#Stark Trading System Reviews

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Wednesday, September 20, 2023

What to Expect When You’re Expecting the U.N. General Assembly (Foreign Policy) As world leaders descend on the United Nations headquarters in New York City, the international body is fighting to maintain its relevance in a world it wasn’t built for when it was established nearly 80 years ago. Global powers are increasingly circumventing the unwieldy U.N. system to conduct multilateral diplomacy, such as through the G-7, G-20, and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) blocs. Eight years ago, the U.N. outlined an ambitious batch of goals to tackle global poverty, gender equality, climate change, and other pressing global issues by 2030. But so far, the world is way off target in meeting those goals. The war in Ukraine has frontally challenged one of the U.N.’s most fundamental purposes, enshrined in its foundational charter, of averting major wars. The Western world’s laser focus on the conflict in Ukraine, meanwhile, has frustrated other countries in the global south as other dire humanitarian catastrophes—conflict in Sudan, coups across Africa, the migration crisis in Central America, and a lot of climate-related disasters—struggle for resources and high-level attention.

Canada’s surging food prices (Reuters) Canada’s plan to bring down food prices by tightening regulation could backfire and fail, raising the cost of doing business in the country without providing relief to consumers, lawyers and economists said. Canada’s weak competition law has been long blamed for allowing a few players to dominate industries ranging from banks to telecoms and groceries. Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to amend the Competition Act to help bring down prices. Trudeau’s move comes as many Canadians reel under an affordability crisis with food prices jumping 25% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. At the same time, the central bank’s efforts to bring down inflation by raising interest rates to a 22-year-high have pushed up mortgage costs for homeowners and made buying a home unaffordable for others.

U.S. National Debt Tops $33 Trillion for First Time (NYT) America’s gross national debt exceeded $33 trillion for the first time on Monday, providing a stark reminder of the country’s shaky fiscal trajectory at a moment when Washington faces the prospect of a government shutdown this month amid another fight over federal spending. It came as Congress appeared to be faltering in its efforts to fund the government ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline. Unless Congress can pass a dozen appropriations bills or agree to a short-term extension of federal funding at existing levels, the United States will face its first government shutdown since 2019. The debt is on track to top $50 trillion by the end of the decade, as interest on the debt mounts and the cost of the nation’s social safety net programs keeps growing.

Brazil’s Lula pitches his nation—and himself—as fresh leader for Global South (AP) “Brazil is back.” That has been Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s refrain for the better part of the last year, with the president deploying the snappy slogan to cast Brazil—and himself—as a leader of the Global South no longer content to abide the world’s outdated workings. During Lula’s travels, he has pushed for global governance that gives greater heft to the Global South and advocating diminishing the dollar’s dominance in trade. He has made clear that Brazil has no intention of siding with the United States or China, the world’s two largest economies and Brazil’s two biggest trading partners. And he has refused to join Washington and Western Europe in backing Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion, instead calling for a club of nations to mediate peace talks. After the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrest, Lula said he would review Brazil’s membership in the court.

Germany’s economy struggles (AP) For most of this century, Germany racked up one economic success after another, dominating global markets for high-end products like luxury cars and industrial machinery, selling so much to the rest of the world that half the economy ran on exports. Jobs were plentiful, the government’s financial coffers grew as other European countries drowned in debt, and books were written about what other countries could learn from Germany. No longer. Now, Germany is the world’s worst-performing major developed economy, with both the International Monetary Fund and European Union expecting it to shrink this year. It follows Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the loss of Moscow’s cheap natural gas—an unprecedented shock to Germany’s energy-intensive industries, long the manufacturing powerhouse of Europe. Germany risks “deindustrialization” as high energy costs and government inaction on other chronic problems threaten to send new factories and high-paying jobs elsewhere, said Christian Kullmann, CEO of major German chemical company Evonik Industries AG.

Evidence Suggests Ukrainian Missile Caused Market Tragedy (NYT) The Sept. 6 missile strike on Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine was one of the deadliest in the country in months, killing at least 15 civilians and injuring more than 30 others. The weapon’s payload of metal fragments struck a market, piercing windows and walls and wounding some victims beyond recognition. Less than two hours later, President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russian “terrorists” for the attack, and many media outlets followed suit. Throughout its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has repeatedly and systematically attacked civilians and struck schools, markets and residences as a deliberate tactic to instill fear in the populace. But evidence collected and analyzed by The New York Times, including missile fragments, satellite imagery, witness accounts and social media posts, strongly suggests the catastrophic strike was the result of an errant Ukrainian air defense missile fired by a Buk launch system. Air defense experts say missiles like the one that hit the market can go off course for a variety of reasons.

In Moscow, the War Is Background Noise, but Ever-Present (NYT) Metro trains are running smoothly in Moscow, as usual, but getting around the city center by car has become more complicated, and annoying, because anti-drone radar interferes with navigation apps. Almost 19 months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Muscovites are experiencing dual realities: The war has faded into background noise, causing few major disruptions, and yet it remains ever-present in their daily lives. There is little anxiety among residents over the drone strikes that have hit Moscow this summer. No alarm sirens to warn of a possible attack. The city continues to grow. Cranes dot the skyline, and there are high-rise buildings going up all over town. But for some, the effects of war are landing harder. Nina, 79, a pensioner who was shopping at an Auchan supermarket in northwestern Moscow, said that she had stopped buying red meat entirely, and that she could almost never afford to buy a whole fish. Nina said that sanctions and ubiquitous construction projects were some reasons for higher prices, but the main reason, she said, was “because a lot is spent on war.”

India, Canada expel diplomats over accusations Delhi killed Sikh separatist (Washington Post) India expelled a Canadian diplomat on Tuesday in a tit-for-tat move after Canadian officials accused Indian government operatives of gunning down a Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia and threw out an Indian diplomat they identified as an intelligence officer. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation of assassination, made during an explosive speech before Parliament on Monday, sent relations between the two nations tumbling toward their lowest point but also held broader ramifications for ties between the U.S.-led alliance and India, which the Biden administration has assiduously courted as a strategic counterweight to China. The Indian government issued a statement Tuesday rejecting Trudeau’s accusation as “absurd and motivated.” India’s Foreign Ministry went on to say that the allegations “seek to shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The inaction of the Canadian Government on this matter has been a long-standing and continuing concern.” (BBC) India has been increasing the pressure on countries with significant Sikh communities, like Canada, Australia and the UK, saying they are failing to tackle what it calls "Sikh extremism." Mr. Nijjar is the third prominent Sikh figure to have died unexpectedly in recent months.

Libya’s flood turmoil (Worldcrunch) Hundreds of protesters rallied in Libya’s Derna on Monday, setting fire to the house of the man who was the city’s mayor at the time of the flood, to demand accountability one week after a flood that killed thousands of residents. Meanwhile, the UN has warned that a disease outbreak could create “a second devastating crisis” as people are falling ill from contaminated water.

Crisis and Bailout: The Tortuous Cycle Stalking Nations in Debt (NYT) Emmanuel Cherry, the chief executive of an association of Ghanaian construction companies, sat in a cafe at the edge of Accra Children’s Park, near the derelict Ferris wheel and kiddie train, as he tallied up how much money government entities owe thousands of contractors. Before interest, he said, the back payments add up to 15 billion cedis, roughly $1.3 billion. “Most of the contractors are home,” Mr. Cherry said. Their workers have been laid off. Like many others in this West African country, the contractors have to wait in line for their money. Teacher trainees complain they are owed two months of back pay. Independent power producers that have warned of major blackouts are owed $1.58 billion. The government is essentially bankrupt. After defaulting on billions of dollars owed to foreign lenders in December, the administration of President Nana Akufo-Addo had no choice but to agree to a $3 billion loan from the lender of last resort, the International Monetary Fund. It was the 17th time Ghana has been compelled to turn to the fund since it gained independence in 1957. The tortuous cycle of crisis and bailout has plagued dozens of poor and middle-income countries throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia for decades.

Many of today’s unhealthy foods were brought to you by Big Tobacco (Washington Post) For decades, tobacco companies hooked people on cigarettes by making their products more addictive. Now, a new study suggests that tobacco companies may have used a similar strategy to hook people on processed foods. In the 1980s, tobacco giants Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds acquired the major food companies Kraft, General Foods and Nabisco, allowing tobacco firms to dominate America’s food supply and reap billions in sales from popular brands such as Oreo cookies, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and Lunchables. By the 2000s, the tobacco giants spun off their food companies and largely exited the food industry—but not before leaving a lasting legacy on the foods that we eat. The new research, published in the journal Addiction, focuses on the rise of “hyper-palatable” foods, which contain potent combinations of fat, sodium, sugar and other additives that can drive people to crave and overeat them. The Addiction study found that in the decades when the tobacco giants owned the world’s leading food companies, the foods that they sold were far more likely to be hyper-palatable than similar foods not owned by tobacco companies. In the past 30 years, hyper-palatable foods have spread rapidly into the food supply, coinciding with a surge in obesity and diet-related diseases. In America, the steepest increase in the prevalence of hyper-palatable foods occurred between 1988 and 2001—the era when Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds owned the world’s leading food companies.

Danish artist told to repay museum €67,000 after turning in blank canvasses (BBC) A Danish artist has been ordered to return nearly 500,000 kroner ($72,000; £58,000) to a museum after giving it two blank canvasses for a project he named Take the Money and Run. The Kunsten Museum in Aalborg had intended for Jens Haaning to embed the banknotes in two pieces of art in 2021. Instead, he gave it blank canvasses and then told Danish media: "The work is that I have taken their money." A court has now ordered him to return the cash, minus 8% for expenses.

[aphish27]

WazirX Cryptocurrency Heist: Customers Face Partial Fund Recovery

Customers of Indian Crypto Exchange WazirX Unlikely to Recover Full Funds

Customers of Indian Crypto Exchange WazirX Unlikely to Recover Full Funds

The landscape of cryptocurrency trading in India has been fraught with challenges, and the recent developments surrounding WazirX, one of the country's major crypto exchanges, only underline the complexities involved.

The Emergence of WazirX and Its Importance

Founded in 2018, WazirX quickly rose to prominence as one of India's leading cryptocurrency exchanges. It provided a user-friendly interface and access to a plethora of digital currencies, attracting a huge base of crypto enthusiasts and traders.

The Challenges Begin

Despite its early success, WazirX's journey was not without hurdles. The recent claims from customers concerning unrecoverable funds have put the exchange in a precarious position, causing widespread concern among traders. This issue has been compounded by regulatory scrutiny, technical hiccups, and market volatility.

Regulatory Pressures

Since its inception, WazirX has had to navigate a continuously evolving regulatory environment. India has had a tumultuous relationship with cryptocurrency regulations, and in 2024, these regulations tightened significantly. The Indian government’s stringent policies to curb financial misconduct and ensure investor protection have put the exchange under the magnifying glass.

Technical Issues

Over the past year, WazirX has faced numerous technical issues, ranging from server downtime to transaction lags. These technical problems have eroded user confidence and hindered the seamless trading experience that WazirX initially promised.

Impact on Customers

For the customers, the inability to recover full funds has been a devastating blow. Many traders had significant amounts of their portfolios tied up in the exchange, and the uncertain retrieval of these funds has led to financial distress.

Loss of Trust

The biggest casualty in this saga has been customer trust. The inability to access funds, coupled with sporadic updates from WazirX, has led to growing dissatisfaction. Trust, once lost, is incredibly hard to regain, especially in a market as volatile as cryptocurrency.

Financial Struggles

Besides the emotional toll, there is a very real financial impact. The crypto market’s inherent volatility means that funds locked in the exchange can't capitalize on profitable trading opportunities or mitigate losses. This immobility has adversely affected the financial standing of many traders.

Steps Taken by WazirX

In an attempt to address the issues, WazirX has been proactive in its communication, announcing measures for potential relief and promising technical upgrades to avoid such crises in the future. Whether these measures will suffice to restore user trust remains to be seen.

Technical Upgrades

WazirX has committed to significant technical upgrades to ensure system reliability and user assurance. These upgrades are aimed at minimizing transaction delays and preventing downtimes that have plagued the platform.

Legal Compliance

As part of its effort to regain credibility, WazirX is also ensuring that it complies stringently with updated regulations. This compliance is crucial for WazirX to regain its standing as a trusted platform in the eyes of both the customers and the regulators.

What This Means for the Crypto Community

The events surrounding WazirX are a stark reminder of the risks involved in cryptocurrency trading. However, they also highlight the resilience and adaptability of the crypto community, which continues to grow and innovate despite setbacks.

Choosing Exchanges Wisely

For crypto traders, these developments underscore the importance of choosing exchanges wisely. Critical factors to consider include:

Security protocols

Regulatory compliance

Customer support responsiveness

Technical reliability

User reviews and feedback

In such a turbulent environment, it is also worth exploring other avenues for crypto engagement. One interesting option is to roll the faucet every hour for free - fauc.at which allows users to earn small amounts of cryptocurrency without the risk of substantial financial loss.

Looking to the Future

The crypto industry is highly dynamic, and platforms must be agile and responsive to retain user trust. The situation with WazirX serves as a case study for the importance of robust infrastructure and transparent communication in the crypto sector.

Conclusion

While it’s uncertain if customers of WazirX will fully recover their funds, this incident highlights the necessity for stronger regulatory frameworks and improved platform reliability. It also serves as a rallying point for the crypto community to advocate for better industry standards. As the landscape evolves, traders need to stay informed, exercise caution, and diversify their engagement channels to mitigate risks.

If you're a crypto enthusiast, remember to roll the faucet every hour for free - fauc.at, and stay updated with the latest developments in the crypto world.

[ailtrahq]

It has officially been a decade since Ross Ulbricht, the man behind the popular online marketplace Silk Road, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His crime: enabling free people to freely trade.In the years since, his case has been a lightning rod for debates about internet freedom, drug policy, and the criminal justice system, leaving a lasting impact on the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency community. As the years roll by, Ulbricht remains in prison, still seeking justice for what he believes was an unfair sentence.In 2014, Ulbricht was arrested and accused of running Silk Road, a clandestine online marketplace that allowed users to buy and sell a wide range of goods, including drugs, using Bitcoin as the primary currency. His arrest was a pivotal moment in the history of Bitcoin, highlighting both its potential for censorship resistance and its association with illicit activities.Critics argue that Ulbricht's sentence is disproportionate to his crime, considering the non-violent nature of his offenses. They assert that his trial was marred by irregularities, including allegations of corrupt agents involved in the investigation. These factors have fueled a fervent campaign for his release, with supporters calling for clemency and a second look at his case.Ulbricht himself has not remained silent during his incarceration. He has penned articles from behind bars, shedding light on his perspective and the lessons he's learned during his time in prison. In these writings, he has highlighted the role of Bitcoin as a symbol of freedom and resistance against government overreach.He's also touched on his unique personal experience as an early adopter and innovator within the Bitcoin market."The early adopters of Bitcoin had no way of knowing what we do now. All they had was a dream, a conviction and enough infectious enthusiasm to bootstrap a digital contrivance into a multi-billion-dollar phenomenon we are only beginning to see the effects of," he wrote just last year.In his articles, Ulbricht has expressed deep regret for his actions and the negative consequences they may have had. However, he also contends that the harshness of his sentence is a reflection of the government's desire to make an example of him and stifle the potential of Bitcoin as a tool for individual liberty.The cryptocurrency community continues to rally behind Ulbricht, advocating for a fair review of his case and a reconsideration of his sentence. They argue that his imprisonment serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing battle for internet freedom, privacy, and the responsible use of Bitcoin.Of late, this has included outreach to pro-Bitcoin U.S. presidential candidates, including Democrat nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as well as Republican hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, who have suggested they are receptive to the cause.As Bitcoin and digital assets gain mainstream acceptance, the case of Ross Ulbricht remains a powerful symbol of the complex relationship between technology, regulation, and individual rights. 

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An Essay on the Thematic Parallels Between Harry Goodsir and Billy Gibson

Disclaimer: I am not a literary academic (I’m a historian) and I am not attempting to write this in an academic fashion, but I hope you can still find something of value in my hastily constructed thoughts. 

1.5k words, behind the cut. Also you can read / comment / bookmark HERE ON AO3.

 At first glance, Harry Goodsir and Billy Gibson may seem to have very little to do with each other. They never interact beyond the inevitable death scene, where Goodsir is narratively required to be at, serving as the doctor/butcher. But let us dig a little deeper and let me explain to you how their arcs are parallels and emphasize the show’s theme of Imperialism’s inherent Violence.

 First, let us review Goodsir’s arc.

 Goodsir is a classic broken ingenue character. He is over the course of the series exposed to both the horror of the situation, but even more importantly the horror of what comes out of their presence within the Arctic space. He spreads his own goodness, caring for both Silna’s father and Silna herself, but this is directly at odds with the opinions of his superiors and peers. In other meta, people have analyzed the ship as a microcosm of greater British society and I will agree here. So Goodsir functions within the system, but he doesn’t quite fit. Early on he does not act directly against the system, because he believes he can create good from his position within. Other than the Lieutenants, Goodsir is the one who is most shown asking for PERMISSION. He asks to operate on Silna’s father, he asks if he can leave with SIlna to go to Terror, he asks Stanley first if he can present his lead findings, he asks Crozier if they can start hunting parties. However, eventually he loses this predisposition to cow to hierarchies, because the arc of his character is his growing disillusionment and eventual understanding of the inherent violence of the Imperialist presence, EVEN WITH the existence of his own goodness.

 I believe we can see hints of this change in his conversation with Silna in Episode 4, as he continues to try and explain/justify their goal of looking for the Northwest Passage, for trade, for economy! Personally, I feel like as he says these words in the acting choices we can tell he is struck by the hollowness of their meaning. He repeats his own name at the end, Goodsir, almost as if he is trying to reassert his position. He is a Good Sir. But is he trying to reaffirm this just to Silna, perhaps also to himself?

 His change of mindset is truly cemented after the death of the inuit family. There is a very stark personality change between him begging Silna to stay, that these Englishmen are good, and his hardened, cold tone as he goes to perform the autopsy on the murdered men. He has been witness to a severe act of racially based violence (immediate assumption of the savagery of the natives as well as Hickey’s application of racist tropes ie. scalping to incite this fervor) and while he knows these men are desperate, he also sees it for the needless cruelty it was and that Violence is drawn out of this culture/system that supports Racism of this magnitutde. He is still a good man, he does not want more to die as evidenced when he tries to save Gibson and agrees to butcher him to save Hodgson, but he is not willing to give either of these men forgiveness for their position. He does not provide comfort for either of them.

 Now, I will address Goodsir’s endpoint, but as I wish to compare and contrast it directly to Gibson, let us move onto Gibson’s arc so we make better set up the connection between the two.

 Gibson also goes through this same transformation, although in a more subtle and personal way. He is less sparkly/overt than Goodsir at the beginning, but he is equally idealistic towards the society he is raised in. His idealism is confidence in the system and that maintaining it will assure him success/protection. (Short addition, this is not canon, but historically it is probable  that Hodgson helped pull some strings to get Gibson the steward job after their sting on HMS Wanderer together, which gives a further justification for a loyalty and gratitude to the lieutenants/institution.)

 However, Gibson’s faith is broken even earlier than Goodsir’s. This is the lashing. This moment is pivotal for several mutineers, Tozer, Armitage, Manson, and arguably, to the whole crew, undermining their trust in Crozier through the rest of the series. For Gibson this is where the band-aid is ripped off. We are shown that he literally and figuratively has blood on his hands;  despite his efforts Hickey is still a victim here, still tried for DIRTINESS, and where Gibson relied on both Irving and Crozier to create a sense of stability they have failed him. It is worth noting, that Gibson is already aware of Crozier’s alcoholism as he mentions in ep 3, and so likely had disillusionment percolating in his head before and this is just the tipping point. “Ignorance is a choice” he says during his mutiny proposition. In the same way Goodsir and the Marines are “betrayed” by those above them that appear to not value human life, Gibson’s voice is to reaffirm that they (and by extension us, the audience) should be looking out for these betrayals. To act ignorant is a choice indeed.

 I am going to quote my friend Faye here, that Gibson understands the truth of Hickey’s personality, but “faced with two devils, he is going to choose the one he knows, the one he understands, and the one he loves.” Regardless of if you think Hickey and Gibson are still romantically attracted to each other, the keeping of the ring around his neck is symbolic of him at least holding onto the CONCEPT of love, of being VALUED, even if it may not be a complex centered around Hickey personally. Regardless, Hickey still treats Gibson more fairly than Crozier’s institution does, within the mutiny he is treated as a valuable contributor of both ideas and acts. “Are these our own choices, or are they being made for us?” he says during the walk out. Gibson chooses a place where he can make his own choices and that is not within the system.

 So, by Episode 9 he and Goodsir end up in the same place literally and figuratively, but even his disavowal does not free Gibson. The mutineers ALL have been rejected/betrayed, but that ultimately does not absolve them of their position as a poisonous aspect of Imperialism. As the conversation between Silna and the shaman states, the natural environment has been disrupted by the whole crew’s presence. Additionally, the Tuunbaq comes to kill them only when Hickey has proclaimed his desire to create a New Empire. Being marginalized does not absolve them of the inherent disruption/violence of Imperialism and, in the Terror’s thematic universe, does not protect them from its consequences.

  “I wouldn’t comfort us either, Doctor,” are Gibson’s last words. By his death Gibson has come to terms with their inhumanity and thus their undeserving of human comfort, of the “goodness” that Goodsir is known for. Comparatively, Goodsir’s position in Episode 10 is also disavowal of society. “There is beauty here,” Goodsir says. He is not blaming the environment for their disaster, because he sees the poison in their position.

 “Not you, Dr. Goodsir. You’re pure,” Crozier says. Goodsir refutes this by literally dirtying himself. Goodsir AND Gibson are both characters who explicitly (I say this, because I think Hodgson also skirts this line of realization) acknowledge their complicity in violence, acknowledge their own lack of purity.

 And THAT, dear audience, is exactly why they are the only two characters that are confirmed cannibalized, because ultimately, this Epiphany they have is fatal. British society cannot function if its citizens have this self-realization and act upon it and so their peers must destroy them. They are no longer compatible as functioning cogs in the machine and so must be exploited.

 It is worth noting, that eating the lead-infused Gibson and as well as the explicitly poisoned Goodsir will be ineffectual in sustaining the Mutineers in the long term. Thus, lastly, we have a statement on the insidious assumption that tamping down nay-sayers/problems will lead to a more stable society, because a society that sits on these foundations of violence will ultimately  kill itself and the people in it.

 If you stayed this long I thank you very much. Any comments or questions very much appreciated! Again this is my meta/interpretation and I’m interested to know others thoughts on these topics.

[oscopelabs]

‘America’s Not a Country, It’s Just a Business’: On Andrew Dominik’s ‘Killing Them Softly’ By Roxana Hadadi

“Shitsville.” That’s the name Killing Them Softly director Andrew Dominik gave to the film’s nameless town, in which low-level criminals, ambitious mid-tier gangsters, nihilistic assassins, and the mob’s professional managerial class engage in warfare of the most savage kind. Onscreen, other states are mentioned (New York, Maryland, Florida), and the film itself was filmed in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, though some of the characters speak with Boston accents that are pulled from the source material, George V. Higgins’s novel Cogan’s Trade. But Dominik, by shifting Higgins’s narrative 30 or so years into the future and situating it specifically during the 2008 Presidential election, refuses to limit this story to one place. His frustrations with America as an institution that works for some and not all are broad and borderless, and so Shitsville serves as a stand-in for all the places not pretty enough for gentrifying developers to turn into income-generating properties, for all the cities whose industrial booms are decades in the past, and for all the communities forgotten by the idea of progress._ Killing Them Softly_ is a movie about the American dream as an unbeatable addiction, the kind of thing that invigorates and poisons you both, and that story isn’t just about one place. That’s everywhere in America, and nearly a decade after the release of Dominik’s film, that bitter bleakness still has grim resonance.

In November 2012, though, when Killing Them Softly was originally released, Dominik’s gangster picture-cum-pointed criticism of then-President Barack Obama’s vision of an America united in the same neoliberal goals received reviews that were decidedly mixed, tipping toward negative. (Audiences, meanwhile, stayed away, with Killing Them Softly opening at No. 7 with $7 million, one of the worst box office weekends of Brad Pitt’s entire career at that time.) Obama’s first term had been won on a tide of hope, optimism, and “better angels of our nature” solidarity, and he had just defeated Mitt Romney for another four years in the White House when Killing Them Softly hit theaters on Nov. 30. Cogan’s Trade had no political components, and no connections between the thieving and killing promulgated by these criminals and the country at large. Killing Them Softly, meanwhile, took every opportunity it could to chip away at the idea that a better life awaits us all if we just buy into the idea of American exceptionalism and pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps ingenuity. A fair amount of reviews didn’t hold back their loathing toward this approach. A.O. Scott with the New York Times dismissed Dominik’s frame as “a clumsy device, a feint toward significance that nothing else in the movie earns … the movie is more concerned with conjuring an aura of meaningfulness than with actually meaning anything.” Many critics lambasted Dominik’s nihilism: For Deadspin, Will Leitch called it a “crutch, and an awfully flimsy one,” while Richard Roeper thought the film collapsed under the “crushing weight” of Dominik’s philosophy. It was the beginning of Obama’s second term, and people still thought things might get better.

But Dominik’s film—like another that came out a few years earlier, Adam McKay’s 2010 political comedy The Other Guys—has maintained a crystalline kind of ideological purity, and perhaps gained a certain prescience. Its idea that America is less a bastion of betterment than a collection of corporate interests, and the simmering anger Brad Pitt’s Jackie Cogan captures in the film’s final moments, are increasingly difficult to brush off given the past decade or so in American life. This is not to say that Obama’s second term was a failure, but that it was defined over and over again by the limitations of top-down reform. Ceaseless Republican obstruction, widespread economic instability, and unapologetic police brutality marred the encouraging tenor of Obama’s presidency. Donald Trump’s subsequent four years in office were spent stacking the federal judiciary with young, conservative judges sympathetic toward his pro-big-business, fuck-the-little-guy approach, and his primary legislative triumph was a tax bill that will steadily hurt working-class people year after year.

The election of Obama’s vice president Joe Biden, and the Democratic Party securing control of the U.S. Senate, were enough for a brief sigh of relief in November 2020. The $1.9 trillion stimulus bill passed in March 2021 does a lot of good in extending (albeit lessened) unemployment benefits, providing a child credit to qualifying families, and funneling further COVID-19 support to school districts after a year of the coronavirus pandemic. But Republicans? They all voted no to helping the Americans they represent. Stimulus checks to the middle-class voters who voted Biden into office? Decreased for some, totally cut off for others, because of Biden’s appeasement to the centrists in his party. $15 minimum wage? Struck down, by both Republicans and Democrats. In how many more ways can those politicians who are meant to serve us indicate that they have little interest in doing anything of the kind?

Modern American politics, then, can be seen as quite a performative endeavor, and an exercise in passing blame. Who caused the economic collapse of 2008? Some bad actors, who the government bailed out. Who suffered the most as a result? Everyday Americans, many of whom have never recovered. Killing Them Softly mimics this dynamic, and emphasizes the gulf between the oppressors and the oppressed. The nameless elites of the mob, sending a middle manager to oversee their dirty work. The poker-game organizer, who must be brutally punished for a mistake made years before. The felons let down by the criminal justice system, who turn again to crime for a lack of other options. The hitman who brushes off all questions of morality, and whose primary concern is getting adequately paid for his work. Money, money, money. “This country is fucked, I’m telling ya. There’s a plague coming,” Jackie Cogan says to the Driver who delivers the mob’s by-committee rulings as to who Jackie should intimidate, threaten, and kill so their coffers can start getting filled again. Perhaps the plague is already here.

“Total fucking economic collapse.”

In terms of pure gumption, you have to applaud Dominik for taking aim at some of the biggest myths America likes to tell about itself. After analyzing the dueling natures of fame and infamy through the lens of American outlaw mystique in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Dominik thought bigger, taking on the entire American dream itself in Killing Them Softly. From the film’s very first second, Dominik doesn’t hold back, equating an easy path of forward progress with literal trash. Discordant tones and the film’s stark, white-on-black title cards interrupt Presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s speech about “the American promise,” slicing apart Obama’s words and his crowd’s responding cheers as felon Frankie (Scoot McNairy), in the all-American outfit of a denim jacket and jeans, cuts through what looks like a shut-down factory, debris and garbage blowing around him. Obama’s assurances sound very encouraging indeed: “Each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will.” But when Frankie—surrounded by trash, cigarette dangling from his mouth, and eyes squinting shut against the wind—walks under dueling billboards of Obama, with the word “CHANGE” in all-caps, and Republican opponent John McCain, paired with the phrase “KEEPING AMERICA STRONG,” a better future doesn’t exactly seem possible. Frankie looks too downtrodden, too weary of all the emptiness around him, for that.

Dominik and cinematographer Greig Fraser spoke to American Cinematographer magazine in October 2012 about shooting in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans: “We were aiming for something generic, a little town between New Orleans, Boston and D.C. that we called Shitsville. We wanted the place to look like it’s on the down-and-down, on the way out. We wanted viewers to feel just how smelly and grimy and horrible it was, but at the same time, we didn’t want to alienate them visually.” They were successful: Every location has a rundown quality, from the empty lot in which Frankie waits for friend and partner-in-crime Russell (Ben Mendelsohn)—a concrete expanse decorated with a couple of wooden chairs, as if people with nowhere else to go use this as a gathering spot—to the dingy laundromat backroom where Frankie and Russell meet with criminal mastermind Johnny “Squirrel” Amato (Vincent Curatola), who enlists them to rob a mafia game night run by Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta), to the restaurant kitchen where the game is run, all sickly fluorescent lights, cracked tile, and makeshift tables. Holding up a game like this, from which the cash left on the tables flows upward into the mob’s pockets, is dangerous indeed. But years before, Markie himself engineered a robbery of the game, and although that transgression was forgiven because of how well-liked Markie is in this institution, it would be easy to lay the blame on him again. And that’s exactly what Squirrel, Frankie, and Russell plan to do.

The “Why?” for such a risk isn’t that hard to figure out. Squirrel sees an opportunity to make off with other people’s money, he knows that any accusatory fingers will point elsewhere first, and he wants to act on it before some other aspiring baddie does. (Ahem, sound like the 2008 mortgage crisis to you?) Frankie, tired of the crappy jobs his probation officer keeps suggesting—jobs that require both long hours and a long commute, when Frankie can’t even afford a car (“Why the fuck do they think I need a job in the first place? Fucking assholes”)—is drawn in by desperation borne from a lack of options. If he doesn’t come into some kind of money soon, “I’m gonna have to go back and knock on the gate and say, ‘Let me back in, I can’t think of nothing and it’s starting to get cold,’” Frankie admits. And Australian immigrant and heroin addict Russell is nursing his own version of the American dream: He’s going to steal a bunch of purebred dogs, drive them down to Florida to sell for thousands of dollars, buy an ounce of heroin once he has $7,000 in hand, and then step on the heroin enough to become a dealer. It’s only a few moves from where he is to where he wants to be, he figures, and this card-game heist can help him get there.

In softly lit rooms, where the men in the frame are in focus and their surroundings and backgrounds are slightly blown out, slightly blurred, or slightly fuzzy (“Creaminess is something you feel you can enter into, like a bath; you want to be absorbed and encompassed by it” Fraser told American Cinematographer of his approach), garish deals are made, and then somehow pulled off with a sobering combination of ineptitude and ugliness. Russell buys yellow dishwashing gloves for himself and Frankie to wear during the holdup, and they look absurd—but the pistol-whipping Russell doles out to Markie still hurts like hell, no matter what accessories he’s wearing. Dominik gives this holdup the paranoia and claustrophobia it requires, revolving his camera around the barely-holding-it-together Frankie and cutting every so often to the enraged players, their eyes glancing up to look at Frankie’s face, their hands twitching toward their guns. But in the end, nobody moves. When Frankie and Russell add insult to injury by picking the players’ pockets (“It’s only money,” they say, as if this entire ordeal isn’t exclusively about wanting other people’s money), nobody fights back. Nobody dies. Frankie and Russell make off with thousands of dollars in two suitcases, while Markie is left bamboozled—and afraid—by what just happened. And the players? They’ll get their revenge eventually. You can count on that.

So it goes that Dominik smash cuts us from the elated and triumphant Russell and Frankie driving away from the heist in their stolen 1971 Buick Riviera, its headlights interrupting the inky-black night, to the inside of Jackie Cogan’s 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado, with Johnny Cash’s “The Man Comes Around” providing an evocative accompaniment. “There’s a man going around taking names/And he decides who to free, and who to blame/Everybody won’t be treated all the same,” Cash sings in that unmistakably gravelly voice, and that’s exactly what Jackie does. Called in by the mob to capture who robbed the game so that gambling can begin again, Jackie meets with an unnamed character, referred to only as the Driver (Richard Jenkins), who serves as the mob’s representative in these sorts of matters. Unlike the other criminals in this film—Frankie, with his tousled hair and sheepish face; Russell, with his constant sweatiness and dog-funk smell; Jackie, in his tailored three-piece suits and slicked-back hair; Markie, with those uncannily blue eyes and his matching slate sportscoat—the Driver looks like a square.

He is, like the men who replace Mike Milligan in the second season of Fargo, a kind of accountant, a man with an office and a secretary. “The past can no more become the future than the future can become the past,” Milligan had said, and for all the backward-looking details of Killing Them Softly—American cars from the 1960s and 1970s, that whole masculine code-of-honor thing that Frankie and Russell break by ripping off Markie’s game, the post-industrial economic slump that brings to mind the American recession of 1973 to 1975—the Driver is very much an arm of a new kind of organized crime. He keeps his hands clean, and he delivers what the ruling-by-committee organized criminals decide, and he’s fussy about Jackie smoking cigarettes in his car, and he’s so bland as to be utterly forgettable. And he has the power, as authorized by his higher-ups, to approve Jackie putting pressure on Markie for more information about the robbery. It doesn’t matter that neither Jackie nor the mob thinks Markie actually did it. What matters more is that “People are losing money. They don’t like to lose money,” and so Jackie can do whatever he needs. Dominik gives him this primacy through a beautiful shot of Jackie’s reflection in the car window, his aviators a glinting interruption to the gray concrete overpass under which the Driver’s car is parked, to the smoke billowing out from faraway stacks, and to the overall gloominess of the day.

“We regret having to take these actions. Today’s actions are not what we ever wanted to do, but today’s actions are what we must do to restore confidence to our financial system,” we hear Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson say on the radio in the Driver’s car, and his October 14, 2008, remarks are about the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008—the government bailout of banks and other financial institutions that cost taxpayers $700 billion. (Remember Will Ferrell’s deadpan delivery in The Other Guys of “From everything I’ve heard, you guys [at the Securities and Exchange Commission] are the best at these types of investigations. Outside of Enron and AIG, and Bernie Madoff, WorldCom, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers ...”) Yet the appeasing sentiment of Paulson’s words applies to Jackie, too, and to the beating he orders for Markie—a man he suspects did nothing wrong, at least not this time. But debts must be settled. Heads must roll. “Whoever is unjust, let him be unjust still/Whoever is righteous, let him be righteous still/Whoever is filthy, let him be filthy still,” Cash sang, and Jackie is all those men, and he’ll collect the stolen golden crowns as best he can. For a price, of course. Always for a price.

“I like to kill them softly, from a distance, not close enough for feelings. Don’t like feelings. Don’t want to think about them.”

In “Bad Dreams,” the penultimate episode of the second season of The Wire, International Brotherhood of Stevedores union representative Frank Sobotka (Chris Bauer), having seen his brothers in arms made immaterial by the lack of work at the Baltimore ports and the collapse of their industry, learns that his years of bribing politicians to vote for expanded funding for the longshoremen isn’t going to pay off. He is furious, and he is exhausted. “We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now we just put our hand in the next guy’s pocket,” he says with the fatigue of a man who knows his time has run out, and you can draw a direct line from Bauer’s beleaguered delivery of those lines to Liotta’s aghast reaction to the horrendous beating he receives from Jackie’s henchmen. Sobotka in The Wire had no idea how he got to that helpless place, and neither does Markie in Killing Them Softly—he made a mistake, but that was years ago. Everyone forgave him. Didn’t they?

The vicious assault leveled upon Markie is a harrowing, horrifying sequence that is also unnervingly beautiful, and made all the more awful as a result of that visual splendor. In the pouring rain, Markie is held captive by the two men, who deliver bruising body shots, break his noise, batter his body against the car, and kick in his ribs. “You see fight scenes a lot in movies, but you don’t see people systematically beating somebody else. The idea was just to make it really, really, really ugly,” Dominik told the New York Times in November 2012, and sound mixer Leslie Shatz and cinematographer Fraser also contributed to this unforgettable scene. Shatz used the sound of a squeegee across a windshield to accentuate Markie’s increasingly destroyed body slumping against the car, and also incorporated flash bulbs going off as punches were thrown, adding a kind of lingering effect to the scene’s soundscape. And although the scene looks like it’s shot in slow motion, Fraser explained to American Cinematographer that the combination of an overhead softbox and dozens of background lights helped build that layered effect in which Liotta is fully illuminated while the dark night around him remains impenetrable. Every drop of rain and every splatter of blood stands out on Markie’s face as he confesses ignorance regarding the robbery and begs for mercy from Jackie’s men, but Markie has already been marked for death. When the time comes, Jackie will shoot him in the head in another exquisitely detailed, shot-in-ultrahigh-speed scene that bounces back and forth between the initial act of violence and its ensuing destruction. The cartridges flying out of Jackie’s gun, and the bullets destroying Markie’s window, and then his brain. Markie’s car, now no longer in his control, rolling forward into an intersection where it’s hit not just once, but twice, by oncoming cars. The crunching sound of Markie’s head against his windshield, and the vision of that glass splintering from the impact of his flung body, are impossible to shake.

“Cause and effect,” Dominik seems to be telling us, and Killing Them Softly follows Jackie as he cleans up the mess Squirrel, Frankie, and Russell have made. After he enlists another hitman, Mickey (a fantastically whoozy James Gandolfini, who carries his bulk like the armor of a samurai searching for a new master), whose constant boozing, whoring, and laziness shock Jackie after years of successful work together, and who refuses to do the killing for which Jackie secured him a $15,000 payday, Jackie realizes he’ll need to do this all himself. He’ll need to gather the intel that fingers Frankie, Russell, and Squirrel. He’ll need to set up a police sting to entrap Russell on his purchased ounce of heroin, violating the terms of his probation, and he’ll need to set up another police sting to entrap Mickey for getting in a fight with a prostitute, violating the terms of his probation. For Jackie, a career criminal for whom ethical questions have long since evaporated, Russell’s and Frankie’s sloppiness in terms of bragging about their score is a source of disgust. “I guess these guys, they just want to go to jail. They probably feel at home there,” he muses, and he’s then exasperated by the Driver’s trepidation regarding the brutality of his methods. Did the Driver’s bosses want the job done or not? “We aim to please,” Jackie smirks, and that shark smile is the sign of a predator getting ready to feast.

Things progress rapidly then: Jackie tracks Frankie down to the bar where he hangs out, and sneers at Frankie’s reticence to turn on Squirrel. “They’re real nice guys,” he says mockingly to Frankie of the criminal underworld of which they’re a part, brushing off Frankie’s defense that Squirrel “didn’t mean it.” “That’s got nothing to do with it. Nothing at all,” Jackie replies, and that’s the kind of distance that keeps Jackie in this job. Sure, the vast majority of us aren’t murderers. But as a question of scale, aren’t all of us as workers compromised in some way? Employees of companies, institutions, or billionaires that, say, pollute the environment, or underpay their staff, or shirk labor laws, or rake in unheard-of profits during an international pandemic? Or a government that spreads imperialism through allegedly righteous military action (referenced in Killing Them Softly, as news coverage of the economic crisis mentions the reckless rapidity with which President George W. Bush invaded Afghanistan and Iraq after Sept. 11, 2001), or that can’t quite figure out how to house the nation’s homeless into the millions of vacant homes sitting empty around the country, or that refuses, over and over again, to raise the minimum wage workers are paid so that they have enough financial security to live decent lives?

Perhaps you bristle at this comparison to Jackie Cogan, a man who has no qualms blowing apart Squirrel with a shotgun at close range, or unloading a revolver into Frankie after spending an evening driving around with him. But the guiding American principle when it comes to work is that you do a job and you get paid: It’s a very simple contract, and both sides need to operate in good faith to fulfill it. Salaried employees, hourly workers, freelancers, contractors, day laborers, the underemployed—all operate under the assumption that they’ll be compensated, and all live with the fear that they won’t. Jackie knows this, as evidenced by his loathing toward compatriot Kenny (Slaine) when the man tries to pocket the tip Jackie left for his diner waitress. “For fuck’s sake,” Jackie says in response to Kenny’s attempted theft, and you can sense that if Jackie could kill him in that moment, he would. In this way, Jackie is rigidly conservative, and strictly old-school. Someone else’s money isn’t yours to take; it’s your responsibility to earn, and your employer’s responsibility to pay. Jackie cleaned up the mob’s mess, and the gambling tables opened again because of his work, and his labor resulted in their continued profits. And Jackie wants what he’s owed.

“Don’t make me laugh. ‘We’re one people.’”

We hear two main voices of authority urging calm throughout Killing Them Softly. Then-President Bush: “I understand your worries and your frustration. … We’re in the midst of a serious financial crisis, and the federal government is responding with decisive action.” Presidential hopeful Obama: “There’s only the road we’re traveling on as Americans.” Paulson speaks on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, and various news commentators chime in, too: “There needs to be consequences, and there needs to be major change.” Radio commentary and C-SPAN coverage combine into a sort of secondary accompaniment to Marc Streitenfeld’s score, which incorporates lyrically germane Big Band standards like “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries” (“You work, you save, you worry so/But you can’t take your dough”) and “It’s Only a Paper Moon” (“It's a Barnum and Bailey world/Just as phony as it can be”). All of these are Dominik’s additions to Cogan’s Trade, which is a slim, 19-chapter book without any political angle, and this frame is what met so much resistance from contemporaneous reviews.

But what Dominik accomplishes with this approach is twofold. First, a reminder of the ceaseless tension and all-encompassing anxiety of that time, which would spill into the Occupy Wall Street movement, coalesce support around politicians like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and fuel growing national interest in policies like universal health care and universal basic income. For anyone who struggled during that time—as I did, a college graduate entering the 2009 job market after the journalism industry was already beginning its still-continuing freefall—Killing Them Softly captures the free-floating anger so many of us felt at politicians bailing out corporations rather than people. Perhaps in 2012, only weeks after the re-election of Obama and with the potential that his second term could deliver on some of his campaign promises (closing Guantanamo Bay, maybe, or passing significant gun control reform, maybe), this cinematic scolding felt like medicine. But nearly a decade later, with neither of these legislative successes in hand, and with the wins for America’s workers so few and far between—still a $7.25 federal minimum wage, still no federal paid maternity and family leave act, still the refusal by many states to let their government employees unionize—if you don’t feel demoralized by how often the successes of the Democratic Party are stifled by the party’s own moderates or thoroughly curtailed by saboteur Republicans, maybe you’re not paying attention.

More acutely, then, the mutinous spirit of Killing Them Softly accomplishes something similar to what 1990’s Pump Up the Volume did: It allows one to say, with no irony whatsoever, “Do you ever get the feeling everything in America is completely fucked up?” The disparities of the financial system, and the yawning gap between the rich and the poor. The utter lack of accountability toward those who were supposed to protect us, and didn’t. And the sense that we’re always being a little bit cheated by a ruling class who, like Sobotka observed on The Wire, is always putting their hand in our pocket. Consider Killing Them Softly’s quietest moment, in which Frankie realizes that he’s a hunted man, and that the people from whom he stole would never let him live. Dominik frames McNairy tight, his expression a flickering mixture of plaintive yearning and melancholic regret, as he quietly says, “It’s just shit, you know? The world is just shit. We’re all just on our own.” A day or so later, McNairy’s Frankie will be lying on a medical examiner’s table, his head partially collapsed from a bullet to the brain, an identification tag looped around his pinky toe. And the men who ordered his death want to underpay the man who carried it out for them. Isn’t that the shit?

That leads us, then, to the film’s angriest moment, and to a scene that stands alongside the climaxes of so many other post-recession films: Chris Pine’s Toby Howard paying off the predatory bank that swindled his mother with its own stolen money in Hell or High Water, Lakeith Stanfield’s Cash Green and his fellow Equisapiens storming billionaire Steve Lift’s (Armie Hammer’s) mansion in Sorry to Bother You, Viola Davis’s Veronica Rawlings shooting her cheating husband and keeping the heist take for herself and her female comrades in Widows. So far in Killing Them Softly, Pitt has played Jackie with a certain level of remove. A man’s got to have a code, and his is fairly simple: Don’t get involved emotionally with the assignment. Pitt’s Jackie is susceptible to flashes of irritation, though, that manifest as a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes, and as an octave-lower growl that belies his impatience: with the Driver, for not understanding how Markie’s reputation has doomed him; with Mickey, for his procrastination and his slovenliness; with Kenny, for stealing a hardworking woman’s tip; with Frankie, when he tries to distract Jackie from killing Squirrel. Jackie is a professional, and he is intolerant of people failing to work at his level, and Pitt plays the man as tiptoeing along a knife’s edge. Remember Daniel Craig’s “’Cause it’s all so fucking hysterical” line delivery in Road to Perdition? Pitt’s whole performance is that: a hybrid offering of bemusement, smugness, and ferocity that suggests a man who’s seen it all, and hasn’t been impressed by much.

In the final minutes of Killing Them Softly, Obama has won his historic first term in the White House, and Pitt’s Jackie strides through a red haze of celebratory fireworks as he walks to meet the Driver at a bar to retrieve payment. An American flag hangs in this dive, and the TV broadcasts Obama’s victory speech, delivered in Chicago to a crowd of more than 240,000. “Crime stories, to some extent, always felt like the capitalist ideal in motion,” Dominik told the New York Times. “Because it’s the one genre where it’s perfectly acceptable for the characters to be motivated solely by money.” And so it goes that Jackie feels no guilt for the men he’s killed, or the men he’s sent away. Nor does he feel any empathy or kinship with the newly elected Obama, whose messages of unity and community he finds amusingly irrelevant. The life Jackie lives is one defined by how little people value each other, and how quick they are to attack one another if that means more opportunity—and more money—for them. Thomas Hobbes said that a life without social structure and political representation would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short,” and perhaps that’s exactly what Jackie’s is. Unlike the character in Cogan’s Trade, Dominik’s Jackie has no wife and no personal life. But he’s surviving this way with his eyes wide open, and he will not be undervalued.

The contrast between Obama’s speech about “the enduring power of our ideas—democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope”—and Jackie’s realization that the mob is trying to underpay him for the three men he assassinated at their behest makes for a kind of nauseating, thrilling coda. He’s owed $45,000, and the envelope the Driver paid him only has $30,000 in it. Obama’s audience chanting “Yes, we can,” the English translation of the United Farm Workers of America’s slogan and the activist César Chávez’s iconic “Sí, se puede” catchphrase, adds an ironic edge to the argument between the Driver and Jackie about the value of his labor. Whatever the Driver can use to try and shrug off Jackie’s advocacy for himself, he will. Jackie’s killings were too messy. Jackie is asking for more than the mob’s usual enforcer, Dillon (Sam Shepard), who would have done a better job. Jackie is ignoring that the mob is limited to “Recession prices”—they’re suffering, so that suffering has to trickle down to someone. Jackie made the deal with Mickey for $15,000 per head, and the mob isn’t beholden to pay Jackie what they agreed to pay Mickey.

On and on, excuse after excuse, until one finally pushes Jackie over the edge: “This business is a business of relationships,” the Driver says, which is one step away from the “We’re all family here” line that so many abusive companies use to manipulate their cowed employees. And so when Jackie goes coolly feral in his response, dropping knowledge not only about the artifice of the racist Thomas Jefferson as a Founding Father but underscoring the idea that America has always been, and will always be, a capitalist enterprise first, the moment slaps all the harder for all the ways we know we’ve been let down by feckless bureaucrats like the Driver, who do only as they’re told; by faceless corporate overlords like the mob, issuing orders to Jackie from on high; and by a broader country that seems like it couldn’t care less about us. “I’m living in America, and in America, you’re on your own … Now fucking pay me” serves as a kind of clarion call, an expression of vehemence and resentment, and a direct line into the kind of anger that still festers among those continuously left behind—still living in Shitstown, still trying to make a better life for themselves, and still asking for a little more respect from their fellow Americans. For all of Killing Them Softly’s ugliness, for all its nihilism, and for all its commentary on how our country’s ruthless individualism has turned chasing the American dream into a crippling addiction we all share, that demand for dignity remains distressingly relevant. Maybe it’s time to listen.

[patchoulimademoiselle]

Guilty. (Part 3.)

Part Three.

Steve Rogers (Lawyer AU) x Reader Insert

Word count: 3.6k

Warnings: strong language, adult themes, plot twist, Steve likes you in red, Bucky Barnes is a flirt and Steve may or may not be jealous. 

Notes: First off, wow, thank you guys for all the love you’ve been showing this series. I didn’t expect anyone to see it, let alone actually like it lol. I’m trying to update as often as possible, but I have to leave room for suspense. I have only a few parts planned for this series so far, I may be adding to it, but I want to keep it fairly short. Either way I’ll let you know. Thanks again, enjoy. 

Masterlist. 

Part Three:

The following morning Steve is in your driveway blowing his horn, waking you up with a jolt. Checking your phone, you realize he's been calling you for twenty minutes, and you curse to yourself as you rush downstairs and let him in. "I'll be ready in ten." Is all you say, letting him step inside.

He eyes you up, smiling, "Cute jammies." They aren't pajamas at all, it's just a t-shirt and nothing else, and if he hadn't come over yesterday and bent you over your kitchen sink, you would be ashamed of yourself for being seen like this.

He helps himself to a cup of coffee and an apple while you get ready. In a rush, you leave your hair down for once, trading in your skirt for a dress, because if there is anything you've learned as a lawyer, it's that first impressions are everything. James will forever know you as the woman you show up as the first time you meet him, and once his mind is made up it will be hard to change it.

You're a little inspired by the woman you met the day before, Natasha Romanoff on your mind as you select a shade of red lipstick to wear, a bold contrast to your usual nude, but you decide that you don't mind the change as you finish getting ready. It makes your teeth appear whiter, makes your eyes shine brighter, and you look well rested all with the swipe of a lipstick across your lips in the mirror. Smacking your lips, you decide to try bolder colors more often.

Steve is starstruck when you come back downstairs, fasting a pair of earrings into your ears. He walks over to you slowly, catching your bottom lip with his thumb, then he examines it, checking to see if your lipstick is smudge proof. He hums, apple in his hand forgotten as he looks at you.  

"What?" You glare up at him.

He glares back. "If he touches you, tell me."

"What?" You frown. "You aren't going with me?"

He shakes his head, "No, I have to meet with Rumlow. And you can't run from your assistant forever. We need to figure out what to do with her." He leans down suddenly and kisses you, pinning you against the door with his lips. Then he's dragging you out the door.

It bothers you that he doesn't talk about yesterday, and it also bothers you that he thinks he can now kiss you whenever he wants. But you don't exactly bring it up either, and you don't turn down his advances. So for now, you bite your tongue as he rushes you out of your house, eyes on his watch as he holds the passenger car door open for you.

Steve's car is a collectors item, a model of mustang that you couldn't remember even if he told it to you a million times. The seats are genuine leather, dark in color, and you wouldn't be surprised it he treated them on his days off. The engine is loud, vibrating the seats, and it doesn't help that it's so hot out, you can't help but turn the air on before he's even pulled out of your driveway. He's protective of it, glaring over at you as you turn the dial, but you pay him no mind.

You ask to stop somewhere to get breakfast, making sure to grab something for James as well. You muster up as much charm as you can manage, leaving Steve with a wink for practice before you get out of his car.

James Barnes, No please, call me Bucky, is a looker. Honey eyes, dark hair, and a jaw that's sharp enough to remind you of a certain someone else. He's ex-military, that much is obvious in the way he carries himself, and you see yet another angle to use in court.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you." You say, crossing your legs as you sit on his couch. The action draws his eyes, confirming that a dress was a good choice. "My colleague and I have reviewed your case and have a few ways to go about it, all things that will be discussed with you of course."

He's also a flirt, a good one, his eyes warm and smile bright as he looks at you. "Over dinner?" Bucky sees an opportunity and takes full advantage of it, Colgate smile blindsiding you for a moment.

"Sure, I'll have to check with Steve." You glance at your watch, not for any reason in particular, just to let him know you don't plan on staying too long. "But I want to assure you that we've been working tirelessly."

He hums, coffee cup in hand, you try to figure out which one is prosthetic, it's rude to ask, but they both look so similar. "Of course. I appreciate you coming to meet me. Every time Steve is here, you're absent. Why is that?"

"We have a lot to do." You explain, "This case is delicate." You don't want to give him any reason to doubt you, so you say as little as you can. "While I'm here, I'll do my best to answer any questions you have so far. I don't have my notes with me, but I do have your contact information."

Steve has taught you to replace fact with charm, come off as polite, yet still sure of yourself, and if you don't know the answers or can't give an answer, smile through it. It works every time.

Bucky asks you when the trial will be, and you tell him that a date hasn't been set yet, the judge has yet to review the case. If Bucky knew anything about anything, he would know that this means the trial will be rigged. Cases like this are usually over quickly, the justice system protects workers well in cases like these. So a delayed review of the case must mean that Stark has him in his pocket. But Bucky doesn't seem to catch on to that. It's also something you haven't discussed with Steve yet, but you imagine he's probably on the same page as you.

He always is.

You try not to lie to Bucky, you just reveal only half truths, and each statement you make sends a bad feeling to your stomach. Saying it all out loud really does reveal in your mind how difficult this is going to be. You haven't been taking this seriously enough, playing house with Steve and Wanda. This case will either make or break your career, and so far it isn't looking good.

While you may have eased Bucky's mind, you've worked yourself up with anxiety, Steve can tell as soon as you get in his car. "What happened?" He asks, concern in his eyes as he looks at you.

"Nothing," You sigh, deflating a little. "This is so stressful."

He doesn't say anything, driving you to the office. You don't speak, unlocking your office door and stepping inside. He follows you, pushing the door closed, watching as you settle, your bag on the floor.

You're suddenly on the brink of tears, this stupid case, your stupid feelings, too much going on in your head for you to handle. You feel overwhelmed, fingers shaking as you bring them up to your face. You feel bad for Bucky, he's a nice man, and the odds are stacked highly against him.

Being a lawyer is hard, but you've never found it this hard before. It's never felt so personal before.

"Y/n." Steve doesn't try to comfort you, he knows you won't want it. "Calm down."

He's that authoritative figure in your life again, the stern man you met in your early years studying law, and if there was any time to feel like a child it would be now. "This sucks." Is all you can say, taking a deep breath, willing your tears away. You clear your throat, smooth your hands over the front of your dress, "Right, so Rumlow?"

Steve regards you for a moment, eyes calculating. "He'll do it." He says. "Barnes?"

"He's in a hurry to find out his court date, I told him he'll know as soon as we do." You recover quickly, pushing your emotions down, hearing in your head what he doesn't have to say out loud. "He's nice, I like him." There's no room for weakness in a court room, emotions are a sign of weakness. "What's next?"

"We need to figure out what to do with Wanda."

The other pen drops, a knot in your stomach as you weigh your options. "I'll call her in today, actually. I need her help anyways. For now just watch what you say." You aren't sure what to do. Steve hasn't even told you how he's leading the case yet, so you have no false leads to feed her.

"I'll start building our case. We wait to hear back from the judge." He says. "Dissect that file Romanoff gave you, type something up just in case." He leaves your office and heads for his own, leaving you to your thoughts and your work.

You call Wanda, who tells you she can be there in about an hour.

Believe it or not, the behavior between you and Steve is normal, his cold shoulder is really just caution. He doesn't want to push you, doesn't want to overstep and send you spiraling. You're strong enough to handle this, he knows because he taught you how to be, his presence right now would just make things worse.

It's sick and twisted how you're forced to bury your emotions in order to come off as strong to the world. This job has dehumanized you, this life has ruined everything bright eyed and bushy tailed about you, all you're left with now is exhaustion. You wonder how soon you could retire, and if Steve has thought about it, he's been in the game much longer than you have. You wonder if maybe then you can finally be what you never could before. You wonder if he would look twice at you if he wasn't forced to see you on a daily basis.

Are you even his type? You're much younger than him, and in the beginning that may have been exciting. But now that you're a bit older, more experienced, not so much in need of his guidance, does he still even find you attractive?

You scold yourself for even caring, but you know the answer. Of course he does.

When Wanda comes in, you have her run errands, shredding old papers, running extra documents down to records, taking messages and sending out emails. It keeps her busy, in and out of your office, and well away from the case you're working on. You give her your personal laptop to work off of, keeping her off your desktop and away from any files she could possibly get her hands on, and you're worry free as you dive into your own tasks.

You do what you can, making notes in the file for Steve to find, typing up an argument for him to use or discard, the choice is always left up to him in the end regardless. He's going to lead, and he'll let you fill in the gaps. You almost can't wait, nothing is better than watching Steve get fired up in a court room, and it has you squirming in your seat in a day dream. You don't hear him knocking on the doors that divide your office, and you don't hear him open them. But you do hear him clear his throat, his knowing gaze burying you twice over.

Busted.

But he doesn't say anything, just dangles himself into the space that is your office, glancing between both you and Wanda. "Hungry?"

"Yes." Wanda smiles at him, and you simply nod, returning to the file in front of you.

By the time it arrives, Wanda is ready to go home, her hair frizzy and feet sore as she thanks Steve for the food, "I'll eat it on the metro." She waves goodbye to you, placing your laptop on the corner of your desk. You search it for evidence of any kind, going through your browsing history. But she's done nothing out of the ordinary, and you're thankful that you have nothing to report.

That's how you find yourself bare foot sitting on the balcony watching the sunset, the sky painted over in hues of orange and pink, a take out box in hand, Wanda gone leaving you with some privacy. Steve tucks you under his arm, face close to yours as he eats. Neither of you talk, because neither of you have to. Just like the sky, wide open for all to see, all of your cards are already placed on the table. He knows how you feel about him, you know how he feels about you. There's just one thing standing between you, one thing driving you apart in a way you can't bare to tolerate.

His voice is hushed, a whisper of wind when he presses his lips against your temple. "When all of this is over," He says, "When this case is finished, I'm going to fuck you right here on this balcony."

You think he's joking, his voice so low and fragile that it can't be a serious statement. But when you look up at him, catching the dark glaze of lust in his eyes, you realize he's making you a promise.

"Right over the railing, tits out for the whole world to see." He says. "And I'm going to take my time, fuck you nice and good."

Your jaw drops, heart beat in your ears as you ponder over what he just said to you. You picture it, one of your skirts flipped up, blouse open, your body lurching forward against the railing each time he thrusts into you. And though it may sound intimidating, eyes on the ground below you, you know his grip on your waist will be far too tight to let you fall.

"Let's practice." You say it before you can stop yourself, and for a moment he just stares at you before letting out a loud laugh.

"You're something else." He says, looking down at you with a smile that makes your stomach flutter. "I would if I could, believe it."

It frustrates you to hear him say that, fighting your way out of his grip. "You aren't allowed to do that to me." You shuffle to your feet, giving yourself an advantage over him for once. "You can't say things like that and then not go through with it."

"Oh, I'm going to go through with it." He pokes his spork into his food. "Patience."

You groan and even you can admit it's childlike, the way you pout and cross your arms. His eyes float up to your face, food long forgotten as he picks up on your attitude, he stands, demolishing the tiny advantage you had right before your eyes.

He grabs your chin, forces you to look him in the eyes when he says, "I'm tempted to do it now, fuck the attitude right out of you." Your tongue is heavy in your mouth, nothing left to say as he once again sets upon you to devour you, lips pressing against yours for a moment. "But there's no going back after that. We need to wait."

This is the second time he's said it. "What does that even mean?" You grab his wrist, trying to ease his hold on your face.

"It means that the moment I've had a feel of that little pussy, I'm going to want it constantly." He says. "Anywhere I can have you, I will have you."

You're wet, thighs rubbing together in an attempt to give yourself some friction, and of course it doesn't go unnoticed. His eyes flick down your body, other hand on your hip to pull you closer.

"Steve, I want it so bad." You whine, doing all you can to convince him.

It doesn't work. "I know."

He looks you over again, eyes trailing down the front of your dress to your bare feet. "Why don't you dress like this for me?"

The question is so sudden that it throws you off, "What?"

He licks his lips, "I've never seen you wear a shade of lipstick like this before." He says. "I've never seen you wear a dress like this before."

It explains his behavior this morning, the way he basically pounced on you at the door, but it doesn't explain his sudden interest. "Steve, you've never acted this way before." You finally bring it up, finally call to light whats been on your mind since yesterday. "You can't just keep kissing me this way."

"Are you telling me to stop?" His eyebrows are drawn tight. "Are you telling me that you don't like it?"

"No, but-"

"Then I can. And I will." He says.

You roll your eyes at his cocky attitude. "Stop ignoring what I'm saying." You say. "Why the sudden interest?"

He raises an eyebrow at you, looking up at the sky as if it will give him all the answers to your questions. "All of a sudden? I've been watching you since you starting working here." He says. "That never went away, I've just been cautious."

You remember those days, when you were too new to know what you were doing, he would loom over your shoulder and breath down you neck, waiting for you to mess up. Always watching.

"Are you not being cautious anymore?"

He shakes his head, "I just don't care about the consequences as much." He sighs, fingers slipping from your chin, and for a moment you think you've taken your questioning too far. "We're about to risk our careers on this case, I'll be damned if I don't walk away from it with you at least."

He's never talked to you this way before, never opened up to you so deeply, and hearing the way he feels about you out loud for a change feels good. You let it go, leaving him with one final kiss before returning to your food, takeout gone cold. It burns you alive to know that he wants you just as bad, the only difference is he's better at hiding it.

You're just about ready to go home when you get a phone call. Not on your office phone, but your cell, a hidden number. Steve looks over at you with concern as you answer it, ready to take the phone from you if he needs to.

"Hello?"

"Y/n, L/n?" The voice is one that comes off as familiar to you, yet you can't place who it is.

"Speaking." You remain as professional as possible, but you're a bit worried.

"My name is Tony Stark, I'm calling you from a secured line at my personal residence." Your eyes go wide, and you nearly drop your phone. "Can we meet?"

You put the call on speaker, setting your phone down on your desk. You hold a single finger up to your mouth, signaling Steve to stay quiet. "Why would we need to meet, Mr. Stark?"

"Because I'm being overrun in my own company." He says, you and Steve share a look. "Decisions were made without my knowledge, certain decisions that lead to a specific lawsuit, a lawsuit that you're working in favor of. Do you follow?"

If you weren't confused before, you're even more so now. "What are you saying?"

"I'm not saying anything, I'm just speaking hypothetically." He says, voice clipped, and you aren't sure of this is an act or not. "But if we were to meet, I could go into detail."

You mute the call, sitting back in your chair. Steve strokes his beard, deep in thought. "What do you think?" You ask him.

He shakes his head at you, "It could be a trap." He says. "He called from a secured line, he's speaking in hypotheticals to avoid incrimination." He pauses, letting out a sigh. "But he could be telling the truth, someone might be monitoring him, he might not have any other choice but to turn to us."

Two sides of the same coin, all pointing to Stark, either one could go either way. This could be a set up to get you alone, a loophole to press new charges of some sort, or a way to earn your trust or get you to pull out. But on the off chance that he's telling the truth, it's too good of a chance not to take.

"Steve, I have to meet with him."

Steve is shaking his head, reaching for your cell phone to end the call, but you're quicker than him, grabbing it and backing away. "Y/n, no. It could be a trap."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take." You say. "I'm a lawyer, I'm after the truth, I'm after justice."

If what Tony Stark says is true, what kind of lawyer would you be to turn him down? You unmute the call, holding your cell phone to your ear. "When, and where?"

There's fury set in Steve's eyes as he walks away from you, doors slamming behind him as he storms into his office. It makes you flinch, the sound rattling through your body, taunting you.

"Tomorrow morning, I'll text you an address." He says. "You can bring someone, but I have to approve of them first."

"Steve Rogers."

"No," Tony says, "He won't trust me."

Tony is right about that, but you don't tell him. "Natasha Romanoff?"

"You know Romanoff?" He sounds shocked, but lets out a sigh. "Of course you know about Romanoff. Fine, bring her. Tell no one, if they catch on to us they'll burn us both."

The line goes dead before you can say anything else, and you're left breathless at the thought of what you're about to do.

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

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Let’s Review || Chapter 10

Peter Parker knew that his big sister would do anything for him to be safe and happy. She’d given up everything for him twice over already and would do it again in a heartbeat. And that’s why, when the criminal mastermind Tony Stark started inextricably following him around, he didn’t say a word. Because he knew without a doubt Penny would do whatever she had to if it meant keeping Peter safe. He had to protect her, just like she always protected him. He never considered what would happen if Stark decided both Parker siblings were worth taking. Never considered who else in Stark’s inner circle would agree. He just wanted to protect her and yet somehow, they both ended up with needles in their necks.

relationship: Steve Rogers/Original Female Character/Bucky Barnes, background Peter Parker/Tony Stark rating: Explicit/18+ warnings: Dark Steve Rogers, Dark Bucky Barnes, Dark Tony Stark, Dark Avengers, kidnapping, non-con/dub-con elements, underage Peter Parker, emotional and psychological abuse, very dark 

Penny never had difficulty sleeping. She was exhausted 90% of the time, between three jobs and everything that went into raising Peter, and could take a nap whenever the opportunity arose. It was a joke amongst all of her coworkers, that if you gave Penny an idle 10 minutes, she'd find a place to curl up and nap. She could sleep 16 hours straight happily if given the chance. 

Insomnia wasn't a part of her life. It was why finding herself unable to sleep was shocking to her entire system. The day of her punishment she took a nap and that was the last time she slept more than an hour at a time for the next three days. She wasn't sure if it was the fear and anxiety or the stress or any other combination of things, but she simply couldn't sleep. 

She didn't know if her kidnappers had noticed, strangely enough. They watched her constantly, tracking her movements and making notes of her habits, but never mentioned her sleep patterns. Or her eating patterns, for that matter. 

When Steve got up in the mornings, she waited about half an hour before getting out of bed herself. While he went for a workout, she pulled all of the curtains back from the floor to ceiling windows in the living room and laid on the floor in the sunshine. It was the only time she really slept soundly for longer than 20 or 30 minutes. By the third day, when she got up and went into the living room, the curtains had already been pulled back and the couch cushions were arranged like a pallet on the floor where she usually lay. An apple, which she had a tendency to grab in the mornings to hold her over until breakfast because half the time the only kosher food in the kitchen was fruit or vegetables, was already washed and cut and set on the coffee table. 

They never said anything about what she ate, even when Bucky made large, intricate meals and she avoided most of it. The first night he made spaghetti and meatballs with a side salad and she'd only eaten the salad. The second night had been pork chops and pasta salad— she'd dug out the last of the salad from the previous meal and a bit of the pasta before realizing there was bacon in it. Honestly she was starving, there was hardly anything kosher in the apartment and she was living off vegetables. 

Her captors were strange dudes. Sometimes they seemed chivalrous to a fault, set in some sort of bizarre gender stereotype; they would never sit before she did or start eating until she took her first bite. But Steve didn't like when she cursed or rolled her eyes and Bucky told her smoking wasn't ladylike when she asked for cigarettes. There was a weird dichotomy where they desperately wanted her to be happy in her imprisonment but simultaneously wanted to micromanage her behavior. 

After the fourth near sleepless night, she’d once again retreated to the living room once she was sure Steve had left. The spot in front of the windows was comforting for some reason, the warmth of the sun was encompassing like a hug but didn’t require touch. It felt safer than anywhere else in the apartment. 

She slept for at least an hour and only woke up to the sound of JARVIS playing a chime every few seconds, the noise slowly increasing in volume. As she blinked, slightly disoriented by the sound, and realized she was no longer laying on the cushions. At some point while she was asleep Bucky had managed to wedge his way beneath her, leaving her to lie on his chest. His arms were raised on either side of her head like he was holding something over her and the top of her head brushed his chin. 

At that point, her body didn’t even bother to instinctually tense. Even after such a short period of time, the panic response had lost its grip in the face of resentful acceptance. 

“Good morning, doll,” Bucky’s voice was a rumble beneath her more than a sound and she heard a page turning above her, “I can see why you like to lay here.” 

Penny didn’t bother answering, tired eyes tracking his movements as he lowered his arms and put a book on the floor. He didn’t look tired at all with his hair carefully pulled back into an artfully messy bun, fully dressed despite the fact that it couldn’t have been past 7 am. It was unfair how attractive they were, considering the position they had put her in. She’d never even considered a man bun atttractive before for fucks’ sake. After a short moment, his hands came back up to cup her face. 

Knowing the kiss was coming didn’t make it any easier to process or mentally prepare for. She didn’t want him to, it was disgusting, how dare he kiss her— but it was also so nice. Bucky was a really good kisser, both of the soldiers were, and it sent tingles down her sprine every time. The warmth from the sunshine was amplified by the feeling until it seeped into her veins and rendered her boneless against him. 

“Really good morning,” Bucky smiled against her lips, brushing his nose against hers as he pulled away enough to look at her, “Steve’s gonna be out of the shower in a few and we’ll head up to breakfast. Go get dressed.” 

Penny nodded in response, dazed, and let him pick her up and set her to the side of the pallet where it was easier to stand. The bedroom was still mostly dark, the heavy curtains drawn and the only light coming from the partially open bathroom door. The shower was running and she could hear Steve moving around as she walked to the dresser. 

There was a drawer dedicated to the softest clothing they’d purchased for Penny and she was especially taken with the shirts in it. They felt like ultra thin, soft cotton but were actually rather thick and warm. She pulled out a black one with long sleeves and traded it for the t-shirt she’d slept in. The same pair of jeans she’d worn the previous day followed and she tugged off her socks, prefering to go barefoot just because she could tell it bothered Steve. 

She stepped past the blond in question just as he came out of the bathroom, pretending not to notice the once over he gave her. The assholes weren’t exactly subtle, probably didn’t see the need to be. Bucky was waiting by the elevators when she walked into the living room, motioning over with the metal hand.

It had been days but she still hadn’t gotten up the courage to ask about the arm. Steve and Bucky both treated it like a completely normal arm, as if it wasn’t a super strong and incredibly high tech prosthetic, and she was afraid to mention it. Instead she tried to make sure she didn’t look at it for too long, or hesitate when he touched her with it just in case it made him angry. 

“Ready for breakfast baby?” He wrapped the arm around her shoulders and tugged her into his chest, ducking his head down to kiss her cheek. 

“Yeah,” Penny murmured, eyes tracking Steve as he also left the bedroom and crossed the room, kissing them each soundly before calling JARVIS to bring the elevator.

Penny had forced herself to become comfortable with any display of affection that came directly before getting to see Peter, just in case they decided to throw a hissy fit at her rejection and refuse to take her to breakfast. Despite the fact that she'd been promised she could see her brother multiple times a day, it had been limited to breakfast. She asked at least 20 times a day, can I see Peter now? I want to see Peter. I want to see my brother. They brushed her off every time, made some sort of excuse. 

It was part of their plan to make the siblings 'adapt' to their new lives. Penny could read between the lines and knew they didn't want them together too often to avoid any plotting. If they couldn't communicate enough to make an escape plan, they probably wouldn't try. It made sense, the clever bastards, but not being able to see her brother was wearing her down. Combined with the lack of sleep, she was beginning to feel more and more distraught. 

JARVIS was a small, unexpected saving grace. She wasn't sure why, but the AI would give her updates on Peter if she asked. Is Peter okay? Yes, Ms. Parker, he is currently in the lab. Is Peter okay? Yes, Ms. Parker, he is taking a nap at the moment. Is Peter okay? Yes, Ms. Parker, he is watching the original Star Wars trilogy. 

As they rode in the elevator up a few levels to what she'd come to realize was Stark's floor, she could see a very small red light in the upper corner. JARVIS was always watching, monitoring things like heart rate and temperature. He understood Hebrew if she spoke in it and would answer in kind, giving her a sort of privacy from the men boxing in her. The AI wasn't on her side per say, but the little things he did helped keep her from going crazy. 

When the doors opened, Penny didn't wait for the men to move before she began on her way to the kitchen. She would sit in a chair, despite the incredible amounts of pain it caused after her punishment, but would be transferred to someone's lap almost immediately. Likely Bucky, since they seemed to take turns and Steve had held her yesterday. They wanted to hold her and feed her. It restricted her movements, kept her farther from Peter, and drove her batshit insane. 

She quickly sat in the chair closest to her brother, forcing herself not to wince in pain and reached out for his hand. Peter was coping much better than she was, it was plain on his face and otherwise in his appearance. He didn't look happy necessarily, but he was sleeping and eating regularly. There was no visible cringe when Stark touched him, which she assumed meant the man hadn't hurt him. 

Penny had been considering for days what she would do if she walked into the kitchen one morning and found Peter injured. She was about .02 seconds from losing it at any second as it was, if she ever suspected Peter was hurt she would go ape shit. The goal would be to take Stark out as efficiently as possible— she'd likely only have one chance. She was pretty sure shoving a fork through his eye would be as effective as anything else. 

"You know, you get a very particular look on your face when you're considering killing me." 

Penny looked away from Peter just in time to see Stark before he swept her up out of her chair and sat down with her in his lap. Being as small as she was, it made manhandling her pretty easy in comparison to say, Peter, who despite being skinny was tall and ungainly to lift and carry around.

"Tony," Bucky sounded displeased but Stark waved him off. 

"My turn Winter Wizard," the older man snarked, tugging her snugly back against the line of his chest, "I love Penny too." 

Love. Stark didn't love Penny. She was half convinced he didn't even understand the concept, had it so thoroughly confused with obsession that he couldn't comprehend what love was. Love was selfless and unconditional, it was supposed to bring joy and comfort. Nothing about Stark's actions were any of those things, didn't provide a feeling of happiness and safety. Sitting in his lap was like sitting on a live landmine.

"What're your plans for today sweetheart? Peter wants to spend some time in the lab with Bruce— honestly I think he likes biology more than engineering, can you believe that?" 

Penny didn't answer, watching from the corner of her eye as Steve and Bucky sat down in the chairs around them. Steve sat opposite of Peter at the head of the table while Bucky took a seat to the teenager’s right, across from Penny and Stark. There was another comprehensive breakfast spread across the table, a quiche, pancakes, scrambled eggs with cheese and ham, fresh fruit, sausage and bacon.

Every time they loaded plates for her, Penny found herself turning her nose up at at least half of it. She was pretty sure they were unaware that the siblings were Jewish, either that or they were too stupid to realize there were dietary restrictions involved in the religion. Peter was more lax than Penny, he didn't remember their parents as much and aunt May and uncle Ben hadn't been religious, but she still ate kosher about 75% of the time. Plus, most kosher foods just felt more ethical and humane. 

Not that the mother fuckers who'd kidnapped them had any idea what it meant to be ethical. Or humane for that matter. 

"Penny, words," it wasn’t an order necessarily but she'd come to realize over the few days she had been in the tower that Steve's tone left no room for disobedience. 

"I don’t have any plans," she tried not to overtly grit her teeth in irritation. 

Any other day she'd be at the daycare until 1ish, taking care of the babies. After that she'd go to her barista job and after that, she went to the grocery store to stock shelves over night. Penny didn't have downtime, she didn't have hobbies, she didn't do anything during the day other than work. Maybe that's why she wasn't sleeping at all; she wasn't doing anything. Certainly not half as much as usual. 

"Well, what would you like to do? What do you do for fun?" 

Simmering anger began to build under Penny's skin but before she could answer (and potentially get herself into trouble), Peter jumped in, "Penny used to knit. And you liked gardening, right? When we lived in the house you had all those plants and the garden out back." 

"Ma's garden," Penny twitched her nose, the movement preventing a facial expression from settling and giving away her emotions— she tried not to think of the garden, or the house they'd lived in before the accident, it made her too sad. 

"Bite, sweetheart," Tony directed when she went quiet, refusing to elaborate. 

The food on the fork was a piece of the quiche, something with spinach and cheese and bacon, and Penny shook her head. The bacon was bad enough, but putting dairy with it as well was too much for her to stomach. Stark hesitated for a moment before sighing heavily and putting the fork down, forcing Penny to turn slightly in his lap to face him.

"You have to eat, sweetheart," he looked just a shade short of irritated and a thrill ran through her, a mix of fear that he might hurt her if he got mad enough combined with dark satisfaction that her actions were having an effect on him even if unintentionally, "you're too skinny as it is and you can't keep refusing food."

"I won't eat it," she stated quietly, resolution in her tone.

The only things on the table she would truly be willing to eat were the fruits and the pancakes. The quiche had cheese and bacon, the eggs had cheese and ham, and the individual meats were pork. For some reason, the bites of food she wanted were few and far between compared to the dishes she couldn't eat. 

"It's not an option baby," Bucky's voice was soft and imploring. 

Irritation climbed up her throat. She wasn’t on a hunger strike, she wasn’t being difficult. They were the ones who'd snatched her up against her will without considering her needs and wants. They were the ones at fault and fuck if she was going to— 

"That's not kosher," Peter quickly pointed to the quiche, followed by the scramble,  "that's not either. The pancakes might not be either depending on the eggs. Penny will eat the fruit." 

"You guys eat kosher?" Bucky and Steve both looked startled and she'd bet Tony did too. 

She didn't realise they were all considering what they knew about Peter; Tony had taken the boy out to eat multiple times in the months before bringing the siblings to the tower and there'd never been any sign of a special diet. They were Jewish, yes, but Tony could clearly remember the teenager eating bacon cheeseburgers and shrimp alfredo. 

"I don't but Penny does."

Since they'd brought her into the apartment, the soldiers hadn't paid too much attention to what she ate. Salads mostly, pasta. They hadn't focused on what she was eating, just the quantity of what she ate. 

"Ms. Parker regularly checks with me before consuming anything," JARVIS announced to the silent room. 

Maybe part of the reason Penny wasn't sleeping was because she was hungry. Honestly she was always sort of hungry, Peter having plenty to eat was more important than her eating regularly, but she'd been really hungry over the past few days.

"Penny why didn't you say anything?" Steve looked stricken and Bucky's face was ashen; he'd even talked to Wanda about kosher foods before they'd assumed the Parker's didn't eat a specific diet. 

"Why didn't I tell my kidnappers that I follow a religious diet? I wonder."

The words were scathing and spoken with a hiss of disdain that had their shoulders raising automatically. Bucky and Steve both shrunk back slightly and Stark went still behind her. She even managed to get out of his arms without a fight, standing up and heading for the elevator without hesitation. 

"...Penny?" 

"I'm going to take a shower, leave me alone!" 

She was so angry and fucking exhausted and hungry. Irrationally, it felt like storming off after having an argument with family instead of the true life villains she was surrounded by. She felt like a teenager storming off after fighting with her parents. Shockingly, they really let her go. The elevator doors opened and closed for her, even though she was alone. 

"Shall I bring you to your apartment Ms. Parker?" 

"It's not like I can go anywhere else," her voice was tearful and she bit the inside of her cheek, refusing to cry. 

But instead of moving, the elevator stayed still for an abnormal amount of time. She assumed JARVIS was waiting for the soldiers to arrive. 

"Perhaps you would like to go to the kitchens, miss?" 

"The kitchens?"

"Yes miss, I've spoken to one of the chefs who is more than happy to make all necessary adjustments to the kitchen to facilitate a kosher diet. New equipment is being brought in to prevent cross contamination and an order was sent to the runners for kosher foods which should arrive in less than an hour. In the meantime, Chef Cohen is gathering the necessities to make a kosher breakfast from what is currently on hand." 

Penny immediately burst into tears against her will, entirely overwhelmed. The tower was a goddamn nightmare, she was trapped and more often than not separated from her brother, but JARVIS was slowly becoming one of her favourite people (even if he wasn't really a person) in the world. Because JARVIS talked to her in Hebrew and told her about Peter when she asked and helped her figure out what she could eat and played movies on the wall all night while she was stuck in bed. 

He couldn't help her escape, he was a computer program at the mercy of his protocols, but he did more for her than anyone else. 

"Yes please JARVIS," Penny managed to get out through her tears, pressing her palms against her eyes gently, "thank you JARVIS." 

"You are most welcome Ms. Parker, your happiness is my priority." 

"It is?"

"My protocol is to make sure Mr. Parker and Master Stark are happy. In order to do so, I must make sure you are happy miss." 

Penny wasn't smart. She didn't have a high IQ, never finished college, would never qualify for anything more than a dead end job. But she was good at reading between the lines. Finding unconventional solutions to problems was a skill of hers. JARVIS might not be able to intentionally help her escape, but he might help her on accident without even realizing it.

It wasn't a plan, not yet, but it was a tool in her arsenal she never expected to have. And she would use it to her advantage as soon as possible. 

"Sir, Ms. Parker is currently on her way down to the kitchens were Chef Cohen is preparing a kosher meal. He has also compiled a comprehensive list of kosher foods to be kept in the kitchen at all times." 

"He made a list? Why didn't you do it J?"

"He's Jewish," Peter answered before JARVIS had a chance, shrinking back slightly when three pairs of eyes leveled on him suddenly. 

"Have you met him? He shouldn't have come up to this floor."

Sometimes Peter forgot that gentiles didn't recognize Jewish surnames, "he… didn't. His last name is Cohen. That's one of the most Jewish names I can think of." 

He couldn't be sure, there was a high chance that Peter was hallucinating, but it was possible that Tony Stark was blushing. Like, it was possible but Peter was pretty sure his eyes must've been playing tricks on him. Tony made him blush a million times a day, it was never the other way around. A small thrill ran through him, had he made Tony turn red? 

"Peter, is there anything else like this that we should know?" 

Steve's voice drew him out of his reverie and Peter directed his attention at the blond, "like what?" 

"Like things Penny doesn't like, or will upset her?" 

Peter nodded in understanding, "like abducting her and keeping her against her will?" 

"Peter!" Tony was trying to admonish him but his tone was full of laughter.

Bucky leveled the teenager with a vaguely amused expression, "Tony was the one who kidnapped her."

"Yeah but she hated him on principle before that, you guys she learned to hate." 

"Okay, moving on," Tony waved his hand dismissively before the soldier could respond, "J, let Cohen know he's officially Penny's personal chef. I want him available any time she's hungry, any time she wants a snack. I'll up his pay, but if Penny gets up at 3am and wants some ridiculously complicated meal, he'll be dragging his ass out of bed to make it." 

"Understood sir."

Bucky absently stared towards the doorway Penny had disappeared through, "I could figure out kosher cooking." 

"Let the professionals handle it, Bucky Bear," Tony snorted slightly before turning his attention to Peter, "is she allergic to anything?"

"I'm not sure, we think she had an allergic reaction to something a while back she never went to the doctor or anything," Peter took a huge bite of his pancakes.

"She hasn't been to the doctor in a long time has she?" Bucky frowned, considering the implications. 

"Or the dentist," Peter nodded. 

"We'll have Bruce do a complete work up, just to be safe. We’ll get dentist in here too. J?" 

"Dr. Banner would be happy to see Penny anytime today and I am sending a request to your own dentist sir."

"Tell Bruce we'll head his way once Penny finishes eating," Steve had a tendency to look up at the ceiling occasionally when speaking to JARVIS despite knowing he wasn't up there, "will you let us know once she's done? I want to give her some time to calm down."

"Once she has finished her meal I will direct her Dr. Banner's lab—" 

"J, you'll tell them when," Tony ordered, quickly noticing the way his AI tried to steer his words, "the soldiers will accompany her. Going down to the kitchen by herself was a stretch, she can't be wandering around unattended this soon."

"She was hungry, sir." 

Steve and Bucky exchanged a glance; the AI sounded defensive but there was a derisive tone to him as well, aimed at the soldiers. They were the ones supposed to be taking care of Penny and yet she was hungry. JARVIS was unimpressed with them and had a surprisingly strong attachment to Penny after such a short time. 

"Yeah, yeah, J, just let them know a few minutes before she's done eating," Tony turned his attention to Peter, "baby, why don't you go take a shower before we head to the lab?" 

Peter felt his eyebrows furrow in confusion. Usually, showering before going to the lab was sort of a waste. They'd get sweaty and gross by the end of it and need another shower anyway. He hoped he wasn't blushing— usually Tony took a long bath with him when they were done in the lab. 

"We're still gonna take a bath together baby, don't look so sad," the salacious look on the older man's face had Peter quickly darting to his feet, face on fire as he ran off. 

Tony waited until the teenager was out of earshot to turn a very dark look on the soldiers, "wanna explain how the fuck you haven't known for two full fucking days that Penny won't eat anything that's not kosher?"

"Tony—" 

"No, actually," he waved his hand before Steve could finish speaking, "I don't care what you have to say. You're going to listen." 

He wasn't older in literal years, but Tony's consciousness was older than the soldiers' and in that moment he felt those years. He stood from the table, coffee mug in hand and took a few steps towards the counter. In general, Tony considered his friend’s to be his family. They were important to him, he wanted them to be happy and healthy and cared for. But Peter was his world and because of that, Penny was too. Her happiness usurped theirs. 

“I gave you both the opportunity to take Penny, the way I took Peter,” he took a sip of coffee, tapping his fingers against the expensive marble countertop, “I knew from the way you talked about her, that you loved her the way I love Peter. But I didn’t want to. Honestly, I wanted to keep her tucked away where I can keep her safe and happy. I knew I could do a better job than you, but I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt.” 

Tony dumped his coffee into the sink, setting the mug in after and running some water into it. Around 10am a housekeeper would come in a clean up after breakfast, leaving the dishes that lived in the house and taking the rest down to the kitchens. He liked to keep everything as spotless as possible because his brain was a pretty big disaster at the best of times and clutter didn’t help. 

“You’re very quickly losing it,” he held his hand up when Steve went to speak, “shut up, I don’t want to hear it. Right now you’re listening. This is strike one. Penny is upset and she’s been hungry for the last two full days. Somehow, despite being around her constantly, you didn’t realize that. You better figure out what else you’re not realizing because if I feel like Penny isn’t thriving, I’m going to take her back whether you like it or not.” 

[newstfionline]

Friday, June 4, 2021

America’s Biggest Companies (Fortune) Fortune magazine released its annual ranking of America’s largest companies, with Walmart topping the list for the ninth straight year. Boosted by the pandemic-driven consumer shift to online and bulk purchasing, the retail behemoth brought in nearly $560B in revenue. The company was followed by Amazon ($386B in revenue), Apple ($275B), CVS Health ($269B), and UnitedHealth Group ($257B). The combined list generated almost $14T in revenue last year—about two-thirds of the US economy.

Drought ravages California’s reservoirs ahead of hot summer (AP) Each year Lake Oroville helps water a quarter of the nation’s crops, sustain endangered salmon beneath its massive earthen dam and anchor the tourism economy of a Northern California county that must rebuild seemingly every year after unrelenting wildfires. But now the mighty lake—a linchpin in a system of aqueducts and reservoirs in the arid U.S. West that makes California possible—is shrinking with surprising speed amid a severe drought, with state officials predicting it will reach a record low later this summer. While droughts are common in California, this year’s is much hotter and drier than others, evaporating water more quickly from the reservoirs and the sparse Sierra Nevada snowpack that feeds them. The state’s more than 1,500 reservoirs are 50% lower than they should be this time of year, according to Jay Lund, co-director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California-Davis. If Lake Oroville falls below 640 feet (195 meters)—which it could do by late August—state officials would shut down a major power plant for just the second time ever because of low water levels, straining the electrical grid during the peak demand of the hottest part of the summer.

Miami Faces the Hard Choices of Climate Change (NYT) Three years ago, not long after Hurricane Irma left parts of Miami underwater, the federal government embarked on a study to find a way to protect the vulnerable South Florida coast from deadly and destructive storm surge. Already, no one likes the answer. Build a wall, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed in its first draft of the study, now under review. Six miles of it, in fact, mostly inland, running parallel to the coast through neighborhoods—except for a one-mile stretch right on Biscayne Bay, past the gleaming sky-rises of Brickell, the city’s financial district. The dramatic $6 billion proposal remains tentative and at least five years off. But the startling suggestion of a massive sea wall up to 20 feet high cutting across beautiful Biscayne Bay was enough to jolt some Miamians to attention: The hard choices that will be necessary to deal with the city’s many environmental challenges are here, and few people want to face them. The trouble is that the magnitude of the interconnected obstacles the region faces can feel overwhelming, and none of the possible solutions are cheap, easy or pretty.

A deadly vote (Washington Post) TAXCO, Mexico—Mario Figueroa sat in his armored SUV, surrounded by bodyguards clutching semiautomatic rifles. The bulletproof vest was stashed behind the back seat. These days, Figueroa rarely travels without his security team. As a candidate for mayor of this Spanish colonial city—once popular with American tourists, now lashed by drug violence—the 53-year-old businessman has already taken a bullet in the chest. Mexico is in the final days of one of its most violent electoral campaigns in modern times. Eighty-nine politicians have been killed since September, according to the security consulting firm Etellekt. Scores more have been wounded or threatened. The campaign has become a stark illustration of crime organizations’ quest to expand their control of Mexico’s territory. The violence has focused largely on races for mayor and other local government posts. “They want control of the police, control of public works projects, the budget, and illicit activities,” said Marcial Rodríguez Saldaña, the state leader of Morena, the party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. “We’ve reached an extreme,” Figueroa said.

US troops storm sunflower oil factory in Bulgaria (Foreign Policy) The owner of a sunflower oil factory in Bulgaria has taken legal action after U.S. soldiers accidentally stormed his business during a NATO training exercise. The mix-up occurred while soldiers were simulating the clearing of an airfield in southern Bulgaria, and continued on to Marin Dimitrov’s factory, where workers watched on as gun-wielding soldiers stalked through the premises. The incident has led to a rebuke from the highest levels with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev calling it “absolutely unacceptable.” “We always learn from these exercises and are fully investigating the cause of this mistake,” the U.S. embassy in Sofia said in a statement.

Beijing Introduces Three-Child Policy (Foreign Policy) On Monday, China announced that married couples would be allowed to have up to three children, raising the official two-child limit in a widely anticipated move. Despite government hopes, the introduction of the two-child policy in 2016 failed to produce a baby boom. It’s unlikely the latest policy change will affect China’s fertility rate, either. The public has responded with mocking contempt toward the idea that government restraints have held parents back from having more children, rather than the exorbitant costs of child rearing in China—from migrant families forced to pay fees for local public schools to upper-class parents who fear their children will fall behind without flute or calligraphy lessons. So why keep a limit on the number of children a couple can have at all? One reason is to provide cover for the ongoing forced sterilization of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang, whose birthrate fell by nearly 50 percent between 2017 and 2020. Another is that China now has an enormous family planning bureaucracy that supports many jobs. Party leaders may also be concerned that the rich flaunting large families—such as late Macao casino tycoon Stanley Ho, known for his four wives and 17 children—would spark resentment.

Lebanese leaders exchange barbs as country sinks into crisis (AP) Lebanon’s president and prime minister-designate traded barbs Wednesday, accusing one another of obstruction, negligence and insolence in a war or words that has for months obstructed the formation of a new government as the country sinks deeper into economic and financial crisis. The power struggle between the premier-designate, Saad Hariri, on one side and President Michel Aoun and his son-in-law Gebran Bassil on the other, has worsened despite warnings from world leaders and economic experts of the dire economic conditions tiny Lebanon is facing. The World Bank on Tuesday said Lebanon’s crisis is one of the worst the world has seen in the past 150 years. In a late night burst of anger, protesters blocked main roads in Beirut and north of the capital. A young activist told a local TV station the protest was against the constant humiliation of Lebanese who line up to fill their cars with fuel, increasing power cuts, search for medicine and deal with confused banking decisions that are robbing thousands of their savings. The Lebanese pound, pegged to the dollar for 30 years at 1,507, has been in a free fall since late 2019. It is now trading at nearly 13,000 to the dollar at the black market.

Netanyahu opponents reach coalition deal to oust Israeli PM (AP) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents announced Wednesday that they have reached a deal to form a new governing coalition, paving the way for the ouster of the longtime Israeli leader. The dramatic announcement by opposition leader Yair Lapid and his main coalition partner, Naftali Bennett, came shortly before a midnight deadline and prevented what could have been Israel’s fifth consecutive election in just over two years. The agreement still needs to be approved by the Knesset, or parliament, in a vote that is expected to take place early next week. If it goes through, Lapid and a diverse array of partners that span the Israeli political spectrum will end Netanyahu’s record-setting but divisive 12-year rule. Netanyahu, desperate to remain in office while he fights corruption charges, is expected to do everything possible in the coming days to prevent the new coalition from taking power. If he fails, he will be pushed into the opposition. (Foreign Policy) While a new government is not yet set in stone, normal business carries on: Benny Gantz arrives in Washington today to request $1 billion in emergency military aid in order to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome defenses and help restock its bomb supply following the bombardment of Gaza. “I would imagine that the administration would say yes to this request and it will sail through Congress,” Senator Lindsey Graham said on Tuesday.

In Syria camp, forgotten children are molded by IS ideology (AP) At the sprawling al-Hol camp in northeast Syria, children pass their days roaming the dirt roads, playing with mock swords and black banners in imitation of Islamic State group militants. Few can read or write. For some, the only education is from mothers giving them IS propaganda. It has been more than two years since the Islamic State group’s self-declared “caliphate” was brought down. And it has been more than two years that some 27,000 children have been left to languish in al-Hol camp, which houses families of IS members. Most of them not yet teenagers, they are spending their childhood in a limbo of miserable conditions with no schools, no place to play or develop, and seemingly no international interest in resolving their situation. Only one institution is left to mold them: remnants of the Islamic State group. Kurdish authorities and aid groups fear the camp will create a new generation of militants. They are pleading with home countries to take the women and children back. The problem is that home governments often see the children as posing a danger rather than as needing rescue.

‘Come On In, Boys’: A Wave of the Hand Sets Off Spain-Morocco Migrant Fight (NYT) Daouda Faye, a 25-year-old migrant from Senegal, was elated when he heard that Moroccan border guards had suddenly started waving in undocumented migrants across the border to Ceuta, a fenced-off Spanish enclave on the North African coast. “‘Come on in, boys,’” the guards told him and others as they reached the border on May 17, Mr. Faye said. Normally, Morocco tightly controls the fenced borders around Ceuta, a six-mile-long peninsula on Morocco’s northern coast that Spain has governed since the 1600s. But now its military was allowing migrants into this toehold of Europe. Over the next two days, as many as 12,000 people flowed over the border to Ceuta in hopes of reaching mainland Spain, engulfing the city of 80,000. The crisis has laid bare the unique pressure point Morocco has over Spain on migration. Spanish government officials and other experts say Morocco increasingly sees the migrants as a kind of currency and is leveraging its control over them to extract financial and political prizes from Spain. Hours after the migrants began pouring into Ceuta, Spain approved 30 million euros, about $37 million, in aid to Morocco for border policing.

A Military Drone With A Mind Of Its Own Was Used In Combat, U.N. Says (NPR) Military-grade autonomous drones can fly themselves to a specific location, pick their own targets and kill without the assistance of a remote human operator. Such weapons are known to be in development, but until recently there were no reported cases of autonomous drones killing fighters on the battlefield. Now, a United Nations report about a March 2020 skirmish in the military conflict in Libya says such a drone, known as a lethal autonomous weapons system—or LAWS—has made its wartime debut. But the report does not say explicitly that the LAWS killed anyone. The assault came during fighting between the U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord and forces aligned with Gen. Khalifa Haftar, according to the report by the U.N. Panel of Experts on Libya. “Logistics convoys and retreating [Haftar-affiliated forces] were subsequently hunted down and remotely engaged by the unmanned combat aerial vehicles or the lethal autonomous weapons systems such as the STM Kargu-2 ... and other loitering munitions,” the panel wrote. The Kargu-2 is an attack drone made by the Turkish company STM that can be operated both autonomously and manually and that purports to use “machine learning” and “real-time image processing” against its targets.

[theculturedmarxist]

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr told members of a well-connected private group that the novel coronavirus would have dire effects on the U.S. economy and population, likening it to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that left millions dead, according to a secret recording obtained by NPR.

Also on Thursday, ProPublica reported that Burr sold between $628,000 and $1.72 million in stocks on Feb. 13, including in the hotel and hospitality industry.

The trading occurred six days after Burr co-wrote an op-ed piece saying America had tools in place to combat COVID-19 and seven days before the first major decline in the stock market.

Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned about the dangers of COVID-19 on Feb. 27 — the same day President Donald Trump downplayed the virus.

The audience was identified by NPR as the Tar Heel Circle, a nonpartisan group comprised of business leaders and entities. A membership in the group costs between $500 and $10,000 and the group claims on its website to offer “interaction with top leaders and staff from Congress, the administration and the private sector.”

Burr told the audience that “there’s one thing I can tell you about this, it is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything we have seen in recent history.”

“It’s probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic” that had 675,000 deaths in the U.S. and 50 million worldwide.

Trump said that day of COVID-19: “it’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle. It will disappear. It could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We’ll see what happens.”

Burr’s comments carry significant weight in part because he is author of the federal Pandemic All-Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006.

On Thursday, Burr spokeswoman Caitlin Carroll said that “Senator Burr has been banging the drum about the importance of public health preparedness for more than 20 years.”

She did not respond when asked about why Burr offered a stark COVID-19 warning in private, but hasn’t made similar comments to the public.

Hospitality stock sales

ProPublica reported Burr sold a large portion of his stock portfolio Feb. 13. The assets come from accounts that are held by Burr, his spouse or are jointly held.

Periodic financial disclosures are required to be submitted by U.S. senators.

Burr sold between $628,000 and $1.72 million of his holdings in 33 separate transactions. The publication Roll Call has listed his net worth at $1.7 million as of 2018.

Burr made his first statement on his Senate website about coronavirus in a Feb. 7 op-ed piece written with Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Health committee. At that time, there were 15 identified cases in the U.S.

“Senator Burr filed a financial disclosure form for personal transactions made several weeks before the U.S. and financial markets showed signs of volatility due to the growing coronavirus outbreak,” Carroll said.

“As the situation continues to evolve daily, he has been deeply concerned by the steep and sudden toll this pandemic is taking on our economy.”

The reporting documents showed some of the stock Burr sold on Feb. 13 included separate transactions valued at between $15,001 and $50,000, and between $50,001 and $100,000 of shares of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts.

On Feb. 4, Burr bought between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of stock in Extended Stay America, but also sold stock valued between $15,001 and $50,000 that same day.

On Feb. 13, Burr sold in separate transactions Extended Stay America stock worth between $15,001 and $50,000, and between $50,001 and $100,000.

Other companies whose stock Burr sold Feb. 13 in the range of $50,001 and $100,000 were biopharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc., automobile coatings company Axatla Coatings Systems Ltd., telecommunications company Centurylink Inc., insurer Everest RE Group Ltd., and alcoholic beverages manufacturer Constellation Brands Inc, Class A shares.

Multiple media outlets said there is no evidence that Burr sold the stock on the basis of any insider information gained from his chairmanship.

CNN reported that Congress passed the Stock Act in 2012, which made it illegal for lawmakers to use inside information for financial benefit. Burr was one of three Republican senators to vote against the bill.

‘Putting lives at risk’

On Twitter, Burr was accused of “putting American lives at risk to maintain allegiance to Trump,” because he didn’t make his warnings about COVID-19 publicly.

Scott Huffman, Democratic candidate for North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District, said in a tweet: “Shame on you for not stepping up and sounding the alarm so we could have started preparing then.”

Burr’s comments to the group came 13 days before the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning to Europe and 15 days before the president banned European travelers, according to NPR.

“Every company should be cognizant of the fact that you may have to alter your travel,” Burr said on the recording.

“You may have to look at your employees and judge whether the trip they’re making to Europe is essential or whether it can be done on video conference. Why risk it?” Burr said.

NPR also pointed out that 16 days before Gov. Roy Cooper ordered March 14 the closing of schools due to COVID-19, Burr warned the audience of that likelihood.

“There will be, I’m sure, times that communities, probably some in North Carolina, have a transmission rate where they say, ‘Let’s close schools for two weeks. Everybody stay home,’” he said.

Burr also spoke about requiring the assistance of military hospitals to handle a potential surge in COVID-19 cases.

‘U.S. in better position’

Alexander and Burr said in the op-ed that “thankfully, the United States today is better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus, in large part due to the work of the Senate Health committee, Congress and the Trump Administration.”

“The work of Congress and the administration has allowed U.S. public health officials to move swiftly and decisively in the last few weeks,” including that the “CDC has developed a diagnostic test that detects coronavirus infections and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is prepared to expedite its review.”

Burr issued a statement March 3, when the first COVID-19 case was disclosed by state health officials, in which he said “the U.S. is in a better position than any other nation to handle a public health emergency like coronavirus.”

Carroll said Thursday that Burr’s message “has always been, and continues to be, that we must be prepared to protect American lives in the event of a pandemic or bio-attack.”

“Since early February, whether in constituent meetings or open hearings, he has worked to educate the public about the tools and resources our government has to confront the spread of coronavirus.”

“At the same time, he has urged public officials to fully utilize every tool at their disposal in this effort. Every American should take this threat seriously and should follow the latest guidelines from the CDC and state officials.”

[ayankun]

The Asset

so I’m making my mom watch Agents of SHIELD (obviously) and today we watched eps 1x03 - 1x06.  That’s The Asset, Eye Spy, Girl in the Flower Dress, and FZZT.

THEN I ACCIDENTALLY SPENT LIKE FIVE HOURS DISSECTING MY LEAST FAVORITE EPISODE YOU’RE WELCOME

First off, full spoilers ahead, of course.

1x03 is, hands down, the worst episode of the series.  PERIOD.  I didn’t give it my full attention when I did my rewatch, because I remembered it well enough for some reason and the guy that plays Quinn looks too much but not enough like Tahmoh Penikett to seriously irritate me.  DODGED A BULLET THERE.

Giving it your full attention does not do it any favors.  I was physically discomfited, squirming in my seat and dropping snide remarks every 12 seconds.  It’s bad, you guys. 

First off, we have this guy, who is, for now in S1, the one and only “Agent Mack.”

THE SIMILARITIES ARE UNCANNY.

Then this big rig gets dropped like 50 feet and I’m supposed to believe that this guy strapped in the back only had his glasses knocked askew?

Ok then we go see what the team is up to, and lord, three episodes has not been enough time for Chloe or Brett to Figure Their Shit Out.  They’re so awkward and dumb looking.

After a passable briefing scene, where we learn that Baldy McGlasses is a valuable asset (and beloved advisor to FitzSimmons) who was being transported with maximum security before being kidnapped, we get this wildly wild “we have to put something on the screen while exposition happens” shot:

Which cuts contemporaneously to

Thanks I hate it

Where did the atmospheric smoke go?  Was that highway always there?  What time of day is this supposed to be where the ambient light changes so drastically over a matter of seconds?  They couldn’t have kept the camera on the left side of the lane marker?

But it gets worse because Simmons has a line and the coverage for this is basically just a matched jump cut over to the other half of the line up and back again.

I can’t stand it.

So Agent Mack survived the fall and is still on the scene of the accident.  My mom was pretty incredulous that he was alive, and I was thinking it was too bad that he had to sit there for hours waiting to be debriefed instead of being taken to a hospital.

THEN there’s some FitzSimmons pratfall-adjacent sci-fi nonsense that my mom really got a kick out of.  But I was too distracted by Iain’s decision to play Fitz as a douchebag so far this season so I wasn’t in the right mood to be impressed.

Ok then we go back to the lab to do some science on the MacGuffin, and I will admit my favorite part so far is Skye challenging Coulson on the existence of the truth serum, and Coulson plays it so Coulson-y it’s truly chef’s kiss.

BUT THEN May comes along and drops 100 pounds of print media for Skye to review (oh yeah, there’s a key subplot about there potentially being a mole inside SHIELD, which is how McGlasses got got) and MY MOM who REGULARLY prints out things like Facebook posts to keep for posterity rightly pointed out that they have high-tech on this plane like holograms and stuff, so printing out all this correspondence in order to go through it page by page makes 0% sense.

Also we never see it again.

OKAY THEN COULSON AND WARD ACCOST A COWBOY RIDING A HORSE THROUGH THE WOODS.  Said cowboy also just happens to have the incriminating bag of gold on his person, which Coulson and Ward straight up steal.  That’s it.  That’s the whole concept for the scene.  Coulson’s just parked his car along a narrow woodland path, just waiting for a cowboy to come riding along so he can accost him/steal his gold. 

Check out how whack this scene-setting shot is, too.  We have Coulson on the left, facing the Cowboy on the right.  At this trajectory, you can see that Lola and the horse are basically pointed perpendicular to one another.

Yet cowboy pulls to a stop without banking and addresses something dead ahead of him.

Surprise!  Coulson’s over there now and Lola and the horse are facing dead on.

To really drive this home, cowboy spends the rest of the scene on the left, addressing Coulson who remains on the right.

Anyway so yeah, this scene is about roughing up an innocent civilian for intel and then stealing his legally acquired wealth.

At least they can’t take the sky from him.

The purpose of the cowboy gold is that it’s directly traceable back to Quinn Worldwide, which is hilarious considering that one assumes the under-the-table transaction used this method of currency in order to not be easily traced.

Coulson name drops Quinn like he’s some off-brand Tony Stark that we should be impressed with, and we are immediately shown that Ian Quinn’s defining characteristic is that he has an assistant to hang up his cell phone calls for him.  We are not impressed with Ian Quinn.

OKAY AND THEN WE GET THIS COMPLETE MIS-READ OF SCRIPT INTENT IN THIS SHOT

why why why why why why would you ignore a character’s line like that.  Why are you choosing to TELL me that a man is tied up when it would be SO EASY to SHOW me. 

Especially since the narrative so far is that McGlasses has been skillfully kidnapped by a very determined adversary, and this moment, this interaction, is where that assumption is proven erroneous.  Quinn’s line is a very specific cue that we are meant to SEE that he’s restrained, per our expectations following a kidnapping, specifically to introduce the twist that Quinn is just that budget Tony Stark who actually has no malicious intentions towards his former colleague.

A super close close up of McGlasses fails to achieve that moment the script was hunting for.  I’m feeling that the intent was to keep the focus on this dude because of the upcoming secondary twist where he is revealed to be the SHIELD mole who masterminded his own kidnapping, but this guy is So Bad at acting I don’t think keeping him front and center is ever going to pay off.

(ok I just checked and it turns out Ian Hart is a prolific English actor.  this makes me feel like I ought to chalk it up to “difficulty emoting while doing a fake American accent” but guys this performance is so bad I’m really not willing to believe there’s a good excuse)

anyway it turns out Quinn’s good guy!

.....but then he’s on the wrong side of the shot all of a sudden for no good reason and HEY maybe this set up with the wide angle on the lab and a clear look at McGlasses’ physical situation within that environment would have been an alternative for, you know, maybe some sort of establishing shot?  Maybe?  No?

Also here let’s take a moment to let the “plot” really sink in.  These two chuckleheads are former classmates and colleagues, even though one of them looks about 20 years older than the other, and Quinn discovered that “an asset” was being moved, “deduced” that the asset was McGlasses, and wanted to bring McGlasses in on his semi-nefarious science plan.  So to avoid SHIELD interference in his schemey scheme, Quinn

kidnaps McGlasses directly from SHIELD custody,

in the showiest manner, not only using but LEAVING BEHIND the exact product at the core of his scheme,

and pays a local cowboy with easily traceable gold in exchange for just some regular backhoe to bust open the big rig transporting McGlasses, instead of, I don’t know, using his massive wealth and influence and in-house R&D products to not massively incriminate himself

He couldn’t have just invited McGlasses over without calling attention to himself? 

There is the way that “the asset” was being “moved” makes it sound like McGlasses was on top secret lock down with no civilian rights or means of making/receiving contact with people like old colleagues.  But this is never clarified, like, the only other thing we know about him is that he evidently advises classes at the Sci-Ops branch of the SHIELD academy. 

ALSO we have yet to learn that McGlasses personally staged “being moved” and leaked the hints regarding the identity of “the asset” to Quinn just so that Quinn would do all these nonsense things he done.  He couldn’t have just invited himself over???

Also the conversation they have at this point is real rough, with non-sequiturs, shambling exposition, and garbage jokes that wouldn’t float even if you didn’t have a log and a ham struggling to mimic human behavior.

Also Quinn bought the PRIME MINISTER OF MALTA’S old manor specifically because it has a huge underground lab????  What about Malta do I need to know about before this makes sense?

Let’s move on.  FitzSkimmons have an only-mostly painful scene of exposition in which Iain is still having a hard time with the lines/characterization the Powers That Be are forcing Fitz to be at the moment.  I’m going to say it.  Season 1 Fitz is Utterly Unlikable.

However, this rant has given me the opportunity to 1) stand corrected and 2) appreciate this understated joke:

She’s still on page 1 of 1 billion LOLOLOLOL

The other nice thing to come out of this scene is the casual validation that the public school system may not be right for everyone, and that being a high school drop out does not mean you can’t also be an intelligent self-starter who finds value and satisfaction in picking up a trade skill on your own.  *coughs in Robbie Reyes*

UGH but then we go back to McWooden and Bargain Ham.  Their story is UNINTERESTING and their performances are HARD TO STOMACH.  Also it ends on a mirror of the shot we started with (so there is some evidence of intelligent design at play here after all)

But this framing makes me so uncomfortable like, I’ve shipped for less don’t put weird ideas in my head that no one wants least of all me--

Ok.  We’re a third of the way through.  It doesn’t stop getting worse.

So here’s the correct way to reposition your characters if you want to change up the eye lines without making it super jarring!  The start of this scene is actually really textbook-nice, just look:

The pre-mission planning is already in full swing, but we follow Skye, the outsider on the outside, approaching the scene with some amount of hesitation.

She starts on the right, facing left, and crosses across the path of the camera as it follows her towards the meeting, ending up on its left while the folks currently giving lines are framed over her right shoulder.  Your eye line and sense of positioning has fluidly followed hers, and this makes sense.

From this establishing shot, we do a real nice punch in on Coulson as he’s speaking, using a really action smooth cut as he does a bit of business with his hand.

We’re still coming into this scene from Skye’s POV, and this shot reflects that -- close enough to focus on the important action, but distant enough to show Skye’s current position (literally and figuratively) relative to the rest of the team.

The reverse shot is ... fine.  It’s fine.  I don’t like that she’s framed on the right hand side of the screen (exactly where Coulson was a split second ago), but the eye lines still match up and it does give the impression that the camera is the avatar of the audience and we just turned on the spot to look at her as she quietly invites herself to this scene and starts putting that big beautiful brain of hers to work.

Then we leave her to it!  Feel the difference this cut has, emotionally, from the last time we looked over at Coulson:

We’ve left Skye’s aloof POV and now we’re all up in his biz.  This framing tells us he’s no longer the subject of Skye’s contemplation and has gone back to being a character of the TV screen doing TV character things.

The remainder of this scene holds onto that “normal” shot-reverse-shot framing of the team as they give their opinions and work through the plan.

This laudable result of thoughtful camera work is almost instantly ruined by Fitz yammering on about using a brave little monkey to do their serious spy business and HOLY COW Iain does his best with the dreck he’s been given but there is no universe in which I will find this type of dialogue acceptable.

The valuable plot point here is that Skye is finding her footing on the team, doing hacky stuff on her phone and putting herself out there as -- wait for it -- an asset to Coulson.  Ward responds to this with bafflement, being generally supportive of her known abilities while also being doubtful that she’s a complete package, and turning to Coulson for advice on how to round her training out.

This results in yet another JARRING AF transition (read: there’s no transition) from Ward and Coulson’s heart to heart to Ward pointing a gun at Skye at some indeterminate amount of time later.

Look we haven’t even had time to ingest Coulson’s line yet and BAM we’re here.

This scene’s fine.  It’s doing double duty and that’s admirable.  Triple duty, even.  Many duties are being performed in this scene.  We have

fledgling Skyeward

the introduction to the gun-manipulation maneuver Skye will use later on

Skye’s irreverence butting heads with Ward’s need for brass-tacks

at least one solid joke at Ward’s expense

Ward valuing Skye’s er, assets -- I’M TALKING COMPUTER SCIENCE YA PERVS

a very competent conversational segue into Ward’s Whole Deal, wherein we are introduced to the concept of his childhood trauma (lolol and man does Brett just fail to deliver these lines in any sort of a way that inspires human empathy wowowo he’s so bad in this one)

a callback to an earlier conversation as well as a set up for a future joke

SKYE STEALING WARD’S GUN FROM OUT OF HIS PANTS A++++

Now we go into pre-heist plan-walkthrough mode, and it’s so boring and lifeless that Skye’s actual summary line is “Plan, green, drop, walk ... pie.”  To be honest, she got more out of the discussion than I did.

May has an interesting character moment where she’s complaining about going into the field and then immediately regrets it because she was never going to be sent in, but that means Coulson’s going in instead and that worries her.  I keep thinking back on this season as being unfocused, but that’s because I forget that the sales pitch for this entire shebang is “we killed Coulson in Avengers but now here’s a show where he’s the lead because everyone loves him so much” and the subsequent focus of the inaugural season is everyone’s burning curiosity to find out how they undid his murder. 

Aside from the sci-fi/Marvel/generic spy show gimmick of the week, these early episodes never fail to prioritize the interpersonal dynamic of their team while simultaneously teasing out the Coulson mystery with these nice little regular hits.

I let it keep playing while I was typing, and we flew over some whatever business where Skye goes to Quinn’s party, and Coulson and Ward land their little raft on the beach, and the other kids are watching from the Bus and FITZ IS AGAIN TERRIBLE

I feel you, Jemma.

(Also, am I wrong in hearing him give in and say “boobs?”  The Netflix subtitles have it as “oops” but that can’t be it.)

Anyway so Skye’s busy using her Assets to win Quinn over, and Chloe’s shining moment in this scene is the delivery of the drivers test joke.

Back to stuff that’s gratingly awful, we’re supposedly on Malta, right?  And you know how Hollywood generally and the spy show/movie genre specifically tries to stretch their location budgets by putting on color filters to “evoke” distant lands?

We go from the above, washed out and unfiltered, to this sepia-toned nonsense:

This is supposed to be taking place basically right outside.  Why not just keep the filter on for the interior scenes, too?  There’s plenty of searing Maltese light coming in through that wall of windows.

(They must have had a hard time on location for the manor shoots, though, it’s just as washed out in the earlier scene set outdoors that I didn’t show you because it was boring but I’m showing you know because it’s not even the same color filter as the Coulson/Ward shots

)

((Also, yeah, I get it.  You can’t fly to Malta for a day for a television shoot.  But how many people are you fooling when you put the Santa Monica mountains in the backdrop of every exterior shot?))

So we go back and forth between these high-grain-low-saturation beachfront stuff to these holy angelic light of judgement shots and I hate it.

Like, why choose to shoot against this nuclear-blast light?  It’s not doing your actors any favors.

Especially when you’re ALSO choosing to depict that same “natural” light with a whole different palette and then continue to give us the opportunity to compare and contrast.

Also I hate the Ward/Coulson business because it’s just generic spy stuff where some guards come out of nowhere and I guess maybe it’s implied that their cute boat was found but it could just as easily be that it was explicitly stated that there were guard patrols and I forgot. 

But then they fight and defeat the guards in literally under 8 seconds and that’s that.  End of stakes.

The character moment that validates this trivial obstacle is that Coulson tries to do something with a gun and finds that May’s concerns weren’t entirely unfounded.  He’s a little rusty. 

Also Ward’s response to this is to chuck the gun into the laser wall and I don’t know why.  In any case, the energy from both of them in this screenshot really resonates with me.

So then Skye Does The Thing with her Assets and if you’ll let me be picky again about plot holes, why does the wireless access MacGuffin need to have an interface for Skye to check that the connection is possible, and THEN have that connection activated by LITERALLY dropping it on the table.  They couldn’t have set it to auto-scan and then tell her through her earpiece to stay still when the connection activated itself?

Whatever.  Success!  Immediately followed by ... INEXPLICABLE OBSTACLE

WHO, praytell, is on the other end of that walkie talkie?  Because the downed man is the man you see.  Typically, it would be like a survivor of the scuffle who radios for backup, but here we see the scene of the scuffle and some unknown unseen ADDITIONAL MAN who I guess is just spying on them from somewhere and radioing still more unseen men?

Instantly hearing this news, the Unseen begin a sniper assault on Coulson and Ward, and we get to see their bullets getting evaporated by the laser wall.  Remember those guards walking along the sea cliff towards the sign?  There’s no place for the snipers to be sniping from, unless they have some kind of invisible floating island.

This scenario is made even more hilarious once Fitz brings down the laser wall and Coulson and Ward dive through like they think they some kind of James Bonds and then the wall goes back up and the snipers keep sniping.

Why aren’t the guards on the inside of the perimeter of the compound which they guard?  This laser fence is now protecting the intruders.  Minor design flaw.

Anywho, Quinn is still talking about how he doesn’t trust SHIELD and SHIELD doesn’t trust him, so it’s like, what are we supposed to believe about this guy anyway?  Why did Coulson introduce him as bargain bin Tony Stark if he was known to be bargain bin Justin Hammer all along?

So now that snipers have failed to snipe the intruders, some Seen Guards come to alert Quinn so he breaks the wireless MacGuffin and turns a gun on Skye.  (Just sayin, if it had been some secret device that was still in her bag, she’d have plausible deniability) 

I think, at this point, I have two conclusions

Team Coulson has no extraction plan for getting McGlasses out of the compound since they don’t have a Plan B to get back through the laser wall, no firepower to use on the Seen Guards, and no available land-or-sea getaway vehicles.

There was never any sort of extraction plan for Skye even if the laser wall and the Seen Guards were not an obstacle.

Here’s where it gets the messiest.

Coulson busts in on McGlasses but is told no rescue is required.

AT THAT SAME TIME

May has just popped open a tablet over in some room by herself, evidently disinterested in whatever FitzSimmons is probably doing right now in light of this drastic turn of events, and she’s randomly googling up on the SHIELD leak mentioned earlier, only to discover that it was MCGLASSES ALL ALONG.

Keeps a cool head, our May.

Yeah, we know, we .. he ... he just said ... you know what?  We didn’t actually care, though?  Who the mole was or that it was McGlasses.  We certainly didn’t spend the last half hour watching May diligently tracking down some breadcrumb trail of clues to get to this dramatic reveal, only to find out a second too late.  We didn’t even see her checking up that Skye had/didn’t have this angle covered.

Did she print out the contents of the four-foot binder as some sort of eco-terrorist cruel joke since she was just planning on spending three seconds on the computer to complete the same task?

Ok so Coulson misinterprets McGlasses’ decline of his rescue operation as collaboration with Quinn until May clues him in.  We then go to commercials and come back and have to go over all this info again just in case we didn’t follow that super exciting double-cross the first two times.

At which point we figure out where all the pre-production time was sunk -- somebody had to spend a lot of effort envisioning how they were going to do the wacky-gravity scenes.  My feeling is that fun challenges like that are what stand out to people who are working on a thing, and sometimes the prestige of “pulling that off” can overshadow the need to pay attention to other, less exciting aspects of filmmaking, like making sure your eye lines stay coherent in a scene or that your color gradings aren’t super distracting.

Anyway I do really like the load-bearing scene where Quinn threatens Skye at gunpoint because it is one of those many examples this season has of laying ground work for and paying off character moments.

Skye’s flip and smart and completely not ready for this level of field action, but she remembers her training, remembers how earnestly Ward wanted her to be ready for this defining moment, and gets the gun!

That “nOPE” when she can’t shoot the man is also Classic Skye and we Love Her For It.

Anyway oh yeah, McGlasses reveals his master plan to get kidnapped, so that he could get on site and ruin Quinn’s everything because he’s a Bad Justin Hammer.  His performance is SO PAINFUL and his reasoning has yet to make sense.  Coulson doesn’t ask “why did you have to be kidnapped to get in, though” but he does ask “why didn’t you try reasoning with him” as if that were the question we needed an answer to.

Also it turns out FitzSimmons has been pretty chill this whole time since their agents lost their extraction plan (well, they’re smart, they probably knew all along that there wasn’t one) and are just puttering around the lab working on what looks like their regular day-to-day science, talking excitedly about gravitonium rather than panicking that the whole plan’s gone to shit.

Unflappable.

COME ON PEOPLE the mission wasn’t “throw McGlasses into the gravitonium and do high-fives” it was “rescue McGlasses from Quinn’s grasp.”  From the way that this plays out, there is 0% indication that their initial plan was ever expected to succeed.

WE DON’T EVEN SEE HOW THEY GET OUT OF THERE, WE JUST LOOK AT SOME MCGRAVITONIUM AND THEN SEE COULSON ON THE BUS INSTRUCTING THE CONTAINMENT FACILITY ON HOW IT SHOULD BE HANDLED.

Oh well, the gratuitous plot is disposed with after this point.

In the denouement, we get to see May and Coulson interact over his experience in the field and her experience being stuck watching him in the field.  She’s finally ready for combat, but strictly for his sake.  And he’s at the point where he’s ready and willing to take her up on her offer instead of trying to prove that he’s everything he was before he died.

Following that, we get some Skyeward with some really gross romantic comedy type music.  Bear, you’re better than this!!  But the scene is nice, Chloe really brings it (almost brings too much) and Brett is there to support her.

It’s a really on-the-nose admission from Skye that her allegiances lie with SHIELD, but its an organic continuation of that bit from earlier where she wandered all up on their meeting, the outsider, and pushed her way into the heart of it.  She wants this.  She wants to feel like she belongs here.  And now she’s been trusted with some opportunities and tools to prove it!

This early in the season, we’re still doubtful that she’s on the up and up, what with that Rising Tide plot thread hanging so loose and tantalizing over our heads.  Due to the potential of a storyline revolving around her betrayal, there are a lot of fun little moments in the next few episodes where Ward gets to say some betrayal-related stuff that is absolutely excellent in retrospect.

I was watching some old interviews and while it is very clear Brett did not know the fate of his character in advance, it’s also distinctly implied that no one knew and the arc of the season may have developed episode by episode.  That’s so nutty to me, considering how strong the structure of the season is, how there are so many satisfying call backs and payoffs later on.

I think I’m more likely to applaud a well-plotted narrative, in which foreshadowing and a deliberate order of events slowly unravel to great effect.  But I can definitely appreciate the ability to force the illusion of the same by being crafty and attentive and not letting any usable threads go to waste.

Ultimately, whether by design or by providence, Season 1 is successful in pulling it all together.  It’s just that episodes like this one don’t really inspire you to believe that that outcome is likely, or even possible.  Episodes like this one cause a person to give up watching halfway through the season and walk away for years until cajoled into giving it another shot because “it got good somehow.”

But what this season has, every episode, especially ones like this one, is a pronounced, chaotic, relentless prioritization of Character over Plot.  What is this show about?  Who cares.  That’s the wrong question.  This show could have been about anything, and these early episodes are all too aware of it.  What kind of story can you tell when every option is on the table and no one knows what to expect from you?

You find that story, step by step, episode by episode, through the eyes of your characters.  The forward motion of the story isn’t “how did Coulson come back to life” but “what is life going to be like for him now?”  It’s not “will Skye betray the team” it’s “what does she want and what is she willing to do to get it?”

Posing and answering these character questions generates the Story of Agents of SHIELD.  Plots be damned.  Remember how at one point in this episode, our heroes robbed a cowboy at gunpoint?  Yeah.  Me either.

And I can’t agree more with this approach.  In my experience, PWP works best when its about the characters.

[tigerbus2-blog]

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Science Fiction Felinoids

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One of the challenges of science fiction writing is populating the stories. One can use humans, but human motivations and cultures can be limited in scope and range. The anwser lies in using other physical forms than the human-- the lizard-like Gorn from Star Trek TOS co mes to mind. I imagined but never wrote about kangaroo-like aliens. A popular shape for aliens is that of the cat-- felinoids. Here are 5 Science Fiction felinoids of my acquaintance--

Even when cat-like in shape, aliens can be very human in values, thought patterns and motivations. It's not easy to create and alien mind from the inside out. We can create an alien with human like thoughts and then set its behavior and one end of the spectrum of human behavior and play it off humans whose personalities stand in contrast to that of the alien. And so it is with van Vogt's Coeurl. Coeurl in "Black Destroyer"/'' The Voyage of the Space Beagle'' is the last survivor of a dying race. He is decadent and depraved and not nearly as bright as he thinks, despite his abilities. After first conatct, he kills a number of the human explorers, not realizing how obvious he is. We can see the smugness of the house cat in him, but he also fits within expectations for human depravity. He is contrasted by the scientifically and intellectually trained and incredibly well adjusted humans of the Beagle. They have him neatly sorted and classified fairly quickly. He is however not without resources and builds a tiny spaceship with which to escape the humans when his luck turns. Despite ihs briilliance in adaptating human technology, he is emotionally and fundamentally disabled by his depravity. This disability leads to the sort of despair which is seldom a survival trait.

An alien way of thinking can still be human in nature but insane by human standards-- to the point that what we consider normal would be regarded by them as hopelessly and tragically deluded. Algis Budrys created such a race for Shadow on the Stars. Farlans in "Shadow on the Stars" are militaristic and inherently paranoid-- to the point where anyone militarily skilled enough to pose a political threat to his superiors is dealt with quickly and terminally. It is thus that Farla has become beset by a younger, stronger enemy while her Navy is led by preening idiots. Seeking remedy, the Farlans turn to a reservist named L'Maranid. L'Maranid makes short work of Farla's enemy with a series quick victories that shatters them into a collection os successor states. But the paranoid nature of the Farlans is destined to work to wily Earth's advantage.

Some aliens seem not so alien in thinking once one gets past cultural biases. The Hani of CJ CHerryh's Compact Space are traders in a multi species trading compact. They are newcomers to the game and feel inferior to Compact members who've been around longer. Their society is matriarchal, with males dispossed and treated as inferiors as a matter of course. Much of their literature is dedicated to the poignant brevity of males. C.J.Cherryh often writes about strong women coming to their own. Human examples are Signe Mallory of ECS Norway and Ari of Cyteen. And then there is Pyanfar Chanur. Chanur's rise parallels and powers the Hani's rise in Compact Space. Of as great an import as Chanur's elevation of the Hani in Compact space is the sexual revolution initiated by her taking her dispossesed and disgraced husband aboard as working crew.

The Kzinti of Larry Niven's Known Space are more alien in their thinking that the others, though they weren't always so. Larry Niven describes the Kzinti of his first story, "the Warriors," as humans dressed up in cat suits. A telling conversation occurs when the Kzin captain askes if they should be running from Angel's Pencil, the human ship and intended prey of the story. Kzinti in later stories would never consider asking such a question. They would "scream and leap" into battle as a matter of course. This impetuosity leads them into a series of defeats, especially in the First Man-Kzin War with its destruction of five invasion fleets in battles in Sol system and then off Wunderland in Alpha Centauri space. The reimagining of the Kzin in the many volumes of the Man-Kzin Wars should make and interesting paper or two.

The itiji, the cats in Golva's Ascent (Asimov's March 2012) by Tom Purdom are alien in culture and motivation. Though they lack hands, they posses sophisticated language abilities and understanding of advanced math, logic, ethics and tactics. They have evolved as hunters with a strong sense of ethics and compassion. Their natures stand in stark conquest to that of the brutal human interlopers on their world. Golva, like the jaguar in "The Snow of Kilimanjaro," is compelled to climb the heights and explore. Unlike that famous jaguar, he lives to tell about it.

Golva is a young itiji polymath and visionary. He has decided to be the first to scale the heights above his home. He encounters and is captured and experimented upon by a group of human explorers. They are unhindered by any conscience or compulsion. Eventually the brutality gets to be too much for one member of the expedition and she assists him to escape back to the lowlands. Golva's erstwhile tormenter makes the mistake of pursuing them. He shortly learns that superior tech and cruelty need not suffice in having one's way. The itiji are very good at coordinating rescue and the use of force. While his captors had thoughtlessly spared Golva no pian in interogating him, the itiji response to the human attackers is carefully considered and limited to only that which is needed to stop the attack.

External links

These five are but a small sample of fictional felinoids. A longer list is on Wikipedia

Black Destroyer at baenebooks

Aldrys Budris on Wikipedia

Golva's Ascent by Tom Purdon

Gorn at Memory Alpha

Larry Niven

On Sexism and Feminism among the Hani

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[femnet]

On June 27, 2018, United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced that he was going to retire from the Supreme Court. For those who do not know how the Supreme Court works, the justices are elected to a life long term provided they exhibit “good behavior.” Their terms end by retirement or death. Only one justice has ever been impeached by Congress.

The top pick to fill Justice Kennedy’s seat is Brett Kavanaugh, a member of the Republican party who once served in George W. Bush’s White House. His ruling history shows a bias towards government over individuals claiming rights violations. Consequently, women and Democrats across the country started talking about one of the most polarizing Supreme Court cases of all time: Roe v. Wade. Issued in 1973, the decision in Roe v. Wade made abortion legal in the entirety of the United States. There were still regulations that weren’t resolved or ruled upon until 1992 (Planned Parenthood v. Casey), but abortion was no longer illegal.

The renewed debate brings a new interest in Roe v. Wade, including a new group of people who either have never heard of the case, or don’t know the history behind it. We’re stuck listening to the same ignorant rhetoric for another news cycle.

So, let’s talk about abortion.

Abortion hadn’t always been illegal. For a period of time, it was advertised in magazines and on the radio. Up until the 19th century, abortion was a common occurrence in the newly created United States. Abortion was permissible until a woman felt a fetus move, or “quicken.”  In Leslie Reagan’s book When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the Unites States 1867-1973, she notes, “the popular ethic regarding abortion and common law were grounded in the female experience of their own bodies.” No one believed that life began at conception, not even the Catholic church.

In fact, it wasn’t the Church that lead the push to ban abortions. It was doctors, seeking to drive out traditional healers (“quacks”). Many home medical guides had recipes for “bringing on the menses” with herbs found in a common garden, or even the woods. Commercial preparations became so common by the mid eighteenth century, the phrase “taking the trade” became a popular euphemism. However, many of these drugs were unregulated and fatal.

The first statues regulating abortion were passed in the 1820’s and 1830’s. These laws were essentially poison-control laws. The sale of commercial abortifacients was banned, but abortions were not. This, like so many other anti-abortion laws to follow, did not deter women from getting abortions. The commercialization of abortion continued, and by the 1840’s, business was booming. Perhaps one of the most famous abortionists, Madame Restell, openly provided abortion services in offices in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. She had traveling salespeople who touted her “Female Monthly Pills.”

The American Medical Association lead the fight against abortions, attempting to push midwives and homeopaths out as regularly called upon physicians. Moreover, anti-abortion sentiment was also connected to nativism, anti-Catholicism, and anti-feminism. Citing the number of non-Catholic, non-white immigrants, physician and anti-abortion leader Horatio R. Storer is quoted as asking if the West would “be filled by our own children of by those of aliens?” The birth rate among white native-born Protestants had declined, as the typical abortion patient of the time was a middle or upper-class white married woman.

Licensed physicians, including prominent members of the AMA, kept providing abortions. Their issues lay with the homeopathic remedies, not with the practice itself. And despite their own organization calling for it’s end, it remained legal. It’s estimated that some two million abortions were performed in the late nineteenth century, making the per capita rate of abortions seven to eight times higher than today. This was in the era before hospitals, where doctors practiced out of their own offices and on their own terms. Many women sought out doctors who would listen to their needs and work with them. Thus, providing abortions (while sometimes motivated by compassion) was self-serving, as women would continue to see that physician for all other medical issues.

In 1880, laws were passed in every state banning abortions in all but “therapeutic reasons,” which left medical practitioners and the legal system to determine who did or did not have one. As you’d expect, wealthier women with access to doctors had abortions, and poor women bled. Rachel Benson Gold of the Guttmacher Institute says that the stark indication of illegal abortions was the death toll. “In 1930, abortion was listed as the official cause of death in almost 2,700 women – nearly one-fifth of maternal deaths recorded that year.” She notes that, “in New York City in the early 1960s, 1 in 4 childbirth related deaths among white women were due to abortion; in comparison, abortion accounted for 1 in 2 childbirth-related deaths among nonwhite and Puerto Rican women.”

Women of wealth started to leave the country for abortions as other countries legalized the practice. The California based Society for Humane Abortion helped women go as far as Japan to have abortions. In Chicago, a society called “Jane” was founded in the late 1960s, which had a hotline where women could ask for “Jane” to be referred to an illegal abortion. Eventually, members learned how to and performed abortions themselves. These women performed an estimated 11, 000 abortions by 1973.

And then we come to Roe v. Wade.

The facts of the case are this: Roe, a Texas resident, sought to terminate her pregnancy by abortion. Texas law prohibited abortions except to save the pregnant woman’s life. After granting certiorari (an order by which a higher court reviews a decision of a lower court) the Supreme Court heard arguments twice. The main question the Court had to decide on was, “does the Constitution embrace a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy by abortion?”

By a 7-2 vote in favor, from an all-male Court, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a woman’s right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy (recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut) protected by the Fourteenth Amendment (ratified in 1868, defines national citizenship and forbids the states to restrict the basic rights of citizens or other persons). The decision gave women total autonomy over the pregnancy during the first trimester and defined different levels of state interest for the second and third trimesters. As a result of the ruling, abortion laws were affected in 46 states.

So where does that leave us today?

Well, if you’ve been listening to the talks surrounding abortion lately, you’ve heard of something called a “trigger law.” A “trigger law” is a nickname for a law that is unenforceable but may become enforceable if a key change in circumstances occurs. Essentially, if Roe v. Wade is overturned by a “Pro-Life” leaning court, these laws banning abortion become the law. At least 4 states have trigger laws in place, while many others (of those 46 where abortion laws had to change) have existing laws that could be voted back into effect.

Anti-abortion sentiment isn’t just institutional, as you’d expect. While there’s plenty of government officials (and back during the first anti-abortion push, doctors) who are staunchly “Pro-Life”, there’s a very vocal and incensed contingent of voters who are anti-abortion. (While they call themselves “Pro-Life”, for the duration of this piece, they’ll be referred to as simply “anti-abortionists”, as there’s simply no evidence to the matter that they care about any lives aside from fetuses.) This group of people has often turned violent and there’s an entire history of domestic terrorism against abortion doctors.

The most notable anti-abortion group is an elusive one called the “Army of God”. They are an underground domestic terrorism group that’s incredibly hard for the FBI and other government agencies to track. In fact, in their manual, it says that the purpose is that the “soldiers” do not communicate with one another. It’s believed the group was created in the early 80’s (after Roe v. Wade), after a “privately printed, closely guarded” how-to manual began circulating within anti-abortion circles. The AOG advocates violence towards abortion providers and clinics. AOG followers have kidnapped, assaulted, and murdered doctors, sent letters containing fake anthrax to clinics, bombed clinics, and sent death threats to not only clinics, but Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun (one of the Justices who voted in favor of abortion rights.)

One of the most recent incidents of anti-abortion violence occurred at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, Colorado in November of 2015. A man, who had previously acted against other clinics and referred to himself as a “warrior for the babies” left three people dead and several others injured. More recently than this, there have been numerous prosecuted vandalizations on women’s clinics and Planned Parenthoods across the country. In some parts of the country, people line up outside these clinics daily to harass and threaten violence against the people working in or going inside.

If you’ve never gone to a Planned Parenthood, I’ll give you some insight. There are no signs indicating that the clinic exists in the building. The only sign is on main floor entrance, and on the clinic door. The clinic doors are all glass and because I asked, the glass is bulletproof. The receptionists sit back from the entrance behind thick glass they can close, also bulletproof. You have to be buzzed into any of the clinic areas. They asked me if it was okay for them to call me and say they were calling from Planned Parenthood, and if it was okay if I received mail from them. In some areas, people can volunteer to walk women into Planned Parenthoods. Some clinics have no windows at all. Others have constant security on site, as there’s constant protests and the possibility of violence.

All because some Planned Parenthoods provide abortions and the organization receives federal money.

Legally speaking, no federal money can go towards providing abortions. This was set up in the Hyde Amendment. Most federal money given to PP goes towards preventative care, sexual education, pregnancy prevention and birth control, sexually transmitted infection screening and treatment, and breast exams. Because those are services that the organization provides. But most anti-abortionists don’t want to listen when you explain the other services women’s and sexual health clinics provide. However, every time there’s a new abortion debate in this country, clinics like Planned Parenthood are threatened because abortions are 3% of what they provide.

Ultimately, the anti-abortion debate has shifted to being anti-women. What started as a push by physicians over healthcare concerns has turned into a debate that’s thinly veiled misogyny. They’ll claim their reasons are religious, and the ever present “Pro-Life” line has become tired. Many of the same people who claim to be Pro-Life are also the people who turned a blind eye to children being locked in cages at our borders, torn away from their parents. Even on a domestic scale, these “Pro-Life” politicians want to take away social programs that help single/poverty-stricken mothers take care of their children. They’re only “Pro-Life” until birth, then you’re forgotten.

Hope springs eternal though, and even as anti-abortion voices become louder and find their way into positions of vast power, the pro-choice voices are growing louder still. A personal favorite story is of Wendy Davis, a Texas senator, who in 2013 brought her pink running shoes to a state house session to filibuster for 13 hours to prevent a vote on a bill that would severely restrict access to abortion in Texas. People across the country are donating to abortion funds and calling their senators daily. Prominent leaders in the Democratic party are speaking out against the nomination of Kavanaugh, and the importance of Roe v. Wade.

In the end, if Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortions will continue across the country. Women will find a way, as they have for decades, to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Banning abortion doesn’t stop the practice, it just makes it more dangerous. People are already driving hundreds of miles to have abortions, saving up for weeks until they can afford them. By making safe abortions illegal, we’ll see numbers like we saw before, of abortion related deaths. Poor and working-class women will, once again, bleed.

So, what can you do?

Call your senators. If you don’t want to call, use RESIST BOT.

Donate to Planned Parenthood and other abortion/women’s health clinics in your area.

And most important, vote in the 2018 midterms. The midterms are going to be one of the most important elections of our lifetime.

[houstonlloyd1-blog]

Bitshares Core Wallet<p><a href="/goto/bitshares" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">BitShares</a> (BTS) is an open source financial platform and decentralized exchange on the <abbr rel="tooltip" title="The full list of mined blocks since the creation of Bitcoin. There is also a company called Blockchain.info which supplies various Bitcoin services such as a block explorer and a bitcoin wallet but they have no control or authority over Bitcoin's blockchain.">blockchain</abbr>. Launched in July 2014, it seeks to remove much of the risk involved with centralized exchanges. Over the years, we’ve seen the <a href="https://99bitcoins.com/top-5-cryptocurrency-hacks-of-all-time/">high-profile hacks of exchanges</a> such as Bitgrail, <a href="https://99bitcoins.com/bitstamp-review-is-it-the-cheapest-exchange-for-buying-bitcoin/">Bitstamp</a>, and—of course—Mt. Gox. Such incidents have resulted in many users losing their funds due to their trusting those funds in the hands of a third party. A decentralized system such as BitShares cannot be as easily compromised because the data is not stored in only one central location.</p><br/><p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-42343 no-display appear" src="https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-CMC-Info.png" alt="BitShares CMC Info" width="1078" height="301" srcset="https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-CMC-Info.png 1078w, https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-CMC-Info-300x84.png 300w, https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-CMC-Info-768x214.png 768w, https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-CMC-Info-1024x286.png 1024w, https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-CMC-Info-600x167.png 600w, https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-CMC-Info-200x56.png 200w" sizes="(max-width: 1078px) 100vw, 1078px"></p><br/><p>The concept of BitShares was first thought up by Daniel Larmier, the cofounder and CTO of <a href="https://99bitcoins.com/making-money-with-steemit-steem-dollars-and-steem-power-explained/">Steemit</a> and <a href="https://99bitcoins.com/how-to-buy-eos-in-3-simple-steps-a-beginners-guide/">EOS</a>. He initially worked on the project with Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of <a href="https://99bitcoins.com/guide-buy-ether-ethereum/">Ethereum</a> and <a href="https://99bitcoins.com/how-to-buy-cardano-ada-is-3-simple-steps-a-beginners-guide/">Cardano</a>. Larimer felt that mining was flawed due to the network centralization that followed and because of the unfair entry requirements for miners as a result. This led him to come up with a new consensus algorithm called Delegated <abbr rel="tooltip" title="An alternative form to determining mining power. Proof of stake (or POS in short) states that the more you own of a specific cryptocurrency the more mining power you have in its network.">Proof of Stake</abbr> (DPoS), which he implemented in the BitShares platform, providing it with greater speed, efficiency, and flexibility.</p><br/><h2>How it works</h2><br/><p>Signing up for a BitShares account is quick and easy. Users aren’t asked to provide vast amounts of personal information in order to register for an account and trade on the platform. This stands in stark contrast to centralized exchanges, which must obtain such information in order to comply with government regulations. BitShares states that the platform is more resistant to failure thanks to this decentralization. Users are in control of their own security rather than having to rely on a third party such as a centralized exchange.</p><br/><p>Aside from security, one of the main advantages of trading on BitShares is that it takes away some of the volatility of the cryptocurrency market with the use of SmartCoins. This is where one of the main differences between BitShares and Bitcoin lies. BitShares isn’t aiming to be a peer-to-peer currency. Instead, it aims to be an exchange system with value tokens that are tied to real-life assets.</p><br/><p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-42344 no-display appear" src="https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-Exchange.png" alt="BitShares Exchange" width="1437" height="715" srcset="https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-Exchange.png 1078w, https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-Exchange-300x149.png 300w, https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-Exchange-768x382.png 768w, https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-Exchange-1024x510.png 1024w, https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-Exchange-600x299.png 600w, https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-Exchange-200x100.png 200w, https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/BitShares-Exchange-164x82.png 164w" sizes="(max-width: 1437px) 100vw, 1437px"></p><br/><p>Users of BitShares are able to stabilize their investments by converting to stable cryptocurrency assets that are pegged to <abbr rel="tooltip" title="Currency that a government has declared to be legal tender, but is not backed by a physical commodity. For <a href="https://bitsharescore.org/Bitshares-Core-Wallet2.0.190219/index.php">Bitshares Wallet Download</a> , the Euro and almost any other country related currency you can think of.">fiat</abbr> currencies. Because there’s no need to convert to fiat currency at any time, users have greater anonymity as a result. BitShares has its own <abbr rel="tooltip" title="A crypto asset created on top of another blockchain">token</abbr> of the same name. Converting BitShares (BTS) to BitUSD works much like converting to USD except there’s no need to leave the security of the blockchain. 1 BitUSD will always equal 1 USD. As such, users are protected from the volatility of the cryptocurrency market since fiat currencies are much more stable than newer digital currencies.</p><br/><p>One particularly impressive feature of BitShares is its scalability and ability to process transactions. In 2015, BitShares became based on Graphene, an open source blockchain implementation that acts as a consensus mechanism. Graphene is used by several other projects, including Steemit, and is said to be capable of 100,000 transactions per second. It’s well worth mentioning that this is more transactions per second than Visa and Mastercard combined.</p><br/><p><img class="size-full wp-image-42345 aligncenter no-display appear" src="https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Mobile-Wallet.png" alt="BitShares Mobile Wallet" width="321" height="572" srcset="https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Mobile-Wallet.png 321w, https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Mobile-Wallet-168x300.png 168w, https://99bitcoins.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Mobile-Wallet-200x356.png 200w" sizes="(max-width: 321px) 100vw, 321px"></p><br/><p>BitShares also offers a multicurrency wallet, which is available for web, desktop, and mobile (Android). The Android version seems to have some minor bugs based on reviews in Google Play, but all of the official wallet versions work well enough for the most part, with no significant issues to report.</p><br/><h2>Currency and Currency Support</h2><br/><p>One of the key ideas behind BitShares is that it’s available to anyone, anywhere, regardless of their location. As such, BitShares is understood to be available in all countries at present. As for currencies, BitShares allows for the trading of almost anything, including gold, silver, <abbr rel="tooltip" title="Gas in Ethereum is somewhat similar to transaction fees in Bitcoin. Each operation on the Ethereum network requires a fixed amount of gas. (e.g. adding two numbers costs 3 gas, calculating a hash costs 30 gas, sending a transaction costs 21000 gas).">gas</abbr>, oil, national currencies, and cryptocurrencies.</p><br/><h2>Fees</h2><br/><p> <a href="https://bitsharescore.org/Bitshares-Core-Wallet2.0.171105a/index.php">Bitshares Core Wallet</a> of the biggest advantages of a decentralized exchange such as BitShares is that when it comes to trading, there are no limits imposed on the user. Indeed, a user can trade any amount at any time and anywhere. While the vast majority of cryptocurrency exchanges have daily withdrawal limits and ask for a great deal of personal information and documentation, BitShares has no limits since no account approval is required.</p><br/><p>Fees come in at just a few cents per trade with SmartCoin pairs, which makes it one of the cheapest exchanges available today. Every operation in the BitShares ecosystem is assigned an individual fee with fees subject to change. However, fees are defined only by shareholder approval, which means that there is the scope for them to be changed if holders of BitShares aren’t happy.</p><br/><img src="http://asian.zag.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/BTS-Transmission-Line-RF-Connector-Market-150x150.jpg"/><br/><h2>Public Opinion/Online Reviews</h2><br/><p>BitShares is still very much in its infancy, and as such, there isn’t a huge number of people who have fully experienced the platform and what it has to offer. There’s also little in the way of in-depth reviews. Overall, users tend to praise the transparency of the decentralized exchange but argue that it’s more complicated to use than centralized exchanges such as <a href="https://99bitcoins.com/binance-review/">Binance</a> and <a href="https://99bitcoins.com/coinbase-review-6-controversial-issues/">Coinbase</a>. However, the fact that a person’s username is also his or her wallet address does provide an element of simplicity.</p><br/><h2>Conclusion</h2><br/><p>Decentralized exchanges provide a whole host of benefits, such as greater user privacy and lower fees. It’s hard not to argue that they’re the way forward. However, there are areas in which BitShares can improve. For example, it’s worth mentioning that the interface of BitShares isn’t the most user-friendly. Indeed, there are many advanced features that will likely prove confusing to newcomers and all-around beginners to cryptocurrency. For this reason, BitShares is currently best suited to more advanced users.</p><br/><br/>From <a href="https://bitsharescore.org/Bitshares-Core-Wallet2.0.181105/index.php">Bitshares Wallet Download</a> : Is This Decentralized Exchange a Game Changer?<br/>https://99bitcoins.com/bitshares-review/<br/>

[roed43bendix-blog]

Bitshares Core Wallet

BitShares (BTS) is an open source financial platform and decentralized exchange on the blockchain. Launched in July 2014, it seeks to remove much of the risk involved with centralized exchanges. Over the years, we’ve seen the high-profile hacks of exchanges such as Bitgrail, Bitstamp, and—of course—Mt. Gox. Such incidents have resulted in many users losing their funds due to their trusting those funds in the hands of a third party. A decentralized system such as BitShares cannot be as easily compromised because the data is not stored in only one central location.

The concept of BitShares was first thought up by Daniel Larmier, the cofounder and CTO of Steemit and EOS. He initially worked on the project with Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of Ethereum and Cardano. Larimer felt that mining was flawed due to the network centralization that followed and because of the unfair entry requirements for miners as a result. This led him to come up with a new consensus algorithm called Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), which he implemented in the BitShares platform, providing it with greater speed, efficiency, and flexibility.

How it works

Signing up for a BitShares account is quick and easy. Users aren’t asked to provide vast amounts of personal information in order to register for an account and trade on the platform. This stands in stark contrast to centralized exchanges, which must obtain such information in order to comply with government regulations. BitShares states that the platform is more resistant to failure thanks to this decentralization. Users are in control of their own security rather than having to rely on a third party such as a centralized exchange.

Aside from security, one of the main advantages of trading on BitShares is that it takes away some of the volatility of the cryptocurrency market with the use of SmartCoins. This is where one of the main differences between BitShares and Bitcoin lies. BitShares isn’t aiming to be a peer-to-peer currency. Instead, it aims to be an exchange system with value tokens that are tied to real-life assets.

Users of BitShares are able to stabilize their investments by converting to stable cryptocurrency assets that are pegged to fiat currencies. Because there’s no need to convert to fiat currency at any time, users have greater anonymity as a result. Bitshares Wallet Download has its own token of the same name. Converting BitShares (BTS) to BitUSD works much like converting to USD except there’s no need to leave the security of the blockchain. 1 BitUSD will always equal 1 USD. As such, users are protected from the volatility of the cryptocurrency market since fiat currencies are much more stable than newer digital currencies.

One particularly impressive feature of BitShares is its scalability and ability to process transactions. In 2015, BitShares became based on Graphene, an open source blockchain implementation that acts as a consensus mechanism. Graphene is used by several other projects, including Steemit, and is said to be capable of 100,000 transactions per second. It’s well worth mentioning that this is more transactions per second than Visa and Mastercard combined.

BitShares also offers a multicurrency wallet, which is available for web, desktop, and mobile (Android). The Android version seems to have some minor bugs based on reviews in Google Play, but all of the official wallet versions work well enough for the most part, with no significant issues to report.

Currency and Currency Support

One of the key ideas behind BitShares is that it’s available to anyone, anywhere, regardless of their location. As such, BitShares is understood to be available in all countries at present. As for currencies, BitShares allows for the trading of almost anything, including gold, silver, gas, oil, national currencies, and cryptocurrencies.

Fees

One of the biggest advantages of a decentralized exchange such as BitShares is that when it comes to trading, there are no limits imposed on the user. Indeed, a user can trade any amount at any time and anywhere. While the vast majority of cryptocurrency exchanges have daily withdrawal limits and ask for a great deal of personal information and documentation, BitShares has no limits since no account approval is required.

Fees come in at just a few cents per trade with SmartCoin pairs, which makes it one of the cheapest exchanges available today. Bitshares Core Wallet in the BitShares ecosystem is assigned an individual fee with fees subject to change. However, fees are defined only by shareholder approval, which means that there is the scope for them to be changed if holders of BitShares aren’t happy.

Public Opinion/Online Reviews

BitShares is still very much in its infancy, and as such, there isn’t a huge number of people who have fully experienced the platform and what it has to offer. There’s also little in the way of in-depth reviews. Overall, users tend to praise the transparency of the decentralized exchange but argue that it’s more complicated to use than centralized exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase. However, Bitshares Core Wallet that a person’s username is also his or her wallet address does provide an element of simplicity.

Conclusion

Decentralized exchanges provide a whole host of benefits, such as greater user privacy and lower fees. It’s hard not to argue that they’re the way forward. However, there are areas in which BitShares can improve. For example, it’s worth mentioning that the interface of BitShares isn’t the most user-friendly. Indeed, there are many advanced features that will likely prove confusing to newcomers and all-around beginners to cryptocurrency. For this reason, BitShares is currently best suited to more advanced users.

From BitShares Review: Is This Decentralized Exchange a Game Changer? https://99bitcoins.com/bitshares-review/