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mostlysignssomeportents · 9 months ago

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Lina Khan’s future is the future of the Democratic Party — and America

On OCTOBER 23 at 7PM, I'll be in DECATUR, presenting my novel THE BEZZLE at EAGLE EYE BOOKS.

On the one hand, the anti-monopoly movement has a future no matter who wins the 2024 election – that's true even if Kamala Harris wins but heeds the calls from billionaire donors to fire Lina Khan and her fellow trustbusters.

In part, that's because US antitrust laws have broad "private rights of action" that allow individuals and companies to sue one another for monopolistic conduct, even if top government officials are turning a blind eye. It's true that from the Reagan era to the Biden era, these private suits were few and far between, and the cases that were brought often died in a federal courtroom. But the past four years has seen a resurgence of antitrust rage that runs from left to right, and from individuals to the C-suites of big companies, driving a wave of private cases that are prevailing in the courts, upending the pro-monopoly precedents that billionaires procured by offering free "continuing education" antitrust training to 40% of the Federal judiciary:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/13/post-bork-era/#manne-down

It's amazing to see the DoJ racking up huge wins against Google's monopolistic conduct, sure, but first blood went to Epic, who won a historic victory over Google in federal court six months before the DoJ's win, which led to the court ordering Google to open up its app store:

https://www.theverge.com/policy/2024/10/7/24243316/epic-google-permanent-injunction-ruling-third-party-stores

Google's 30% App Tax is a giant drag on all kinds of sectors, as is its veto over which software Android users get to see, so Epic's win is going to dramatically alter the situation for all kinds of activities, from beleaguered indie game devs:

https://antiidlereborn.com/news/

To the entire news sector:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/06/save-news-we-must-open-app-stores

Private antitrust cases have attracted some very surprising plaintiffs, like Michael Jordan, whose long policy of apoliticism crumbled once he bought a NASCAR team and lived through the monopoly abuses of sports leagues as an owner, not a player:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/michael-jordan-anti-monopolist

A much weirder and more unlikely antitrust plaintiff than Michael Jordan is Google, the perennial antitrust defendant. Google has brought a complaint against Microsoft in the EU, based on Microsoft's extremely ugly monopolistic cloud business:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/google-files-complaint-eu-over-microsoft-cloud-practices-2024-09-25/

Google's choice of venue here highlights another reason to think that the antitrust surge will continue irrespective of US politics: antitrust is global. Antitrust fervor has seized governments from the UK to the EU to South Korea to Japan. All of those countries have extremely similar antitrust laws, because they all had their statute books overhauled by US technocrats as part of the Marshall Plan, so they have the same statutory tools as the American trustbusters who dismantled Standard Oil and AT&T, and who are making ready to shatter Google into several competing businesses:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/8/24265832/google-search-antitrust-remedies-framework-android-chrome-play

Antitrust fever has spread to Canada, Australia, and even China, where the Cyberspace Directive bans Chinese tech giants from breaking interoperability to freeze out Chinese startups. Anything that can't go on forever eventually stops, and the cost of 40 years of pro-monopoly can't be ignored. Monopolies make the whole world more brittle, even as the cost of that brittleness mounts. It's hard to pretend monopolies are fine when a single hurricane can wipe out the entire country's supply of IV fluid – again:

https://prospect.org/health/2024-10-11-cant-believe-im-writing-about-iv-fluid-again/

What's more, the conduct of global monopolists is the same in every country where they have taken hold, which means that trustbusters in the EU can use the UK Digital Markets Unit's report on the mobile app market as a roadmap for their enforcement actions against Apple:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63f61bc0d3bf7f62e8c34a02/Mobile_Ecosystems_Final_Report_amended_2.pdf

And then the South Korean and Japanese trustbusters can translate the court documents from the EU's enforcement action and use them to score victories over Apple in their own courts:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/10/an-injury-to-one/#is-an-injury-to-all

So on the one hand, the trustbusting wave will continue erode the foundations of global monopolies, no matter what happens after this election. But on the other hand, if Harris wins and then fires Biden's top trustbusters to appease her billionaire donors, things are going to get ugly.

A new, excellent long-form Bloomberg article by Josh Eidelson and Max Chafkin gives a sense of the battle raging just below the surface of the Democratic Power, built around a superb interview with Khan herself:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-10-09/lina-khan-on-a-second-ftc-term-ai-price-gouging-data-privacy

The article begins with a litany of tech billionaires who've gone an all-out, public assault on Khan's leadership – billionaires who stand to personally lose hundreds of millions of dollars from her agency's principled, vital antitrust work, but who cloak their objection to Khan in rhetoric about defending the American economy. In public, some of these billionaires are icily polite, but many of them degenerate into frothing, toddler-grade name-calling, like IAB's Barry Diller, who called her a "dope" and Musk lickspittle Jason Calacanis, who called her an all-caps COMMUNIST and a LUNATIC.

The overall vibe from these wreckers? "How dare the FTC do things?!"

And you know, they have a point. For decades, the FTC was – in the quoted words of Tim Wu – "a very hardworking agency that did nothing." This was the period when the FTC targeted low-level scammers while turning a blind eye to the monsters that were devouring the US economy. In part, that was because the FTC had been starved of budget, trapping them in a cycle of racking up easy, largely pointless "wins" against penny-ante grifters to justify their existence, but never to the extent that Congress would apportion them the funds to tackle the really serious cases (if this sounds familiar, it's also the what happened during the long period when the IRS chased middle class taxpayers over minor filing errors, while ignoring the billionaires and giant corporations that engaged in 7- and 8-figure tax scams).

But the FTC wasn't merely underfunded: it was timid. The FTC has extremely broad enforcement and rulemaking powers, which most sat dormant during the neoliberal era:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

The Biden administration didn't merely increase the FTC's funding: in choosing Khan to helm the organization, they brought onboard a skilled technician, who was both well-versed in the extensive but unused powers of the agency and determined to use them:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff

But Khan's didn't just rely on technical chops and resources to begin the de-olicharchification of the US economy: she built a three-legged stool, whose third leg is narrative. Khan's signature is her in-person and remote "listening tours," where workers who've been harmed by corporate power get to tell their stories. Bloomberg recounts the story of Deborah Brantley, who was sexually harassed and threatened by her bosses at Kavasutra North Palm Beach. Brantley's bosses touched her inappropriately and "joked" about drugging her and raping her so she "won’t be such a bitch and then maybe people would like you more."

When Brantley finally quit and took a job bartending at a different business, Kavasutra sued her over her noncompete clause, alleging an "irreparable injury" sustained by having one of their former employees working at another business, seeking damages and fees.

The vast majority of the 30 million American workers who labor under noncompetes are like Brantley, low-waged service workers, especially at fast-food restaurants (so Wendy's franchisees can stop minimum wage cashiers from earning $0.25/hour more flipping burgers at a nearby McDonald's). The donor-class indenturers who defend noncompetes claim that noncompetes are necessary to protect "innovative" businesses from losing their "IP." But of course, the one state where no workers are subject to noncompetes is California, which bans them outright – the state that is also home to Silicon Valley, an IP-heave industry that the same billionaires laud for its innovations.

After that listening tour, Khan's FTC banned noncompetes nationwide:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/25/capri-v-tapestry/#aiming-at-dollars-not-men

Only to have a federal judge in Texas throw out their ban, a move that will see $300b/year transfered from workers to shareholders, and block the formation of 8,500 new US businesses every year:

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/21/g-s1-18376/federal-judge-tosses-ftc-noncompetes-ban

Notwithstanding court victories like Epic v Google and DoJ v Google, America's oligarchs have the courts on their side, thanks to decades of court-packing planned by the Federalist Society and executed by Senate Republicans and Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, and Trump. Khan understands this; she told Bloomberg that she's a "close student" of the tactics Reagan used to transform American society, admiring his effectiveness while hating his results. Like other transformative presidents, good and bad, Reagan had to fight the judiciary and entrenched institutions (as did FDR and Lincoln). Erasing Reagan's legacy is a long-term project, a battle of inches that will involve mustering broad political support for the cause of a freer, more equal America.

Neither Biden nor Khan are responsible for the groundswell of US – and global – movement to euthanize our rentier overlords. This is a moment whose time has come; a fact demonstrated by the tens of thousands of working Americans who filled the FTC's noncompete docket with outraged comments. People understand that corporate looters – not "the economy" or "the forces of history" – are the reason that the businesses where they worked and shopped were destroyed by private equity goons who amassed intergenerational, dynastic fortunes by strip-mining the real economy and leaving behind rubble.

Like the billionaires publicly demanding that Harris fire Khan, private equity bosses can't stop making tone-deaf, guillotine-conjuring pronouncements about their own virtue and the righteousness of their businesses. They don't just want to destroy the world - they want to be praised for it:/p>

"Private equity’s been a great thing for America" -Stephen Pagliuca, co-chairman of Bain Capital;

"We are taught to judge the success of a society by how it deals with the least able, most vulnerable members of that society. Shouldn’t we judge a society by how they treat the most successful? Do we vilify, tax, expropriate and condemn those who have succeeded, or do we celebrate economic success as the engine that propels our society toward greater collective well-being?" -Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo

"Achieve life-changing money and power," -Sachin Khajuria, former partner at Apollo

Meanwhile, the "buy, strip and flip" model continues to chew its way through America. When PE buys up all the treatment centers for kids with behavioral problems, they hack away at staffing and oversight, turning them into nightmares where kids are routinely abused, raped and murdered:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/they-told-me-it-was-going-be-good-place-allega-tions-n987176

When PE buys up nursing homes, the same thing happens, with elderly residents left to sit in their own excrement and then die:

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/12/24/nursing-homes-private-equity-fraud-00132001

Writing in The Guardian, Alex Blasdel lays out the case for private equity as a kind of virus that infects economies, parasitically draining them of not just the capacity to provide goods and services, but also of the ability to govern themselves, as politicians and regulators are captured by the unfathomable sums that PE flushes into the political process:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/10/slash-and-burn-is-private-equity-out-of-control

Now, the average worker who's just lost their job may not understand "divi recaps" or "2-and-20" or "carried interest tax loopholes," but they do understand that something is deeply rotten in the world today.

What happens to that understanding is a matter of politics. The Republicans – firmly affiliated with, and beloved of, the wreckers – have chosen an easy path to capitalizing on the rising rage. All they need to do is convince the public that the system is irredeemably corrupt and that the government can't possibly fix anything (hence Reagan's asinine "joke": "the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help'").

This is a very canny strategy. If you are the party of "governments are intrinsically corrupt and incompetent," then governing corruptly and incompetently proves your point. The GOP strategy is to create a nation of enraged nihilists who don't even imagine that the government could do something to hold their bosses to account – not for labor abuses, not for pollution, not for wage theft or bribery.

The fact that successive neoliberal governments – including Democratic administrations – acted time and again to bear out this hypothesis makes it easy for this kind of nihilism to take hold.

Far-right conspiracies about pharma bosses colluding with corrupt FDA officials to poison us with vaccines for profit owe their success to the lived experience of millions of Americans who lost loved ones to a conspiracy between pharma bosses and corrupt officials to poison us with opioids.

Unhinged beliefs that "they" caused the hurricanes tearing through Florida and Georgia and that Kamala Harris is capping compensation to people who lost their homes are only credible because of murderous Republican fumble during Katrina; and the larcenous collusion of Democrats to help banks steal Americans' homes during the foreclosure crisis, when Obama took Tim Geithner's advice to "foam the runway" with the mortgages of everyday Americans who'd been cheated by their banks:

https://www.salon.com/2014/05/14/this_man_made_millions_suffer_tim_geithners_sorry_legacy_on_housing/

If Harris gives in to billionaire donors and fires Khan and her fellow trustbusters, paving the way for more looting and scamming, the result will be more nihilism, which is to say, more electoral victories for the GOP. The "government can't do anything" party already exists. There are no votes to be gained by billing yourself as the "we also think governments can't do anything" party.

In other words, a world where Khan doesn't run the FTC is a world where antitrust continues to gain ground, but without taking Democrats with it. It's a world where nihilism wins.

There's factions of the Democratic Party who understand this. AOC warned party leaders that, "Anyone goes near Lina Khan and there will be an out and out brawl":

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1844034727935988155

And Bernie Sanders called her "the best FTC Chair in modern history":

https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1843733298960576652

In other words: Lina Khan as a posse.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/11/democracys-antitrust-paradox/#there-will-be-an-out-and-out-brawl

#pluralistic #ftc #lina khan #democratic party #elections #kamala harris #billionaires #trustbusting #competition #labor #noncompetes #silicon valley #aoc

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dertaglichedan · 5 months ago

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CEO of Canada’s 2nd biggest company defends Trump’s tariff demands, slams Trudeau for not stopping trade war

The CEO of Canada’s second-largest publicly traded company says Canadians want their government to do all the things that President Trump is demanding — and slammed outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for not preventing the trade war.

Trump, 78, on Saturday, signed an executive order to slap 25% across-the-board tariffs on America’s northern neighbor, citing its failure to meet his demands on helping crack the fentanyl and illegal immigration trade.

“Canada thrives when it works with America together. Win by helping America win. Trump believes that Canada has not held its side of the bargain,” Tobi Lutke, who co-founded Shopify, wrote on X.

“These are things that every Canadian wants its government to do, too. These are not crazy demands, even if they came from an unpopular source. These tariffs are going to be devastating to so many people’s lives and small businesses.”Lutke’s withering critique came in response to a clip of Trudeau announcing 25% retaliatory tariffs on $107 billion worth of US goods and pushing for policies targeting red states. Shopify, the e-commerce giant that Lutke co-founded in 2006 is worth about $150 billion. It’s Canada’s biggest tech company and biggest ever startup — and second only to the Royal Bank of Canada in size.

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feminist-space · 1 year ago

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"Just weeks before the implosion of AllHere, an education technology company that had been showered with cash from venture capitalists and featured in glowing profiles by the business press, America’s second-largest school district was warned about problems with AllHere’s product.

As the eight-year-old startup rolled out Los Angeles Unified School District’s flashy new AI-driven chatbot — an animated sun named “Ed” that AllHere was hired to build for $6 million — a former company executive was sending emails to the district and others that Ed’s workings violated bedrock student data privacy principles.

Those emails were sent shortly before The 74 first reported last week that AllHere, with $12 million in investor capital, was in serious straits. A June 14 statement on the company’s website revealed a majority of its employees had been furloughed due to its “current financial position.” Company founder and CEO Joanna Smith-Griffin, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles district said, was no longer on the job.

Smith-Griffin and L.A. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho went on the road together this spring to unveil Ed at a series of high-profile ed tech conferences, with the schools chief dubbing it the nation’s first “personal assistant” for students and leaning hard into LAUSD’s place in the K-12 AI vanguard. He called Ed’s ability to know students “unprecedented in American public education” at the ASU+GSV conference in April.

Through an algorithm that analyzes troves of student information from multiple sources, the chatbot was designed to offer tailored responses to questions like “what grade does my child have in math?” The tool relies on vast amounts of students’ data, including their academic performance and special education accommodations, to function.

Meanwhile, Chris Whiteley, a former senior director of software engineering at AllHere who was laid off in April, had become a whistleblower. He told district officials, its independent inspector general’s office and state education officials that the tool processed student records in ways that likely ran afoul of L.A. Unified’s own data privacy rules and put sensitive information at risk of getting hacked. None of the agencies ever responded, Whiteley told The 74.

...

In order to provide individualized prompts on details like student attendance and demographics, the tool connects to several data sources, according to the contract, including Welligent, an online tool used to track students’ special education services. The document notes that Ed also interfaces with the Whole Child Integrated Data stored on Snowflake, a cloud storage company. Launched in 2019, the Whole Child platform serves as a central repository for LAUSD student data designed to streamline data analysis to help educators monitor students’ progress and personalize instruction.

Whiteley told officials the app included students’ personally identifiable information in all chatbot prompts, even in those where the data weren’t relevant. Prompts containing students’ personal information were also shared with other third-party companies unnecessarily, Whiteley alleges, and were processed on offshore servers. Seven out of eight Ed chatbot requests, he said, are sent to places like Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Australia and Canada.

Taken together, he argued the company’s practices ran afoul of data minimization principles, a standard cybersecurity practice that maintains that apps should collect and process the least amount of personal information necessary to accomplish a specific task. Playing fast and loose with the data, he said, unnecessarily exposed students’ information to potential cyberattacks and data breaches and, in cases where the data were processed overseas, could subject it to foreign governments’ data access and surveillance rules.

Chatbot source code that Whiteley shared with The 74 outlines how prompts are processed on foreign servers by a Microsoft AI service that integrates with ChatGPT. The LAUSD chatbot is directed to serve as a “friendly, concise customer support agent” that replies “using simple language a third grader could understand.” When querying the simple prompt “Hello,” the chatbot provided the student’s grades, progress toward graduation and other personal information.

AllHere’s critical flaw, Whiteley said, is that senior executives “didn’t understand how to protect data.”

...

Earlier in the month, a second threat actor known as Satanic Cloud claimed it had access to tens of thousands of L.A. students’ sensitive information and had posted it for sale on Breach Forums for $1,000. In 2022, the district was victim to a massive ransomware attack that exposed reams of sensitive data, including thousands of students’ psychological evaluations, to the dark web.

With AllHere’s fate uncertain, Whiteley blasted the company’s leadership and protocols.

“Personally identifiable information should be considered acid in a company and you should only touch it if you have to because acid is dangerous,” he told The 74. “The errors that were made were so egregious around PII, you should not be in education if you don’t think PII is acid.”

Read the full article here:

https://www.the74million.org/article/whistleblower-l-a-schools-chatbot-misused-student-data-as-tech-co-crumbled/

#data breach #lausd #la school system #tech bro ai being reckless with personal data as usual #anti ai

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divinekangaroo · 1 year ago

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One thing I adore about PB is Tommy's approach towards modernity. Straddling the non-industrial past and the industrial/modern present; constantly positioning himself on the cutting edge, if not quite bleeding edge, of period/era technology. Cars, manufacturing, shipping, phones, typewriters. Medicine, psychology, and even bringing in incredibly modern concepts into politics in that era. He is constantly grabbing at the future. It's this striking characteristic in him, all the way from S1 when they install the phone in the Garrison - ~if only we knew someone else with a phone, we could call them~ - through to S6's final episode when he even wangles a seat on an airplane to get to Canada without wasting time. So uncommon at the time, but he just went: I need to get there with least time lost, and matched requirement to a borderline experimental non-consumer-available insider technology to do so.

(Sidestep: Such an interesting juxtaposition of all that, with the constant representation of the pre-industrial-era Romani threads in S6, too: Esme, the hills, the horse, the curse, the mythology, the vardo, all that slamming up against an actual cutting edge submachinegun, so ‘contemporary’ it’s actually anachronistic by a few years (if my research was right, it’s a WWII weapon that submachinegun, not to get on the symbolism, but). Arguably, Ruby in hospital having the most contemporary medical treatment available while Tommy goes walkabout to lift a curse is another notable juxtaposition.

There’s also an interesting slant of his modernity balanced against what I call his hoarding habit — the most cutting edge piece of tech or modernity in 1923 he’s still hanging onto in 1933. But yeah, even with that the juxtapositions are interesting because they can only happen if the forward reaching/modernity focus is there)

So, when I see contemporary-modern!AU takes of Tommy that are like, representing him as a relatively humdrum part of the capitalist consumer status quo, or even as a luddite who can't and won't use an Iphone, I scratch my head. I do think he’s *not* much of an innovator, but he is absolutely a considered first-gen adopter and recognises (and takes) opportunity regarding tech innovation with little concern for risk.

I have contemplated would rich modern!AU Tommy with disposable income finance startups if they pitched well: probably yes, because he takes gambles; with a personally vested interest in the innovators in the same way he had that vested interest in Bonnie. Startups as horses or boxers on a diff playing field, win some, lose some, etc.

#There’s also how modern Tommy is probably a weapons trafficker of some sort too #but can still scratching at how it all translates #Only bothers w illegal drugs because breaking into the international pharmacology cartel is too hard #The thing that really changes in contemporary era is the ease of global reach. Tommy was an innovator in the 20/30s because he looked globa #As soon as he could #from his class-bound ethnically diverse neighbourhood. Internationality was always there but it was a difference #Compared to now global reach is more the norm not the innovation #Anyway modern AU Tommy is interesting because representing that ‘future reach’ he shows in the 1920s rarely seems to be explored…#Another part of this thinking is me wondering *why* I keep seeing in-my-head-contemporary!Tommy in Japan on business trips #think it’s something to do with the same interesting juxtaposition of the pre industrial traditionality with bleeding-edge in Japan

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amaraxgujral · 11 days ago

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━ INTRODUCING AMARA GUJRAL.

name: Amara Gujral

nickname: Mara

birthday: July 27th 1989

age: 35

gender: cis female

pronouns: She/Her

face claim: Kriti Sanon

occupation: VP of Mergers & Acquisitions at Imperial Corporation Bank

neighborhood: Skyline Heights

hometown: Toronto, Canada,

tldr; Amara Gujral, 35, is the sharp and strategic Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions at Imperial Corporation Bank. Originally from Toronto, she moved to Skyline Heights six years ago to pursue bigger career opportunities. Known for her calm under pressure, meticulous planning, and mentorship of young women, she works closely with all members of the bank. While fiercely career-driven, Amara maintains close family ties and a small, trusted circle of friends. She balances a demanding job with yoga, hiking, and volunteering to empower female entrepreneurs.

b i o g r a p h y ;

Amara Gujral is a formidable and highly respected Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions at Imperial Corporation Bank. At 35, she has built a reputation for strategic brilliance, meticulous analytical skills, and an unshakable ability to close complex, high-stakes deals under pressure. Her rise to this influential role is a story of ambition, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to excellence. Born and raised near Toronto in a close-knit family that owned a successful manufacturing business, Amara’s early exposure to the world of entrepreneurship sparked a deep interest in how companies grow and transform. She excelled academically, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from a top Canadian university, followed by an MBA focused on Corporate Strategy and Finance.

Amara began her career at a prestigious boutique investment firm in Toronto, quickly gaining recognition for her precision in valuation and her strategic approach to deal structuring. After several years, she sought broader challenges and relocated to Skyline Heights six years ago—drawn by the city’s vibrant financial scene and the opportunity to join Imperial Corporation Bank’s M&A division. Starting as an Associate, Amara swiftly distinguished herself by leading several landmark transactions, including complex cross-border acquisitions and high-pressure hostile takeovers. One of her signature deals involved orchestrating the acquisition and successful integration of a struggling tech startup, which resulted in a significant market expansion for the client and bolstered Imperial Corporation Bank’s portfolio.

Professionally, Amara shares a strong, synergistic partnership with Lorenzo, the bank’s head of trading. Their complementary expertise—his market insight and hers strategic acumen—has fueled some of Imperial Corporation Bank’s most impactful mergers and acquisitions. Although their relationship is strictly professional, their mutual respect and quiet camaraderie speak to years of collaboration under intense pressure. Amara is also deeply committed to mentoring young talent within the bank, especially women navigating the traditionally male-dominated finance sector. Known for her calm, meticulous leadership style, she inspires loyalty and confidence in her team, fostering a culture of empowerment and growth.

Her move from Toronto was as much personal as professional. Leaving behind family and a long-term relationship, which gradually faded as her career demands increased, was difficult. Though that chapter closed, Amara maintains strong ties to her family through weekly calls and regular visits, especially with her younger sister, whom she supports as both adviser and confidante. While she occasionally feels the pressure of family expectations to one day return and help run the family business, her ambition lies firmly within corporate finance.

In Skyline Heights, Amara has cultivated a close-knit social circle of friends—mostly fellow professionals and university friends who relocated alongside her. She is selective about her personal life, guarded yet deeply loyal to those she trusts. Her romantic life remains low-key, favouring meaningful connections over casual relationships, balancing the demands of her high-powered career with the desire for companionship.

Outside work, Amara decompresses through yoga and weekend hikes, appreciating the balance between the intensity of her job and moments of calm. She also volunteers her financial expertise to nonprofits supporting female entrepreneurs, reflecting her belief in lifting others as she climbs. Looking forward, Amara aspires to rise to a Chief Strategy Officer role or even secure a seat on Imperial Corporation Bank’s executive board, where she can influence not only individual deals but the bank’s long-term vision and impact on the global financial landscape.

h e a d c a n o n s ;

Amara has a highly analytical mind, but she makes decisions with her gut just as often as her spreadsheets—especially when she senses something off in a deal or a person.

Keeps a “closed folder” on her personal laptop: inside are poems she writes when she can’t sleep. No one knows.

She doesn’t believe in fate, but she keeps seeing the number 11:11 and silently makes the same wish each time.

She sets three alarms in the morning—but always wakes up on the first. She just likes knowing she has a backup plan.

Can’t function without her black leather-bound planner. It’s colour-coded with tabs, sticky notes, and scribbles in the margins only she can decipher.

Owns at least six pairs of identical black heels—rotation matters, she insists.

Checks Bloomberg before she checks her personal messages.

Keeps a photograph of her parents on her desk at home; they remind her what kind of strength she comes from.

Keeps a reputation for being unshakeable in the boardroom, but plays with her rings when she’s under pressure.

Has a soft spot for people with ambition, especially when they remind her of a younger version of herself.

Her love language is acts of service. If she likes you, she’ll show up when it matters—no fanfare.

Her condo has floor-to-ceiling windows, hardwood floors, and a strict no-shoes-inside policy.

Occasionally texts her ex when she visits Toronto, though she deletes the message drafts more than she sends them.

She sometimes dreams of an alternate life—one where she stayed in Toronto, married young, helped run her family’s business, and had Sunday dinners with her parents. She loves her life, but… she wonders.

She’s a perfectionist, but that perfectionism was born out of constantly feeling like she had to earn her seat at every table.

c o n n e c t i o n s ;

An ex-flame from Toronto (rekindled or unresolved)

A friend who knew her before she was this successful

Her sister (!!)

Someone outside her world (chef, artist, barista) who makes her feel grounded

A therapist, yoga instructor, or spiritual confidant she sees quietly

A neighbour in Skyline Heights she slowly bonds with

A socialite or public figure who wants to befriend her for clout

A distant relative who reminds her of her cultural roots

A nonprofit leader or activist who questions her corporate work

A former protégé who now resents her

#devilsj.intro #devilsj.introduction #introduction.

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girlmeets-grace · 6 months ago

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Trumps territorial Ambition and Economic Strategy: How Greenland, the Panama Canal, Mexico, and Canada Could Reshape U.S. Power;

The United States is often celebrated for its culture of individualism, business innovation, and economic ambition. However, a less glamorous yet equally pivotal aspect of its rise to power has been its use of tariffs and territorial expansion. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, the U.S. was like a tech startup competing against industrial giants such as Britain, relying on tariffs to protect its fledgling industries and grow its economy.

Fast forward to the present, and the discussion about economic expansion has taken on new dimensions, with proposals like acquiring Greenland, controlling the Panama Canal, integrating Mexico and Canada, or using tariffs as a strategic tool. These ideas, while seemingly bold or even outlandish, echo historical strategies that shaped the U.S. into a global superpower. To understand the potential implications, let’s explore the economic and historical context of these proposals and how they might reshape the United States.

Tariffs: The Foundation of Early U.S. Economic Growth

Before the 20th century, tariffs were the backbone of the federal government’s revenue. From the late 18th century to the introduction of income taxes in 1913, tariffs funded as much as 90% of federal expenditures. For example, the Tariff of 1789 provided the young nation with critical revenue while protecting its nascent industries from foreign competition.

Tariffs not only paid for government operations but also supported domestic manufacturing. The Tariff of 1816, the first explicitly protective tariff, helped American industries compete with Britain’s advanced machinery. Similarly, the Morrill Tariff of 1861 raised rates to shield Northern industries during the Civil War. These policies underscored the importance of economic self-sufficiency and industrial development—principles that remain relevant in modern debates about economic strategy.

Greenland: Strategic and Economic Potential

Greenland, governed by Denmark, has long been of interest to the United States. During World War II, the U.S. established military bases there to monitor the Atlantic and protect Allied shipping routes. In 1946, the U.S. offered Denmark $100 million for Greenland, recognizing its strategic importance.

Today, Greenland’s value has only increased. Its vast reserves of rare earth minerals, essential for modern technologies, could reduce U.S. dependence on China for these critical resources. Additionally, as climate change opens new Arctic shipping lanes, Greenland’s location offers unparalleled geopolitical advantages. Acquiring Greenland could bolster U.S. economic and military influence in the Arctic, but such a move would likely face resistance from Denmark and the global community.

The Panama Canal: A Strategic Trade Asset

The Panama Canal, completed in 1914, revolutionized global trade by providing a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Originally controlled by the United States, the canal was handed over to Panama in 1999 under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. During its time under U.S. control, the canal not only facilitated trade but also served as a strategic military asset.

Reclaiming control of the Panama Canal would give the U.S. significant leverage over international shipping. The canal handles approximately 5% of global trade, making it a vital artery of commerce. However, such a move would undoubtedly provoke geopolitical tensions, particularly with Panama and nations dependent on the canal for their trade routes.

Mexico: Economic Integration and Security

Mexico has historically been both a competitor and a partner to the United States. The U.S. annexed much of Mexico’s northern territory following the Mexican-American War in 1848, including present-day Texas, California, and Arizona. Today, Mexico is America’s largest trading partner under the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement).

Integrating Mexico more deeply into the U.S. economy or even considering annexation would have profound implications. Mexico’s manufacturing base, agricultural output, and workforce could provide significant economic benefits. However, it would also require addressing complex issues such as governance, social integration, and disparities in income and development levels. Historically, such large-scale integrations, like the annexation of Texas, have been contentious and politically fraught.

Canada: The 51st State?

Canada, with its vast resources, stable economy, and shared border, has always been a critical ally and trading partner for the U.S. During the War of 1812, American attempts to annex Canada were unsuccessful, and the relationship has since evolved into one of mutual cooperation.

Integrating Canada into the United States would provide unparalleled access to natural resources, including oil, natural gas, and freshwater. Canada’s advanced industries, from technology to healthcare, could strengthen the U.S. economy. However, such a move would face significant cultural and political resistance, as Canadians value their sovereignty and distinct identity. Historically, attempts to merge distinct nations under one government have proven challenging, as seen in the annexation of Hawaii or the Reconstruction-era South.

Historical Lessons and Modern Implications

Throughout U.S. history, territorial acquisitions and economic policies have been driven by the pursuit of growth and security. The Louisiana Purchase, Alaska acquisition, and annexation of Hawaii are examples of successful expansions that enhanced U.S. resources and global influence. However, these moves often came with significant challenges, including resistance from local populations and geopolitical tensions.

Proposals to acquire Greenland, control the Panama Canal, or integrate Mexico and Canada reflect similar ambitions but must be approached with caution. The global political landscape is more interconnected than ever, and such bold moves could provoke backlash from allies and rivals alike.

My concerns

The ideas of acquiring Greenland, controlling the Panama Canal, or integrating Mexico and Canada may seem ambitious, but they are not without precedent, especially with growing concerns of influence of external political players. However, History shows that the United States has consistently pursued strategies to strengthen its economy and global standing, whether through tariffs, territorial expansion, or economic integration. While these proposals carry risks, they also present opportunities to reshape the U.S. economy and its role in the world. The challenge lies in balancing ambition with pragmatism in a complex and interconnected global landscape.

#trump #donald trump #panama canal #canada #gulf of mexico #gulf of america #tariffs #be concerned #body expansion #greenland

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pritishkumar-halder · 7 months ago

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Discover the Latest Trends in Entrepreneurship in Canada

Explore the dynamic world of Trending Entrepreneurship in Canada at pritishkumarhalder.com. As Canada's startup ecosystem grows, discover emerging opportunities, industry insights, and practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. From innovative tech solutions to sustainable business models, Canada is fostering a new wave of entrepreneurship aimed at global impact. This resource offers expert perspectives on everything from securing startup funding and navigating Canadian business regulations to understanding key market trends. Learn how Canada’s unique blend of diversity, cutting-edge tech hubs, and supportive government policies create fertile ground for entrepreneurial success. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, our platform connects you to the information you need to grow in Canada’s competitive landscape.

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darkmaga-returns · 6 months ago

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By Lance D Johnson December 22, 2024

Bill Gates funds Canadian startup Deep Sky to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

The project aims to store carbon underground and sell carbon credits.

Critics question Gates’ motives, seeing it as a step toward controlling the planet.

Direct air capture technology is expensive, energy-intensive, and unproven at scale.

Gates’ involvement raises concerns about population control and global manipulation.

Bill Gates has a plan to suck CO2 out of the atmosphere, destroy the planet

Bill Gates has always been a man with a plan—or rather, a man with many plans. But his latest venture, the Deep Sky project, takes his ambitions to a whole new level of dystopian creepiness. This isn’t just about saving the planet; this is about controlling it. Gates, the billionaire tech mogul turned self-appointed climate savior, is now funding a Canadian startup to suck carbon dioxide directly out of the atmosphere. Sounds noble, right? Wrong. This is the first step in what appears to be a deranged scheme to engineer the Earth’s atmosphere and, by extension, control the population.

Deep Sky, a Montreal-based company, has secured a $40-million grant from Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Catalyst to build a facility in Alberta by spring 2025.The company plans to store the captured CO2 two kilometers underground in a deep saline aquifer, a process known as direct air capture (DAC). DAC involves using massive fans or vacuums to draw in air, which is then filtered to isolate CO2. The energy demands of such systems are astronomical, and the industry is already grappling with a “renewable power problem.” This isn’t just about reducing emissions; it’s about creating a system where carbon is commodified, controlled, and monetized.

Who benefits most from this? Not the planet, and certainly not the people—just Gates and his cronies.

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olivergisttv · 2 months ago

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Comparing Global Immigration Routes for Tech Startups in 2025

In the fast-evolving world of innovation and entrepreneurship, governments around the globe are competing to attract tech startups and founders with friendly immigration pathways. Whether you’re building the next unicorn or scaling a SaaS product, knowing where to set up can make all the difference. In 2025, several countries are offering startup visa programs designed to support tech-driven…

#Canada startup visa #global immigration for entrepreneurs #startup visa #tech visa 2025 #UK innovator founder visa

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innonurse · 9 months ago

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Stanford's new device offers remote monitoring and real-time data for improved treatment

- By InnoNurse Staff -

The global number of people with Parkinson's disease has doubled in 25 years, but treatment and monitoring lag behind.

Current assessments rely on subjective scales and in-person exams, while a shortage of specialists leads to long intervals between clinic visits. This leaves patients uncertain about disease progression and medication effectiveness.

Stanford researchers, led by Dr. Helen Bronte-Stewart, have developed a portable device, KeyDuo, paired with a smartphone app, to quantify Parkinson's symptoms at home. This tool allows real-time remote monitoring of motor symptoms, such as rigidity and tremors, offering objective data for clinicians. Initial studies show it can improve patient care and facilitate drug research by providing continuous, high-resolution data, similar to glucose monitoring in diabetes.

Header image credit: Helen Bronte-Stewart (a blue filter was added).

Read more at Stanford University

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Other recent news and insights

Radiology: Canadian healthtech company Deep Breathe wins top prize at the US Army's xTechInternational 2024 (BetaKit)

#parkinsons #neurology #neuroscience #brain #mhealth #medtech #digital health #radiology #canada #usa #us army #startups #deep breathe #patient monitoring #health tech #mobile health

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mostlysignssomeportents · 10 months ago

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Madeline Ashby’s ‘Glass Houses’

I'm coming to BURNING MAN! On TUESDAY (Aug 27) at 1PM, I'm giving a talk called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE!" at PALENQUE NORTE (7&E). On WEDNESDAY (Aug 28) at NOON, I'm doing a "Talking Caterpillar" Q&A at LIMINAL LABS (830&C).

Glass Houses – published today by Tor Books – is Madeline Ashby's terrifying technothriller: it's an internet-of-things haunted house story that perfectly captures (and skewers) toxic tech culture while also running a savage whodunnit plot that'll keep you guessing to the end:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765382924/glasshouses

Kristen is the "Chief Emotional Manager" for Wuv, a hot startup that has defined the new field of "affective computing," which is when a computer tells you what everyone else around you is really feeling, based on the unsuppressible tells emitted by their bodies, voices and gadgets.

"Chief Emotional Manager" is just a cutesy tech euphemism for "chief of staff." The only person whose emotions Kristen really manages is Sumter William, the boyish billionaire CEO and founder of Wuv. Sumter hired Kirsten because they share a key developmental trait: both were orphaned at an early age and had to raise themselves in a media spotlight.

Both Sumter and Kristen had been in the spotlight even before their parents' death, though. Sumter was the focus of the intense attention that the children of celebrity billionaires always come in for. Kristen, though, was thrust into the spotlight by her parents: her prepper cryptocurrency hustling father, and her tradwife mother, whose livestreams of Kristen's childhoods involved letting the audience vote everything from whether she'd get dessert after dinner to whether her mother should give her bangs.

Kristen's parents died the most Extremely Online death imaginable: a cryptocurrency price-spike sent her father's mining rigs into overdrive, and when they burst into flame, the IoT house system failed to alert him until it was too late. The fire left Kristen both alone and horribly burned, with scars over much of her body.

Managing Sumter through Wuv's tumultuous launch is hard work for Kristen, but at last, it's paid off. The company has been acquired, making Kristen – and all her coworkers on the founding core team – into instant millionaires. They're flying to a lavish celebration in an autonomous plane that Sumter chartered when the action begins: the plane has a malfunction and crashes into a desert island, killing all but ten of the Wuvvies.

As the survivors explore the island, they discover only one sign of human habitation: a huge, brutalist, featureless black glass house, which initially rebuffs all their efforts to enter it. But once they gain entry, they discover that the house is even harder to leave.

This is the setup for a haunted house story where the house seems to be an unknown billionaire prepper's IoT house of horrors. As the survivors of the crash suffer horrible injuries and deaths on the island, the remaining Wuvvies bolt themselves inside, setting up a locked-room whodunnit that runs in parallel.

This is a fantastic dramatic engine for Ashby's specialty: extremely pointed techno-criticism. The ensuing chapters, which flip back and forth between the story of Wuv's rise and rise to a top tech company, and the company's surviving staff being terrorized on a paradisaical tropical aisle, flesh out Ashby's speculation and the critique it embodies.

For example, there's the political culture of Ashby's future America. Wuv are a Canadian company, headquartered in Toronto, and we gradually come to understand that Canada is the beneficiary of an exodus of tech companies from the US following a kind of soft Christian Dominionist takeover (Kristen and Sumter often have to wrangle rules about whether women are allowed to enter the USA in the company of men they aren't married to and who aren't their brothers or fathers).

The flashbacks to this America are beautifully and subtly drawn, especially the scenes in Vegas, which manages to still be Vegas, even amidst a kind national, legally mandated Handmaid's Tale LARP. Ashby uses her futuristic speculation to illuminate the present, that standing wave where the past is becoming the future. Like everything in the shadows of a haunted house tale, this stuff will make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.

I'm a big Madeline Ashby fan. I have the honor of having published her first story, when I was co-editing one of the Tesseracts anthologies of Canadian SF. I've read and really enjoyed every one of her books, but this one feels like a step-change in Ashby's career, a leveling up to something even more haunting and brilliant than her impressive back-catalog.

Madeline and I will be live at Chevalier's Books in LA on Aug 16 as part of her Glass Houses tour:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-talk-madeline-ashbys-glass-houses-tickets-965286486867

Community voting for SXSW is live! If you wanna hear RIDA QADRI and me talk about how GIG WORKERS can DISENSHITTIFY their jobs with INTEROPERABILITY, VOTE FOR THIS ONE!

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/13/influencers/#affective-computing

#pluralistic #books #reviews #thrillers #science fiction #gift guide #madeline ashby #locked room mysteries #affective computing #ai #silicon valley #influencers #augmented reality

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mariacallous · 3 months ago

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Last week, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney declared that the “old relationship” his country had with the United States was “over,” and it’s “clear the US is no longer a reliable partner.” Carney’s comments came after the US announced sweeping new tariffs on Canada and President Donald Trump spent months making inflammatory comments that have alarmed Canada’s leaders, including suggestions that the country would be “better off” if it was annexed by the US. Tensions finally boiled over last Wednesday when Trump said he will impose 25 percent tariffs on foreign-made cars, a move that could have a major negative economic impact on Canada—once one of America’s staunchest allies.

Among Canadians in Silicon Valley, the rift between the two nations is sparking a new kind of national pride, as well as a lot of uncertainty. For now, at least, Trump’s tariffs on Canada don’t extend to software, so the flow of digital goods and services between the two countries remains mostly uninterrupted. But the chaos has prompted some prominent founders and investors to urge young Canadians to build companies at home and strengthen the local tech ecosystem, while Canadian tech companies with large operations in the US are wondering if they need to change strategies, or even headquarters.

“I think the biggest thing happening right now is that Canadian founders are having to adjust to a new reality in which two fundamental assumptions we've taken for granted for decades can no longer be counted on,” says Chris Neumann, a Vancouver-based partner at Panache Ventures and former startup founder. “Namely, that the US is a reliable trading partner and that the US and Canada have a stable, mutually beneficial free-trade agreement."

At the same time, some Canadians tell WIRED that the social and financial capital of Silicon Valley remain huge draws for tech workers. Many ambitious entrepreneurs would still jump at the chance to join the Y Combinator tech accelerator in the US, for example, “whether they’re coming from Canada or coming from Argentina,” says Michael Buhr, the executive director of C100, a nonprofit networking group for Canadians in Silicon Valley.

“I like to joke that you can’t put a tariff on talent,” Brandon Waselnuk, an executive at the documentation app Mintlify, said at an event in California last week.

Waselnuk is originally from Ottawa but now lives and works in San Francisco. Back in January, he put out a call on social media to find other Canadians in tech who, like him, might be feeling unsettled by rising tensions between the US and their home country. A number of Canadians got in touch, and Waselnuk began organizing local events for what he dubbed the “Maple Syrup Gang.” The first outing was a city rucking and chocolate tasting excursion co-led by his wife.

Waselnuk hosted last week’s gathering at the sleek offices of Bain Capital in downtown San Francisco. Around 60 entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from Canada gathered to watch startup demos while noshing on pizza and poutine. Greeting people near the entrance, Waselnuk appeared quintessentially Canadian, both in terms of affability and attire. He wore a hat emblazoned with what he explained was the logo for Trans Canada Trail. His red maple-leaf T-shirt, however, required no explaining.

“Some of the Canadians in the group have been asking, ‘Should we relocate our office? Should we change our approach?’” Waselnuk said. “But we don’t really know what’s going to happen. If anything, America doesn’t know either. Canadians don’t want these problems. We just want to get along.”

Alysaa Co, a principal at Bain Capital Ventures and fellow Canadian, agreed. She noted that one of Bain’s portfolio companies, a Toronto-based fintech startup, has been serving US-based small businesses since its inception. Ideally, Co said, the startup won’t have to rethink that strategy.

Some in the Maple Syrup Gang poked fun at the US and American culture. One entrepreneur, who showed off an AI-powered tool for helping kids learn math, asked the crowd to roast him and provide brutally honest feedback on his app. “Pretend like you’re from Texas. Or pretend you’re Trump,” he said.

Canadian pride and nationalist sentiment have been on the rise since Trump began threatening America’s northern neighbor and took a hard line on trade. The percentage of Canadians who say they’re “very proud” of their country jumped significantly in February from just a couple months prior, according to data analysis from the Angus Reid Institute, a Canadian nonprofit research organization. As Canada gears up for national elections in a few weeks, the two major political parties are emphasizing the importance of “Canada First” and defending national sovereignty. Carney’s Liberal Party, which was sinking in the polls before Trump’s rhetoric toward Canada turned dark, has seen its popularity surge as the prime minister, a former banker, positioned himself as the best candidate to protect Canada’s economy.

This growing sense of Canadian national pride has trickled into the tech sector, too, where some investors and startup founders view the divisiveness between the US and Canada as an opportunity to boost their country’s productivity and self-reliance. A group of Canadian tech entrepreneurs, including executives from Shopify and Cohere, recently spun up a promotional campaign called Build Canada with the goal of influencing policy on technology, tax reform, and immigration. An article in the Canadian blog Betakit reported that these tech leaders have been “frustrated by the Liberal government and the country’s long-standing productivity woes.”

“In hindsight we will look at these US tariffs as an important wake-up call for [Canada],” Boris Wertz, founder of Vancouver-based Version One ventures and a former board partner at Andreessen Horowitz, said on X in early February. Canada should diversify its international trading partners away from the US, deregulate inter-provincial trade, and double down on energy infrastructure, Wertz wrote. He also included “border security/tough on crime” as an agenda item.

Canada has been a significant source of tech talent in Silicon Valley since the North American Free Trade Agreement was put in place in 1994, which included a program granting an unlimited number of visas for skilled professionals looking to move from Canada or Mexico to the US. (NAFTA was replaced by the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement, or USMCA, in 2020.) Canadians who work in tech can quickly rattle off the names of unicorn founders and other notable figures who are originally from their home country, including Uber cofounder Garrett Camp, Notion cofounder Ivan Zhao, Cloudflare cofounder Michelle Zatlyn, and Pebble creator Eric Migicovsky—not to mention the thousands of Canadian engineers who toil away on products behind the scenes.

But Canadians have also lamented the brain drain to the Valley and the lost opportunities it represents for Canada’s growth. Amid the current artificial intelligence boom that has prompted another wave of talented engineers to flock to the US, Canada’s governments and industry leaders “should be addressing this problem with the urgency of a five-alarm fire,” software developer Bilal Akhtar argued in an op-ed in the Toronto Star last year.

“Some of the most notable academicians in the fields of AI and machine learning, such as Geoffrey Hinton and Ilya Sutskever, hail from the University of Toronto,” Akhtar wrote. “We’ve just failed to build a big enough ecosystem around any of that.”

Canada’s talent bleed may be stanched slightly by rising tensions with the US, which have created, in some cases, literal barriers to entry that were once unimaginable between friendly neighbors. Security concerns about traveling across the southern border increased in Canada after the story of a Canadian woman who was detained for two weeks by US immigration authorities went viral earlier this month. Flight bookings to the US during the upcoming summer travel season have plummeted.

One Canadian attendee at the Maple Syrup Gang event told WIRED he’s currently interning at an American electric car company and had never been to the United States before taking the gig. He now wants to stay and find a full-time job in Silicon Valley, but his father already told him he wouldn’t visit him if he remained in the US.

Buhr, who runs the C100 networking group for Canadians in Silicon Valley, says there are critical cultural differences between the two tech ecosystems that have hindered Canada. The country has “one unicorn a decade, and the US has 10 unicorns a year,” Buhr says, citing ecommerce platform Shopify as Canada’s current shining tech star. (Almost everyone cites Shopify as Canada’s shining tech star.)

He pointed to Silicon Valley’s well-known flywheel effect, where if a tech worker is extremely successful and becomes wealthy, they’ll invest money back into the ecosystem and create new opportunities for others. “That flywheel does not exist in Canada, and if it does, it’s on a 10-year cycle,” he says.

Buhr adds that he wants to help his fellow Canadians increase their appetite for risk. “We need to raise the hubris of Canadian entrepreneurs a little bit, and be more American in that sense, so that they’re saying ‘I can change the world,’ and not, ‘I can buy a cottage a year from now.’” As the relationship between the US and Canada goes through a radical transformation, the world those entrepreneurs are seeking to change could soon look very different.

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