#edit: APPARENTLY IT WAS NATIONWIDE?????

[luvrodite]

you guys. you will not believe the day i’ve had and it isn’t even mid afternoon

[battleangel]

Jeff Goldblum warning us in Jurassic Park that cloning dinosaurs is raping mother nature was apparently an instruction manual and not a warning.

"Colossal Biosciences, a biotechnology company founded in 2021, is working to genetically resurrect the woolly mammoth by combining its genes with Asian elephant DNA. The company's goal is to create a hybrid species, called a "mammophant", that will look and behave like a woolly mammoth. Colossal plans to use cloning techniques similar to those used to create Dolly the sheep in 1996, inserting genetically edited cells into an elephant egg that would then be gestated by a surrogate elephant. The company has said it intends to complete the project by 2027."

Exploitative KKKapitalism = Eating like 💩 in the neighborhood! "Studies have shown that the prevalence of fast-food restaurants is positively correlated with the percentage of Black residents in urban neighborhoods in the U.S. Similar trends have been found for liquor stores."

$Anything for a Dollar$

"While dollar stores can fill a need in low-income neighborhoods, they are often regarded as predatory businesses that harm communities more than they benefit them, due to very low wages, displacing other grocery options while failing to sell fresh food, store design that increases the rate of armed robberies, and OSHA and FDA violations that put customers and employees at risk."

Who Needs Fresh Food?

"There are no fresh vegetables, fruits, or meats in most dollar stores. And yet, as limited as their offerings are, dollar stores are now feeding more Americans than Whole Foods is, and they’re multiplying rapidly. Since 2011, the number of dollar stores nationwide has climbed from about 20,000 to nearly 30,000. There are now more dollar stores than Walmart and McDonalds locations combined."

Dollar Tree Customers = Permanent Underclass

"In their latest annual reports, Dollar General and Dollar Tree say they have identified thousands of new locations for dollar stores. The two chains are planning to expand their combined empires to more 50,000 outlets."

“Essentially what the dollar stores are betting on in a large way is that we are going to have a permanent underclass in America,” Garrick Brown, a researcher with the commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, told Bloomberg last year.

“The economy is continuing to create more of our core customer,” Dollar General chief executive Todd Vasos told investors last year.

"More than one-third of American adults, and 48 percent of African American adults, are obese."

13% of the US population is Black, and 48% of Black Americans are obese.

"Look at the pharmaceutical companies. In my neighborhood, there is a fast-food restaurant on every block, from Wendy’s to Kentucky Fried Chicken to Popeye’s to Little Caesar’s Pizza. Now drugstores are popping up on every corner, too. So you have the fast-food restaurants that of course cause the diet-related diseases, and you have the pharmaceutical companies there to fix it."

"If you give people access to really good food and a living-wage job, someone is going to lose money. As long as people are poor and as long as people are sick, there are jobs to be made. Follow the money."

"I talk about power, and how power is a drug and power over people is a drug and it’s hard to give up."

"A substantial body of evidence indicates that diet, toxic metals, food additives, insufficient nutrients, food allergy, lack of exercise can all contribute to criminal behavior. Evidence is mounting that a good diet makes a positive difference when working with some offenders."

"Our estimates imply that the 42% drop in the natural gas price in the late 2000s, mostly driven by the shale gas boom, averted 12,500 deaths per year in the United States."

"Participants (60.55%) experienced unexpected or increased medical expenses (17.69%), job loss (13.64%), pay reduction (11.85%), and death of a family member (9.09%). Pay reduction and increased debt were associated with moderate hunger; death of a family member, pay reduction, and increased debt were associated with severe hunger."

Lung Cancer to Avoid Severe Hunger

"In unadjusted models, annual household income <$15,000, non-urban residence, lack of health insurance, unstable housing, heavier food pantry reliance, fair or poor adult health, adult anxiety, and adult smoking to reduce hunger pangs were all positively associated with VLFS-C."

Fast Food = Fast Death

"Survey respondents had 8 ± 7 fast-food outlets within 2 miles of their home. Individuals living in close proximity to fast-food restaurants had higher BMIs, and lower fruit and vegetable consumption."

Happy Meal = Psychiatric Distress & Violence

"Consumption of fast food has been linked to psychiatric distress, violent behaviors, and impulsivity in adolescents."

"The analysis found that liquor stores are disproportionately located in predominantly black neighborhoods, even after controlling for census tract socioeconomic status."

"At equal levels of poverty, Black neighborhoods had the fewest supermarkets."

[carriesthewind]

Thanks so much for your writeup of the 2 Stupid 2 Sanction case. OMG.

As a reference librarian in a special library (i.e. not an academic or public library), the database access of this case has been -fascinating- to me. I regularly struggle with the challenge of how to provide access to materials to my patrons, when we have limited access and an even more limited budget. This case is an absolutely TEXTBOOK in what NOT to do.

Regarding the apparently wonky access to different categories of cases in Fastcase, I can provide a little professional insight, as I have spent FAR too many hours trying to decipher database providers' pricing guidelines. (But, DISCLAIMER: I am not a law librarian and hold my colleagues who are in absolute awe. So I don't have any direct experience with the database in question, just 15+ years of trying to wrangle these kinds of databases in general.)

It is conceivable that Fastcase could be setup in such a way that Schwartz et al. had access to ALL of the 2nd Circuit cases and some of the 5th Circuit cases. Research databases are nearly always broken out into "collections" and you can often pick and choose which collections you have access to, depending on how much money you fork over. I have absolutely seen instances where content I expected to be in one such collection was actually found in another (looking at you, Oxford Scholarly Editions…). This can happen for a variety of reasons: when the content was acquired by the database provider, what kind of distribution rights they were able to secure, or even who was doing the ingesting of that content.

None of which are relevant for Fastcase.

Acquisition and distribution rights are a non-issue for case law (particularly US Federal case law), and the inherent nature of the structure of the court system creates pre-made "collections" for the database to be organized into.

This is supported by Fastcase's own website. On their "Coverage" page, they helpfully break out the different content that they can provide access to into exactly the manner that you would expect. Each Court has its own "bucket" of content, starting from the Supreme Court and working our way down through more and more specialized courts.

So the idea that Schwartz would have access to some of the 5th Circuit cases, but not all? Pretty laughable. They should all be in the same "collection", where you'd either have access to ALL or NONE. It's hard to conceive of it as anything other a binary setup.

It gets even more laughable when you look at Fastcase's helpful Pricing Plans page.

They helpfully breakdown the content that each subscription plan would have access to. Their "Appellate Plan" (the cheapest) provides access to US Supreme Court, US Court of Appeals, and State Supreme & Appellate Court decisions and to "Nationwide Statutes, Regulations, Court Rules & More". Their "Premium Plan" and "Enterprise Plan" both provide access to all of this, PLUS US District and Bankruptcy Court decisions.

(Side note: As database pricing goes, this really is Not Bad. They seem to be making good on their claim to try to provide broader access and tools for legal research.)

Now, the scope of access for a subscriber level probably isn't set in stone; database providers can be remarkably flexible about what they provide access to if it means making a sale vs not. So despite the fact that on their public-facing information page, they give the appearance that a subscriber would get access to ALL Federal Appeals cases, it is certainly conceivable that the Firm negotiated access to ONLY 2nd Circuit cases.

But then how would they have access to ANY 5th Circuit cases?

No, it's far more likely that they had access to everything. And again, it's hard to comprehend how an "error in billing" would lead to partial access. It's generally a binary setup: either you have access to everything in your subscription, or you have access to none of it.

I'm gonna call shenanigans on the "billing error" argument as well.

And all of this is completely aside from the fact that, as you've noted several times, YOU CAN JUST GOOGLE FEDERAL CASES WTIH A REASONABLE EXPECTATION OF SOMETHING USEFUL COMING UP. (There's a whole other discussion of why these cases exist in subscription databases at all, having to do with metadata and search frameworks and site functionality, but that's another whole long thing and this is already far too long as is.)

(As as side note, whoever has written the training documentation (https://go.fastcase.com/teachingfastcase) for Fastcase deserves a goddamned medal. The line "Parentheses are the Marie Kondo of Boolean Operators: Here to bring you joy and sort similar things in similar locations." made me laugh for 5 minutes straight. I'm still giggling about it.)

Thank you for this fantastic writeup of this issue!

This was so much good information (and dam, yes, that documentation is delightful), and I don't have anything substantive to add.

If I may indulge in some brief speculation, if I had to bet on what actually happened, here is what I suspect: the Firm didn't have access to the federal Fastcase database at all (I think this because it would be such a stupid and pointless thing for the Firm representative to lie about, otherwise). But it may have been less of "billing error" and more of a, "we're not going to bother to pay for that, we are never in federal court." However, once he got the Court's order to annex the cases, he got access somehow - maybe someone else at the firm had access, or he had a friend with access, or he did actually go to a bar association library, or whatever. And that's how he downloaded the real opinions. (I think this because it seems like the simplest explanation, and it explains why he/they are so cagey about how he actually go the opinions. Because if had full access, it shatters his excuse that he thought the "opinions" were real because he couldn't check them in another source "because he didn't have a database with access to the federal reporters available.")

(But I want to know! Especially with what you've just laid out, I want to shake everyone involved until the truth falls out!)

[talkingpointsusa]

Matt Walsh goes on a bizarre rant about minorities in the construction industry and somehow manages to be both misogynistic and racist simultaneously

The May 8th edition of the Matt Walsh Show was absolutely stupid and infuriating, even by Matt Walsh standards. Apparently he's up in arms about female construction workers now, apparently the fact that Maine is trying to get more women involved in the construction industry is proof that white males are being systematically replaced. If this doesn't sound like bizarre white supremacist ramblings from a complete lunatic, I don't know what does. Lets get into it.

01:54, Matt Walsh: "If you've ever worked in some capacity on procuring a federal government contract than you're familiar with maybe the single most obvious and grotesque form of affirmative action that exists in this country. It's been around for a long time, as far back as Nixon's administration gender and racial affirmative action became mandatory for federal construction projects in the city of Philadelphia."

Naturally, Matt's mad that federal buildings aren't built by a team of white men and white men only. First of all, these kinds of projects aren't even that common. A majority of federal projects are things like post offices or military bases. It's a total non-issue unless you are obsessed with white people getting special treatment like Matt Walsh is.

Secondly, these rules don't just apply to race and gender. They also apply to people with disabilities and even veterans! These groups can include white males so his stupid argument falls apart even in that regard. Naturally, Matt Walsh wouldn't dedicate an entire episode of his show to how hiring veterans is an example of "woke DEI in action" or whatever because then he'd look like a dick to his audience as opposed to his usual form of looking like a dick to everyone but his audience.

Thirdly, even if those two things weren't true, who cares? People who aren't white males are allowed to have jobs in the construction sector. That is unless you're Matt Walsh and your entire point leads to the conclusion that people who aren't white males shouldn't have jobs in the construction sector or really any field because that would mean that we're being ungrateful to white men.

Just to shred the last bit of credibility Matt's argument might have, he's not even historically correct here either. The Philadelphia Plan was a short-lived federal affirmative action plan meant to address the racist hiring practices of the 1960's that lasted from 1967-1970. The bizarre thing about this episode is that Matt's seemingly trying to pretend that this is still in action. Check this out.

02:14, Matt Walsh: "And any federal contractor that hired fewer than 80 percent of the local share of quote 'any race, sex, or ethnic group' risked losing their contract and being barred from working with the federal government entirely. Within a year those requirements applied to contracts with all federal agencies nationwide. As attorney named Michael Toth pointed out recently in the Wall Street Journal, those rules are still in place today half a century later."

So Matt and this guy Michael Toth have found an obscure program from the 1960's that was basically "Hey guys, stop being racist when you hire people" that lasted for all of three years and has suddenly projected this program onto the present. I'm afraid to ask but do these guys want us to go back to what it was like in the 1960's? Oh yeah, of course they do because that's the only way to show gratitude to white males.

02:40, Matt Walsh: "Now the federal government can award no-bid contracts to so-called 'minority owned businesses' in many cases."

This isn't a bad thing, in fact it helps small businesses particularly ones that are economically disadvantaged. Supporting small businesses is something that we should all be doing and the federal government putting incentives in place to help them is an inherently good thing. What we're seeing here is absolutely naked racism.

03:07, Matt Walsh: "Now this is all highly inefficient, it's fraud basically and it's resulted in taxpayers being forced to waste a lot of money. As City Journal reported recently, some government contracts cost nearly 20% more than they would have without these affirmative action programs."

This is funny because a lot of the stuff that Matt Walsh supports such as unnecessarily high military spending and even more unnecessarily high police funding cost the taxpayers infinitely more than affirmative action in the contracting sector ever could.

03:28, Matt Walsh: "Instead of ending this social engineering and simply allowing markets to work without crude demographic manipulation, the Biden Administrations allies in state and local governments are doubling down. They've decided that they know exactly what the demographic makeup of each industry should be and it just so happens that white men aren't wanted in any industry."

This is so ridiculous. As if white men, a group that makes up %52.9 of the construction industry are underrepresented. Matt's essentially devoted this segment to giving a passionate defense for racist hiring practices based on the weak evidence of some program that lasted for three years and "muh taxes". Without these measures in place, we'd be seeing massive amounts of discrimination in the workforce.

No citations for anything he's saying by the way, just feelings and a couple opinion articles from right-wing sources as per usual.

03:51, Matt Walsh: "So I'll start with Maine where this week Democrats have determined that the field of construction, where blacks and hispanics make up nearly 40 percent of the workforce, simply isn't diverse enough somehow. Specifically the governor, Janet Mills, has determined that more women need to be construction workers and therefor Mills has signed an executive order that among other things will use state and federal funding to prioritize construction projects that involve women."

Essentially, this executive order is designed to help women enter the construction industry. This is mainly due to Maine experiencing a shortage of construction workers, something which Matt never acknowledges. Some of the things that it puts in place are the pursuit of grant opportunities to incentivize hiring women in construction and connecting businesses with women studying in the trades.

This is one of the least offensive bills on Earth. It's completely innocent and is really more of a push to help the construction shortage if anything. Matt is really raging about this though.

05:00, Matt Walsh: "We need construction workers, especially women now. Why? Why especially women? And this is odd coming from Janet Mills who spent her college years travelling through Europe and learning French before going into law school and spending the rest of her life in government. What does Janet Mills know about construction exactly?"

This is such a stupid argument. If people in congress could only pass legislation on exactly what they studied in college we'd get absolutely nothing done. Lets think about what the world would look like if Matt's argument had any bearing on it for a second. For starters, we can kiss NASA goodbye because I can't think of any congresspeople who studied aerospace engineering. What do they know about rocket science? No more vaccination programs or bills dedicated to combating cancer, these congresspeople know nothing of immunology and research on cancer.

I don't know if Matt knows this, I hope he does because he's a grown man, but people in government consult experts. Lets flip this around too. Matt's a high school graduate. Lets kick him off the Daily Wire because he has no qualifications.

05:24, Matt Walsh: "Now as always this DEI initiative is a solution in search of a problem."

Except that Maine is going through a construction worker shortage you dimwit. This is absolutely horrendous journalistic work even by Matt's standards. I propose that Matt learns the journalistic practices of "doing a twelve second Google search" and "actually reading about the thing that you're talking about so that you don't look like a stupid dipshit".

06:01, Matt Walsh: "By all accounts, fewer women are in construction for two simple reasons. First, because most women don't want to do construction and second because men are generally much better at it."

Citation needed. Matt never really backs up any of the stuff he's saying with legitimate evidence. I guess he just has a mental link with every woman in America which is how he knows that "most women don't want to do construction". That must come as a shock to the 1,173,000 women currently employed in the construction industry in the United States.

07:29, Matt Walsh: "Men tend to do most of the physically demanding and dangerous jobs everywhere. This is not a privilege that men have but rather a responsibility that they have carried. The takeaway from this shouldn't be that we need more women doing these jobs, it's that men and white men in particular historically, have had a unique and essential role in building and maintaining our civilization."

So, Matt's putting his misogyny and racism eggs in one basket here. Matt literally just admitted that 40 percent of the construction workforce consists of Hispanic and African American workers. Even historically Matt's completely incorrect due to the fact that a majority of our civilization historically was built using the horrific practice of slavery.

What exactly has Matt Walsh contributed to the world by the way? Really stupid easily debunkable commentary that's presentable enough to con people into believing it's gospel.

"Yeah, I'm not saying that I, Matt Walsh, am a hero. BUT civilization was built by white men just like myself so maybe show a little gratitude."

08:01, Matt Walsh: "So rather than this constant drum beat of scolding and lecturing and guilt and resentment, treating the presence of this group as a problem that must be solved that must be solved or a cancer that must be treated, the appropriate attitude is one of appreciation and gratitude."

This must be one of the greatest examples of acting oppressed over nothing in the history of humanity. Matt's essentially saying that he's mad that people are pointing out historical atrocities carried out by white males, such as the aforementioned slavery, and instead wants people to just kiss his ass for the rest of time. It's such a childish attitude to have.

08:18, Matt Walsh: "Men built every building you've ever been in, every bridge you've ever crossed, every road you've ever driven on."

More broad sweeping generalizations. Also, I find it so insane that he doesn't recognize that maybe that's because men have prevented women from building bridges, buildings, and roads. Keep in mind that this is still about legislation designed to address a construction shortage, something which he still hasn't acknowledged. He's acting as if men are being kicked out of construction in Maine which is a bald-faced lie.

09:05, Matt Walsh: "And this same logic applies to race as well, I mean these days of course as noted it's not just white men in the construction industry but historically speaking white men have been uniquely indispensable contributors to western civilization."

Yeah, because white men historically speaking didn't allow anyone of other races and creeds to contribute. I can't believe that this is an adult. Plus, people of other races and sexualities and genders have made massive contributions to our civilization. This is historically ignorant at best and borderline white supremacist at best.

09:48, Matt Walsh: "A sane society would be finding ways to get this group more involved in things given it's incredible track record of success, instead we go the other way."

Did I say borderline white supremacist? Yeah, I meant barely dog-whistling anymore pure unfiltered white supremacist. What Matt is essentially saying here is that white males are inherently superior to every other race and gender just by virtue of being white men. This is mask off for even the Daily Wire.

10:22, Matt Walsh: "It's also happening in the most populated city in the United States. Officials in New York have just proudly announced that they've awarded more than 2 billion dollars in contracts for the purpose of renovating JFK Airport and all of that money has gone to so called MWBE's which is short for minority and women owned business enterprises."

So, supporting small businesses in a region of NYC that's primarily made up of minorities. Got it. Is this the part where I'm supposed to be horrified that they're not just giving all the contracts to whites?

Alright, I'm tired of this segment so for the sake of my sanity lets look at some of the other more humorous stupid crap that Matt Walsh is peddling. We go to Matt's May 7th show where he's attempting to do a little bit of media criticism.

00:00, Matt Walsh: "Well it seems that Star Wars has gone woke, again, for approximately the ten thousandth time Star Wars has been used as a vehicle to push a radical left-wing agenda."

"A radical left-wing agenda", sounds serious. Clearly this is some really serious business that justifies stating that a piece of media pushes a radical left-wing agenda (as someone who works at a right-wing media company by the way, rules for thee and all that).

00:11, Matt Walsh: "A new animated Star Wars television series features a nonbinary Jedi who is nonbinary (sic) with other characters referring to this Jedi as 'them'."

Some character in a TV Show uses they/them pronouns, this is what you're concerning yourself with you complete and utter dimwit?! Dude, Star Wars takes place on a different planet. If any franchise should incorporate nonbinary characters it's Star Wars. Like, how can you look at Chewbacca and Jabba the Hut and go "Yeah, these characters fit into a male/female human gender binary". That aside, who cares? This is such a nonissue that it's not even funny.

By the way, Matt's struggling a little here because it looks like his team forgot to switch out the headline on screen from one displayed in a different segment. Brilliant work.

01:51, Matt Walsh: "In any event, you know I find this line to be pretty funny. She says 'Let them die'. She doesn't care if the nonbinary Jedi dies and yet even as she expresses that level of disdain she still makes sure to respect the pronouns."

Yeah, it's a cartoon Matt. I feel like you might be reading a little too into this all things considered.

Conclusion:

Well that was certainly.....something all right. Like I've said all along on this blog, if anyone displays this level of concern around the "white race" you should really run. Between Matt Walsh and Charlie Kirk it's been a pretty mask off couple of weeks for right-wing media fearmongering about race. Cheers and I'll see you in the next one.

Original Videos:

“Ep. 1364 - White Men Deserve Gratitude, Not Demonization.” The Daily Wire

“And yet Another Reason Not to Watch Star Wars.” Rumble.com.

Sources:

“Project Type: Is the Construction Project Private, Public, or Federal?” NCS Credit, 15 Mar. 2021.

U.S. Department of Labor. “Affirmative Action | U.S. Department of Labor.” Dol.gov, 2019.

David Hamilton Golland. “The Philadelphia Plan (1967-1970) •.” Blackpast.org, 26 May 2014.

“Governor Mills Signs Executive Order to Increase Women’s Employment in Maine’s Construction Industry | Office of Governor Janet T. Mills.” Www.maine.gov, 6 May 2024.

Whittle, Patrick. “Maine Has a Workforce Shortage Problem That It Hopes to Resolve with Recently Arrived Immigrants.” AP News, 19 Jan. 2024.

[epacer]

Yeah Its A Thing

TikTok bathroom challenge has students stealing from schools and lighting up restrooms.

Turns out all it took was a ridiculous internet trend paired with vandalism to teach kids about problem-solving, teamwork and creativity.

Students are stealing or breaking large pieces of school property as part of the latest harmful TikTok challenge to sweep the nation’s youth — and it’s driving their principals crazy.

The destructive stunt — dubbed both the “bathroom challenge” and the “devious lick challenge” as slang for the stealthy actions — has seen kids steal water fountains, hand sanitizer and soap dispensers, fire alarms, bathroom stall doors, hot air dryers and many other major utilities, seemingly just for the thrill of it.

“Someone tried to unbolt a urinal from the bathroom,” Max Orston, a Georgia high school student, told Atlanta’s CBS46 about the attempted “licks” he saw at Riverwood High School.

It appears most of the thefts are often happening in school bathrooms, as many viral videos show.

Nationwide, some are taking the exploits to ruinous extremes, with the principal of Kansas’ Olathe North High School having to tell parents that several of the restrooms there were shut down because of stolen toilet seats and ripped-off stall doors, the Kansas City Star reported.

The trend reportedly began in early September when user @jugg4elias posted a since-deleted video of himself taking an apparently purloined box of disposable masks out of his backpack, captioning it, “A month into school absolutely devious lick,” according to Newsweek.

Since then, students have only gotten more creative, as one school had its trophy case raided from the challenge, according to footage from TikToker @smellyess. *Reposted edited article from the New York Post by Alex Mitchell, September 15, 2021.

[irvinenewshq]

Funds 2022: the weirdest spending measures

You assume the funds is all about boring productiveness measures that have an effect on the financial system? Mistaken! Studying the funds is like selecting up a rock within the yard and uncovering a thousand bizarre little issues that attempt desperately to crawl again into the darkness.  The enterprise of presidency is just not all sweeping visions, grand statements, Churchill and Chifley. Typically it’s about beagles.  The federal government goes to get some puppies, the funds tells us. It registers an expenditure measure of $12 million for floppy-eared little frolickers (it doesn’t say what number of) that may sleep of their government-owned kennels, poop on government-owned flooring, lick their government-appointed handlers proper on the mouth and someday develop as much as sniff baggage in Australia’s airports. Get Crikey FREE to your inbox each weekday morning with the Crikey Worm. If I had been Jim Chalmers I might have made that the funds centrepiece as an alternative of ominous speak of cuts and tax reform — however he’s the skilled I assume.  The puppies would undoubtedly have been a greater PR stunt than the federal government’s miserly pronouncement on showbags. No Bertie Beetle for you, the funds tells us! Funding for the federal government’s agricultural reveals growth program has been unceremoniously dropped, like a toddler’s ice cream from the highest of the Helter Skelter, whereas the agriculture reveals and discipline days funding program has been partly reversed. Exhibits are within the canine home, however caravan parks? Caravan parks are the place a clever treasurer invests even in a time of nice fiscal self-discipline. Apparently. The federal government has spent a fairly shocking $48 million on a program that features infrastructure investments in caravan parks. If you’re mendacity in your tent, listening to the precise slap-squelch noise made solely by the pension-aged man on his peregrination from brand-new bathe cubicle to caravan, you understand who to thank: Treasurer Jim Chalmers. However wait, there’s extra! On line casino Beef Week… will get cash. Whereas that appears like free steaks whilst you play roulette, it’s really considerably extra rural (a farming occasion within the city of On line casino).  Hells Gate… doesn’t get cash. The plan was really not about damnation however a big dam in Queensland that’s not going forward (in all probability wonderful since most of Australia is knee-deep in water by this level).   Seaweed farming… will get cash. Assist for kelp! Nori for all! Bitcoin traders… don’t get cash. The funds goes out of its solution to whack crypto traders attempting to be sneaky. Bitcoin is just not a overseas foreign money, you intelligent devils. So, no, you may’t have the tax reductions you’d get if it was. And, no, simply because El Salvador has adopted it as a nationwide foreign money doesn’t imply it’s one. El Salvador is as a lot a cryptocurrency hedge fund lately as an actual sovereign entity. Ukraine… will get particular therapy. All the things from Ukraine is now duty-free! Pickles and vodka all spherical.  So sure, there’s one thing on this funds for everybody. You simply should look beneath the floor. Are you cheerful to see your tax {dollars} spent on cute puppies and caravan parks? Tell us your ideas by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please embody your full identify to be thought of for publication. We reserve the proper to edit for size and readability. Originally published at Irvine News HQ

[makeste]

regarding Best Jeanist, Dabi, and all of that

@kaleswagdragon​ I hope you don’t mind me posting this comment and my response as its own post, seeing as it quickly got out of hand and sort of morphed into a whole entire essay.

anyway, so! you say that it’s a mischaracterization, but it’s really not, though. I mean, props for bringing up the cultural context of Japan, in which the honne-tatemae culture of covering up anything that might lead to any sort of conflict -- even if it means harming an innocent victim in the process -- is a very real issue. so given that, I understand why so many people are interpreting Jeanist’s statement in a “how dare you bring this family shame to light” sort of way. and Caleb’s “dirty laundry” translation doesn’t help, given the “we’re more embarrassed than actually concerned about this” feel of that particular phrase, which he apparently chose just because of the clothing pun without really giving much thought to any other implications.

but in the actual Japanese, the meaning/context is somewhat different. here’s a link to a twitter thread clarifying the original spoiler translation, and breaking down the actual Japanese dialogue.

I think the meaning here is very clearly “you waited until the public’s faith in heroes was already wavering to bring this down on them as a final blow.” if he was simply criticizing Dabi for publicizing the Todoroki family drama, he would have stopped with that first sentence. the two sentences afterward (“you waited until everyone’s faith in heroes was wavering, when the damage would be too great to handle”) make it clear that what he’s actually calling Dabi out for is the way that he basically weaponizes his story into the perfect political tool to finally take down the heroes. which is an observation that we as the readers can verify for ourselves as being true. look at how he so carefully edited the footage of Twice’s death. look at the contrast between the way he acts in the video, compared with the homicidal glee we see from the actual Dabi in real time.

Jeanist is notably the only one who is able to get the same perspective as the readers here, since he’s the only person who’s physically present in Jakku with the real Dabi, but is also able to hear the video being broadcast. meaning that he’s able to hear both video!Dabi’s calm, prerecorded “I’m just a concerned citizen trying to look out for a society being taken advantage of by the ones charged with protecting it” speech, and actual!Dabi’s “hahaha fuck you Endeavor I’m bringing the whole country down even as we speak, well anyway time to kill you all” reality. he alone can see that stark contrast between the concerned whistleblower act Dabi is putting onscreen, versus his true attitude of “I don’t actually give a fuck, I just want to eradicate the heroes and make my dad suffer.” basically, Jeanist is the only one who can see that juxtaposition, and see Dabi’s reveal for what it really is, seeing as Dabi literally spelled it out for Endeavor and the others. and so he’s calling him out on that.

and he’s not wrong to do so. it’s clear that a lot of fans vehemently disagree with this, but being an abuse survivor doesn’t excuse you from having the same obligation as every other human being on the planet to try your best to be a decent person, which at minimum means not going out of your way to hurt other people. I say this as someone who’s experienced abuse, which shouldn’t need to be a disclaimer honestly, but I guess that’s how it is these days. anyways, though, I have, and I know a lot of other people who have as well. it’s a terrible, awful, exceptionally shitty thing to experience, and it affects everyone in different ways. and every single person who goes through something like that deserves help and support and time to heal, and it’s a tragedy and an injustice that Dabi, from what we have seen, never got any of that.

but that doesn’t excuse him from still being held to the same basic standard of “hurting other people is shitty” as everyone else. it doesn’t mean he gets a free pass. it doesn’t mean that anyone who says “hey, Dabi using his trauma as an excuse to murder people is kind of fucked up” is an abuse apologist. and it doesn’t mean Horikoshi is an abuse apologist for writing him that way, for that matter, because guess what? sometimes people who are abused grow up to become abusers. that’s just a fucked-up thing that happens sometimes. and pretending like it doesn’t is ironically not all that different from that whole “sweeping things under the rug” concept you mentioned earlier. it does happen, and I think it’s important to acknowledge that, because acknowledging it is one of the necessary steps to take in fixing it.

this attitude of “if someone was abused they should be absolved of responsibility for their actions” that I’ve seen in some posts is taking the concept of “abuse often has a profound impact on people’s mental health, and that should be taken into consideration before judging them too harshly for behavior that they can’t always necessarily control”, and twisting it into this nice little loophole that people can use to duck accountability whenever it’s convenient. but being abused doesn’t give you the right to abuse other people, is my point. nothing gives somebody the right to do that.

and Dabi is hurting other people. he waited ten years to tell his story specifically because he wanted to use it to make others suffer. and, putting aside the part where he’s trying to engineer the downfall of society as a precursor to the mass destruction he and his pals have planned, he also broadcast the story nationwide without the consent of the other abused parties involved. which I’m not saying he didn’t have the right to do, mind you, because it’s his story as well as theirs, and he has the right to tell it. and the right to make his abuser’s crimes as public as he wants, if that’s what he decides. but it also ignores the question of what his mother and siblings might want, and the fact is that they’re also survivors, and so in theory should have the same right as Dabi to choose their own healing process, and decide exactly how they want their abuser, who like so many abusers is also a close family member, to be held accountable. anyway, but all of that is obviously very, very complicated and I don’t think there’s a clear right or wrong side as far as this part of it all. it’s not a situation where everyone can be happy, which unfortunately is often how it goes.

anyway, I’ve kind of meandered pretty far from my original point now, so my bad. my points are, basically,

(a) I think the linked explanation does show that Jeanist is chiding Dabi for using his trauma in this specifically scheming and destructive way, as opposed to saying “shame on you for not being a good little victim and staying quiet”, which would be a ridiculous thing for Horikoshi, who’s explored the topic of abuse more thoughtfully than any other mangaka I’ve read, to randomly have one of his protagonists say.

and (b) the people calling Dabi out on his shit aren’t all smug victim-blamers who have no sympathy for what he has been through. the latter point (and a lot of this post, actually) isn’t particularly directed at you btw; it’s more of just a general statement brought on by some of the discussion that’s been going on these past few days.

anyways, I actually like that the fandom is talking about all of this! I just think it’s a very complex subject, and an even more complex situation currently in the manga. and ideally, people would try to acknowledge that complexity when discussing it, rather than simply picking a side and doubling down on it no matter what, or shooting down the whole thing as problematic writing just because isn’t a neat and tidy situation where you can simply say “oh, person A is right and person B is wrong, that’s it, end of story.” it’s not, unfortunately. it’s a messy clusterfuck of a topic that’s only going to get messier as this plot continues, so hopefully we can all just sort of brace ourselves for that lol. this is really just the tip of the iceberg, I think.

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression, radio version - Ep 66, Jan 2017 - LAST EPISODE - Looking back at the show.

🎍Kaoru starts by wishing listeners a happy new year, and says that although this is the first episode of 2017, after 1 year and 3 months, its also the last episode of the show. He wants to make it a big one, and welcomes Joe, Hiranabe, Dobashi, and Tasai on-air. Kami is also with them for this last shot.

Kaoru doesn't have a strict schedule this time, he'd like to use the time for everyone to look back at some of the stories they've covered on the show for the last 15 months. He also asks for messages from listeners, even though he won't be able to read them out on-air any more, he can still read them himself.

☆Kaoru then says that one suggestion for this episode was to re-listen to how he was during the very first episode all those months ago. Joe says he doesn't remember what they talked about on the show back then, but he does remember Kaoru grimacing when he saw the Tokyo Sports staff arriving at the studio. They Tokyo Sports guys laugh at lot on hearing this. Kaoru admits he had nerves, and was scared about how it would turn out. Joe says he got the impression Kaoru was worried that his long-established Dir en grey image would be smashed, though this feeling was probably all due to Hiranabe.

🔊They then actually replay the clip of Kaoru beginning the very first episode. While listening to his own nervous voice, he comments that it sounds a bit lukewarm. Joe says it sounds like Kaoru is being forced to do it as a punishment. Kaoru admits he was very nervous doing show up till about the 10th episode, when he tried solo DJing.

Dobashi adds that the original plan for the show was not to include Joe at all, and just have it as Kaoru and Tokyo Sports, but they realised it could be quite dangerous with both parties being radio beginners, so they brought Joe in to help them, Joe having extensive radio experience. Kaoru says he couldn't have done it without Joe.

They remember the first time Tasai appeared on the show, and Kaoru says the atmosphere was able to calm down a lot with Tasai. Joe also remembers the time Hiranabe brought a girlfriend with him to the studio. Hiranabe begs everyone to please forget about that. The others tell him its impossible to forget about it.  As Hiranabe tries to explain himself, giving an innocent reason for bringing her, Joe asks him why he is sweating.

🎭Next they recall Kami's first appearance during the first live special. Joe asks Kami if he'd being listening to the show before the appearing on the live special. He says he hadn't been, he'd heard about it from a friend. As to what Kami has been up to recently, he says he has changed jobs to a new job working in a warehouse in Akihabara.

☆Kaoru then hands over to the Tokyo Sports team for their best news of 2016. They first mention the big news about SMAP breaking up, but then remember the recent news about musician Aska being arrested for drug use (discussed in Ep 62). Hiranabe says that after Aska's urine sample tested positive for drug use, he apparently claimed his sample had been swapped with tea. They think its pretty interesting that Aska could have avoided getting arrested easily if he hadn't called the police to his house of his own accord. For this reason its Tokyo Sports' no.1 story. There was some confusion in the case about the validty of Aska's urine sample, as most of the witnesses would have been watching him provide it from behind, and the toilet in his home is apparently very small, making it difficult for investigators to certify exactly what took place. Anyhow, it seems Aska will be in much bigger trouble if he ever gets arrested for this type of thing again.

☆Next,Tasai mentions that there was a lot news about celeb affairs in 2016, starting with Becky. Hiranabe says he personally doesn't think there's anything wrong with having an affair. He hasn't been having any affairs recently though, he is out of money. He can't even afford to get on the shinkansen to visit his favourite women in Niigata.

🎶💲Kami then brings up the story about Bob Dylan winning a Nobel prize. Kami is interested in whether Dylan recieved his prize money, it being quite a considerable sum. If it were Kami, he wouldn't need the award, only the money. Dobashi reminds everyone that Joe has actually just released a book of Bob Dylan quotes, avaible in 7/11 stores nationwide.

🔞Next, Tasai reminds everyone of the story about the sex doll thefts in Iwate(from Ep 49). This reminds Tasai of another recent story about a man in Wakayama who had ¥60 million stolen from him by his younger lover. During a recent interview about this he brought with him a young woman he'd just picked up the previous day, and told the interviewer that even in his mid-seventies, he is still well, and likes sex five times a day. Hiranabe feels as if he needs to try harder to keep up. He'll have to wait till Spring when he has more money. Dobashi apologizes to Kaoru for this conversation, but Kaoru says its ok, he understands this feeling all too well 🤭(the others burst out laughing at this).

👕Tasai reveals he has brought in a Tokyo Sports tshirt to give away as a prize. They joke that there's no-where you could wear this outside. Dobashi suggests Kaoru could sign it to give it some value. He then adds that if you buy the latest edition of Tokyo Sports, you will have the chance of winning Kaoru's black hat, signed.

🇧🇷The others ask Joe about his memories of the show, and Joe says he thought the live phone call from Brazil with Dobashi was great, including the whole Olympic condom thing.

⚾Kaoru's biggest memory of 2016 news was the whole Kiyohara drug scandal, because he's a big baseball fan to start with. It was quite shocking for him. Kami comments on the story, revealing in the process that he reads Tokyo Sports every day.

☆To finish, Kaoru plugs two talk events that he has coming up in Feb in Tokyo and Osaka, and then gives the first public hint about the Androgenos live. When the time comes to close the show, they all say how sad they are to end it. Ironically, Kaoru has received a vast amount of emails from listeners, just as the show is ending. Many of the messages say how much people loved listening to the show. Kaoru expresses his desire to do something else in the future related to the freedom of expression, and thanks the listeners wholeheartedly.

Songs - Dir en grey/Un deux.

To radio top

[paralleljulieverse]

An Angel from Heaven Come to See Us: Darling Lili Turns 50

This week fifty years ago, Darling Lili -- the last of the big Julie Andrews screen musicals of the 1960s -- had its long-delayed World Premiere at Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome on 23 June 1970. 

The event marked the symbolic endpoint of a three-plus-year marathon in which the ill-fated production was beset by an endless stream of problems and delays from inclement weather and union pickets on location to studio takeovers and shady refinancing deals (Bart, 63-72; Dick, 146-48; Wasson, 146-48). This litany of setbacks saw the film’s already sizeable budget blowout to era-record levels estimated anywhere, depending on who you spoke to, between $14-25mill. (Warga, C-20; Wedman, 7-A; Kennedy, 175-77). Egos clashed, tempers frayed and recriminations flew with writer-director, Blake Edwards, blaming Paramount Pictures for imposing impossible demands, and studio executives firing back counter-accusations of reckless indulgence and profligacy (Oldham, 24-25; 44-45). 

That this highly publicised drama played out against the backdrop of the greatest economic downturn to hit Hollywood in half a century garnered Darling Lili an unenviable advance reputation as “the archetypal flop among big budget Hollywood productions” (Oldham, 44). “Rarely has so much bad word of mouth preceded a picture,” wrote the Saturday Review, “As the shooting schedule increased, as the costs mounted, everyone was certain that Darling Lili would prove to be a landmark disaster” (Knight 22). Another widely syndicated newspaper article dubbed it, “The Most Maligned Movie Ever,” prompting Blake Edwards to fume: “I’ve never known of an important picture in production so talked about, whispered about, and, yes, lied about as Darling Lili” (Manners, B5).

Adding fuel to widespread perceptions of the film as a legendary bomb in the making, the release of Darling Lili was held up for over a year by nervous studio execs. By 1969, Paramount had more big budget roadshow product in the pipelines than any other Hollywood studio (“Par’s Big”, 3). Panicked by the repeated failure of roadshow releases, in general, and the growing cultural backlash against big budgeted musicals, in particular, the studio feared they were “on the verge of an unprecedented financial disaster” and vacillated over how to proceed (Farber, 3). They ordered competing rounds of edits to the film, taking material out to secure a G-rating, then reinserting other material in an effort to broaden appeal (Manners, B5; “Par’s Lili Rated G”,5). There were even rumours the film might not get a release at all. It is “hiding somewhere” and seems to have “just evaporated” noted one newspaper report in late-1969 (Gussow, 62; Benchley, 9).

In December, Paramount finally held two sneak test screenings of Darling Lili in Oklahoma City and Kansas City which proved sufficiently positive for the studio to green-light release (“Kansas”, C2). After the test screenings, Robert Evans, production chief at Paramount and longtime vocal critic of Blake Edwards’s direction of the film, sounded an uncharacteristically upbeat note. “At the end of the film, there was a standing ovation,” he enthused, “and almost all the patrons stopped in the lobby to fill in comments cards...term[ing] Darling Lili as excellent, with special acclaim for both Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson” (Muir, 2-S). 

In January 1970, it was announced that Darling Lili would premiere that summer as a hardticket attraction at New York’s Radio City Music Hall (”Par Gets”, 3). The following month, a series of exhibitor previews was held in five major US cities but, in a telling sign the studio still harboured reservations about the film, the trade press was pointedly excluded from all advance screenings ("Not Ready”, 6). This same lingering disquiet resulted in a radically scaled back approach to the film’s release and marketing. 

Originally planned as a reserved-seat roadshow attraction, Darling Lili was ultimately repositioned by Paramount as part of what they called their “Big Summer Playoff,” a package of eight films given saturation releases during the summer off-season starting in June (“Paramount’s Summer Playoff”, 5). Only New York and Los Angeles would screen the film as a 70mm reserved-seat attraction; elsewhere, the plan was for the “pic to quickly saturate every major and minor market with single-house firstruns and key city multiples” (ibid.). In an era when studios typically gave their top films staggered releases and only ever issued B-product or second-runs widely during the quiet summer months, this new-style release strategy had a decided air of dump-it-and-run desperation. 

The apparent lack of care and finesse in the release of Lili did not go unnoticed. “Darling Lili undoubtedly rank[s] among the unusual summer attractions,” commented one newspaper article, “since one would expect to see th[is] multi-million dollar production around holiday time” (Sar, 4-B). Another bluntly opined that Paramount “seems to have dumped the expensive movie rather than spend any more on it” (Taylor, 21-E). Even Julie, normally the soul of diplomatic discretion in such matters, expressed public dismay at the studio’s handling of the film’s release:

“Three weeks before the opening, there was no advertising campaign. None whatsoever. Paramount didn’t seem to know how it was going to sell the picture--or if. I simply can’t understand an attitude like that” (Thomas, 13).

The sudden shift to a summer saturation release also meant the film’s premiere had to be rescheduled as New York’s Radio City Music Hall wasn’t available till July. In late-May, a matter of mere weeks before the film was set to bow, Paramount announced Darling Lili would now make its world premiere at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood on June 23 before rolling out nationwide the following day (“‘Darling Lili’ to Premiere,” W-2). The New York premiere, meanwhile, would remain at the Music Hall but delayed a full month after the rest of the country.

Putting on a brave face, Julie and Blake did their best to launch their film. On June 18, they attended a special press preview and celebrity reception hosted by Robert Evans and his then partner, Ali McGraw, at the Director’s Guild Theatre (Sar, 24-A). Dressed in a modish psychedelic Pucci pantsuit -- which fans of Julie-trivia will note was a recycled outfit from her recent NBC TV special with Harry Belafonte -- Julie looked relaxed and radiant or, as one columnist put it, “peachy dandy in her wild patterned party pants” (Browning, 2-13). At the after-show reception, she and Blake mingled warmly with a host of Tinseltown notables including Edward G. Robinson, James Garner, Walter Matthau, George Peppard, Raquel Welch, Sally Field, Dyan Cannon, and Peter Graves (ibid).

The following week, Julie and Blake were back for the premiere proper at the Cinerama Dome on 23 June. Dressed to kill in a sleek beaded cocktail gown, Julie posed for press shots on the red carpet with Blake, Robert Evans and Ali McGraw, and co-star Rock Hudson who attended with longtime friend and agent, Flo Allen. Sponsored by the Southern Californian chapter of VIMS, Volunteers in Multiple Sclerosis, the premiere attracted a capacity crowd with an invitation-only champagne supper held at the theatre after the screening (“Premiere”, IV-8) .

For all the old-school Hollywood trappings of the premiere, the American roll-out of Darling Lili was afforded little sense of showmanship or distinction. The Cinerama Dome would be the film’s only fully reserved-seat roadshow presentation (“’Darling Lili’s’ One Reserve,” 7). The film’s run at New York’s Radio City Music Hall -- which will likely be the subject of another post next month, time permitting -- was another exception but it had a hybrid mix of partial reserved and general admission. Elsewhere, the film was released in what could only be described as a woefully slipshod manner. 

The day after the World Premiere, Lili was issued simultaneously to an idiosyncratic assortment of theatres and even drive-ins across the United States including such out-of-the-way places as Lubbock, Texas; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and Mason City, Iowa. Conversely, several major metropolitan markets didn’t get the film till much later, and some didn’t show it at all. When the film ran it was often booked for a flying season of a week or two -- in some instances, just a few days -- and given little promotion or build-up.

On a PR trip to San Francisco, Blake Edwards was reportedly incensed to discover that Lili was being shown at a local theatre on a double-bill with The Lawyer, an R-rated crime drama (Caen, 6-B). But this was far from an isolated instance. A survey of newspaper advertising from the era shows that, throughout this initial release period, Darling Lili was widely double-billed in US theatres with a range of questionable screen-mates including Downhill Racer, True Grit, Norwood, The Sterile Cuckoo, and Lady in Cement to name a few.

Much like the film’s chequered release pattern, reviews of Darling Lili were sharply mixed. Contrary to the apocalyptic predictions, though, there were surprisingly few outright pans and quite a number of good, even glowing, notices--certainly enough to furnish choice grabs for newspaper ads. Moreover, a common refrain among even lukewarm crits was that the film was far from the disaster everyone anticipated:

“Darling Lili [is] the musical comedy a lot of people have been expecting to be a bomb, but which turns out to be a quite likeable movie” (Crittenden, D-10).

“When a movie becomes notorious like this, everyone expects it to be an unredeeming dud...I’m relieved to say Darling Lili is certainly nobody’s bomb” (Stewart, 28) 

“[E]veryone was certain that Darling Lili would prove to be a landmark disaster. Happily, the opposite seems to be the case...it is definitely, joyously, what the industry likes to call an ‘audience picture’ (Knight, 22).

While many reviewers found aspects of the film wanting, they were mostly full of praise for Julie:

“Miss Andrews has, I think, never looked better, warmer or more emotionally mature, nor has she sounded better. The irony is that she projects a richness which is wasted here. It’s like getting Horowitz to play Chopsticks” (Champlin, IV-1).

“Andrews...is one of the last of the great English music-hallmarks. She can sing effortlessly, make a mug or a moue with equal facility, throw away a line and reel it back in with the best—when she is given half a chance. Her latest, Darling Lili, is only a quarter of a chance (Kanfer, 78). 

“In Darling Lili...Julie Andrews is the most pleasant actress any audience ever had and that’s what counts...The picture’s weaknesses are Hudson and the war...But I think Julie Andrews is enough” (Geurink, 6-T).

“The best way to enjoy Darling Lili is to look upon it as escape fare [with] Miss Andrews’ golden voice for listening pleasure...While she deserves something much better than her role in Darling Lili, Julie Andrews...is still an out and out professional” (Blakley, 6-1).

“Miss Andrews...is absolutely perfectly suited to the title role. Her voice, her mannerisms, her beauty and her obvious delight with the entire project pay off in one of the finest performances of her career” (Fanning, 17).

“The film’s bright moments belong to Miss Andrews. She is a complete entertainer, and tho [sic] she is center stage for nearly the entire film, one never tires of her pure voice and intelligent acting” (Siskel, 12).

Alas, the better-than-expected reviews were not enough to save Darling Lili commercially. By the end of its domestic run, the film had earned a meagre $3.2mill in rentals, placing it 37th in Variety’s list of annual box-office rankings for 1970 (“US Films,” 184). Instructively, the film posted its best returns at the two theatres where it was exhibited with some modicum of prestige showmanship: the Cinerama Dome and Radio City Music Hall. In the case of the latter, Lili actually broke house records for a non-holiday release (“Radio City,” 12). Combined, these two venues accounted for over a third of the film’s entire North American boxoffice grosses. It’s a curious footnote to the whole sorry saga of Darling Lili which does suggest that, while the film would likely never have been a hit, it could certainly have done much better had its distribution and exhibition been more carefully managed. But that is a discussion for another time and another post...

Sources:

Bart, Peter. Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob (and Sex). New York: Hachette, 2011.

Benchley, Peter. “1969 A Watershed Year for Motion Picture Industry.” Journal Gazette. 6 January 1970: 9.

Blakley, Thomas. “Julie Andrews Eyes a New Start.” Pittsburgh Press. 28 June 1970: 6-1.

Browning, Norma Lee. “Hollywood Today: Julie’s Reception.” Chicago Tribune. 22 June 1970: B-13.

Caen, Herb. “It’s News to Me.” Hartford Sentinel. 5 August 1970: 6-B.

Canby, Vincent. “Is Hollywood in Hot Water?” New York Times. 9 November 1969: D1, D37.

Champlin, Charles. “Movie Review: ‘Darling Lili’ Has World War I Setting.” Los Angeles Times. 24 June 1970: IV-1, 13.

Crittenden, John. “’Darling Lili’ Surprises by Being Very Pleasant.” The Record. 24 July 1970: D-10.

“’Darling Lili’ to Premiere in Hollywood June 24.” Boxoffice. 25 May 1970: W2.

“’Darling Lili’s’ One Reserve Seat Date.” Variety. 3 June 1970: 7.

Dick, Bernard F. Engulfed: The Death of Paramount Pictures and the Birth of Corporate Hollywood. Louisville, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 2015.

Fanning, Win. “The New Film: Andrews, Hudson in ‘Darling Lili’ at Squirrel Hill.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 25 June 1970: 17. 

Farber, Stephen. “End of the Road?” Film Quarterly. 23: 2. Winter 1969-70: 3-16.

Geurink, Bob. “Julie’s Pretty Darling in ‘Lili’.” Atlanta Constitution. 11 July 1970: 6-T.

Gussow, Mel. “Excitement Fills Premier of ‘Dolly’: But Air of Festivity Belies Future of Movie Musicals.” New York Times. 18 December 1969: 62.

Higham, Charles. “Turmoil in Film City.” Sydney Morning Herald - Weekend Magazine. 25 May 1969: 19.

Holston, Kim R. Movie Roadshows: A History and Filmography of Reserved-Seat Limited Showings, 1911-1973. Jefferson, NC: McFarlane and Co, 2013.

Kanfer, Stefan. “Cinema: Quarter Chance.” Time. 96: 4. 27 July 1970: 78.

“Kansas City.” Boxoffice. 22 December 1969: C2.

Knight, Arthur. “How Darling was My Lili.” Saturday Review. 18 July, 1970: 22.

Krämer, Peter. The New Hollywood: From Bonnie and Clyde to Star Wars. London: Wallflower, 2005.

Manners, Dorothy. “The Most Maligned Movie Ever.” San Francisco Examiner. 15 March 1970: B5.

Mills, James. “Why Should He Have it?” Life. 7 Match 1969: 63-76.

Muir, Florabel. “Hollywood: It Snowed Customers.” Daily News. 21 December 1969: 2S.

“Not Ready for Trades But Exhibs See ‘Lili’.” Variety. 28 January 1970: 6.

Oldham, Gabriella, ed. Blake Edwards: Interviews. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2018.

“Par Gets Hall’s Summer Spot for its ‘Darling Lili’.” Variety. 21 January 1970: 3.

“Para. Sets Preview Series in Five Cities for ‘Lili’.” Boxoffice. 26 January 1970: 10.

“Paramount’s Summer Playoff Strategy: 5,000 Bookings for Eight Major Films.” Variety. 3 June 1970: 5.

“Par’s Big Roadshow Splash.” Variety. 25 June 1969: 3.

“Par’s Lili Rated G.” Variety. 24 September 1969: 5.

“Premiere.” Los Angeles Times. 25 June 1970: IV-8.

“Radio City Music Hall’s All-Time Boxoffice Darling.” Variety. 5 August 1970: 12.

Sar, Ali. “Paramount Unveils Two Top Pictures.” Van Nuys News. 21 June 1970: 24-A.

Sar, Ali. “Curiosity Films: Plagued Studios Hope.” Van Nuys News. 28 June 1970: 4-B.

Siskel, Gene. “The Movies: ‘Darling Lili’.” Chicago Tribune. 22 August 1970: 12.

Sloane, Leonard. “At Paramount, Real Financial Drama.” New York Times. 28 November 1969: 48.

Stewart, Perry. “Warm Kiss from ‘Lili’.” Fort-Worth Star-Telegram. 1 Juy 1970: 28.

Stuart, Byron. "Pictures: Big Budget’s Big Bust-Up." Variety. 23 July 1969: 3, 20.

Taylor, Robert. “‘Lili’ Can Be Charming.” Oakland Tribune. 27 June 1970: 21-E.

Thomas, Bob. “Julie Andrews Praises ‘Lili’.” Courier-News. 15 September 1970: 13.

“U.S. Films’ Share-of-Market Profile.” Variety. 12 May 1971: 36-38, 122, 171-174, 178-179, 182-183, 186-187, 190-191, 205-206.

Warga, Wayne. “Stanley Jaffe: Paramount Risk Jockey.” Los Angeles Times. 24 January 1971: C1, C20-21.

Wasson, Sam. A Splurch in the Kisser: The Movies of Blake Edwards. Middletown: Weslayan University Press, 2009.

Wedman, Les. “The End of the Roadshow.” Vancouver Sun. 9 January 1970: 7A.

Copyright © Brett Farmer 2020

[angelofberlin2000]

Keanu Reeves gets a ninja lesson with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu at John Wick 3 premiere in Japan

Oona McGee 10 hours ago

Find someone who looks at you the way Keanu looks at this Japanese singer when she gives him flowers.

The Japanese premiere of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum was held at Roppongi Hills in Tokyo last night, and in town to help promote it was the director of the film, Chad Stahelski, and the actor who plays John Wick, Keanu Reeves.

After exploring the Japanese countryside last week, Reeves headed back to the capital for the premiere, and when he arrived at the screening, there was a cinema full of excited fans waiting to greet him.

▼ John Wick entered the building and the crowd went wild for him.

Swinging his long shaggy locks under the shine of the spotlights and stepping onto the stage in a smart suit and tie, Reeves looked just like his John Wick character.

▼ Reeves and Stahelski took to the stage amidst cheers from the crowd.

As everyone waited with bated breath to hear whether their favourite movie hitman would greet them in Japanese, he thrilled the crowd with his opening greeting.

“Hello Tokyo! Konban wa. Thank you very much for being here this evening at the premiere of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. Domo arigatou gozaimashita!”

As the crowd cheered, Reeves than handed over to the film’s director with a “Go, baby”, after which Stahelski said:

“Thank you very much for coming.”

Then Japanese singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu appeared from the wings as her song “Ninja Re Bang Bang” — which is used during a sushi bar scene in the movie — played over the speakers.

Dressed in a black ninja-inspired outfit, Pamyu Pamyu handed bouquets of flowers to the international guests.

Everyone’s hearts then proceeded to melt as Reeves looked genuinely pleased with the gesture and couldn’t tear his eyes away from Pamyu Pamyu afterwards.

She told the crowd how impressed she was with the action scenes in the film, and asked the audience to keep an eye out for all the Japanese motifs that appear throughout the movie.

Reeves then spoke to Pamyu Pamyu, saying:

“It’s been lovely to meet you and I was watching some of your work, which I think is so interesting, not only entertaining but also has great philosophy and heart.”

Stahelski then piped in with:

“I just want to say thank you so much for being a part of the John Wick world. We’re super happy to have you in the movie and thank you for really adding something to the film. Arigatou gozaimashita.”

▼ Pamyu Pamyu thanked them and told them it was an honour to meet them both.

Hearts then melted for a second time that evening when Reeves interrupted proceedings to compliment Pamyu Pamyu on her ninja outfit.

▼ “Your ninja dress is fantastic.”

The director was then asked to explain how Pamyu Pamyu’s music was chosen to appear in the film.

“I just thought it was, of all the songs I had listened to, we really wanted something that was a big juxtaposition to the action and something that was happy and fun and made people smile, and I thought the way Mark Dacascos was playing Zero, the character, that the song just really fit. We heard it and everyone in the editing room went ‘that’s the song’. It just had something magic about it.”

After being asked about the Japanese influences that appear in the film, Stahelski replied with:

“I think Keanu and I are both big fans of Akira Kurosawa, chanbara [sword-fighting] films, we love samurai movies, we love Japanese manga, we love Japanese anime, we love the idea of the martial arts, we love bushido, and we wanted to put and pay tribute to all the great themes, and all the flavour of Japanese culture to the movie so thank you all.”

Asked to add his own thoughts, Reeves said:

“I’m following my director, so really all of those influences are true and it’s great to be able to share the influences and the passion that we’ve enjoyed and kind of give back in our art as well.”

Then a side door opened and a “real ninja” flipped onto the stage. He was here to teach everyone how to ward off bad luck and garner success for the movie with a special series of ninja hand seals.

After their initial crash course, there was some confusion as the ninja proceeded to go through the complicated hand seals again with the crowd…

▼ The trio then waited to add the last hand seal to the nine-count series…

And when the time came, Reeves delivered the final hand seal with all the intense energy we’ve come to expect from the keen martial arts enthusiast.

Then it was time to wrap up the formalities so the audience could watch the film, and Reeves wished everyone the best.

“Thank you very much for coming. It’s the last stop and place of the journey for John Wick Chapter 3 for Chad and I so it’s a great honour for us to be here and to share this film with you and we hope you enjoy it. Thank you.”

▼ And with that the trio posed for the cameras…

▼ And recreated the hand seal of the ninja one more time.

They then disappeared like ninja themselves, heading off into the night as the audience was left to journey into the dark, action-packed world of John Wick.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum will be released in cinemas nationwide from 4 October. We’re already looking forward to the next instalment in the John Wick franchise, and can’t help but hope those ninja hand seals will be making an appearance in the next film.

So, Keanu – if you’re reading this and you want to learn more about those ninja hand seals, take a look at our how-to-guide complete with videos here. Apparently they’re not just good for warding off bad luck, they’ve been scientifically proven to reduce stress and sharpen the mind. That’s two things John Wick definitely needs!

Photos © SoraNews24 ● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

[ongshat]

  For a comprehensive list of most of my print work (not including magazine articles) see this list on Goodreads.

All my works dedicated to the memory of my dearly departed friends: The members of The Formless Ocean Group – Nina Graboi, Elizabeth Gips, Paddy Long, Betsy Herbert, and Robert Anton Wilson. Also to my departed friends: Dave, DW Cooper, Dr. Hyatt (Alan) and humdog.

PAST WORK

Beats In Time: A Literary Generation’s Legacy (Chapter 12 is my interview with Diane DiPrima) also to be included in Conversations with Diane di Prima to be published by the University Press of Mississippi, in 2021/22.

Transmedia: Who Invited the Lobsters Anyway?

Legend-Tripping Online: Supernatural Folklore and the Search for Ong’s Hat by Michael Kinsell – While clearly this is a book about my transmedia project it also includes a lot of things that I wrote as examples, so I include it here. Metamodernism, anyone?

Rebels and Devils: The Psychology of Liberation edited by Christopher S. Hyatt, Ph.D. introduced by S. Jason Black foreword by Nicholas Tharcher contributions by William S. Burroughs Joseph C. Lisiewski, Ph.D. Timothy Leary Ph.D., Robert Anton Wilson, Austin Osman Spare, Genesis P-Orridge, Aleister Crowley, Joseph Matheny, Peter J. Carroll, Israel Regardie, Jack Parsons, Phil Hine, Osho, and many others

Black Book Omega: CIRQUE APOKLYPSIS by Christopher S. Hyatt, Ph.D. Joseph Matheny, Nick Pell, Calvin Iwema, Wes Unruh, Antero Alli (more info here)

Contributor YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts (more info here)

Introduction to The Art of Memetics Aside: When I posted about this book on Greylodge, Seth Godin references the post as a good example of “How to write like a blogger“ This made me happy. 😉

Contributor/Editor:This is Not a Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming with Dave Szulborski (Excerpt here )I edited and contributed to : “This Is Not a Game” which was included in the annual Tween market report that went to marketing executives worldwide in the toy, gaming and youth market industries. Also, I appeared as myself/in character, in person,  in the “Catching the Wish” ARG by Dave.

Third Realm (The Yellow King) Written and executed by me, produced in conjunction with Foolish People http://www.argn.com/2009/10/puzzles_for_the_apocalyps

4P2 My first foray into the True Crime arena. Formula:  Just put up a single, spooky web page, that purports to be a recruitment drive for an organization whose actual existence is speculative at best and at worst is fiction presented as fact or paranoid, hysterical hand-waving in the interest of selling books and you will get all kinds of reactions. In all fairness, I think the theories mentioned read as good fantasy crime fiction and this was a conceptual attempt at that very thing. Apparently, it succeeded. The unnerving side of this was the equal amount of applications I received asking to join (Really? Join a group of underground serial killers? Really?) or outright death threats by people who really believe in such things.   (Someone summed it up pretty well in this article from The Fenris Wolf)

  the-fenriswolf-iss-no-4-pp-87-116 PDF Excerpt

El Centro & OMEGA This was a ARG/Transmedia style story with occult/horror/conspiracy elements, started in 2004 and ended in 2006. It utilized Web, print (booklet), radio, phone trees, theater and news wire services. [A version of the doughnut shop scene from this story was used in Amsterdam production of Terra: Extremitas by Foolish People.] This project was done in collaboration my late friend Dave Szulborski. There’s a LOOOOOONG story about this project. So long in fact that it will take up at least three chapters in an future book.

Contributor: What Would Bill Hicks Say with Ben Mack, Amelia the Great and Soft Skull Press (along with Jeff Danziger and Martyn Turner; writers Neal Pollack, Robert Newman, and A.L. Kennedy; and Thom Yorke of Radiohead and others…)

Contributor: 2004-2005 Exquisite Language project for the 2004 ELfest and collected in the Spring 2005 issue of of 2 Gyrlz Quarterly. NOW AVAILABLE AT POWELLS.COM

Introduction, afterward and editing for Poker Without Cards– First Edition. I orchestrated the first release campaign for this book, with the main character becoming “real”on the Internet for a while. After the first few months I turned it over to the author. (statement regarding this work here)

GALT’S ARK: The Black Symphony, First and Second Movements Produced by Cthulhu The Players: Joseph Matheny, Christopher S. Hyatt, Ph.D., Father Daniel Suders & Nicholas Tharcher Illustrated by S. Jason Black, Jonathan Sellers, Weirdpixie & MobiusFrame

  THE BLACK BOOK Volume III, Part I

THE BLACK BOOK Volume III, Part II

(The Black Books are considered the workbooks for The Psychopath’s Bible, which I wrote an infamous jacket blurb for.)

The Incunabula: Ong’s Hat Project [ Reviews | Interviews, etc. | Wikipedia | History] This was a ARG/Transmedia style story started in 1988 and ended in 2001. It utilized zines, BBS, early Internet, Web, CD ROM, CD Audio, DVD, print (book, graphic novel and magazine), radio, phone trees, fax, and news wire services. I gained and leveraged exposure in both the mainstream and alternative media to distribute over 2 million copies of CD ROM, ebook and print versions of the story combined. Story elements from Ong’s Hat were also included in the EA Game, Majestic which unfortunately ended prematurely due to 9/11. It was the subject of a full 4 hour show on Coast to Coast AM, been the subject of an article on the Weekly World News and been covered on many radio shows world wide, books, newspapers, magazines, etc. Links to media here.

Description: “…a bizarre Internet phenomenon: an “immersive” online experience—part mystery, part game, part who knows what—known as both the Incunabula Papers and Ong’s Hat. The Incunabula Papers/Ong’s Hat was, or is, a “many-threaded, open-ended interactive narrative” that ”weds an alternate history of chaos science and consciousness studies to conspiracy theories, parallel dimensions, and claims that computer-mediated environments can serve as magical tools…. the documents provoked a widespread “immersive legend-trip” in the late 1990s. Via Web forums, participants investigated the documents—manifestos—which spun up descriptions of brilliant but suppressed discoveries relating to paths that certain scientists had forged into alternate realities. Soon, those haunted dimensions existed in the minds and fantasies of Ong’s Hat’s many participants. That was evident as they responded to the original postings by uploading their own—all manner of reflections and artifacts: personal anecdotes, audio recordings, and videos—to augment what became “a really immersive world, and it was vast”. – The Chronicle of Higher Education—-

“Ong’s Hat was more of an experiment in transmedia storytelling than what we would now consider to be an ARG but its DNA – the concept of telling a story across various platforms and new media- is evident in every alternate reality game that came after.” – Games Magazine 2013

Though Ong’s Hat may not have set out to be an ARG, the methods by which the author interacted with participants and used different platforms to build and spread its legend has been reflected in later games. –Know Your Meme

The Incunabula Papers are arguably the first immersive online legend complex that introduced readers to a host of content, including what religious historian Robert Ellwood has called the “alternative reality tradition. – Legend-Tripping Online: Supernatural Folklore and the Search for Ong’s Hat

As a companion piece to understanding some of the history of the transmedia work that centered around Ong”s Hat you may also want to read Legend-Tripping Online: Supernatural Folklore and the Search for Ong’s Hat,  reviewed here.

The Incunabula Papers CDROM was recently included in the BNF (Bibliothèque nationale de France) digital art collection.

Game Over? (currently re-vamping this for re-release)…but if you just HAVE to have it now, someone is selling one for $900 over here. 😛

What Really Happened at Ong’s Hat?

The Incunabula Papers (CD ROM) Free ebook versions here

Incunabula: The Graphic Novel Free ebook version here

Why DVD? (B and N Digital Bestseller)

A booklet published in April-99

Over 100,000 in circulation to date

Available from booksellers nationwide in October reprinted by:

DVD Creation Magazine

Videography Magazine

(printed copy sent out with each issue – July,1999)

Video Systems magazine

and many others

Convergence 2000 (B and N Digital Bestseller) Free ebook version here

Covert Culture Sourcebook

Earth Dance 2000 (Video and DVD)

The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog 

Transmedia Litany (with Genesis P’Orridge)

Thee psychick bible

esoterrorist (publisher)

My idea for an Exquisite Corpse jacket blurb using faxes. (WSB missed inclusion by a day). Used on Esoterrist

Banishing Ritual (cover) with Illusion of Safety (audio here)

The Last Book

Also contributed a few articles to Bob and Arlen Wilson’s Trajectories.

A write up I did about my old friend Rob Brezsny for disinfo.com

Interview that I did with with Beat poet and author Diane DiPrima

Nina Graboi Interview, bOING bOING, Number 8 (written under my nom de plume: Michael Kelly)

I’ve contributed articles to AlwaysOn and Adotas. I’ve contributed book, music, and movie reviews to Gnosis and Magical Blend in the past as well as the old Boing-Boing print magazine and Fringeware Review. Note, in the interest of full disclosure, I’d sometimes contribute more than one article or review to a single publication and to avoid the appearance of saturation, I’d use the pen name: Michael Kelly for some of the articles.

Writing For a comprehensive list of most of my print work (not including magazine articles) see this list on Goodreads…

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression, radio version - Ep 44, August 2016 - Announcement of another live special, Pokemon Go, Palm reading/Palmistry.

Kaoru starts by saying that the details of the next 'special live broadcast' have finally been decided. On August 9th at 1am, they will do a two hour broadcast. (Only one this time, unlike in December when they did two). The title of the show will be, 'The Freedom of Expression Special - The best of the first half of 2016. Back stories from the other side of the world'. 'The other side of the world' referring to Dobashi in Brazil. All of the Tokyo Sports team will appear on it, including Kami. He has never missed a days' work but he should be on his summer vacation so it'll be ok. They will talk about some of the best stories of the year so far, and Kaoru invites the listeners to send in any of thier favourite news stories too. He had intended to play some more new jingle entries on today's show, but says he will play them during the live special instead, and finish the campaign there for now. He says he will be much more generous with handing out stickers this time, as he has only handed out about 5 since he first made them.

Next Kaoru mentions that Utafumi has been released at long last, about 3 days ago. Before the release date he was only able to play the promotional edit version, but now that the release date has passed, he is finally able to play the full version, so he goes ahead and plays it.

Next, Tasai joins them for the Tokyo Sports corner. Tasai isn't sure whether they should allow Hiranabe on the upcoming live broadcast. The theme of his fist topic is the game Pokemon Go, which was experiencing a world wide boom at the time. Tasai and Joe ask Kaoru whether he plays Pokemon Go. Kaoru says he does play it, but is not mad about it. He's caught about 100 pokemon so far. Joe does not play, and asks Kaoru what exactly it is that you do in Pokemon Go. Kaoru laughs and replies that he doesn't even know. Tasai then explains the concept of the game to Joe. He then goes on to say that despite its world popularity and massive gain for Nintendo, it has brought with it some problems. For example, there was a case in Miyagi prefecture where two Chinese people trespassed onto private land playing it, and there have been various cases nationwide of pokemon appearing inside nuclear power plants. Joe says misuse of the game cannot be ruled out. For example, it could be used to boost crowds at demos if many people gathered to collect pokemon. If you knew how to use it skillfully you might be able to manipulate peoples' movements. Kaoru realises the political implications of this if you could secretly get a lot of people to gather in a specific place, at a specific time. Tasai also adds that China and Russia are both worried about the app, because they fear the images caught on the app might reveal military secrets if they are shared overseas. He also doesn't like the way salarymen in Japan hold thier phones up at odd angles in the street while playing this game. Its a bit scary. He doesn't want to end up getting caught in thier images. Kaoru mentions a collab bewteen Pokemon Go and First of the North Star, and Tasai says it would be pretty bad if a Kenshiro appeared outside your house and a crowd gathered to catch it. He thinks we need to be careful with this type of thing. Joe suggests the idea of 'Hiranabe Go', but realises that no-one is likely to download it.

Kaoru plays his next record, which is Cyndi Lauper's 'Time After Time'. He played this record because it reminds him of an anime he used to watch as a kid. The anime Midoriyama kōkō/緑山高校 had this song as the ending theme for its summer vacation broadcasts, which were aired in Kansai every day from Mon-Fri during the school summer vacation. Kaoru loved watching it. Joe has no idea what this is, so Kaoru explains its a baseball themed anime. He admits that he recently introduced it on his blog, so this is actually a bit of self promo for his blog.

Tasai's next topic is about the comedian Shimada Shūhei, who also happens to be a palm reader. At a recent event, Shimada had been asked by reporters about the kinds of palms he's read up to now. He answered that when he read the palm of the comedian Ijiri Okada, who is known for playing an erotic/pervy character (エロキャラ), he discovered that he had no 'erotic line/エロ線'(Girdle of Venus in English). In truth, playing this character is strictly work for Ijiri, he takes it very seriously as business. Shimada also had some interesting info about the life line (生命線) and Joe asks all the listeners to take a look at thier own life lines while Tasai explains. Apparently, if you have an extra line on the inside of your life line, you have extra strong vitality. Looking at his own hand, Kaoru says he does have an extra line. Joe does not. This is apparently quite a rare feature, and Shimada has only seen two celebrities who have it. One is TV star Kuroyanagi Tetsuko, the other is rakugo performer Utamaru Katsura. Both are pretty old, but still alive during this shows broadcast (Tasai hopes, with nervous laughter). Tasai then makes the others guess one more public person who has extra life lines. Joe guesses Hiranabe. He may have the vitality of a cockroach, but no, its not Hiranabe, says Tasai. After a few clues they get the answer of female wrestler Yoshida Saori. Yoshida actually has three extra life lines, making four in total.

Joe asks Kaoru if he's ever had his palm read. Kaoru says he has. He was told that his fate was to become wealthy. Back when he first moved to Tokyo 20 odd years ago, he went to visit a shrine for New Years prayer with a few people from the offce, including his boss (*Dynamite Tommy?*) and there was a palm reading stall at the shrine. So they decided to give it a go. The palm reader said straight away, 'Ah, you will be wealthy'. Kaoru says he is not wealthy...laughs from the others.

To finish, Kaoru repeats the news that a summer live special will be held on August 9th, he is a little nervous about broadcasting live again. He asks listeners to send in news or jingles for the live broadcast, then plugs his tour, and new single.

Songs - Dir en grey/Utafumi (Full version), Cyndi Lauper/Time after time, Dir en grey/Taiyō no ao. 

[captainofthetidesbreath]

A couple hours late but I just saw you saying how Jesse and Fareeha are more inverses of each other and I completely agree! I personally see Sombra and Jesse as more paralleled, and would be interested in hearing your thoughts on that idea? You tend to be very well-spoken and are good at analyzing concepts, I've come to notice.

EDIT - NOVEMBER 3, 2018: With the release of “Reunion” and Ashe’s hero reveal, the majority of what I wrote about Deadlock in the first three sections—Sign of the Skull, Those Left Behind, Revolutionaries and Rebels—is incorrect. Despite this, I maintain that the socioeconomic context outlines in Those Left Behind remains relevant to the American Southwest in-universe and maintain my belief that it is applicable to McCree specifically, even if it does not apply to Deadlock. I will be writing a new post on Sombra and McCree soon. Stay tuned.

in reference to this post… from months ago

Lucky for you, I was thinking about Jesse and Sombra the night before you sent this! Deadlock and Los Muertos, actually, but I’ll get to that. I absolutely agree that the two of them make much more direct parallels than Jesse and Fareeha, who are interesting as a pair in their own right but they aren’t direct parallels.

I often joke that Gabe adopted the same child twice: smart-talking, hyper-competent Latine who tote around skull logos and are from gangs with the word “dead” in their names. It’s a joke—I don’t consider Gabe’s relationship with Sombra to be that of a parent-child, for one thing—but I believe that Jesse and Sombra are very similar regardless.

They both have similar backgrounds: joined local gangs at a very young age and earned later membership into a high-level covert organization through resourcefulness and an admirable natural aptitude in a specific desired skillset. Although both at first look to be unserious and overly laid-back, they prove themselves to be precision operators who indeed execute plans and achieve goals with immense gravity. They’re both supremely confident in their abilities, to the point that one can accuse them of having too high an opinion of themselves and being overconfident.

They come from similar backgrounds, having been orphaned during the Crisis and suffered under economic disparity driven by infrastructure changes in the rebuilding period. They both similarly drop off the map and resurface under new identities. They both have a deep concern in seeing done a justice that is beyond the reach of the law—or when the law refuses to deliver it.

All this, and more, under the cut. The post is very long.

I would also like to thank @segadores-y-soldados for all he’s written, especially on Sombra and especially recently. I make heavy reference to his writing on Sombra in certain portions of this post. I also must admit that reading his posts on Arturito has motivated me to finish this after three months of slow progress, though I still have a nagging feeling I’m forgetting a point.

Sign of the Skull

To make a quick run-through on Los Muertos and Deadlock Gang themselves before moving onto how these organizations inform Sombra and Jesse specifically. Sort of a section to outline basic things about the gangs that doesn’t neatly fit into other points. It’s mostly to establish their context, and some similarities between their structures and presentation.

Screenshot from the Sombra Origin showing members of Los Muertos. Each member has painted skeletons onto themselves with phosphorescent paint in varying colors.

Los Muertos is a Mexican gang with apparent regional influence with members in both Dorado and the nearby Castillo, and it even has some international reach judging from the Los Muertos graffiti on the Hollywood map. Little is known to us about their structure besides this, and even in-universe they are noted to be mysterious with little information publicly available about them.

However, Los Muertos openly broadcasts their intentions: to right the wrongs committed by the wealthy and powerful against the disadvantaged of Mexico. They position themselves as transgressors of the law specifically to disrupt the lives of the “vipers” in power. More on that later.

The name translates to “The Dead”, and they are identified by skull motifs, specifically the calaveras associated with the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead. Individual members openly identify themselves and indicate their membership by painting skulls and bones on their bodies with phosphorescent paint.

Screenshot from the Route 66 map of five motorcycles parked in front of The High Side bar. The Deadlock emblem is spray-painted by the entrance.

Deadlock Gang is an American motorcycle club and organized crime ring occupying a Southwestern town on an abandoned stretch of Route 66 running across Deadlock Gorge. It’s unclear where exactly the Gorge is, and the Visual Source Book’s pin for the map is highly unspecific, but I tend to believe it’s in somewhere in northern New Mexico because Jesse’s base of operations is listed as Santa Fe, NM.

In one lore piece, Deadlock is holding a national rally, suggesting they’ve got chapters nationwide and the founding chapter is in Deadlock Gorge. While it’s unclear what their reach is, there is a possibility of international chapters. (Torbjorn’s motorcycle-themed Deadlock skin may suggest this, but it does not have any Deadlock iconography, notably showing a bear where one expects the Deadlock emblem.)

This does not necessarily mean all of the Deadlock Rebels Motorcycle Club is a criminal organization, nor every single member a criminal, but… y’know, the founding chapter is a weapons trafficking racket. They’re a one-percenter outlaw motorcycle club, and there’s a quick and easy comparison in the real-life Hells Angels, whom the show Sons of Anarchy models itself after.

Deadlock, besides naming itself after the concept of death like Los Muertos does, also uses a skull in its emblem. We haven’t seen any member of Deadlock pictured, but extrapolating from the typical behavior of motorcycle clubs, they likely openly identify themselves and indicate their membership by wearing standardized jackets or most likely vests. Members likely have tattoos indicating membership as well, seeing as Jesse has a tattoo of the Deadlock emblem on his inner arm in his Blackwatch skin.

Those Left Behind

Sombra, orphaned during the Omnic Crisis, was taken in by Los Muertos, a gang that positioned themselves as champions of the underclass ignored during the post-Crisis rebuilding process. They’ve done this most notably by opposing the CEO of LumériCo Guillermo Portero, who they’ve described as having exercised his social influence to have many wrongfully imprisoned and who we know is working with the not-as-noble-as-they-put-forward Vishkar. 

The social context of Los Muertos and Sombra is very directly told to us. From Sombra’s official bio:

After ░░░░░░ was taken in by Mexico’s Los Muertos gang, she aided it in its self-styled revolution against the government. Los Muertos believed that the rebuilding of Mexico had primarily benefited the rich and the influential, leaving behind those who were most in need of assistance.

From a lore post published to the website:

…its members style themselves as revolutionaries who represent those left behind by the government after the widespread devastation of the Omnic Crisis.

And Michael Chu on Los Muertos at Blizzcon 2016 (transcript):

Mexico really suffered a lot at the hands of the Omnic Crisis. The war destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure. […] They claim to be kind of revolutionaries fighting for people who were left behind during the rebuilding of Mexico after the war.

Despite their noble stated goal, they seemingly also cross a line in their illicit activity enough to earn the ire of Jack, who isn’t exactly on the straight and narrow himself but still seeks the right side of things. As Chu added:

Whether or not that’s really what they are up to, because they’re also engaged in a lot of other shady activities. It is up to you decide.

Given a lot of other suspect activity they engage in, that noble work might not be the only story to be had on them—especially depending on where you’re standing. Saviors with their thumbs in certain pies not meant for them, possibly.

The social context that Sombra rises out of is made very plain for us. But what does it have to do with Jesse?

While we know few specifics about his circumstances growing up, other than he also lived through the Crisis and was likely similarly orphaned during it, the description and in-game environment of the Route 66 map suggest the area is one of difficult social and economic circumstances, emphasis mine:

Though the travelers and road trippers who used to cross the US on historic Route 66 are gone, the Main Street of America still stands, a testament to a simpler time. The gas stations, roadside shops, and cafes have gone into disuse, and the fabled Deadlock Gorge is mostly seen from the comfort of transcontinental train cars. But amid the fading monuments of that earlier era, the outlaws of the Deadlock Gang are planning their biggest heist yet.

Concept art of The High Side, showing the abandoned bar in disrepair with boarded windows and faded paint.

At least one building, the Cave Inn (ba dum tsh) in the streets portion of the map, is visibly abandoned, and the theme of disrepair and long-gone halcyon days is especially prevalent in the concept art for the map. This all paints a portrait of a Deadlock Gang that operates out of an area that suffered immense economic hardship in recent years, likely particularly after the introduction of the transcontinental train cars, one of which is featured in “Train Hopper”, a comic which takes the time to emphasize the wealth of the passengers traveling on them. So, the Deadlock chapter is localized within a region that suffered economically under infrastructure changes that largely benefit the wealthy and powerful. It’s possible that these infrastructure changes were made possible because of efforts to rebuild after the physical devastation of the Crisis.

Without going off on a tangent about it, there’s a bit of a difference between “Deadlock comes out of the lower class in a geographic region beset by poverty” and “Deadlock gang itself currently has no money”. Apparently, well after the effects of financial misfortune set in, Deadlock was and is making enough money to maintain long-distance shipping, as suggested by their semi-trailer truck, and keep an entire town functioning well enough as a cover for their criminal enterprise. Also, missiles don’t sell for cheap. Deadlock might be financially comfortable now, but their context still involves deep socioeconomic disparity.

This is especially poignant against the Route’s invoked nickname, Main Street of America, which conjures images of the average American person. Those average people who owned gas stations, cafes, diners, roadside trinket shops, dive bars are the ones who are forgotten while the more affluent folks pass them over, traveling in style. There’s also a historical precedent in poverty and social disparity as driven by infrastructure changes specifically affecting the way people travel across regions and the country, specifically in the history of the freeway.

To sort of make the clarification, Jesse’s tattoo states that Deadlock was established in 1976—happy centennial, Deadlock—so they’ve certainly changed a lot as their social context and membership make-up changed. There’s much to be said about social non-conformity, outlaw motorcycle gangs, one-percenters, community integration, and how these intersect with both the politics and economics of the local communities along Route 66, especially given how the Route was recently listed as one of the country’s most endangered historic places, even in Deadlock’s apparent founding in a period of American social unease after the Vietnam War and during the late Cold War, and extrapolate a lot about Deadlock from all that, and even about Jesse himself from some of it, but that’s for a different post.

Revolutionaries and Rebels

In that context, it’s worthwhile to note that in their insignia, seen in the graffiti all over the Route 66 map and in Jesse’s tattoo in his Blackwatch skin, they calls themselves the Deadlock Rebels. Generally, outlaw motorcycle clubs are also known for their contempt for social convention and disdain for status quo.

Screenshot of the Deadlock Gang hideout with their insignia, which includes the words Deadlock Rebels, spray-painted onto a wall.

Deadlock is quite the opposite of Los Muertos, though. Deadlock maintains a law-abiding public face—holding innocuous and even advertised national rallies and hiding their illicit activity under numerous cover businesses—and are more discreet in their disrespect of law. One can double down on this by looking to how successfully real-life one-percenter clubs maintain their public image: openly contemptuous of social norms but keeping public knowledge of any legal transgressions to only the small indiscretions while hiding the major ones.

Taking a look at Deadlock’s primary targets, military installations: the train cars on the map are military-related, the gang traffics military hardware and weapons including missiles. Although Deadlock comes from a similar social context as Los Muertos, these aren’t targets seeking to effect a change in society like how Los Muertos seeks to. Deadlock appears largely self-interested, with little interest in changing the fortunes of anyone else in the American lower class. Los Muertos bills itself as other-interested, seeking to change the fortunes of the Mexican underclass as a whole.

Archetypically, Los Muertos are revolutionaries, Deadlock are rebels. While they both groups reject the status quo, the revolutionary seeks sweeping social change but the rebel rejects the status quo on a personal level. The revolutionary wants society to change to suit their vision of what it ought to be while the rebel positions themselves outside of society and will redefine themselves as society changes.

The difference is apparent in their choice of targets. Los Muertos targets institutions and people who directly have a hand in the building of their social context, and attacking those targets will potentially affect a social change. Deadlock targets institutions and people who may have a hand in their social context, but such targets are chosen primarily for the gang’s financial gain.

Los Muertos is politically motivated. Deadlock is financially motivated.

Admirers in the Shadows

Sombra and Jesse don’t remain in their gangs. They both end up joining shadow organizations with global reach, the terrorist organization Talon and the covert ops organization Blackwatch, respectively. Both organizations were wooed by their specific skillsets.

Sombra launched an even more audacious string of hacks, and her exploits earned her no shortage of admirers, including Talon. She joined the organization’s ranks…

With his expert marksmanship and resourcefulness, he was given the choice between rotting in a maximum-security lockup and joining Blackwatch, Overwatch’s covert ops division. He chose the latter.

A young Jesse McCree was recruited into Blackwatch after Gabriel Reyes saw his potential and gave him a choice: join Blackwatch, or rot in prison.

The difference here is that Sombra was offered a place, but she did not necessarily need that offer to continue on with her life. She takes it because Talon resources allow her to more effectively pursue her goals. If McCree did not take the offer to join Blackwatch, his life effectively ended. (There’s a whole thing to be said about this offer, why it was the best offer that could have been made to him at the same, and criminal rehabilitation—but that’s another post.) McCree’s decision to join Blackwatch isn’t motivated by pursuit of a specific goal. He just didn’t want his life to be over before it started. In that regard, his entire life is shaped very directly by his relationship to Overwatch as an individual and Blackwatch, even more than simply its role in ending the Crisis and overseeing the rebuilding efforts.

Sombra, as someone who survived the Crisis, similarly has that more distanced influence of Overwatch in her life, but there’s the possibility she may have a more direct one.

With the recent spawn interaction between Sombra and Hammond showing a sentimentality for her stuffed Overwatch bear, seen in her den in Castillo, there is a possible picture to paint of a Sombra who may have some sentimentality toward Overwatch and might be aiding individual members on the sly not only because she wants to uncover the Grand Conspiracy they’re caught up in but also because she has a personal motivation.

segadores-y-soldados has a lot of good and very recent speculation on what this could mean for Sombra, either working with the room in her background for her to have worked with Blackwatch or having her as never having worked with Overwatch. If she worked with Blackwatch, which is admittedly a shakier theory, it creates a direct and clear mirror with Jesse: given a second chance at life through working with Overwatch and Blackwatch. If she did not and the influence is only the distant one, and she simply remained on the edges of society and making use of the space available, it is an inverse of Jesse. I recommend reading these two posts on the idea: one, two, three.

Name: REDACTED

One could compare Sombra attempting to eradicate her identity as Olivia Colomar and later returning as Sombra to Jesse going underground after leaving Blackwatch and later resurfacing to work as a bounty hunter. Their decisions to drop off the map have different motivations and different degrees of extreme, and there is a different tenor in how one disappears as Olivia and returns as Sombra and the other disappears as McCree and makes a resurfaces in a return to that identity.

Sombra accidentally stumbled onto a massive conspiracy that controlled the world and drew their attention, compromising her security and forcing her to destroy all trace of Olivia Colomar to go into hiding. She came back as a completely new person with no trails to her old identity, a transformation so complete that it took years to connect the two.

It is possible to draw a stronger parallel between them here. Jesse similarly has parts of his identity that he’s hiding (but which Sombra knows about):

Sombra: Pleasure working with you, McCree… if that is your real name.McCree: Don’t know what you heard, but my name’s not Joel. Best remember that.

There’s a strong case for the Jesse is the journalist Joel Morricone theory: at some point in his life, he created a second identity for himself and is working to keep the two separate. It’s currently unclear exactly what the details of the arrangement is or why he goes to these lengths. Given that he disappeared for “several years” after quitting and before reappearing again as Jesse McCree, gunslinger for hire, it stands to reason he spent the intervening years living quietly under the Morricone identity. 

We don’t really know much about the specifics of what motivated Jesse to go to ground, but based on his official bio, it seems related to the infighting following the Talon infiltration at Overwatch and Blackwatch that also drove him to quit. It could likely be motivated by security reasons—in a similar but less drastic way that Sombra burned her old identity to protect herself.

Justice Against Law

One of the building blocks of McCree’s character is his stance on justice. He makes it very clear: he is concerned primarily in dispensing justice to the point that he only accepts jobs as a bounty hunter if he believes the cause just and constantly gets involved in vigilantism, putting a stop to crimes both petty and serious.

Through this dogged pursuit of seeing justice done, he seeks a self-redemption for the wrongs he committed early in his life: “he came to believe that he could make amends for his past sins by righting the injustices of the world”. At the same time, he makes it clear that he believes justice and law run on different wavelengths. He appreciates Blackwatch for its “flexibility” to move “unhindered by bureaucracy and red tape”. The Morricone article seems to suggest a belief that justice can be defended by law, but everything else about him strongly states that he does not believe justice is exclusively defended by law.

The short version: McCree has a rigid sense of justice and dedicates his life to seeing it carried out, but he does not equate it with the law. Both of those points are amply evidenced and are at the forefront of McCree’s character. 

Edited sequence from the “Searching” comic where Zarya and Lynx-17 go door-to-door, showing everyone a photo of Sombra. Zarya’s internal dialogue in the last panel: “But no one has seen Sombra. Or nobody admits it. They see her like our Stepan Razin—attacking the rich to defy the czar.”

Sombra is (perhaps surprisingly) similar. As stated previously, she was brought in by a gang who billed themselves as seeking a justice for the Mexican underclass that they believed could not be achieved through legal means.

On her own? She holds to those ideals and that goal. She attacks and exposes the CEO of LumériCo, creating an opening to see some justice done for the Mexican people. (The attempt failed, and Portero is reinstated, but that’s besides the point.) Her continuing interest in seeing the Viper Portero removed only makes sense if she continues to have a personal investment in seeing justice for the underclass of her country.

This leads to Sombra being seen as an extrajudicial force of change and good by the Mexican people, particularly those in the Castillo and Dorado region. Zarya compares her to Stepan Razin (Wikipedia), who as I understand it led force composed in part of peasants in uprising and, though he failed, was immortalized as a folklore hero.

Though her methods are different and her goals much more specific, her actions, at least in Mexico, are similarly driven by a search for justice that cannot be delivered by the law.

The Enemies of Talon

I don’t have a lot to say about this, and segadores-y-soldados has summarized it quite better than I have, but it’s important enough to get it’s own section. But, Sombra working against Talon actually puts her technically on the same side as Jesse is—even though Jesse as of “Train Hopper” doesn’t seem that interested in actually ending Talon’s activities or denying them what resources they want, only in preventing them from hurting and killing innocents. (Though, I doubt Jesse is going to remain in that mode for long.)

It is entirely possibly, maybe even likely, that Sombra is aiding Jesse somehow as well as aiding Jack and Ana. I linked a couple of segadores-y-soldados’ relevant posts earlier, but I’ll link them again: linked before, new link.

Miscellanea, Smaller Comparisons 

Sombra is embraced by her old gang Los Muertos, even though she has broken ties with them for her safety, as evidenced by the gang’s enthusiastic and open support of her attacks on LumériCo. Deadlock openly rejects Jesse and is suggested to have a “shoot on sight” policy for him, as evidenced by the numerous photos of him accompanying rifles and his photo pinned to a dartboard; it’s possible that they resent him for having avoided prison and taking the presented opportunity to turn over a new leaf.

Even after leaving their respective gangs, both Jesse and Sombra still make use of variations on the gangs’ symbols in their personal iconographies. Sombra identifies herself through a simplified graphic calaveras. While in Blackwatch, Jesse openly displays his tattoo and wears a buckle of the Deadlock winged skull; after leaving Blackwatch, his prosthetic arm features plating shaped like a skull. (The iconography extends to the game’s UI also, with EMP represented by a calaveras and Deadeye with a skull.)

Both take somewhat similar relationships to Gabriel: Jesse is framed as a surrogate son and a right-hand, Sombra is framed as a young accomplice who takes a more familiar tack and a frequent trusted partner. They’re opinionated and vocal about it, unafraid to talk back to Gabriel and criticize his planning.

Further in the personality vein of things, they’re characterized as deeply confident in their abilities to the point of cockiness and overconfidence, and they can be accused (and have been, by Gabriel, though with dubious sincerity) of having too high an opinion of themselves. But despite the breeziness, they are highly competent, thorough, and conscientious, and although they may appear to have a lot of things to say about other people’s plans, they execute their own plans with precision and utmost gravity. Arguably, both are playing a bit of the fool to mask how sharp, observant, and cunning they really are.

[spoiler2010]

Rebirth Of A Nation?

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke finds himself in an unusual predicament. Never before have the spheres of his influence been so politicized as we have seen in this new century. He holds jurisdiction over Federal land and resources, Indian affairs, wildlife and territorial issues. As of 2019, Zinke finds himself faced with some unusual problems that may cause him to 'think out of the box' in dealing with what had once been considered routine matters within his Department.

One of the first controversies of the New Year was the Obamites attempting to erect a shrine to their idol on State property. The Obama Presidential Center was to be built in the downtown Chicago vicinity. In all likelihood his henchman, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, had arbitrarily agreed to the project without getting any municipal or State approval. Emanuel, as we recall, was the White House Chief of Staff before resigning under controversy after his first year. Emanuel and his socialist cohorts were taken aback to find that they were being blocked by a lawsuit filed by a parks advocacy group. As of this writing the trial has yet to commence. Chances are that Zinke may be asked to weigh in at a future date should socialists choose to appropriate Federal land to immortalize their heroes.

The biggest controversy surrounded the curious case of Covington Catholic School student Nick Sandmann, who attended a demonstration in Kentucky by race activists. Along with classmates wearing red Make America Great Again caps, he was vilified by protestors who hurled racial profanities at the youths. Nick was one of those who rose to the occasion, exhorting his classmates to stand fast and offer no retaliation against the belligerents. 

What happened next was the worst backfire Fake News experienced since the Trump inauguration. Leftist media outlets edited all video at the event, distributing it across their networks to fit their storyline. Sandmann was shown smiling tautly as an Indian demonstrator was beating a tribal drum with just several inches of space between them. It was not hard for the slanderers to claim that the boy was violating the personal space of the Indian and mocking his ritual display.

Unfortunately for the Fake News conspirators, there were videocameras documenting the incident from different angles. Black Hebrew Israelite militants were seen at a distance though within earshot of the street event, screaming racial epithets at the youths. Ironically, this sect has a nationwide following that adheres to bizarre interpretations of Scripture. They claim that the Twelve Tribes of Israel are comprised of black ethnicities around the world, and that whites are disciples of Satan sent to enslave the black race. Despite their virulence, Sandmann continued to admonish his fellow students not to engage in dialogue with the aggressors.

Next came videos of the Indian in question marching straight at Sandmann and belligerently beating the instrument inches from the boy's face. Here is how we see videos can be manipulated to tell the story as it is framed. With the entire incident filmed at a distance, we see the Indian encroaching upon Sandmann's position. Yet in a closeup, Sandmann's smile remains frozen as if mocking the Indian. With both sides examined, one wonders if Sandmann was trying to fight back tears of humiliation or fear.

Fake News' grievous error was to broadcast the video and report it with the exact prejudice and virulence used against what they call the MAGA Movement. This demonizes any and all Trump supporters as xenophobic, misogynistic and homophobic bigots abiding by fascist philosophy. As Sandmann and his fellow parishioners were wearing the red apparel, they became MAGA fascists by default. The boy and his friends were subjected to the worst possible verbal abuse by leftist media and activists alike. Apparently the boy's parents realized that this would have a horrible impact on his future and decided to seek remedy.

Weeks later it was announced that the Sandmann's attorney Lin Wood had filed a $250 million lawsuit against the Washington Post, who had been the main propagators of the libel. According to the lawsuit, Sandmann had suffered from defamation of character which was a result of the Post's actions in 'leading the charge' of the hordes of slanderers. The 'innocent child was bullied with (an) absolute disregard', causing 'permanent damage'. President Trump immediately applauded the announcement as a retaliatory blow against all who have used 'freedom of the press' as license to destroy the lives of others for commercial and political gain.

 The failed efforts of Fake News to keep the Black Hebrew Israelites out of the spotlight allowed them to easily avoid retribution. In cities such as Kansas City in Missouri, for example, the propagators of this cult stand in public areas such as the downtown Power and Light mall, the Plaza and Westport spewing their venom without consequence. Yet the slightest hint of support for the MAGA slogan sets the leftist media ablaze with fervor as they seek and destroy any public gathering displaying such intent. 

Of greater importance would be for Zinke to initiate a Congressional inquiry as to the reasons behind Indian poverty and lack of development on reservation land. For over a century, Indians have been shown as living in extreme poverty and lacking in all areas of economic opportunity. It seems impossible that this particular demographic has been given no chance to improve their collective lot. When we consider all the equal opportunities given Black, or the open doors available to Yellow, it would be an outrage that Red had no advantage whatsoever. Indeed, the nations of the world rebuked over human rights violations by America would rise in indignation due to lack of it. 

For across the planet since the dawn of man we have seen nomad races roaming the face of the earth. Bedouins in the Middle East, African tribesmen following rain clouds, Mongols seeking suitable hunting and harvest, among dozens of others. Most have been respected for their contributions to the traditions and folklore to their respective nations. Yet we find not one that have been given exclusive rights to significant expanses of their nation's land. Beyond that, the Indian has done nearly nothing to take advantage of that right.

It is well known that, over the last century, oil corporations attempted to make numerous deals to secure drilling rights on Indian land. The incompetence of the bureaucracies have made it impossible for either side to progress. A 2015 report from the Government Accountability Office found that poor management by the Bureau of Indian Affairs hindered energy development and resulted in lost revenue for tribes, according to Reuters. At this juncture, we wonder what can possibly be hindering the Indians from doing what is needed to make their people whole?

One thing is certain: a great Indian leader must rise from the ashes and speak for the people. Our history books speak of Geronimo, Cochise, Sitting Bull, and dozens of others who gave their lives for their people. Why is there no Millenial voice being heard? And of young adults, is there no greater aspiration than to be a casino owner? Or on the other end, the leader of a reservation drug gang? Someone must take a stand and unite the tribes to end Indian poverty and restore the dignity of the people.

According to Forbes, there is an estimated $1.5 trillion of natural resources available on Indian land. There is a discussion of fractionated land ownership, which is a result of inherited land shares being passed down to multiple heirs until becoming relatively worthless. The tribal leaders must bring the people together to sign over their shares until the land is fully accounted for and can be privatized to allow for commercial investment.

President Trump has discussed the options of privatizing Indian land. Here is where his deal-making wizardry and entrepreneurial skills may be of historical importance for the Indian nation. Obviously the Indians will need guidance, and the Trump Administration may hold many keys to helping them secure a trillion-dollar deal. It would be a win-win situation for Indians and oil corporations who would no longer have to invest in foreign lands to earn profits. The elimination of shipping costs alone would save them billions. Some of this could be used in improvements and betterments on reservations as a good-will gesture to help the Indians recover their dignity in a short time.

Once again, the employment of the indigenous population will result in the growth of its community. If young people are able to earn a good salary at the oil wells, they will be able to invest in homes and businesses which would result in the decline of the trailer park syndrome. Many of the elderly would be able to manage the mom-and-pop stores while their children worked. It would put an end to the chronic alcoholism that has ravaged the Indian communities along with hopelessness and despair.

This sounds like a broad and utopian statement, but it is a mirror image of the drug epidemic destroying black communities. If a person has so few options but to go out and work hard for minimum wage, they may well turn to the welfare system and intoxicants to lessen the emotional pain. Yet if there is a possibility of earning $600 a week, this is a game-changer for the person's extended family. He must seize the moment and invest in something for the family to cultivate. Even hauling the trailer to a roadside after a home is purchased can be the start of a lucrative business.

Of paramount importance is interaction between Cabinet leaders, Here is where Ben Carson can step in and implement programs allowing Indians to buy homes and invest in commercial property. The most important factor is the time element. Indians cannot be allowed to think that these advancements are quick fixes to their chronic decline into oblivion. The conservative media must glorify their efforts and use examples of Indian Pride as a guiding light to all ethnicities. When the Indian can seize the moment, he will see substance abuse as a rebuke and disgrace to his people. This is when the ancestral traditions are reborn and the nation rediscovers itself.

Once this happens, will we not see the Indian Territory become a great tourist attraction, a showcase rivaling Las Vegas spanning across the West? Will it no longer remain an endless wilderness interspersed by trailer parks and Indians selling trinkets at rest areas? Will we see theme parks and theaters proclaiming a nation's greatness, from ancient times to the 21st Century?

Our President and the Indian Nation hold the key to the future.

[malusvio]

Is Bernie more radical than he seems?

Is Bernie Sanders a real Democratic Socialist, or a Social Democrat?

I found a post on reddit a while back with various sources on Bernie Sander's history with socialism, including his advocation for worker self management and real socialist policies, but it seems it was deleted. fearing this, i did manage to save the entire post on a file before it was deleted. I will be posting it now, then post my thoughts afterwards

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[–]Rvb321 100 points 2 months ago* I've said it before and I'll say it again, Bernie Sanders is a fair bit further to the left then he initially seems. While attending the University of Chicago, Sanders was a member of the Young People's Socialist League, and he discusses his reasons for joining it, in this interview . Sanders began his political career as a member of a socialist party in Vermont called the Liberty Union Party. Here is their platform, Sanders put out a short documentary about American Socialist, Eugene Debs. This article from 1982, discusses Bernie's election as Mayor of Burlington.This image depicts Sander's speaking at a 1983 meeting of the Socialist Party USA, and this WNYC piece gives some context to his what he says and features clips from the speech itself.

In this speech from the 1985 Progressive Entrepreneurship Forum, Sanders talked about worker alienation, the need of people to see themselves in their work, and the necessity of worker ownership. In this 1985 interview, Sanders can be seen defending the gains of the Cuban Revolution. And Here is a video of Sanders introducing Noam Chomsky, at Burlington City Hall, where Chomsky gives a speech about US foreign policy. Sanders discusses his opposition to US foreign policy in Latin America, in particular. Sanders even sent a letter to Ronald Reagan expressing his opposition to US support of the Contras in Nicuragua, around the same time. Here is a 1998 C-span interview, in which Sanders talks about Class. Sanders gave an address as Mayor about US imperialism in Latin America. This video includes Sanders, on a panel of others, discussing observations about the Soviet Union after a trip there, in 1988. In 1991, Sanders gave a talk at a DSA meeting, and talked about how, in the short term, he believes that the US should catch up with the rest of the world, in terms of Social Democratic policies, but that we should ultimately move towards Worker Control of the economy, as a long term goal. In 2007, Bernie Sanders advocated Worker Ownership in the US Congress. Here is a speech that Sanders gave that is very similar to the one he gave at the Progressive Entrepreneurship Forum. Sanders advocated for worker cooperatives in point 3 his 12 point economic plan. He doubled down on his views on Cuba, and the rest of latin america on Democracy Now shortly after the death of Fidel Castro. He even denied his status as a Capitalist on CNN. This 2015 Guardian interview has Sanders discussing the impact that the moving of Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles had on his Politics. This 2016 Jacobin article discusses Sander's roots in in America's rich Socialist Tradition. In this Reddit AMA from a few years ago, Sanders expresses a clear intent to move towards worker control. And very recently, in 2017, Sanders and his fellow Vermont senator introduced legislation to expand co-operatives nationwide. Furthermore, Sanders also discusses worker co-ops and other examples of collective ownership on pages 243 and 259-262 of his book Our Revolution (Thomas Dune Books 2016). Speaking of Our Revolution, let's look at some quotes from the book: What I learned playing on the streets and playgrounds of Brooklyn was not just how to become a decent ball player and athlete. I learned a profound lesson about democracy and self rule. (Our Revolution. pg 11) O'Malley's [Owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers] devastating decision to rip the Dodgers out of Brooklyn in order to pursue greater profits on the West Coast was, I suspect, one of my first observations regarding the deficiencies of Capitalism. (Our Revolution. pg 13) It wasn't just that racism, war, poverty, and other social evils must be opposed. It was that there was a cause and effect dynamic and an interconnectedness between all aspects of society. Things didn't just happen by accident. There was a relationship between wealth, power, and the perpetuation of Capitalism. (Our Revolution. pg 18) In Israel, we spent time working on several kibbutzim [collectively own and run Israeli communities]...People there were living their democratic values. The kibbutz was owned by the people who lived there, the "bosses" were elected by the workers, and the overall decisions for the community were made democratically. (Our Revolution. pg 21-22) This type of greed, and ruthless Capitalism is not an economic model we should be embracing. We can do Better; we must do better. The economic establishment tells us that there is no alternative to this type of rapacious, cutthroat, Capitalism, that this is how the system and globalization works, and that there's no turning back. They're dead wrong. (Our Revolution pg 260) Employee owned enterprises boost morale, because workers share in profits, and have more control over their own work lives. The employees are not simply cogs in a machine owned by someone else. They have a say in how the company is run. (Our Revolution pg 261) The Workers in these operations understand that when employees own their workplaces, when they work for themselves, when they are involved in the decision-making that impacts their jobs, they are no longer just punching a time clock. They become more motivated, absenteeism goes down, worker productivity goes up. (Our Revolution pg 261) We have got to send a message to the billionaire class: "You can't have it all." You can't get huge tax breaks while children in this country go hungry. You can't continue getting tax breaks by shipping American jobs to China. You can't hide your profits in the Cayman Islands and other tax havens, while there are massive unmet needs in every corner of this nation. Your greed has got to end. (Our Revolution pg 266) Even if you're unconvinced that he's a Socialist, which is perfectly fair, he definitely helped push plenty of people further left, and help make Socialism much less of a dirty word in American Politics. Plus, a lot of this information is useful in helping introduce Bernie supporters to Socialism. Edit: Apparently, not only is it Bernie Sanders' birthday, it's also the birthday of Star Trek. I think we all know what that means https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOim8Y2bSoI.

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---------------------------------------------- So it seems to me that there are 2 possibilities 1) Bernie has abandoned actual socialism but is unable to detatch himself from his history as a DemSoc, and so has continued to call himself a socialist while moving to SocDem 2) Bernie is using his socdem policies as a cover. He is simply a reformist. He plans to slowly move the country further and further left, first to Social Democracy, then towards Socialism (perhaps a "socialist state"?) and while he does this, he calls himself a DemSoc and quotes Eugene V. Debs etc. in order to make socialism more popular. If this is true, it seems to be working effectively as more young folk have positive views towards what they call socialism, and its increasing at a fast rate. Honestly if it werent for him, I NEVER would have become the Anarcho-Communist I am today.

What do I believe? I'm not sure. I don't have enough evidence from RECENT events, since the 2016 election, to make a conclusion. He's not said a word as far as I know about worker ownership post 2016 election. So I leave it up to you instead