBI, Neza told Albanian media that it was a private matter, while Rama described it as borrowed money.

The Albanian opposition claim the fact that McGonigal was received in Albania with covered expenses, and the fact that he failed to tell the FBI about the 225,000 dollars he received from Neza, show he was in the pocket of the Rama government and used by it against the opposition.

[mysteryfleshpit]

2007 Disaster Report - Text Version

Final Incident Investigation Report

Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Department of the Interior, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey

U.S. Commission on Geobiological Resources & Public Safety

U.S. Geological Survey

U.S. Department of the Interior

National Park Service

The U.S. Commission on Geobiological Resources & Public Safety (CGR) is an independent Federal agency whose mission is to ensure the safety of workers, the public, and the environment by investigating and preventing accidents relating to the Permian Basin Superorganism. The CGR is a scientific investigative organization; it is not an enforcement or regulatory body. Established by the Special Resources Development Act of 1980, the CGR is responsible for determining the root and contributing causes of accidents, issuing safety recommendations, studying geobiological safety issues, and evaluating the effectiveness of other government agencies and private enterprises involved with the Permian Basin Superorganism. 

No part of the conclusions, findings, or recommendations of the CGR relating to any accident may be admitted as evidence or used in any action or suit for damages. See 42U.S.C. 7412(r)(6)(G). The CGR makes public its actions and decisions through investigation reports, summary reports, safety bulletins, safety recommendations, case studies, incident digests, special technical publications, and statistical reviews. 

Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

U.S. Commission on Geobiological Resources & Public Safety

Office of Congressional, Public, and Board Affairs

2175 K Street NW

Washington, DC 20037-1848

[1.0.0] Executive Summary

At 9:41 PM CST on July 4th, 2007, the Permian Basin Superorganism Natural Preserve (known colloquially as the “Mystery Flesh Pit National Park”) experienced a catastrophic disaster which resulted in over 750 fatalities, and over 1,800 major injuries. In the weeks following the incident, approximately 18,000 individuals from the surrounding communities sought medical and psychological treatment for ailments including breathing problems, chest pains, shortness of breath, nausea, birth defects, hallucinations, depression, anxiety, internal bleeding, sore throat, and headaches as a direct result of contact with gastric ejecta which had been introduced to the atmosphere. 

Investigators have concluded that this disaster was chiefly characterized by a premature geobiological consumption event caused by the catastrophic failure of critical park infrastructure to constrain and limit the gastric, motor and neurological actions of the Permian Basin Superorganism. Investigators have concluded that the failure of these critical safety measures are the direct result of negligent practices by the primary site operations contractor Anodyne Deep Earth Mining, a subsidiary of Anodyne, Inc. The U.S. Commission on Geobiological Resources & Public Safety (CGR) released its first report on the Permian Basin Superorganism Disaster in August 2007 (“the Interim Report”), which highlighted technical findings and safety system deficiencies. The report issued recommendations to Anodyne, Inc.;  the city of Gumption, Texas; the State of Texas; the U.S.  Department of the Interior; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; the Federal Emergency Management Agency; the U.S. Food & Drug Administration; and the U.S. Department of Energy. As of April 2008, these groups have made progress in implementing the recommendations to improve the regulatory requirements for geobiological resource extraction, geobiological resource containment, and general public safety as it relates to the Permian Basin Superorganism. 

[2.1.0] Anodyne Background

Anodyne was originally founded as the Anchor Mineral Co. in 1923. In 1958, the Anchor Mineral Co. merged with Dynamic Equipment, LLC. to form a new company known as Anodyne Deep Earth Mining, later changed to Anodyne. Headquartered in Arlington, Texas, and prior to it’s 2008 restructuring, Anodyne Corporation was the twenty-third largest American company by revenue. Globally, Anodyne employed over 28,000 people. It operated seven major research, development and production facilities around the world, six of which were in the United States. 

Anodyne filed for bankruptcy in late 2008, but ended it’s bankruptcy in February 2009 pursuant to a court-approved plan of reorganization. A new board of directors changed the name of Anodyne to the Permian Basin Recovery & Superorganism Containment Corporation, and emphasized reorganizing and liquidating certain operations and assets of the pre-bankruptcy Anodyne. 

[2.2.0] Permian Basin Superorganism Background

The Permian Basin Superorganism (Immanis Colosseus, also known by the popular nomenclature of “Mystery Flesh Pit”) is a subterranean organism unique to modern biology, being the sole occupant of the Phylum Immanemqa. The organism was discovered by a pilot well drilling crew in 1973; later efforts were made to expose more of the organism through drilling and surface mining explosives. 

The superorganism is chiefly characterized by its immense size, which is still a matter of geobiological debate. Surveys suggest that the organism may span many hundreds of miles beneath the permian basin horizontally, with scientists speculating that the organism may extend vertically into the upper mantle of the earth’s interior. 

The complete anatomical layout and internal organization of the organism is unknown. Tissue samples suggest that the organism contains gastrointestinal, vascular, respiratory, musculoskeletal, nervous, limbic and integumentary systems with remarkable similarity to mammal life, while also containing a variety of systems which have no direct analog and are not fully understood. The feeding cycle of the organism is poorly understood and believed to occur on a complex and long-term schedule of dormancy and feeding activity. It has been hypothesized that the superorganism derives caloric energy from subterranean hydrocarbon deposits, though the organism has been observed to digest and absorb organic matter. 

The depth at which the organism extends into the surrounding rock strata indicates that the organism is several hundred thousand years old. It is unknown what the natural lifespan of the species is, or if the Permian Basin Superorganism represents a mature or developing example of the species. 

[3.0.0] Incident Timeline

Start of relevant timeline.

10:29 AM July 4th – Unseasonably high rains force park administrators to cancel a July 4th Concert and Fireworks display scheduled to take place on the surface park grounds. Many visitors who had already purchased tickets to the event become upset, and a decision is made to extend the park hours until midnight for those who had purchased event tickets.

8:00 PM July 4th – Normal closing time for the national park. A typical shift change of reduced night staff in the control room takes place.

9:16 PM July 4th – Harvesting crews working in the western extremities of the organism set a new extraction record to meet a quota for bonuses in time for the holiday weekend.

9:30 PM July 4th – Control room operators initiate a routine system self-test and discover a relay fault error resulting from increased electrical demand from mining equipment and tourist infrastructure. A control room operator logs the fault and notifies an on-duty engineer.

9:41 PM July 4th – Water drainage from surface rain into the Entry Orifice begins to collect in the sand gullet. Drainage pumps are automatically activated by a sensor system but fail to initialize due to the relay fault. An emergency back-up pump running on a separate emergency circuit is automatically activated.

9:42 PM July 4th – A critical alarm in the control room alerts operators that the emergency water pump has seized and is inoperative. Under-lubrication of the pump’s impeller bushings resulted in corrosion due to the moist interior of the flesh pit environment.

9:48 PM July 4th – Technicians arrive at the primary pump station to discover the sand gullet almost completely submerged. Water begins to pour over the dorsal respiratory ridge and into bronchial bulbules. Control room operators divert power to hydraulic stent rams to brace for expected choke response.

9:51 PM July 4th – Technicians a repair the relay fault as control staff reset the park’s electrical grid. The grid is offline for 45 seconds. The automatic PA system does not notify guests as the system is scheduled to automatically shut down at the normal 8:00PM closing time. The temporary lapse of lighting causes many guests to become panicked and return to the main gantry lift at the lower visitor center.

9:52 PM July 4th – A choking action from the organism begins 31 seconds into the electrical reset. The main dorsal trunk violently flexes. Lack of power to hydraulic arming rams causes irreparable damage to several sections of internal infrastructure.

9:53 PM July 4th – As the electrical system finishes the reboot cycle, the dynamic hydraulic actuators supporting the lower visitor center overcorrect for stability, not accounting for the shift in the wall lining of the nexial cavity in which the visitor center facility is anchored. Two of the six structural supports are torn from their foundations which causes the facility to list 20deg off vertical. The base joint of the vertical entry gantry is bent beyond its design limit angle.

9:54 PM July 4th – The Master Alarm is tripped automatically. Surface facilities are notified as response teams are given the order to mobilize.

9:56 PM July 4th – Park rangers are dispatched to rescue groups of visitors trapped in partially collapsed tunnels and trails.

10:03 PM July 4th – Continued movement of the organism, combined with rainwater, causes one of the upper entry gantry supports to slip. An outbound elevator conducts an emergency stop stranding over two dozen visitors. 

10:05 PM July 4th - Tremors registered as far away as the DFW metroplex. 

10:06 PM July 4th - Soil liquefaction destabilizes surface facilities in and around the organism. Dilation anchors begin retracting to keep the entry orifice open. 

10:12 PM July 4th - A master fail-safe is activated by the automated park management system. Twenty thousand liters of aconitine compound are injected into the superorganism via a distributed network of relay stations located throughout it’s known internal anatomy. 

10:12 PM July 4th - Tremors and convulsions intensify as the entry gantry connection to the lower visitor center detaches completely. The lower visitor center begins to collapse downward into the nexial cavity. 

10:12 PM July 4th - Peristaltic muscle action of the nexial cavity begins to exert substantial pressure on the outer structure of the lower visitor center facility. 10:15 PM July 4th - The prime labiod junction just west of the Septum Falls geobiological feature flexes into an open position, releasing a torrent of lactogastric chyma into the dorsal trunk. It is likely that this was a reaction to the aconitine injection. 

10:16 PM July 4th - Peristaltic spasms force the caustic chyma slurry through the nexial cavity and up through the lower and upper moisture crops towards the surface orifice. 

10:16 PM July 4th - Many guests attempting to flee the stalled elevator near the entry orifice attempt climbing out the upper moisture crop but are ultimately unsuccessful due to torrential rains causing the surfaces to become very slippery. Many end up falling back into the maw.

10:17 PM July 4th - The chyma slurry erupts from the surface orifice in a geyser several hundred meters in height. Large pieces of undigested organic matter crush several vehicles and damage windows. 

10:19 PM July 4th - Following the several minute long ejecta event, a deep and incredibly loud roar erupts from the entry orifice as ground tremors intensify further. Large extremities begin surfacing through bedrock and soil approx. 30km-120km from the entry orifice. 

10:25 PM July 4th - The acrid smell of the gastric ejecta can be detected as far as Odessa, TX. 

10:26 PM July 4th - Two park service vehicles and a tour vehicle containing park service employees and several guests attempt to ascend through the entry orifice tube. 

10:27 PM July 4th - Peristaltic action crushes one of the tour vehicles and sucks the other two vehicles back into the nexial cavity and down into a digestive organ. These vehicles are presumed destroyed. 10:58 PM July 4th - The pentagon is given authorization from the whitehouse to use nuclear force if necessary to prevent the organism from entering an active and/or ambulatory state.

11:02 PM July 4th - The on-site operations director within the lower visitor center control room initiates a final fail-safe measure in the form of the  [CONTINGENCY MEASURE]. 

11:02 PM July 4th - Master Event Log records successful spin-up of the [CONTINGENCY MEASURE].

11:05 PM July 4th - Lower visitor center structural integrity is critically compromised resulting in total collapse. 11:05 PM July 4th - Data connection with lower visitor center is severed. 

11:13 PM July 4th - Spasms and motor action of the superorganism begins to noticeably subside. Response teams begin to descend into the surface orifice to attempt rescue operations. 11:19 PM July 4th - Response team encounters visitor group which had attempted escape from stalled elevator. Most are dead, the remainder are mortally wounded and partially digested due to caustic gastric ejecta. 

11:42 PM July 4th - Radio contact established with ranger vehicle trapped within “Oyster’s Shame”. Due to ventricle closure, no feasible rescue strategy can be developed before complete mastication occurs. 

11:56 PM July 4th - Response team confirms that [CONTINGENCY MEASURE] and associated facility are still intact and operating. 

11:58 PM July 4th - Texas Gov. Rick Perry formally declares a state of emergency for Gumption county. 

12:22 AM July 5th - Response teams route data/power umbilical to new basecamp in [CONTINGENCY MEASURE] facility. 

12:35 AM July 5th - Three inter-pit lifeforms are identified as having been ejected onto the surface. Fifteen visitors are injured and seven are hunted by inter-pit lifeforms during panicked evacuation of surface resort. 

12:41 AM July 5th - Park staff manage to kill the three large lifeforms. 

1:02 AM July 5th - National Guard helicopters begin delivering supplies and personnel to aid in site containment. 1:58 AM July 5th - Field hospital is constructed to care for wounded visitors and staff. 

2:37 AM July 5th - Initial damage surveys report catastrophic destruction of internal park infrastructure. Pit geobiology has dramatically changed in hazard level. 

3:00 AM July 5th - Emergency teleconference of Anodyne executive leadership. National parks director and Secretary of the Interior are present. 

3:12 AM July 5th - Executive decision is made to initiate FEMA response and assemble a task force for containing superorganism. 

4:00 AM July 5th - Media helicopters and vehicles begin to report on the scope of disaster. 4:39 AM July 5th - Base camp technicians begin to spin-down [CONTINGENCY MEASURE]. Large fractures due to inertial stress have appeared on mineral components. Engineers advise against re-initializing [CONTINGENCY MEASURE] until mineral components can be replaced or repaired. 

6:08 AM July 5th - Ground personnel begin assembling a pump system to inject industrial sedatives into the superorganism. Transport trucks containing industrial sedative arrive. 

9:45 AM July 5th - Emergency teleconference of Anodyne shareholders. 

11:20 AM July 5th - Several injured visitors inexplicably leave field hospital and begin walking towards open pit orifice. Approx. 38 individuals are able to crawl back into the orifice over the course of 8 hours. None are recovered.

3:51 PM July 5th - Radio transmission from trapped ranger vehicle ceases. Many speculate that other small groups of visitors and staff are still trapped. 

End of relevant timeline. 

[4.0.0] Final Investigation Report

The following Final Investigation Report addresses additional investigation findings not covered in the previous report, including analysis of (1) the Anodyne organization, emergency response, and safety culture; (2) industry disaster response standards; (3) structural integrity standards; and (4) effective performance of “mystic” contingency measures. 

[4.1.0] Technical findings

This report highlights the following technical findings. (An in-depth discussion appears in the Interim Report)

[4.1.1] The electrical distribution scheme for the interior operations of the Permian Basin Superorganism Nature Preserve was modeled on a typical supply/load grid layout often found in mines, with power provided by a gas-fired plant located within the surface support compound. Unlike typical mining power distribution networks, the power load was split with the facilities involved in the tourism and natural preservation operations within the organism. This split-demand yielded a load fluctuating from 33kV to 60kV depending on a range of factors from resource extraction output, visitor throughput, hydrostatic and barometric fluctuations within the organism, and the ambient blood pressure of the organism. This unorthodox load distribution scheme required careful demand oversight and was subject to failure if operated outside of design load specifications. Such a failure occurred on July 4th, 2007 when operators increased electrical demand beyond design load specifications by both extending resource extraction operations while simultaneously increasing visitor throughput loads on trail infrastructures. 

[4.1.2] Hydrochloric corrosion is common in geobiological resource extraction, where naturally occurring hydrochloric compounds react with steel equipment. Process variables that affect corrosion rates include the total hydrochloric content of the enzyme secretions, flow conditions, application of TUMS industrial organic corrosion inhibitor salve, and the system temperature and humidity. Virtually all geobiological operations equipment is subject to this type of corrosion, and requires routine inspections and preventative maintenance to ensure that metallic and non-metallic corrosion prone surfaces are operating at design strength. The investigation has concluded that the corrosion found within the primary impeller bushings within the Emergency Drainage Pumps was caused by Hydrochloric corrosion due to poor maintenance. 

[4.1.3] Foundations and other anchor support structures within the Permian Basin Superorganism are critical components of park infrastructure which require careful planning and construction oversight. Under nominal conditions, anchor sites are selected by engineers to meet design load specifications with consultation from venteriobiologists for minimum anatomical disturbance. Rigid geobiological strata such as bone and dense cartilage are most often selected for load-bearing anchor points for their relative stability and similarity to conventional load-bearing strata such as rock. However, many locations within the Permian Basin Superorganism are primarily characterised by dense compositions of soft tissues requiring novel anchoring solutions. Several anchors within the primary entry tube utilize a cleat-based stent system which engages the entry tube muscle walls. These forces are equalized by the use of circular retention trusses which, when combined with vibration dampening actuators, form a rigid support assembly upon which fixed components such as the entry gantry may be affixed. Peristaltic action of a muscle tube has the potential to rotate a circular cleat sent frame by up to 90deg, eliminating the retaining capabilities of the frame. It is for this reason that design specification standards call for the installation of either rigid or tensile support members between consecutive retaining frames. In cases such as within the entry tube, tensile cables were selected to provide this support. These cables are subject to corrosion and must be routinely inspected in order to ensure that they meet minimum design load specifications. The investigation has concluded that the cables installed on the entry tube retaining frame system were improperly maintained and failed due to corrosive weakening of the cable members. 

[4.1.4] The use of a previously-untested contingency measure by operators, while not the primary inciting incident of the disaster, is a prime contributor to the outstanding collateral damage. A network of sensor stations embedded throughout the Permian Basin Superorganism had acted as a distributed sensory system, intended by park planners to provide a method for observing large-scale changes to the organisms condition. As an experimental contingency measure, each station was outfitted with a mechanism capable of injecting up to 15L of a concentrated aconitine solution. Aconitine is commonly used as an acute toxin for large mammals such as whales and was chosen for its theoretical effectiveness on key muscle groups within the organism. Park planners were under the assumption that a rapid injection of large volumes of aconitine would act as a sedative agent without inducing tissue death beyond the immediate injection sites. The investigation has concluded that this injection failsafe was directly responsible for escalating the motor response of the organism to levels beyond the design load strength of critical park infrastructure. The investigation has also concluded that the aconotine injection failsafe was directly responsible for causing the toxic “shock” response within the organism which resulted in a Gastric Ejecta Event. 

[4.1.5] The [CONTINGENCY MEASURE] is hypothesized to function by utilizing a series of standing harmonic and ultrasonic wavelengths which have been observed to affect the overall behavior of the Permian Basin Superorganism. These waves are created by applying a 15MHz mechanical percussion to the face of an excavated large quartz crystal (also known as “Mystic Artifacts #15, #21 and #22”). Once struck, the unique properties of the relic propagate the wave outward and into the surrounding anatomy of the Permian Basin Organism. When placed upon a rapidly rotating turntable, the effect can be multiplied and oriented allowing a high degree of theoretical influence over the organism. This contingency measure was activated only once and demonstrated the potential application this technology may have in future containment measures. However, at the time of this investigation, no additional  relics  have been located intact. Without this key assembly component, the CGR does not recommend additional experimental uses of the [CONTINGENCY MEASURE].

[4.2.0] Organizational Findings

[4.2.1] Anodyne did not effectively implement internal recommendations to help prevent structural failures to hydrochloric corrosion. In the 8 years prior to the incident, a small number of Anodyne personnel with knowledge and understanding of venteriobiology recommended on several occasions either a one-time inspection of every component within the primary inter-park infrastructure system - known as a 100 percent component inspection - or an upgrade of the material of construction of these key infrastructure components. The recommendations were not implemented effectively, and many key structural and mechanical components remained in service until failure on July 4th, 2007. [4.2.2] Anodyne failed to perform internally recommended 100 percent component inspections. Anodyne metallurgists released a formal report dated September 30, 2004 (nearly 3 years before the incident), titled Updated Inspection Strategies for Preventing Hydrochloric Corrosion Failures in Critical Systems. The investigation has concluded that these recommendations were not properly implemented. 

[4.2.3] The CGR identified several contributing causes of the July 5th, 2007, incident relating to the safety culture at Anodyne:

Decision making that encourages continued operation of tourism and resource extraction operations despite hazardous working conditions.

Reluctance among employees to use their Stop Work Authority. Recent safety culture surveys performed within resource extraction sites indicate that employees had become less willing to use their Stop Work Authority between 2003 and 2006; and

Substandard equipment maintenance practices. Those same surveys indicate that Anodyne employees saw increased problems in how the internal operations infrastructure maintained its equipment between 2003 and 2006.

[4.2.4] Anodyne did not effectively identify in the Incident Command structure the damage mechanisms that could have caused the failures on the night of the incident. The OSHA Hazardous Operations and Emergency Response (HAZOPER) standard states that the Incident Commander “Shall identify, to the extent possible, all hazardous conditions present.” in an emergency response situation. However, the appropriate technical expertise necessary for identification was not effectively consulted in the Incident Command Structure on July 5th, 2007. This lack of knowledge of all potential causes of the incident led the Incident Commander to direct emergency responders to take actions that may have ultimately exacerbated the hazard condition and put many Park Service personnel, Anodyne personnel, as well as civilian visitors, in harm’s way. It also led the Incident Commander to limit the “hazard zone” to a small area that did not consider the possibility of a Gastric Ejecta Event. When the Gastric Ejecta Event occurred, personnel and emergency equipment positioned in the “safe zone” were engulfed in the volume of caustic ejecta. 

[5.1.0] Incident Conclusions

[5.1.1] The CGR found that the failure of this incident is indicative of a fragmented hazard management approach that placed the responsibility to implement safety recommendations on stakeholders which stood to benefit from decreased oversight while also incurring financial loss for any safety oversight restrictions placed. Consequences of this cultural attitude surrounding the tourism and resource extraction operations within the Permian Basin Superorganism led to the severe underestimation of the capabilities of the organism as well as the capabilities of the systems designed to limit the hazards posed by the organism. [5.1.2] The use of concentrated aconitine, without prior study or approval, as a fail-safe directly triggered a reactionary response from the organism which led to the deaths of over 750 individuals. 

[5.1.3] The use of the [CONTINGENCY MEASURE], while effective at “pacifying” the organism, was similarly employed without prior substantial testing or approval. This lack of communication from Anodyne regarding the specifics, theory of operation, and even existence of the artifacts , which are essential components within the [CONTINGENCY MEASURE], directly led to the unsafe, high-RPM operation which fractured the mineral components of the [CONTINGENCY MEASURE].

[5.2.0] General Recommendations 

[5.2.1] The CGR, with full support from the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Park Service, has made the discretionary recommendation to not pursue additional commercial development within or adjacent to the boundaries of the Permian Basin Superorganism. 

[5.2.2] In the interest of continuing the present containment operations while also ensuring readiness in the event of a future geobiological action event, the CGR has developed a comprehensive program of monitoring and containment. This program is divided into a series of objectives, intended to better mitigate the hazard presented by the existence of the Permian Basin Superorganism. [5.2.3] Improve the communication of geobiological-hazard science for use in decision and policy making.

Support the use of geobiological-hazard science in risk reduction with engineering, environmental science, spiritual and social sciences.

Improve understanding among venteriobiologists, engineers, and others of numerical simulation of organism ground activity as opposed to the use of empirical ground-motion-prediction equations. 

Improve understanding of the benefits of early warning systems.

Educate about organism movement patterns and operational activity forecasts.

[5.2.4] Advance basic knowledge of geobiological action event hazards and inform actions to reduce the risk of the organism becoming non-dormant

Develop a new method to estimate stimulus-response outcomes in interactions with the Permian Basin Superorganism without reliance on expert opinion, proprietary computer models, or wholly “mystic” ritual methods without demonstrated patterns of reliability. 

Educate and facilitate local containment capabilities to deal with fauna and other life forms which are native to the organism’s interior anatomy. 

Develop methods for production and administration of appropriate sedative measures to chemically induce a comatose state of inactivity in the organism.

Where it is absolutely necessary for personnel to descend into the organism, develop methods to reduce the possibility of individuals becoming trapped. 

Establish a perimeter area surrounding the Incident Site to protect the health and safety of the public from additional fauna incursions or ejecta events. 

[5.3.0] Containment Recommendations 

[5.3.1] A thorough plan for containment of the organism has been devised by a joint containment task force comprised of geobiologists, venteriobiologists, seismologists, medical experts, engineers from various disciplines, land management specialists, ecclesiastical personnel, as well as representatives from private industry. This proposed containment procedure integrates a variety of strategies intended to prolong the dormancy of the Permian Basin Superorganism while simultaneously reducing the likelihood of a future geobiological action event. 

The taskforce has recommended the establishment of a >3km restricted access zone surrounding the Entry Orifice defined by a reinforced and patrolled barrier. Signs and other warning devices should be installed to clearly inform the public of the hazard(s) presented by the containment operations and the Superorganism itself. Where possible, the taskforce has recommended that any material necessary for the containment operations be produced on-site so as to minimize logistic dependency on remote facilities.

The recommended multi-strategy containment plan is outlined as follows:

All efforts should be made to maintain a steady introduction of high-potency anesthetic to the uppermost dermal anatomy of the organism. This is the foremost measure for reducing the capability of the Superorganism to sense and perceive human activity. 

At a similar volume to high-potency anesthetics, the introduction of inorganic phosphates directly into the muscles of the Superorganism is an essential strategy designed to delay and fatigue the motor response of the organism. 

Where possible, the introduction of acidic compounds into bone structures will further weaken the overall response capability of the Superorganism in the event that other containment precautions fail. Special care should be taken to ensure that primary structural members of the organism’s skeletal system are not weakened, however, as such a measure could potentially damage critical infrastructure. NOTE: As of rev. 18.3 of this document, the Permian Basin Recovery & Superorganism Containment Corporation has been granted a temporary permit for the continued extraction of bone material and amniotic fluid ballast for research and limited commercial purposes.

The taskforce has recommended measures which would induce a state of mild hypoxia in the Superorganism through the replacement of oxygen-rich air with carbon dioxide-rich air within the respiratory systems of the organism. In addition, by venting plant exhaust from the surface containment facility directly into the organism, this plan remains in compliance with standing EPA regulations on emissions within natural preserves. 

The extraction of nutrient-rich material from within the Superorganism’s gastric systems is an additional preventative step recommended by the task force to weaken the response capability of the organism. In order to prevent a hunger response, the task force has recommended displacing the volume of nutrient-rich material with that of an inert material such as gravel or rock. NOTE: As of rev. 2.5 of this document, materials and objects harvested from the Retrocognitive Material Gestation Organs (A.K.A. “Gift Gardens”) will continue at a greatly reduced capacity for the exclusive purpose of research. All such objects shall be stored in a designated and secure off-site facility. 

[6.0.0] Conclusion

The CGR concludes its recommendations and report with broad advocacy for any such program(s) which aim to better prepare physical as well as social and spiritual infrastructure for the inevitability of the Permian Basin Superorganism emerging from dormancy and becoming completely active and ambulatory. The measures and methods described within these recommendations are temporary in their effectiveness while representing the fullest extent of human capability to impact the Permian Basin Superorganism. Future studies and capabilities may yield a greater degree of readiness in matters concerning the survivability of a societal encounter with an active and ambulatory Immanis Colosseus, but it is unrealistic to believe that mankind will be able to seriously damage or eliminate such an organism. 

Inhabitants of the western hemisphere, within the U.S. and Abroad, must come to understand the losses each and every one of us will face, and how those impacts will harm the quality of life we enjoy in this unique part of the world. 

[End of Document]

This document represents an executive overview of the now-infamous July 2007 disaster which permanently closed the Mystery Flesh Pit National Park. Though the initial hazard and containment response was praised by many for it’s quick and decisive action, many have criticized the government for continuing to allow the Permian Basin Recovery & Superorganism Containment Corporation (Formerly Anodyne, Inc.) a commercial stake in the containment efforts. 

More info about this project can be found at the subreddit /r/FleshPitNationalPark, the official Discord, or at the blog mysteryfleshpit.tumblr.com

[southeastasianists]

When Youk Chhang started writing letters to Zaha Hadid, it seemed like a quixotic mission. Chhang was beseeching the world’s most celebrated architect to help him build a genocide museum and research center in a small, wounded country. Eleven years later, books full of Dame Hadid’s designs for the center rest in his Phnom Pehn office, like precious secrets. Chhang has made significant strides in his quest, though the most important step remains.

The fact that Chhang made it to this point—that he even is alive—is a triumph. Like many other Cambodians from his generation, he suffered through horrors during the Khmer Rouge regime: He was tortured for picking mushrooms, and watched as his pregnant sister was cut open and killed under the suspicion that she had stolen rice. The teenager escaped to the Thai border in 1982, as fighting continued, then to the Philippines, and eventually the United States. He finally returned to Cambodia in 1992, where he worked as a UN election observer as the nation began to recover from over 20 years of genocide, brutality, and war.

A world away, Hadid was having a career breakthrough. Years after gaining attention in the architectural world for her creative designs, none of which were ever built, the architect finally found clients to realize them. Her first landmark building, an angular concrete fire station later used as an exhibit space, was completed in Germany in 1993, beginning a long run of success.

In 1995, Chhang became the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, or DC-Cam. In his time there, the nonprofit group dedicated to remembrance and reconciliation has GPS-mapped 20,000 mass graves, interviewed 10,000 victims and perpetrators, and collected more than a million documents about the genocide. DC-Cam’s work provided evidence for Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunals and helped Cambodia acknowledge the trauma it suffered through.

DC-Cam also created plans for a genocide center, dubbed the Sleuk Rith Institute, that would combine a museum, policy center, and school. The effort is as much about the future as the past. “It should be a place to heal, a place to commemorate. A beautiful place to look forward. We will turn a horrible past into a better future,” Chhang says. He wanted to break from the usual pattern of big genocide memorials around the world: depressing, heavy, and overwhelmingly male, both in terms of their sensibilities and who conceived them.

Chhang long dreamed of approaching Hadid to design Sleuk Rith, which means “the power of leaves,” referring to religious texts written on palm leaves, many of which were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge. Hadid had a record of making celebrated modern buildings with inventive, dramatic curves, and Chhang saw that as a way to break away from the sharp, masculine angles and doleful sensibility of many museums related to acts of genocide around the world. (When told that someone liked the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., its designer, James Ingo Freed, was quoted in The New York Times saying, “You’re not supposed to like things like that. So I say: ‘Oh, yes, you did see it? Too bad for you, it was such an awful experience.’”) Hadid was born and raised in Iraq, and Chhang thought might help her understand Cambodia's situation, he says.

She also happened, by then, to be one of the most famous architects alive.

So Chhang, like a starry-eyed fan, began writing letters to the London office of Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), asking if she would consider designing the institute. The firm saw requests from people around the world and could only accept a tiny number of them, so Chhang turned up the charm. “I made her a birthday card with a picture of Angkor Wat. I sent her folktales from Cambodia and a story I heard from a woman in a small village,” he says. He implored her secretary to make sure his letters found their way to Hadid personally.

Eventually the architect invited Chhang to the firm’s London studio. He flew there by himself, stayed with a friend to save money, and met with Hadid and about 15 other architects. Impressed at the pitch, the firm accepted the project and sent a team to Cambodia to learn about the country to inform their work.

In 2014, after two years of work, the firm unveiled a design based on five intersecting “volumes,” or sections, each dedicated to one main function: a library holding DC-Cam’s documents, a graduate school on genocide and human rights, a research center to influence policy and discourse, a media center, and an auditorium. The primary building material is wood, which helps distinguish it from similar sites, usually made from stone, metal, and glass. “There was a deliberate intention not to follow a typical path of memorial architecture as it’s normally or historically expressed—the heavy austere monumentality that’s in some ways depressing,” says Craig Kiner, a senior associate at ZHA who helped lead the design process. “It’s much more light and uplifting and delicate, which is something we talked about at great length with Youk and the team. It represents tranquility and hope and healing—for everyone in Cambodia but also for everyone who visits the building,” he says.

Unfortunately, Hadid herself will never get to see the building realized. She died of a heart attack in 2016, leaving a grand legacy and a number of designs that, like the Sleuk Rith Institute, are yet to be completed.

DC-Cam is now trying to turn the striking plans into a real place. Raising money for construction is a central need, but it is one that Chhang reframes. “It’s not a question of cost. It’s a question of the principle of engagement. We want it to be for victims and survivors. They [developers] want it to be a business.” Chhang says that the developers he’s negotiating with want to put Sleuk Rith on a small property, but Chhang insists that it needs about 15 acres, so it has a peaceful environment. “I think it needs a landscape. For them a landscape is a waste of villas.”

It would be easy enough to find space for the institute in the countryside, but Chhang insists on it being in Phnom Penh, close to the country’s political center, accessible to everyone from Khmer Rouge victims to Cambodian officials to international leaders and tourists. Finding a big-enough plot within the city limits is an as-yet-unmet challenge. As for whether the institute will look suitably dignified in a bustling city going through an often chaotic development boom, Chhang is unworried. “When you are beautiful, it doesn’t matter what you wear,” he says. “I like competition. I’d like to see a nearby casino compete with Zaha’s design. Let’s see who’s the winner. I have complete trust over Zaha’s design.”

Chhang says he’s confident DC-Cam will reach an agreement with developers and funders and get the center built, possibly one “volume” at a time. “People have talked about Sleuk Rith costing $55 million or $65 million. But there were two million lives lost. The cost is almost nothing,” he says. Projects like this often take a decade or so, he says, and DC-Cam has put six years into realizing Sleuk Rith, though he declines to adopt a specific timeline. “We work on this every day. I work on the costs every day,” he says.

Kiner says ZHA is working with DC-Cam to smooth the building process. “It’s something that we’re very committed to delivering,” he says.

Though Hadid’s name and reputation attract a lot of interest from developers and the public, not everyone appreciates the center’s approach. “Like almost every project in Phnom Penh, these images simulate that the building rises majestically from the lower structures around, embedded in a lot of greenery,” says Moritz Henning, a Berlin-based architect who studies Cambodian postcolonial architecture and published a guide to Phnom Penh architecture last year. “Why does every project have to be unique, stand out from its surroundings, or better: rise above its surroundings?” he wrote in an email.

“For me, the architecture refers much more to religious buildings, to Gothic cathedrals (and in this respect it fits, people there also wanted to make people small) than to Cambodian architecture,” he says. “Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not against the Sleuk Rith Institute. I think it would be great to have a place like this in Phnom Penh. But I’m very skeptical if this is the right way to go.”

Chhang sees the design-forward but still monumental approach as a way to draw the world’s attention to Cambodia and, likewise, connect the country with humanity as a whole. “The genocide center isn’t just about Cambodia. It’s about Armenia, Bosnia, Burma. That’s why I chose contemporary design, why I chose Zaha—to bring Cambodia out into the globe,” he says. “In Cambodia, there were lots of young girls like Anne Frank. There’s a lot of ways you can see the similarity. Why? Because we are all human beings.”

[thinkveganworld]

Here’s Part One of a series of articles I wrote a while back:  

Goebbels and today’s mass mind control: Part One 

How PR opinion-shapers turn the people against their own interests By Carla Binion (”thinkveganworld.tumblr.com”) 

Today’s right-wing public relations spin has much in common with the propaganda methods of Hitler’s PR man, Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels admired Edward Bernays, a self-proclaimed founder of the public relations industry.  Bernays, a Vienna-born nephew of Sigmund Freud, opened a New York office in 1919.  According to John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, (“Toxic Sludge is Good for You,” Common Courage Press, 1995) Bernays “pioneered the PR industry’s use of psychology and other social sciences to design its public persuasion campaigns.”

Bernays wrote in “Propaganda,” (New York: 1928, pp. 47-48) “If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it.”  Bernays referred to this scientific opinion-control as the “engineering of consent." 

In his autobiography, Bernays discusses a dinner at his home in 1933 where, "Karl von Weigand, foreign correspondent of the Hearst newspapers, an old hand at interpreting Europe and just returned from Germany, was telling us about Goebbels and his propaganda plans to consolidate Nazi power.  Goebbels had shown Weigand his propaganda library, the best Weigand had ever seen.

 Goebbels, said Weigand, was using my book ‘Crystallizing Public Opinion’ as a basis for his destructive campaign against the Jews of Germany.  This shocked me.  Obviously the attack on the Jews of Germany was no emotional outburst of the Nazis, but a deliberate, planned campaign." 

Today, corporations spend millions on public relations campaigns to "crystallize public opinion,” often in an effort to convince the public that harmful things are actually good for us.  Sometimes the companies start by bending the minds of our elected representatives. 

This is the first part of a series.  In part one, we’ll focus on the ways in which corporations and their public relations mind-shapers worked to destroy the Clinton health care plan.  Today forty-four million Americans, about one in five people, have no health coverage, and many people cannot afford needed pharmaceutical drugs.  Most Americans probably wonder why, despite repeatedly broken campaign promises, Congress never does anything to improve the health care system. 

As far back as November 8, 1999, a Newsweek article reported that half or more of eligible heart attack patients are at greater risk because they can’t get needed beta blockers.  The article stated that two-thirds of people surveyed say they are worried that health care is no longer affordable.  Conditions haven’t improved since then.

In 1993, the Clinton administration tried to do something about the high price of prescription drugs, hinting at possible government-imposed price controls.  The pharmaceutical industry then turned to the Beckel Cowan PR firm to oppose the administration’s designs on lowering the cost of prescription drugs – although, of course, the Clinton plan would have benefited the public.  Stauber and Rampton write that Beckel Cowan “created an astroturf [or, fake grassroots] organization called 'Rx Partners’ and began deploying state and local organizers to, in the words of a company brochure, 'generate and secure high-quality personal letters from influential constituents to 35 targeted members of Congress.’" 

At the same time, Beckel Cowan managed a mail and phone campaign "which produced personal letters, telegrams and patch-through calls to the targeted members’ local and Washington, DC, offices.”  The PR firm built a network of supporters in 35 congressional districts and states. Pharmaceutical companies weren’t the only corporations to oppose an improved health care system.

The insurance industry went to work to fight against the Clinton health care plan, recruiting PR-man Robert Hoopes.  According to Stauber and Rampton, the 300,000 member Independent Insurance Agents of America (IIAA) hired Hoopes as their “grassroots coordinator/political education specialist." 

Campaign & Elections magazine reported the IIAA activated "nearly 140,000 insurance agents during the health care debate, becoming what Hoopes describes as a new breed of Washington lobbyists,” wrote Stauber and Rampton.  Hoopes said the lobbyists “have behind them an army of independent insurance agents from each state, and members of Congress understand what a lobbyist can do with the touch of a button to mobilize those people for or against them." 

In Campaign & Elections magazine ("Killing Health Care Reform,” October/November 1994) Thomas Scarlett writes of the insurance companies PR moves, “Through a combination of skillfully targeted media and grassroots lobbying, these groups were able to change more minds than the president could, despite the White House 'bully pulpit.' 

Never before have private interests spent so much money so publicly to defeat an initiative launched by a president.” The Coalition for Health Insurance Choices (CHIC), an insurance company front group, led the attacks on health care reform.  According to Consumer Reports, “The HIAA [Health Insurance Association of America] doesn’t just support the coalition; it created it from scratch.”  Stauber and Rampton write that PR-man Blair G. Childs masterminded the Coalition. 

Describing the fight against health care reform, Childs said in 1993, “The insurance industry was real nervous.  Everybody was talking about health care reform.  It felt like we were looking down the barrel of a gun.”  He added, “We needed cover because we were going to be painted as the bad guy.  You get strength in numbers.  Start with the natural, strongest allies, sit around a table and build up to give your coalition a positive image." 

To battle health care reform, Childs said the coalition brought in "everyone from the homeless Vietnam veterans to some very conservative groups.  It was an amazing array, and they were all doing something.” (Blair Childs speaking at “Shaping Public Opinion: If You Don’t Do It Somebody Else Will,” in Chicago, Dec. 9, 1994.)  

Childs advised industry health reform opponents on selecting names for their fake grassroots coalitions.  He said they should use focus groups and surveys to find “words that resonate very positively.”  (Examples included the words “fairness, balance, choice, coalition and alliance.”) 

His own coalition sponsored the famous “Harry and Louise” television spots.  Those ads used strategic words to convince the public that Clinton’s health care plan was overly complex – a “billion dollar bureaucracy.” Propagandist Rush Limbaugh also fueled the anti-health care debate on his radio show with frequent “calculated rants” aimed at his dittohead audience.  

PR-man Blair Childs said his coalition ran paid ads on Limbaugh’s show to encourage Rush’s listeners to call members of Congress and urge them to kill health care reform. Stauber and Rampton say that congressional staffers often didn’t know the callers were “primed, loaded, aimed and fired at them by radio ads on the Limbaugh show, paid by the insurance industry, with the goal of orchestrating the appearance of overwhelming grassroots opposition to health reform." 

During 1992 and much of 1993, before the propaganda blitz, both Democrats and Republicans were leaning toward a health reform bill according to James Fallows (The Atlantic, January 1995.)  Fallows writes, "Bob Dole said he was eager to work with the administration and appeared at events side by side with Hillary Clinton to endorse universal coverage. Twenty-three Republicans said that universal coverage was a given in a new bill." 

By 1994, the insurance corporations’ PR attacks had changed the political environment.  Stauber and Rampton write that "Republicans who previously had signed on to various components of the Clinton plan backed away.” Even Democratic Party Senate majority leader George Mitchell “announced a scaled-back plan that was almost pure symbolism.  Republicans dismissed it with fierce scorn." 

Although Hitler’s propagandist used mass mind control for more sinister goals, today’s corporate propagandists have the following in common with Goebbels:  They use the same opinion-shaping techniques he did, and they use them for the purpose of turning the people against their own interests.  When large numbers of American citizens suffer or die because they can’t get needed medicine or surgery as a result of corporate propaganda, it becomes obvious that Goebbels and today’s industry PR spin doctors have produced fruit that is similar in kind, though different in degree. 

The public benefits from understanding corporate PR and its character and intentions.  Hitler said, "Only one thing could have broken our movement: if the adversary had understood its principle and from the first day had smashed with extreme brutality the nucleus of our new movement.”  (Speech to Nuremberg Congress, 9/3/33.) 

Corporate America’s movement to undermine affordable prescription drugs, universal health care and other public health and safety interests has to be understood before it can be fought.  Stauber and Rampton say the PR industry resembles the title character in the old Claude Rains movie, “The Invisible Man.”  Rains’ character uses his invisibility to get away with robbery, murder and other crimes.  

The film was made using special-effects techniques such as hidden wires to make ashtrays, guns and other objects appear to float in mid-air, as if they were being moved by the invisible man. “Instead of ashtrays and guns,” write Stauber and Rampton, “The PR industry seeks to manipulate public opinion and government policy.  But it can only manipulate while it remains invisible." 

In part two, we’ll look at specific techniques today’s public relations ploys have in common with Goebbels’ methods, and we’ll examine the corporations’ and think-tanks’ Goebbels-like attacks on environmental protection.

[thesproutpr]

Public Relations Firm | The Sprout PR Elevate your brand with a leading public relations firm. They manage media relations, handle crises, and execute strategic communications to enhance public images and build strong audience relationships.

[architectnews]

Emergency housing block in Washington DC has four "uniquely different" facades

Staggered apartments and semi-enclosed play areas animate the exterior of The Aya, a short-term housing block in Washington DC by US firms Studio Twenty Seven Architecture and Leo A Daly.

The seven-storey building commissioned by the District of Columbia Department of General Services contains temporary homes for up to fifty families in need of emergency shelter in the US capital.

Designed by Studio Twenty Seven Architecture and Leo A Daly to provide "wrap-around services" for residents, the block contains apartments, a dining room and a public health centre.

Above: The Aya is a temporary accommodation block in Washington DC. Top image: it has seven storeys of apartments

The Aya is characterised by its animated exterior where each facade is unique – meaning there is no front or back to the building.

The facades' designs respond to the internal layout but also help maximise natural light inside, prevent "dead zones" from forming outside and preserve sightlines, trees and green space.

Each facade is unique

"Each elevation of the building is uniquely different," Studio Twenty Seven Architecture explained.

"The concept is a building that has no front or back and responds to the arterial street viewshed through a ziggurat form that preserves the existing tree canopies and allows for maximum daylighting views to each of the small dwelling units."

Apartments on the west give rise to a stepped facade

The Aya is one of eight short-term family housing blocks being constructed in each of Washington DC's neighbourhoods to help combat homelessness in the city.

Its footprint is modelled on a dilapidated 1940's health centre that previously occupied the site, while its height relates to the surrounding buildings.

Each floor has semi-enclosed play areas

Inside there are between seven and ten apartments per level, alongside community spaces, laundry facilities and a mix of private and family bathrooms.

A dining area, computer room, exam room and administrative facilities occupy the ground floor, while a basement contains a public health centre to replace the original one on the site.

Apartments have large glazed windows

The community areas on each floor are positioned on the north side of the building, marked by an open, glazed facade that frames views towards the US Capitol building.

Residences are positioned behind the predominantly bricked east and west sides.

To the west, the apartments are staggered to give rise to a stepped facade – described by the studio as a "ziggurat" – which maximises natural light inside.

These stepped units also incorporate a small green roof, designed by the studio to "imply a front lawn" for the apartment that looks onto it.

Shared living spaces feature throughout

On the east, the brick facade is punctured by large windows and screened outdoor play spaces on each floor. These ensure children do not have to use the elevators to go outside.

A glass-lined entrance to the health clinic is the focal point of the south facade. This entrance is deliberately separate to the housing to create "daily activity all around the building".

Its design helped to preserve the surrounding landscape

Elsewhere in the US, Michael Maltzan Architecture designed a bright white housing block in the Los Angeles area, which contains over 60 studio apartments for its formerly homeless tenants.

In the UK, Holland Harvey Architects also recently completed a temporary housing block named Shelter from the Storm. It provides 42 beds for homeless people within a disused London supermarket.

Photography is courtesy of Studio Twenty Seven Architecture.

The post Emergency housing block in Washington DC has four "uniquely different" facades appeared first on Dezeen.

[lboogie1906]

Rodney Earl Slater (born February 23, 1955) former cabinet member, attorney, and state government official, was born in Marianna, Arkansas. He graduated from Eastern Michigan University. He earned his JD from the University of Arkansas. In 1980, he became the Assistant Attorney General for the litigation division of Arkansas’s Attorney General’s Office. From 1983 to 1987, he served as Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton’s executive assistant for Economic and Community Programs and then as the Special Assistant for Community and Minority Affairs. In 1987, Clinton appointed Slater to the Arkansas Highway Commission. He held other positions in the state of Arkansas such as Director of Governmental Relations at Arkansas State University and was a special liaison for Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission. In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed him as the Administrator of the FAA. His effectiveness in that position catapulted him into the position of Secretary of Transportation in 1997. In June of 2001, he joined the private sector as a director of the Kansas City Southern, Inc, a major interstate railroad. He became a partner in the public policy practice group of a leading DC law firm, Patton Boggs LLP. While there he concentrated on transportation law. He is a member of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. He has received numerous honors such as an honorary doctorate from Howard University, the Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award from the Hugh O’Brian Leadership Foundation, the Lamplighter Award for Public Service from The Black Leadership Forum, and the Trailblazer Award from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. In 1998, he received awards from The Congressional Black Caucus; Ebony Magazine, The National Bar Association, and The Arkansas Times. In 2006, he belonged to a group of investors that purchased the Washington Nationals. He and his wife, Cassandra Wilkins, have a daughter. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #sigmapiphi https://www.instagram.com/p/CpAKejXOZ8p/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[xtruss]

The Dead Professor and the Vast Pro-India Disinformation Campaign

— By Abid Hussain & Shruti Menon | BBC Urdu & BBC Reality Check | December 10, 2020

captionThe UN Human Rights Council meets at least three times a year and reviews UN member states' rights records

A dead professor and numerous defunct organisations were resurrected and used alongside at least 750 fake media outlets in a vast 15-year global disinformation campaign to serve Indian interests, a new investigation has revealed.

The man whose identity was stolen was regarded as one of the founding fathers of international human rights law, who died aged 92 in 2006.

"It is the largest network we have exposed," said Alexandre Alaphilippe, executive director of EU DisinfoLab, which undertook the investigation and published an extensive report on Wednesday.

The network was designed primarily to "discredit Pakistan internationally" and influence decision-making at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and European Parliament, EU DisinfoLab said.

EU DisinfoLab partially exposed the network last year but now says the operation is much larger and more resilient than it first suspected.

REVEALED: Indian Chronicles – how a massive 15-year influence operation successfully targeted the EU & UN with 750+ fake local media and 10+ zombie-NGOs. Executive Summary & full report: http://indianchronicles.eu Here are the facts 👇 (1/n) (EU DisinfoLab @disinfoEU)

There is no evidence the network is linked to India's government, but it relies heavily on amplifying content produced on fake media outlets with the help of Asian News International (ANI) - India's largest wire service and a key focus of the investigation.

The EU DisinfoLab researchers, who are based in Brussels, believe the network's purpose is to disseminate propaganda against India's neighbour and rival Pakistan. Both countries have long sought to control the narrative against the other.

Last year, the researchers uncovered 265 pro-Indian sites operating across 65 countries, and traced them back to a Delhi-based Indian holding company, the Srivastava Group (SG).

Wednesday's report, titled Indian Chronicles, reveals that the operation, run by SG, is spread over at least 116 countries and has targeted members of the European Parliament and the United Nations - raising questions about how much EU and UN staff knew about SG's activities, and whether they could have done more to counter those activities, especially after last year's report.

Mr Alaphilippe said the EU DisinfoLab researchers had never encountered such co-ordination between different stakeholders to spread disinformation.

"During the last 15 years, and even after being exposed last year, the fact that this network managed to operate so effectively shows the sophistication and the drive of the actors behind Indian Chronicles," he said.

Some of the many news sites the investigation found to be fake

"You need more than a few computers to plan and sustain such an action," he said.

The researchers cautioned against "definitively attributing Indian Chronicles to some specific actors such as Indian intelligence services" without further investigation.

Ben Nimmo, a disinformation network expert, told the BBC the uncovered network was "one of the most persistent and complex operations" he had seen, but he too was wary of attributing it to a specific actor.

Mr Nimmo, who is director of investigations at digital monitoring firm Graphika, cited previous examples of privately-run large-scale troll operations. "Just because they're big, it doesn't necessarily mean they're directly run by the state," he said.

The BBC approached the Indian government for comment but had received no response by the time of publication.

Of ghosts and defunct NGOs

One of the most important findings of the open-source investigation was establishing direct links between the Srivastava Group (SG) and at least 10 UN-accredited NGOs, along with several others, which were used to promote Indian interests and criticise Pakistan internationally.

"In Geneva, these think tanks and NGOs are in charge of lobbying, of organising demonstrations, speaking during press conferences and UN side-events, and they were often given the floor at the UN on behalf of the accredited organisations," the report says.

The investigation shows that the operation led by SG began in late 2005, a few months after the UNHRC was founded in its current form.

One particular NGO which caught the eye of the researchers was the Commission to Study the Organisation of Peace (CSOP). The CSOP was founded in the 1930s and won UN-accreditation in 1975 but became inactive later in the 1970s.

The investigation found that a former chairman of the CSOP - Prof Louis B Sohn, one of the 20th Century's leading international law scholars and a Harvard Law faculty member for 39 years - was listed under the name Louis Shon as a CSOP participant at the UNHRC session in 2007 and at a separate event in Washington DC in 2011.

The listings shocked the researchers because Prof Sohn died in 2006.

Louis B Sohn "appeared" at events years after he died

The authors dedicated their investigation to the professor's memory, writing that his name had been "usurped by the malicious actors in this report". They said CSOP "had been resurrected, and its identity hijacked in 2005 by the same actors depicted in our first investigation".

The investigation also shows there were several hundred pro-Indian interventions by the non-accredited NGOs, which were repeatedly given the floor at the UNHRC on behalf of the accredited organisations, pursuing the same agenda of maligning Pakistan.

On other occasions, NGOs and organisations which seemingly had nothing to do with Pakistan or India according to their stated objectives would get the opportunity to speak at the UNHRC and target Pakistan.

In March 2019, during the UNHRC's 40th session, United Schools International (USI), another UN-accredited organisation with direct links to SG, allowed its slot to be used by Yoana Barakova, a research analyst with an Amsterdam-based think-tank called the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS).

Ms Barakova spoke about "atrocities committed by Pakistan" during the session. She told the BBC that EFSAS was a partner with USI and she was "not responsible for organisational logistics". The BBC received no reply when it contacted the director of EFSAS, who also represented USI at the same session to criticise Pakistan.

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The primary news agency re-packaging and boosting pro-India content related to SG appears to be ANI, established in 1971, which describes itself as "South Asia's leading multimedia news agency, with more than 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe". Indian news media, especially broadcast media, thrive on content provided by ANI.

EU DisinfoLab found at least 13 instances of ANI re-publishing mostly anti-Pakistan and sometimes anti-China op-eds by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), originally published on EU Chronicle, one of the fake news sites linked to SG.

EU Chronicle was born in May this year when EP Today, a site flagged in the previous disinformation report, was simply discontinued and renamed.

The EU DisinfoLab report said: "The actors behind the operation hijacked the names of others, tried to impersonate regular media such as the EU Observer... used the letterhead of the European Parliament, registered websites under avatars with fake phone numbers, provided fake addresses to the United Nations, created publishing companies to print books of the think-tanks they owned.

"They used layers of fake media that would quote and republish one another. They used politicians who genuinely wanted to defend women or minority rights to ultimately serve geopolitical interests and gave a platform to far-right politicians when convergent objectives could be reached."

Protesters demonstrate against Pakistan outside the UNHRC in Geneva last year

Mr Alaphilippe said the news agency ANI was being used to give legitimacy to the entire "influence operation", which relied "more on ANI than on any other distribution channel" to give it "both credibility and a wide reach to its content".

ANI's news reports have found space in many mainstream Indian news outlets and publishers. Its content was further reproduced on more than 500 fake media websites across 95 countries, the researchers found.

Demonstrations in Europe conducted by organisations linked to the Srivastava Group have also been covered by ANI, as well as by fake media websites linked to SG.

Focus on the EU and UN

According to the findings of the investigation, the disinformation network had a two-pronged strategy to spread influence.

In Geneva, the think-tanks and NGOs were in charge of lobbying and protesting, and taking the floor at the UNHRC on behalf of accredited organisations.

In Brussels, the focus was on the MEPs, who were taken on international trips and solicited to write "exclusive" op-eds for fake outlets like EU Chronicle, which would then be amplified using ANI, the researchers found.

A group of MEPs appear regularly in the investigation. One of them, French MEP Thierry Mariani, has written two op-eds for EU Chronicle and was also part of a controversial visit to Indian-administered Kashmir last year.

"If the Indian government is behind the newspaper [EU Chronicle], it is not my problem," Mr Mariani, a member of France's far-right National Rally, told the BBC.

Organisers and delegation members met Indian PM Narendra Modi during the MEPs' controversial 2019 Kashmir trip

"I sign what I want and I feel, it is my opinion. I have connections in [India's governing] Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and I support the government of [Narendra] Modi," he said.

Two other MEPs named in the report - Angel Dzhambazki from Bulgaria and Grzegorz Tobiszowski from Poland - denied having written op-eds that were published on EU Chronicle.

The articles under their names were also reproduced on ANI.

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Asked what the EU is doing to fight disinformation networks, EU spokesperson on foreign affairs Peter Stano pointed to the action taken to expose EP Today last year.

"Exposing the disinformation and those who spread it is one of our main instruments," he told the BBC. "We will continue to identify them and call them out."

But he said questions about finances and transparency of NGOs registered in Brussels were for Belgian authorities to answer.

Rolando Gomez, a spokesperson for the UNHRC, told the BBC that it was the prerogative of NGOs to raise whichever issue they wish to address and whoever they grant space to speak on the floor.

"There are no rules stating that an NGO must speak to specific issues. Doing so would amount to infringing on their freedom of speech," Mr Gomez said.

The International Institute of Non-aligned Studies is UN-accredited and openly linked with the Srivastava Group

Gary Machado, managing director of EU DisinfoLab, said he thought the muted reaction to the revelation of the disinformation network was partly because it was "clearly managed by Indian stakeholders".

"Imagine if the same operation was run by China or Russia. How do you think the world would have reacted? Probably with international outrage, leading to public inquiries and probably sanctions," he told the BBC.

But the activities of MEPs named in the report prompted criticism from some of their colleagues.

MEP Daniel Freund from the Greens said fellow members needed to declare their activities.

"There have been at least 24 breaches of rules in the past years. Not a single violation has been sanctioned. So there is little incentive to respect the rules when the worst that can happen is to file a declaration after you have been caught," he said.

Another member, who did not want to be named, said MEPs contributing to sites like EU Chronicles had been identified as "election tourists".

"A ragtag group of MEPs from the bottom of the parliamentary barrel who prefer to travel on sponsored trips by unsavoury governments rather than invest in their mandate," the MEP told the BBC. "How PR stunts with such individuals could be even conceived as helpful is baffling."

The BBC put questions to ANI and to nine other MEPs who have written op-eds for the EU Chronicle and made visits to India, Bangladesh and the Maldives, but received no response.

Who are the Srivastavas - and what next?

The investigations from last year and this year show a man called Ankit Srivastava at the centre of the entire global operation that was uncovered. More than 400 domain names have been bought through Mr Srivastava's private email address or through email addresses belonging to his organisations, the EU DisinfoLab investigations found.

The Srivastava office gate, with the Indian Institute for Non-Aligned Studies and New Delhi Times on the right

Then, there's a case of the mysterious SG-owned tech firm Aglaya. Its website has been inaccessible since at least February this year but in the past the company has advertised products for "hacking/spy tools" and "information warfare services".

Aglaya's marketing brochure mentioned the ability to "hamper country level reputations" and described some of its services as "Cyber Nukes". In a 2017 interview with Forbes magazine, a man called Ankur Srivastava claimed he "only sold to Indian intelligence agencies".

It's unclear what relation, if any, he has to Ankit Srivastava.

A third Srivastava appears to be Dr Pramila Srivastava, chairperson of the group and mother of Ankit Srivastava.

Dr Harshindar Kaur, a paediatrician from the Indian state of Punjab, told the EU DisinfoLab researchers that in 2009 she had been invited to the UNHRC in Geneva to give a lecture on female foeticide when she was threatened by a woman called Dr P Srivastava, who claimed to be a "very senior government official from India".

Dr Kaur told the BBC it was Pramila Srivastava who had threatened her.

The BBC emailed Ankit Srivastava asking him to respond to this and the other allegations in the report, but received no reply. When the BBC visited the firm's offices in Delhi's Safdarjung Enclave, staff there would not answer questions.

What might happen to the network, or how it might evolve, in the light of the latest investigation is unclear.

The authors of Indian Chronicles say their findings "should serve as a call to action for decision-makers to put in place a relevant framework to sanction actors abusing international institutions".

Mr Alaphilippe said following the 2019 investigation there had been "no official communication, no sanction, nothing. This passivity gave a message to Indian Chronicles: you've been exposed, but no consequences".

"We think there should be consequences to disinformation and we expect actions to be taken. The biggest failure from institutions would be if another report is released next year on the same actors with the same techniques," he told the BBC.

"This would mean that EU institutions are ok with foreign interference."

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Was that [ELIZABETH GILLIES]? Oh no no, that was just [POPPY MCKINNON], an [OC] from [HARRY POTTER]. They are [TWENTY FOUR] years old and [ARE] aware that they are not actually from Washington DC. Too bad they can’t stray from this city for long. {ooc: kat, 24, est, she/her}

wanted connections || head canons || pinterest || open for plots

How long has your character been here?

poppy has been in d.c. for about 3.5 years now.

What is your character’s job?

poppy owns and started her own marketing and public relations firm called “poppy” ( no one should be shocked she named it after herself or that the logo is literally a poppy flower. super original.)

Where has your character been pulled from in their fandom?

poppy was pulled after her and her families death.

Has any magic affected your character?

no, poppy remembers everything but chooses to have selective memory about certain things... (like the death of her entire family.)

And any other information you might find useful for us and the other members to know:

*hold on tight folks this’ll most likely be too long of a ride*

tldr; middleish child with an attention complex, career woman and self-appointed bitch, obvious slytherin and fashion icon.

poppy mckinnon made sure she wasn’t forgotten. attention seeker since the age of 2, how could she not be in a family like hers. she always felt looked over or just unceremoniously looped in with her sisters. does she maybe hold a petty little grudge over all her sisters because of this, of course, but what can you do about it really. because of this poppy learned to stand out, she made sure to excel in all her classes, and boldly correct each professor when they accidentally called her by the wrong name. she used the tools necessary to look different from her sisters and create her own... ‘brand’. whether it was fashion, make-up, the way she walked...poppy stood out. she had plenty of friends within her house and out of it,  but always traveling with a little posse of green through the halls or in classes. poppy was one of those annoying people that just made everything look easy, and when she graduated she immediately accepted a position in the ministry of magic as a pr rep for the department of magical accidents and catastrophes. if anyone could spin a story from a dumb wizard accidentally causing a snow storm in the middle of summer it was poppy mckinnon and she did that job very well.

the war was something poppy didn’t necessarily want to get involved in, solely for selfish reasons of course. but nonetheless the war didn’t care about her personal opinions and decided to ruin everything for her... including the promotion she was very sure she was about to get. in hindsight, that didn’t matter all that much because at one moment she felt her entire being leaving her physical body and the next she was waking up in a bed in what she thought was washington d.c.

it didn’t take poppy long to accommodate to her new life. she had no idea why she or anyone else was in this strange new place... but she was alive again and so was her family and thats all that mattered to her. she made the decision very early on to ignore the past life she had lived and to just create a new one. maybe this was a second chance or her true life... she didn’t dwell on that often. this was her reality now, might as well accept it.  after taking a job at a small marketing and pr firm to pass her time in the city she outgrew their talents and decided to open her own firm. it wasn’t an overnight success but she worked hard to get the firm to where it was today.

poppy can admit that she isn’t the easiest person to be around, she has expectations for herself that are through the roof and expects the people around her to live up to them no matter how impossible they may be. she knows she should hold her tongue a lot more often than she does and that she shouldn’t give her opinion when she isn’t asked for it... but what fun would that be? she maintains her cold exterior to the best ability despite the constant fight of the warmth inside her. she would die ten times over for her family but acts as if they are just blips on her radar at times. in all honest she is out to protect herself, whether that be from heart break or happiness she isn’t quite sure.