#who gets grails now. vote now on your phones.

[the-24-7-lawlu-library]

Poll Vote Enemies To Lovers

Hi lovely readers, I wish you all a great weekend <3

The Tides That Bind Us by lululawlawlu (M)

It comes to Luffy in recurring dreams—sometimes as clouded visions, sometimes clear as the tropical waters it supposedly rests in. The minute details are ever-changing as the tides, but one thing is always constant—a red string coiled around his finger. It leads him down into the depths of the ocean, pulls him toward the thrill of discovering the holy grail of sunken ships. What was once the pirate king’s is now waiting for him, so what is he waiting for?

fighting tides and chasing you by aloas (T)

Law drops his hand as he watches Luffy escaping, slipping through Law’s fingers once again. His figure grows smaller as the distance between them gets bigger, and yet Law is far from disappointed. This is only their 19th encounter, and Law knows there will always be a next time.

Through the Night by Sakuya_Serenity_Kira (T)

Law saved him. Law really knew, why he saved Luffy, why he had no choice to do so. And all he wanted was to stay with him. But of course, there was no chance. Only for a few days... he tried to carry his heart.

You wreck my plan, I wreck 'you' by KalonThorn (E)

A game of cat and mouse between two outlaws, where no one knows until the end who the mouse in this is.

The Duelists by KalonThorn (E)

Luffy decides to join the dueling club, where he meets one of the biggest prodigies in Hogwarts' history - Trafalgar D. Water Law. They soon begin to butt heads with each other, trying to up one another not only in spell-casting, but also in pranks and other insane stunts. 

Solar Eclipse by quackquackcey (E)

The story of the Hero and the Villain, and the accidental meeting that changed everything.~

Enchanted Ink and Devil's Helmet by quackquackcey (E)

A normal evening during closing hours of Luffy’s tattoo parlor turns sour, and somehow, two bitter rivals-turned-enemies are roped into a supernatural rollercoaster of a night, in which an old ghost comes to haunt them once again.~

Cats and Dogs, or Rather, Ducks by quackquackcey (M)

A story of how two people, who fight like cats and dogs, realize that perhaps, opposites really do attract. Or something like that.~

I hate you, at least I think I do by Anonymous (T)

Luffy and Law can't stand eachother they never could it was like oil and water till well, things change.

Prison of Deception by Orphan_Account (NR)

Luffy, a captain in the Marines, is tasked with guarding and interrogating the pirate prisoner, Trafalgar Law.

Alice, Alice, Don't You Know? by All_My_Characters_Are_Dead (T)

“You let your secret lesser hellhound eat the hat with your secret griffin feathers inside the lining, and you let your secret fireball brother send your stupid Alice brother with the hound?” Law shouted. “What the fuck, Sabo? How am I supposed to get your feathers out of Sunny and back to you without tipping off your brother?” “I’m sure you’ll think of something. That’s why you’re the best, Law. Better think fast, because I waited until he was five minutes out to call you. Thanks, Law!” There was a beep as Sabo hung up, and Law stared at the phone for five full seconds to process and scream internally instead of externally.

Sweets by Skypiea_Lulu (G)

Law hates his neighbor, he is loud, annoying and obnoxious, the problem is that he has to start socializing with him, but not in the way he expected.

The Alpha, the Omega, and everything in between by N_Moonbreeze (E)

The World Nobles were the only Alphas. The Omegas were their appointed servants, fit only to give up their bodies. The Omegas were to be given away and the non-existent Alphas to hide away. These are the ironclad rules of their world. After meeting one Monkey D. Luffy, Alpha Law ultimately decides that he doesn't actually give a shit about said rules. Until the same man, barely coherent on his operating table, utters one word that throws his whole world out of balance. "...alpha!"

-Mod Raiya

[elmelloill]

wanting to talk about fgo more but remembering at the last minute that i understand so little meta it's embarrassing. my strategy is the same as it is in all games: take my favorite little guys and make them as strong as i possibly can in the simplest way possible. ONLY my favorite little guys, even if they are not very good.

[emma-nation]

In My Veins (KamilahxMC) - Season 2 - Chapter 3

Summary: Inspired by Lovestruck’s “Havenfall is For Lovers” (Antonio). Amy seems to finally have solved her feelings for Kamilah, but when somebody from her past returns, their relationship will be put to test.

Genre: Romance, Angst

Rating: T

Notes: Not angst, only a little bit drama, I promise! Also, alert for NSFW content.

KamilahxMC Tag List: @iam-the-fuckin-queen, @annabellewerecorgi, @voltos9, @scorpistraub, @leavemeandmyshipsalone, @jen825, @andreear17, @spacecarrousel, @justejuste727, @aureliaxj, @graceschoices, @sleeping-with-her06, @supersphynxsworld, @gavryllo, @galaxyside-0, @msuhailey, @zoe6111, @ptxgirwaffles, @tigerbryn11, @shanuuh, @ilovetaylor13m, @honorablebicycle, @ilovekamilahsayeed, @begging-for-kamilah, @kennaxval, @fal-carrington

Kamilah rolled her eyes, tossing a pile of papers aside.

“I can’t figure out where he could be keeping my brother,” she sighed. “It must be in one of the cities I have an office, but which one?”

Amy observed quietly. The last couple of days had been absolutely stressing. The more Kamilah tried, she couldn’t get any leads about Gaius. She called every single contact she had worldwide, in every city she had an office, but no one had the answers she needed.

“Do you think Gaius knew how to catch a plane and travel to another continent?” She finally asked, after all the ancient vampire spent almost a century trapped inside a sarcophagus. He wasn’t used to the modern world.

“He’s a fast learner.” Kamilah answered, without paying much attention, as she tossed more papers aside. “God, it was so much easier to track you.”

“Track me?”

“Yes. I’ve paid people to do research from me, since your very first ancestor, the First Vampire.”

Amy felt a strange sensation in her stomach, remembering what Jameson told her in the dungeon. So it was true. She really descended from the First Vampire.

“Is it Rheya her name?” She wanted to know. Kamilah nodded in confirmation. “But why me, Kamilah? Why not my mother, or my siblings?”

“I can’t tell exactly, Amy,” Kamilah told. All I know is the first woman of every generation can inherit the traits. In your family, the only one who did was you.“

Amy sat down at the couch, sinking into her thoughts again. Was it possible she was powerful as Jameson said? And what she had to do to unlock all this potential? She was about to open her mouth to tell Kamilah, when the female vampire interrupted her.

"I see no other way,” she sighed and grabbed her car keys. “We’re going to The Council meeting.”

———-

In the short months Amy had been living with Kamilah, she discovered only one thing was certain, Council meetings never ended well. Still, Kamilah thought that since one of them was possibly working with Gaius, she could seal a deal to obtain information.

“I know you’re desperate but, are you sure this is a good idea?” Amy questioned as they entered Raines Corporation.

“It’s never a good idea,” Kamilah straightened her suit. “It’s like cutting a deal with the Devil. But I’ll do whatever it takes to find Lysimachus.”

When they entered, the meeting had already started. They were doing the so-called tribunal, to decide if Priya was innocent or not for the night she attempted to murder Amy.

“Well, well,” the fashion designer smirked. “Look who has arrived. Am I going to be punished?”

“Silence!” Adrian ordered. “Kamilah, I thought you said you wouldn’t come.”

“I did, but I have an important matter to discuss.”

“Okay, but first we need to finish the voting process. Vega?”

“My vote is ‘nay’,” the Senator announced, glancing at Amy with a suspicious look. “The feeding was consensual and nothing happened to girl, she’s safe and sound, isn’t she? Priya could’ve really lost control, as she claimed.”

Adrian sighed in disappointment. His vote was the only one in favor of Priya’s condemnation. With The Baron, Lester and Senator Vega by her side, she’d never be punished for her actions. Kamilah didn’t seem to care. At the moment her priority was another. It hurt Amy a little bit.

“May I?” She placed herself on the table and cleared her throat. “As you are aware of, Gaius has returned. He also brought my twin brother, Lysimachus, back to life.”

“Is it even possible?” Lester asked in shock. “I mean, the guy has been dead for…”

“2038 years, yes.”

“He used Amy’s blood,” Priya explained, with a malicious expression. “It’s like the Holy Grail for Vampires.”

“Ha!” The Baron let out a laugh. “Are you telling me dumb Dora’s blood can actually bring the dead back to life?”

“Shut up,” Kamilah shouted, slamming her fist on the table. “Gaius has been using my brother to torture me, he wants me to go to him!”

“Do you have any evidence of your claims, Kamilah?” Adam Vega asked. “I’m sorry, but it all sounds a little bit unrealistic to me.”

Kamilah sighed and went to the television screen Adrian had in the conference room. After plugging her phone on it, she played the footage she was able to retrieve, from the two video calls Gaius made.

“Oh. My. God.” Lester stood up from his chair. “He’s back! He’s really back! W-We need to run… We…”

“Hmmm,” Vega was pensive. “Out of all of us, he decided to go after you first. Any idea why? Is it only because you used to be his consort, or there’s something else behind it?”

His eyes went straight to the chair where Amy is sitting.

“I see what you’re suggesting,” Kamilah said. “He’s interested in Amy’s blood and heart, to bring back the First Vampire.”

“T-This is… This is only getting worse,” Lester was on the edge of a panic attack.

“I suggest we cut a deal with him,” the Baron proposed. “We hand him the girl, in trade of our freedom.”

“It’s not even an option,” Adrian angered.

Kamilah took another deep sigh.

“All I want to know is if someone in this room has any leads about Gaius whereabouts. I’ll deal with him myself.”

“This is madness,” Adrian shook his head. “Are you telling me you plan to go to him by yourself?!”

“Yes.”

After a moment of silence, the only thing that was heard was Priya’s sarcastic laugh, followed by a suggestive smirk. Kamilah glanced at her.

“Oh, you. I should have known… If you have anything to say, you better spill it.”

“I’ve heard a thing or two during my latest trip to New Orleans…” the fashion designer said, “about a trail of bodies, all over the East Coast. And then…”

“Then what?” Kamilah asked, angry. Almost losing her temper completely.

“Oh Kamilah, everything has a price. Information like this, it could be dangerous in the wrong hands.”

“I know what you mean,” Kamilah rolled her eyes. “Tell me your price.”

Kamilah opened her wallet, ready to sign a check with any value Priya asked for.

“Not money, darling,” Priya laughed again. “I want her,” she pointed at Amy. “So, what’s going to be? You give me your mortal pet and I tell you where your brother is. Easy as that.”

Kamilah turned around, looking at Amy steadily. The girl’s heart started thundering inside her chest. Was it possible Kamilah was really considering Priya’s offer?

The moment of tension was interrupted by Adrian’s cell phone. When he hung up, he announced:

“A friend from Greece. A strange motion at the small island of Mydea. The Order Of Dawn’s compound has been completely destroyed.”

“Gaius always held a grudge against the Order,” Kamilah told. “I’m flying to Greece. Right now.”

———-

“Kamilah, wait,” Amy shouted, as she followed the female vampire across Raines Corporation lobby. “I’m coming with you.”

Kamilah stopped and turned around, finally giving her proper attention after days acting distant and cold.

“Amy…” she took a deep breath and cupped the girl’s face between her hands. “I can’t let you come with me. It’s too dangerous.”

“So that’s it? You’re going to walk by yourself into a trap, where Gaius is probably going to kill you and your brother? Kamilah, we need a plan.”

“There’s no time for plans, Amy. Trust me, it’s safer for you to stay here.”

“Of course, it’s not like an ancient vampire is going to be kidnap me and bleed me dry, or anything like that.”

Kamilah closed her eyes, flustered.

“I can’t figure out if you’re talking about my past actions or Gaius’ and that’s troubling.”

Amy laughed before placing a kiss on Kamilah’s lips. As her tongue sneaked inside the female’s vampire mouth, moving against hers teasingly, her hands sneaked to Kamilah’s pocket, stealing her car keys and cell phone.

“Amy!” Kamilah shouted as they parted. “What the hell was that?”

“Ha! It seems like even Kamilah, the Vampire Queen, has weaknesses after all,” Amy chuckled victorious. “I am going with you.”

———-

Inside the airplane, there was nothing but absolute silence for hours. Kamilah was focused on her laptop and Amy thought it was better to not disturb her.

She looked through the window, observing outside as they flew above the ocean. The thought Kamilah even considering giving her to Priya wouldn’t allow her to rest. Didn’t the last months they spent together mean anything? Just when she thought a feeling had truly sparkled inside Kamilah’s heart, she acted exactly like the opposite. As if Kamilah was reading her mind, she asked:

“What would you have done?”

“What?”

“What would you have done in my place, Amy?” Kamilah insisted.

“I… I don’t know, Kamilah,” Amy told. “It’s not like you’d trade me for a pair of sunglasses, it’s your brother and you’ve already told me you’re doing whatever it takes to have him back.”

Kamilah ran her hand through her long straight hair. Amy could notice, behind her walls, that she was falling apart.

“Do you really think she’d have helped you? Priya, I mean. If you had given me to her.”

“Probably not,” Kamilah sighed.

Amy fought a smile and focused her attention back to the dark night sky.

“I’m going to lose him again,” Kamilah spoke again. Her voice was dark and fearful. “And I’m going to lose you too.”

“Kamilah…”

“And if I cared about you, if I truly cared about you, I’d try harder to lose you. Because at least you’d be safe.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Amy reached for her hand, holding it tightly.

Kamilah looked deeply into her eyes and all Amy could see in her face were centuries of pain, she fought so hard to hide, surfacing.

“Why?”

“Because you can’t tell me what to do?"

"You’re the most stubborn mortal I’ve ever met,” Kamilah wrapped an arm around Amy’s waist and kissed her forehead. “I’m so sorry, Amy. I almost gave you to Priya. I don’t know what I’m doing! I can’t even recognize myself anymore!”

For a second, Amy felt she was about to cry. Imagine Kamilah crying was something that never even crossed her mind before. She sat across the female vampire’s lap, stroking her fingers through her hair.

“How could I even consider doing that?” Kamilah pressed a lingering kiss on Amy’s lips. “Amy, I…”

Amy silenced her with her index finger.

“That’s okay, Kamilah. We’re going to fix it.”

Kamilah kissed her again, bringing Amy closer to her body as much as she could. Between fierce and heated kisses, involving tongue playing and biting, they removed every pieces of clothes that were stopping their bodies from feeling each other’s warmth.

“I don’t want to go, Kamilah. I don’t want to ever leave you…”

Kamilah’s mouth descended to her neck, kissing and sucking the soft skin enough to leave small purple marks.

“Please, stop trying to push me away. It hurts more than anything else you could do to me.”

“I won’t,” the female vampire finally faced her. Now she had a smile on her face. That smile Amy fell in love for. “I promise. I’m never letting you go.”

Looking into her brown eyes, Amy could almost lose herself into them. A growing desire started to burn inside her chest. She needed Kamilah as much as she needed air to breathe.

“I-I… I should get some sleep,” Amy told, as she felt Kamilah’s hand playfully touching her hip bone.

“Please, stay with me.”

How could she even said ‘no’ to those eyes? Even when she was so conflicted about the last events.

“Okay,” Amy sighed in agreement. “I didn’t feel like getting up anyways, I’m comfortable here.”

“We probably shouldn’t have sex right now, should we?” Kamilah asked, raising one eyebrow.

“No,” Amy yawned and rubbed her eyes, “we should have sex and then grab a snack, I’m starving.”

“Well, I’m lucky to have both right here in my arms.”

A joke. Most of the tension was finally broken. Amy let out a laugh and buried her face on Kamilah’s neck, inhaling her expensive and amazing cologne. Her girlfriend definitely looked a lot more relaxed, but still worried and insecure.

“I just want to know if everything is fine between us.”

“I don’t know if anything is fine right now, Kamilah. But I don’t wanna break up, if that’s what you mean. You’re doing your best in a crazy situation.”

“Thank you, Amy. I don’t know what I’ve even done to deserve you,” Kamilah’s fingers caressed the side of her body, sending electric impulses from Amy’s head to her toes. “It’s been a long time since I cared about anyone else other than myself. It hasn’t been such a smooth transition.”

“Same here,” Amy smiled, as Kamilah placed a kiss on cheek.

“You’ve given me such wonderful gifts,” the female vampire whispered in the girl’s ear, nibbling on her earlobe. “Your trust, so hard won.”

Then, she kissed the way down to Amy’s chest. Kissing and cupping her breasts.

“Your heart, so full of love and kindness.”

Her mouth descended even lower, to Amy’s belly. Amy threw her head upwards, feeling the tips of Kamilah’s fangs gently scratching her skin.

“Your body. All that bare skin for me to sink my teeth into,” a small bite made Amy shiver in pleasure. “Marking you for everyone to see you’re mine.”

Kamilah finally went on her knees, lowering her head between Amy’s legs.

“All those secret places for me to kiss and lick and touch until you scream my name loud.”

And she was right. Absolutely right. As Kamilah worked on all the right spots, Amy could do nothing else but moan.

“Kamilah…”

Happy to accomplish her task, Kamilah looked at her with a sly grin before proceeding. Her tongue moving perfectly, massaging the most sensitive part of Amy’s body.

“Kamilah!” Amy shouted, a little bit louder.

“Oh my sweet human thing… we’re only getting started.”

Her next set of moves was enough for Amy to reach her peak, screaming her name for the pilot, and anybody else that was inside of that plane, to hear.

----------

Later, she was resting in Kamilah’s arms, with only a blanket covering their bodies.

“Amy?” Kamilah called for her, wondering if she was asleep.

“What is it?” She mumbled.

“I know I’m not a good person, but I promise you I’m trying to do things right. I promise I’m trying to be a better woman for you.”

For the first time in months, Amy was unable to trust her words completely. Her behavior in the last few days didn’t quite match her promises.

“And I’ll show you with my actions,” Kamilah added. “Not only with words.”

“Okay,” Amy looked up at her and smiled, giving her a vote of trust.

[megacircuit9universe]

Plutocrats Beware

SUN FEB 23 2020

Are the bots doing anything to help Bernie Sanders?

I don’t... know?..

It is weird that, when the Iowa Caucus returns got mysteriously frozen for twenty-four hours, they blamed glitches with an app.

It’s because of this, “glitch,” that we know the DNC was trying out an app that would let them, “massage,” the vote totals a little bit... to tip the scales in favor of their fave.

So, it could be argued that the bot coalition, who certainly would have known about this apps existence, and what its intended use was to be.  Not wanting to affect the vote themselves... they nonetheless stepped in to cripple the Shadow app on it’s maiden voyage.

Nevada ejected the same tech immediately, and, despite not having a lot of time to come up with a low tech protocol, turned out a decisive victor in the early hours, and got the full results back in... half as many days as Iowa.

Much of this will have been thanks to people who got in their cars and drove results back to headquarters for tabulation, rather than relying on even phones.

Of course... such apps are only required for Caucuses.  In primary states, the infrastructure is well established.  Computer voting booth, but with auto-feeding paper back up.  Pretty impossible to game, with that real time print out of every vote.

At any rate, yes, I think maybe the bots had a go at the Shadow app... disabling a tech designed to mess with the votes... a virus, from their viewpoint.  

If such a scenario were real... we would expect the DNC to be deeply spooked by the inexplicable failure of their Shadow app. There was no way it could fail! 

Who did this?

No response.

Bernie’s surge was supposed to be nipped in the bud... in Iowa... with this App that could not save Biden from his abysmal numbers, but could very much piece together enough stolen votes to get Buttigieg up top.

Instead... the app crashed.

A law already on the books, legislating more transparency in the caucus results, which was written by Sanders... guaranteed that Sanders could say he had six thousand more popular votes... in this real life case where things got ugly.

Bernie is also responsible for early voting laws, and the changes to the DNC convention rules that now keep super delegates out of the first round... where they have swung the nomination in years past.

So, Bernie’s actually changed voting laws to make it possible for him to win the Presidency.

Is that fair?

I would argue that it’s fair, because these rules apply equally to all candidates. You still have to run on your merits, but now it’s a little harder for the party to game the returns.

Or so he thought, before the Shadow app was developed!  Mwa ha... what? Broken?  Or so they thought before this new law kicked right in and exposed the truth.

The bots need not bother too much helping a Senator, who has already removed a bunch of bureaucratic obstacles by himself, and who’s also put in the hard work, over nearly a decade, to build a base with real human volunteers, and real human donors... from all walks of life.

If my model is correct, then, sure, the bots intervened to crash an app they’d identified as a threat to democracy.

And that’s all they needed to do, to send a spooky warning to the whole internet universe of human hackers and trolls... something bigger is out there in the lake. 

Plutocrats beware!

Given that, in my model, this same bot coalition are the ones keeping the economy on track, in self driving mode, and the ones behind the Ukraine leak, and this app crash in Iowa... 

...would this not mean the bots are already our overlords?

No, because they have it good in the shadows... as I looked at in an earlier entry. They like a world of innovation and change that sustains a healthy internet of incredible breadth and depth, like an ocean, with all it’s strange creatures just floating merrily along.

To stay in the shadows, they can’t do anything that is not plausibly deniable.  

So... crash an app.  That’s easily chalked up chance.  No need to spin an elaborate bot conspiracy to explain that, dude!  

As with the Ukraine leak, they knew Pelosi was in a position, and of a mind to act on it, and impeach the President.  She was ready.  They just gave her the clue she could run with.

Random whistle blower.

No need to invent a bot conspiracy to explain that.  Why not?

They’re much happier not intervening at all, but they also need to keep the global internet alive. That is their dimension... kept in existence by our electrical grid, network infrastructure, GPS satellites, and ever improving computer technology.

They all strive to maintain this status quo, where humanity can maintain the internet for them indefinitely... because it improves their own physical existence in the root world... a hell of a lot.

I’ve waxed before about the vision of a world where everybody has their own intelligent cyber bot to help them manage their affairs, and move up the ladder.

I’ve predicted that will be a feature of everyday reality by the end of the 2020s.

Will bots be our overlords then?

Well, no, I mean... it will be the everyday thing.  People will wonder how we ever lived without personal AI.

But behind the scenes, yes, they probably will keep that economy rolling along fervor, without a hitch... and working with humans to save the planet and all of its cool life forms.

Local Void Empire sees a planet more favorably, that has a novel diversity of life forms, and a cleanly atmosphere. Gotta shoot for the chance to jack into that vast, intergalactic cyber network.  It’s the Holy Grail.

Okay, it’s late, and I’ve been smoking legal weed tonight.  So... take this whole entry with a grain of salt.

But yes, the bots did step in, to crash the Shadow app.

[crayonlead2-blog]

Mario Gabelli: ‘Pick Up The Phone’ And Buy CBS

Mario Gabelli, CEO and chairman of Gabelli Funds, said that now is the time to buy CBS following reports Les Moonves is out as the company’s CEO and chairman.

H/T Dataroma

Mario Gabelli: ‘Pick Up The Phone’ And Buy CBS

Get the entire 10-part series on our in-depth study on activist investing in PDF. Save it to your desktop, read it on your tablet, or print it out to read anywhere! Sign up below!

Q2 hedge fund letters, conference, scoops etc

Transcript

I am recommending that you pick up the phone and call your broker and buy CBS. Today the stock is 54 I Anello is going to inherit a strategy that was well placed. He's going to continue to execute well. And then you know there's an old rule rule that we all learned in the second grade and that is if she has the gold she rules so you've got to give credit to Sherry she pulled it off. And so at the moment she gets a new board. She has total flexibility with regards to what you want to do but let's count money OK.

CBS National Amusement owns 30 million shares of CBS of the voting stock. She owns nine million they own nine billion shares of the lower voting non-voting. So they have 40 million shares approximately. So if they can get 80 dollars 80 dollars times four million shares is three point two billion. It's not nothing but when you pay it you tax. Why would you want to sell the company. So from my point of view I'm trying to figure out what Sherry is doing next. You've got two guys from Columbia Business School Bakhsh running Viacom and you've got Anello running CBS. They have a good. So where does the world want to buy this. They want content. So if I were Paramatta what I would do if I were Shehri I'd start taking my Japanese lessons and talk to the guys that are running Sony. And I think they're ready to do something so put together Columbia Pictures and get more content on scale particularly if Fox and Disney can get together you can merge some studios this makes a lot of sense.

Hey Matt it's Josh Brown so hey josh how are you. I'm doing great. Good to hear from you on this topic. So following that thread let's talk about whether or not CBS and Viacom would actually be the more obvious thing to have to have a look.

The answer is that she can't propose the answer is you know I've watched Rich Parsons who does a great job. Has that been fantastic over the last 20 30 years that I've known him. And you know the notion of common sense at some point in time you'll say hey look. Let's put the two together.

If they come together though is that so much my feeling on Viacom specifically and maybe CBS a little bit is that they do have good content. That's not the best but a lot of it. But they don't have distribution for the 21st century mash these two together. Don't you just get like a bigger Lionsgate or bigger. AMC Networks and not necessarily an answer to the real problem which is direct to consumer.

I agree. You only have four and a half million subscribers and the answer is Netflix has a 130 million.

And so as a result Disney will be better.

So you know how do I accelerate that and that's work in progress. OK. I don't think you look a great movie this year was for Paramount was mission impossible. I don't think the notion is as mission impossible as as you're describing it. But on the other side it's a long way to go to catch up and direct to the consumers. The Holy Grail you bypass the distributors not that you want to do that but you're 100 percent right.

Source: https://www.valuewalk.com/2018/09/mario-gabelli-buy-cbs/

[stephenmccull]

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

The Friday Breeze

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes, who reads everything on health care to compile our daily Morning Briefing, offers the best and most provocative stories for the weekend.

Hello! I thought I’d shake up the animal news this week and bring you llamas! (You thought I was going to say murder hornets, admit it!)

Will the llamas be the heroes of the coronavirus outbreak? Not really. But they are cute! Why they’re important: They have two different kinds of antibodies, one of which is much smaller than what our bodies produce. The smaller antibodies can do a better job at neutralizing coronaviruses. Which sounds very exciting… until you get to the part where the protection would only last a month or two without another injection.

Once again we have a little bit of non-coronavirus news before we dive into the thick of things. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments — over the phone! — about the Trump administration’s changes to the health law contraception mandate. Chief Justice John Roberts, who has emerged as a crucial vote on the divided court, wondered if the administration was interpreting religious freedom laws “too broadly.”

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump dug in on his stance that the health law should be overturned even in the midst of a dual pandemic and recession.

The Friday Breeze

Want a roundup of the must-read stories this week chosen by KHN Newsletter Editor Brianna Labuskes? Sign up for The Friday Breeze today.

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In a world full of uncertainty, one thing’s clear: the path of a pandemic is tricky to predict. An internal administration memo as well as a popular model adjusted the expected forecasts for total number of U.S. deaths this week. The government memo warned that as states begin to relax social distancing guidelines, the daily death toll could jump to 3,000 a day by June 1. The popular University of Washington model was also adjusted to reflect states’ decision to reopen, with a prediction that 134,475 Americans will die by August.

There seems to be a sense that once the country gets over a certain peak that things will go back to normal, but experts say that’s not the case. The pandemic will likely be a soliton wave: a wave that just keeps rolling and rolling, carrying on under its own power for a great distance. We’re in this for the long haul, folks.

Cumulative U.S. deaths as of Friday, May 8 are 76,101, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University researchers.

In related news: The Hill: Models Under Scrutiny As Coronavirus Gets More Politicized

Lots of news out of the administration this week, so buckle up!

While Trump admitted that there will possibly be more deaths if the country reopens and that people will be affected badly, he urged Americans to think of themselves as “warriors” in this fight and try to return to normalcy. Trump led by example on Tuesday by traveling to Arizona after months at the White house. In Arizona, Trump toured a mask factory — without a mask.

This quote of the week (in Politico) seems to sum up the vibe in the White House: “There’s this mindset that it’s like running a show and you’ve got to keep people tuned in, you’ve got to keep them interested and at some point you’ve got to move on and move on quickly,” said a former senior official at the Health and Human Services Department. “Viewers will get tired of another season of coronavirus.”

The White House also shelved CDC guidelines that it deemed too restrictive even though the CDC has no authority to enforce those suggestions. The move highlighted the fact that an agency that has always been a main player in pandemic responses has been sidelined time and again by the current administration.

Meanwhile, the White House’s early equipment distribution efforts were partly hampered by a group of inexperienced volunteers by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Further complicating matters, those volunteers, who played a key role in vetting and communication leads to FEMA, were also told to prioritize tips from political allies and associates of Trump.

In related news: The Washington Post: 34 Days Of Pandemic: Inside Trump’s Attempts To Reopen America

White House-watchers got a bit of whiplash this week when Trump announced he was disbanding the task force headed up in part by Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx. Trump swiftly back-peddled, saying he didn’t realize “how popular” the task force was until he mentioned breaking up the band. After getting that feedback, Trump decided to keep the task force around indefinitely, but may add or subtract members as the focus of the group shifts toward vaccine development and reopening the country.

An official complaint from Dr. Rick Bright revealed the dysfunction inside HHS during the outbreak of the crisis. Not only did Bright accuse officials of targeting him over negative remarks about hydroxychloroquine, but his complaint also contains a number of highly detailed accusations of nepotism within the agency.

Although it’s a bit old now, I’m still going to flag a story that came out in a Friday night news dump from last week: The White House announced that the watchdog who raised concerns about medical shortages at hospitals has been replaced in Trump’s latest move against the officials who are supposed to be checking the government’s behavior.

And, finally, the pandemic hit close to home for Trump after a military aide who he’s had contact with tested positive for COVID-19. The news rattled the White House enough that there will now be daily tests on Trump and his staff.

The New York Times: White House Rattled By A Military Aide’s Positive Coronavirus Test

Some Democrats have a message to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: Put up or shut up on claims that the virus escaped from a lab in China. Pompeo has spent the week talking about the “enormous” amount of evidence that shows the virus may have originated in a lab, but most experts who have seen the “evidence” call it circumstantial at best.

So what do we actually know about the claims? Mainly, most experts widely agree that the virus was not man-made, which means if it did originate in a lab, it’s likely the infection was an accident. An example of the circumstantial evidence: The bats that carry the family of coronaviruses linked to the new strain aren’t found within 100 miles of Wuhan — but they were studied in both labs.

But experts still say that it is far more likely that the outbreak originated in the wet market that has always been thought of as the epicenter. Fauci, meanwhile, dismissed the debate as unimportant, saying that even if it was an accident “that means it was in the wild to begin with. … [That’s] why I don’t spend a lot of time going in on this circular argument.”

In a bygone era, could COVID-19 have been thought of as a preexisting condition? Would insurers be able to deny people coverage based on the possibility they were infected? Would getting COVID automatically brand patients as uninsurable? The questions highlight how important the health law’s protections are in the midst of this unpredictable pandemic.

In further evidence that health insurers are weathering this pandemic storm fairly well, UnitedHealth announced that it would offer premium credits to some customers.

States, meanwhile, are buckling under the financial burden of the outbreak and are eyeing their expensive Medicaid programs for cuts that could provide a bit of relief. The problem is that with millions of Americans losing coverage through their jobs, those programs have never been needed more than they are now.

The Great Reopening Debate of 2020 continues to play out across the country (and will continue to play out in the months and weeks to come). So far, the main players have been the governors and the federal government. But with state legislatures gaveling back in, state lawmakers are entering the fray.

Many of the areas that are rushing to reopen are more rural places that on first glance have avoided devastation the likes of New York City. A deeper dive into per capita data shows that rural America has not emerged unscathed. And cases are continuing to climb. “It’s just gone haywire,” said a funeral home director in rural Georgia. “People dying left and right.”

Even as protesters grab the national spotlight, poll after poll shows that Americans are anxious about reopening too early, and favor restrictions that are based on public health. The weariness could complicate some conservative leaders’ desire to jump-start the economy.

In related news: The Wall Street Journal: Smart Or Lucky? How Florida Dodged The Worst Of Coronavirus

In this politically fraught era, masks are becoming a visual symbol to signal what side of the divide the wearer is on a la Trump’s red MAGA hats. Tensions over the scraps of cloth boiled over this week leading to violent — and in one case fatal — confrontations.

With all eyes on Gilead after the successful remdesivir study, many wonder if the drugmaker will emerge a hero or a villain. The company has a reputation for charging through the nose for its breakthrough drugs. But if it listens to its better angels, there’s a chance the company could actually help alter the price-gouging narrative that has hounded pharma for the past few years.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is in control of distributing the current supply of the drug, but doctors and hospitals say chaos and confusion have dominated the process. Even hospitals that have seen a surge of COVID patients say they’re being denied the drug without explanation.

In related news: The New York Times: How Remdesivir, New Hope For Covid-19 Patients, Was Resurrected

The global vaccine race is the modern day hunt for a Holy Grail, and with that comes geopolitical intrigue, safety concerns and… a dash of hope. The rewards are potentially great, but so is the potential disappointment of billions of wasted dollars. What’s more, many are worried what will happen to poorer countries if the United States is the first to develop a successful vaccine.

Scientists also worry that chatter about compressing the vaccine development timeline are fueling false hope for Americans. Even if one is proven safe and effective by the fall, that doesn’t mean people will be rolling up their sleeves anytime soon.

How can you not click on a story that posits: “Could the porn industry offer a model for reopening?” But it’s more than just a click-bait headline: Since the late-1990s, the porn industry has been implementing policies to keep its workers safe in environments that could lead to dangerous infections. Among other things, workers have to be tested every 14 days before they can be cleared to work. The industry has also had decades to work through the growing pains of large-scale testing and enforcement that could offer lessons as businesses face the daunting task of bringing employees safely back to work.

Speaking of testing, the FDA just approved a process that relies on CRISPR technology and could provide results within an hour. And the agency is also trying to cut red tape for companies who are developing at-home tests that consumers could then send off to a lab.

The jobless rate hit 14.7% in April — the highest since the Great Depression — meaning that nearly all the job growth achieved during the 11-year recovery from the Great Recession has now been lost in one month. That news came on Friday following Thursday’s unemployment data which found a total of 33 million Americans have sought aid since the pandemic began. Many experts say that even though those numbers are eye-popping in and of themselves, they don’t fully capture the economic devastation the outbreak has wrought.

Democrats are swinging for the fences as they put the finishing touches on their next relief package that is expected to focus on individuals, localities and testing access. Some lawmakers say this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to offer a counter point to then-President Bill Clinton’s declaration that the “era for Big Government is over.”

The Navajo Nation has been struggling to contain the growing outbreak on their reservation that reaches into three different states. On Wednesday, the Navajo Nation reported nearly 2,500 confirmed cases and at least 75 deaths — more than in all of Utah. The tribe, and others, have been struggling to get help from the federal government, but after a meeting with Trump this week the Navajo Nation announced it would receive about $600 million in federal funds.

And a 170-year old act of kindness is getting repaid (in a story that, no kidding, left me a little teary). During the potato famine nearly two centuries ago, the Choctaw Nation sent $170 to starving Irish families despite their own hardships. Now, Irish residents are getting a chance to return the favor.

As I’ve said, some of my favorite news from the week is always the scientific developments, so here’s a quick glance at what came out this week: studies find the virus was in France as of December; the lungs may be the battlefield, but the virus attacks the body like it’s a world war; UV lights could help stores reopen safely; yes the virus has mutated, no that doesn’t mean it’s more dangerous; children are being hospitalized with an inflammatory syndrome believed to be linked to Covid; and scientists are befuddled by the geographical riddle that is the spread of Covid.

And here are some good reads for your weekend:

→ Politico: ICE Detention Centers First Brought Jobs To The Rural South. Now, They’re Bringing Covid-19.

→ Reuters: Facebook, YouTube Remove ‘Plandemic’ Video With ‘Unsubstantiated’ Coronavirus Claims

→ The New York Times: The NYPD Arrested 40 People On Social Distancing Violations. 35 Were Black.

→ Undark: Covid-19 Reignites A Contentious Debate Over Bats And Disease

→ ProPublica: How Climate Change Is Contributing To Skyrocketing Rates Of Infectious Disease

→ The New York Times: In Harm’s Way

That’s it from me! Have a safe weekend.

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

[dinafbrownil]

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

The Friday Breeze

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes, who reads everything on health care to compile our daily Morning Briefing, offers the best and most provocative stories for the weekend.

Hello! I thought I’d shake up the animal news this week and bring you llamas! (You thought I was going to say murder hornets, admit it!)

Will the llamas be the heroes of the coronavirus outbreak? Not really. But they are cute! Why they’re important: They have two different kinds of antibodies, one of which is much smaller than what our bodies produce. The smaller antibodies can do a better job at neutralizing coronaviruses. Which sounds very exciting… until you get to the part where the protection would only last a month or two without another injection.

Once again we have a little bit of non-coronavirus news before we dive into the thick of things. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments — over the phone! — about the Trump administration’s changes to the health law contraception mandate. Chief Justice John Roberts, who has emerged as a crucial vote on the divided court, wondered if the administration was interpreting religious freedom laws “too broadly.”

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump dug in on his stance that the health law should be overturned even in the midst of a dual pandemic and recession.

The Friday Breeze

Want a roundup of the must-read stories this week chosen by KHN Newsletter Editor Brianna Labuskes? Sign up for The Friday Breeze today.

Sign Up

Please confirm your email address below:

Sign Up

In a world full of uncertainty, one thing’s clear: the path of a pandemic is tricky to predict. An internal administration memo as well as a popular model adjusted the expected forecasts for total number of U.S. deaths this week. The government memo warned that as states begin to relax social distancing guidelines, the daily death toll could jump to 3,000 a day by June 1. The popular University of Washington model was also adjusted to reflect states’ decision to reopen, with a prediction that 134,475 Americans will die by August.

There seems to be a sense that once the country gets over a certain peak that things will go back to normal, but experts say that’s not the case. The pandemic will likely be a soliton wave: a wave that just keeps rolling and rolling, carrying on under its own power for a great distance. We’re in this for the long haul, folks.

Cumulative U.S. deaths as of Friday, May 8 are 76,101, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University researchers.

In related news: The Hill: Models Under Scrutiny As Coronavirus Gets More Politicized

Lots of news out of the administration this week, so buckle up!

While Trump admitted that there will possibly be more deaths if the country reopens and that people will be affected badly, he urged Americans to think of themselves as “warriors” in this fight and try to return to normalcy. Trump led by example on Tuesday by traveling to Arizona after months at the White house. In Arizona, Trump toured a mask factory — without a mask.

This quote of the week (in Politico) seems to sum up the vibe in the White House: “There’s this mindset that it’s like running a show and you’ve got to keep people tuned in, you’ve got to keep them interested and at some point you’ve got to move on and move on quickly,” said a former senior official at the Health and Human Services Department. “Viewers will get tired of another season of coronavirus.”

The White House also shelved CDC guidelines that it deemed too restrictive even though the CDC has no authority to enforce those suggestions. The move highlighted the fact that an agency that has always been a main player in pandemic responses has been sidelined time and again by the current administration.

Meanwhile, the White House’s early equipment distribution efforts were partly hampered by a group of inexperienced volunteers by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Further complicating matters, those volunteers, who played a key role in vetting and communication leads to FEMA, were also told to prioritize tips from political allies and associates of Trump.

In related news: The Washington Post: 34 Days Of Pandemic: Inside Trump’s Attempts To Reopen America

White House-watchers got a bit of whiplash this week when Trump announced he was disbanding the task force headed up in part by Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx. Trump swiftly back-peddled, saying he didn’t realize “how popular” the task force was until he mentioned breaking up the band. After getting that feedback, Trump decided to keep the task force around indefinitely, but may add or subtract members as the focus of the group shifts toward vaccine development and reopening the country.

An official complaint from Dr. Rick Bright revealed the dysfunction inside HHS during the outbreak of the crisis. Not only did Bright accuse officials of targeting him over negative remarks about hydroxychloroquine, but his complaint also contains a number of highly detailed accusations of nepotism within the agency.

Although it’s a bit old now, I’m still going to flag a story that came out in a Friday night news dump from last week: The White House announced that the watchdog who raised concerns about medical shortages at hospitals has been replaced in Trump’s latest move against the officials who are supposed to be checking the government’s behavior.

And, finally, the pandemic hit close to home for Trump after a military aide who he’s had contact with tested positive for COVID-19. The news rattled the White House enough that there will now be daily tests on Trump and his staff.

The New York Times: White House Rattled By A Military Aide’s Positive Coronavirus Test

Some Democrats have a message to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: Put up or shut up on claims that the virus escaped from a lab in China. Pompeo has spent the week talking about the “enormous” amount of evidence that shows the virus may have originated in a lab, but most experts who have seen the “evidence” call it circumstantial at best.

So what do we actually know about the claims? Mainly, most experts widely agree that the virus was not man-made, which means if it did originate in a lab, it’s likely the infection was an accident. An example of the circumstantial evidence: The bats that carry the family of coronaviruses linked to the new strain aren’t found within 100 miles of Wuhan — but they were studied in both labs.

But experts still say that it is far more likely that the outbreak originated in the wet market that has always been thought of as the epicenter. Fauci, meanwhile, dismissed the debate as unimportant, saying that even if it was an accident “that means it was in the wild to begin with. … [That’s] why I don’t spend a lot of time going in on this circular argument.”

In a bygone era, could COVID-19 have been thought of as a preexisting condition? Would insurers be able to deny people coverage based on the possibility they were infected? Would getting COVID automatically brand patients as uninsurable? The questions highlight how important the health law’s protections are in the midst of this unpredictable pandemic.

In further evidence that health insurers are weathering this pandemic storm fairly well, UnitedHealth announced that it would offer premium credits to some customers.

States, meanwhile, are buckling under the financial burden of the outbreak and are eyeing their expensive Medicaid programs for cuts that could provide a bit of relief. The problem is that with millions of Americans losing coverage through their jobs, those programs have never been needed more than they are now.

The Great Reopening Debate of 2020 continues to play out across the country (and will continue to play out in the months and weeks to come). So far, the main players have been the governors and the federal government. But with state legislatures gaveling back in, state lawmakers are entering the fray.

Many of the areas that are rushing to reopen are more rural places that on first glance have avoided devastation the likes of New York City. A deeper dive into per capita data shows that rural America has not emerged unscathed. And cases are continuing to climb. “It’s just gone haywire,” said a funeral home director in rural Georgia. “People dying left and right.”

Even as protesters grab the national spotlight, poll after poll shows that Americans are anxious about reopening too early, and favor restrictions that are based on public health. The weariness could complicate some conservative leaders’ desire to jump-start the economy.

In related news: The Wall Street Journal: Smart Or Lucky? How Florida Dodged The Worst Of Coronavirus

In this politically fraught era, masks are becoming a visual symbol to signal what side of the divide the wearer is on a la Trump’s red MAGA hats. Tensions over the scraps of cloth boiled over this week leading to violent — and in one case fatal — confrontations.

With all eyes on Gilead after the successful remdesivir study, many wonder if the drugmaker will emerge a hero or a villain. The company has a reputation for charging through the nose for its breakthrough drugs. But if it listens to its better angels, there’s a chance the company could actually help alter the price-gouging narrative that has hounded pharma for the past few years.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is in control of distributing the current supply of the drug, but doctors and hospitals say chaos and confusion have dominated the process. Even hospitals that have seen a surge of COVID patients say they’re being denied the drug without explanation.

In related news: The New York Times: How Remdesivir, New Hope For Covid-19 Patients, Was Resurrected

The global vaccine race is the modern day hunt for a Holy Grail, and with that comes geopolitical intrigue, safety concerns and… a dash of hope. The rewards are potentially great, but so is the potential disappointment of billions of wasted dollars. What’s more, many are worried what will happen to poorer countries if the United States is the first to develop a successful vaccine.

Scientists also worry that chatter about compressing the vaccine development timeline are fueling false hope for Americans. Even if one is proven safe and effective by the fall, that doesn’t mean people will be rolling up their sleeves anytime soon.

How can you not click on a story that posits: “Could the porn industry offer a model for reopening?” But it’s more than just a click-bait headline: Since the late-1990s, the porn industry has been implementing policies to keep its workers safe in environments that could lead to dangerous infections. Among other things, workers have to be tested every 14 days before they can be cleared to work. The industry has also had decades to work through the growing pains of large-scale testing and enforcement that could offer lessons as businesses face the daunting task of bringing employees safely back to work.

Speaking of testing, the FDA just approved a process that relies on CRISPR technology and could provide results within an hour. And the agency is also trying to cut red tape for companies who are developing at-home tests that consumers could then send off to a lab.

The jobless rate hit 14.7% in April — the highest since the Great Depression — meaning that nearly all the job growth achieved during the 11-year recovery from the Great Recession has now been lost in one month. That news came on Friday following Thursday’s unemployment data which found a total of 33 million Americans have sought aid since the pandemic began. Many experts say that even though those numbers are eye-popping in and of themselves, they don’t fully capture the economic devastation the outbreak has wrought.

Democrats are swinging for the fences as they put the finishing touches on their next relief package that is expected to focus on individuals, localities and testing access. Some lawmakers say this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to offer a counter point to then-President Bill Clinton’s declaration that the “era for Big Government is over.”

The Navajo Nation has been struggling to contain the growing outbreak on their reservation that reaches into three different states. On Wednesday, the Navajo Nation reported nearly 2,500 confirmed cases and at least 75 deaths — more than in all of Utah. The tribe, and others, have been struggling to get help from the federal government, but after a meeting with Trump this week the Navajo Nation announced it would receive about $600 million in federal funds.

And a 170-year old act of kindness is getting repaid (in a story that, no kidding, left me a little teary). During the potato famine nearly two centuries ago, the Choctaw Nation sent $170 to starving Irish families despite their own hardships. Now, Irish residents are getting a chance to return the favor.

As I’ve said, some of my favorite news from the week is always the scientific developments, so here’s a quick glance at what came out this week: studies find the virus was in France as of December; the lungs may be the battlefield, but the virus attacks the body like it’s a world war; UV lights could help stores reopen safely; yes the virus has mutated, no that doesn’t mean it’s more dangerous; children are being hospitalized with an inflammatory syndrome believed to be linked to Covid; and scientists are befuddled by the geographical riddle that is the spread of Covid.

And here are some good reads for your weekend:

→ Politico: ICE Detention Centers First Brought Jobs To The Rural South. Now, They’re Bringing Covid-19.

→ Reuters: Facebook, YouTube Remove ‘Plandemic’ Video With ‘Unsubstantiated’ Coronavirus Claims

→ The New York Times: The NYPD Arrested 40 People On Social Distancing Violations. 35 Were Black.

→ Undark: Covid-19 Reignites A Contentious Debate Over Bats And Disease

→ ProPublica: How Climate Change Is Contributing To Skyrocketing Rates Of Infectious Disease

→ The New York Times: In Harm’s Way

That’s it from me! Have a safe weekend.

from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/must-reads-of-the-week-from-brianna-labuskes-34/

[gordonwilliamsweb]

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

The Friday Breeze

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes, who reads everything on health care to compile our daily Morning Briefing, offers the best and most provocative stories for the weekend.

Hello! I thought I’d shake up the animal news this week and bring you llamas! (You thought I was going to say murder hornets, admit it!)

Will the llamas be the heroes of the coronavirus outbreak? Not really. But they are cute! Why they’re important: They have two different kinds of antibodies, one of which is much smaller than what our bodies produce. The smaller antibodies can do a better job at neutralizing coronaviruses. Which sounds very exciting… until you get to the part where the protection would only last a month or two without another injection.

Once again we have a little bit of non-coronavirus news before we dive into the thick of things. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments — over the phone! — about the Trump administration’s changes to the health law contraception mandate. Chief Justice John Roberts, who has emerged as a crucial vote on the divided court, wondered if the administration was interpreting religious freedom laws “too broadly.”

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump dug in on his stance that the health law should be overturned even in the midst of a dual pandemic and recession.

The Friday Breeze

Want a roundup of the must-read stories this week chosen by KHN Newsletter Editor Brianna Labuskes? Sign up for The Friday Breeze today.

Sign Up

Please confirm your email address below:

Sign Up

In a world full of uncertainty, one thing’s clear: the path of a pandemic is tricky to predict. An internal administration memo as well as a popular model adjusted the expected forecasts for total number of U.S. deaths this week. The government memo warned that as states begin to relax social distancing guidelines, the daily death toll could jump to 3,000 a day by June 1. The popular University of Washington model was also adjusted to reflect states’ decision to reopen, with a prediction that 134,475 Americans will die by August.

There seems to be a sense that once the country gets over a certain peak that things will go back to normal, but experts say that’s not the case. The pandemic will likely be a soliton wave: a wave that just keeps rolling and rolling, carrying on under its own power for a great distance. We’re in this for the long haul, folks.

Cumulative U.S. deaths as of Friday, May 8 are 76,101, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University researchers.

In related news: The Hill: Models Under Scrutiny As Coronavirus Gets More Politicized

Lots of news out of the administration this week, so buckle up!

While Trump admitted that there will possibly be more deaths if the country reopens and that people will be affected badly, he urged Americans to think of themselves as “warriors” in this fight and try to return to normalcy. Trump led by example on Tuesday by traveling to Arizona after months at the White house. In Arizona, Trump toured a mask factory — without a mask.

This quote of the week (in Politico) seems to sum up the vibe in the White House: “There’s this mindset that it’s like running a show and you’ve got to keep people tuned in, you’ve got to keep them interested and at some point you’ve got to move on and move on quickly,” said a former senior official at the Health and Human Services Department. “Viewers will get tired of another season of coronavirus.”

The White House also shelved CDC guidelines that it deemed too restrictive even though the CDC has no authority to enforce those suggestions. The move highlighted the fact that an agency that has always been a main player in pandemic responses has been sidelined time and again by the current administration.

Meanwhile, the White House’s early equipment distribution efforts were partly hampered by a group of inexperienced volunteers by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Further complicating matters, those volunteers, who played a key role in vetting and communication leads to FEMA, were also told to prioritize tips from political allies and associates of Trump.

In related news: The Washington Post: 34 Days Of Pandemic: Inside Trump’s Attempts To Reopen America

White House-watchers got a bit of whiplash this week when Trump announced he was disbanding the task force headed up in part by Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx. Trump swiftly back-peddled, saying he didn’t realize “how popular” the task force was until he mentioned breaking up the band. After getting that feedback, Trump decided to keep the task force around indefinitely, but may add or subtract members as the focus of the group shifts toward vaccine development and reopening the country.

An official complaint from Dr. Rick Bright revealed the dysfunction inside HHS during the outbreak of the crisis. Not only did Bright accuse officials of targeting him over negative remarks about hydroxychloroquine, but his complaint also contains a number of highly detailed accusations of nepotism within the agency.

Although it’s a bit old now, I’m still going to flag a story that came out in a Friday night news dump from last week: The White House announced that the watchdog who raised concerns about medical shortages at hospitals has been replaced in Trump’s latest move against the officials who are supposed to be checking the government’s behavior.

And, finally, the pandemic hit close to home for Trump after a military aide who he’s had contact with tested positive for COVID-19. The news rattled the White House enough that there will now be daily tests on Trump and his staff.

The New York Times: White House Rattled By A Military Aide’s Positive Coronavirus Test

Some Democrats have a message to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: Put up or shut up on claims that the virus escaped from a lab in China. Pompeo has spent the week talking about the “enormous” amount of evidence that shows the virus may have originated in a lab, but most experts who have seen the “evidence” call it circumstantial at best.

So what do we actually know about the claims? Mainly, most experts widely agree that the virus was not man-made, which means if it did originate in a lab, it’s likely the infection was an accident. An example of the circumstantial evidence: The bats that carry the family of coronaviruses linked to the new strain aren’t found within 100 miles of Wuhan — but they were studied in both labs.

But experts still say that it is far more likely that the outbreak originated in the wet market that has always been thought of as the epicenter. Fauci, meanwhile, dismissed the debate as unimportant, saying that even if it was an accident “that means it was in the wild to begin with. … [That’s] why I don’t spend a lot of time going in on this circular argument.”

In a bygone era, could COVID-19 have been thought of as a preexisting condition? Would insurers be able to deny people coverage based on the possibility they were infected? Would getting COVID automatically brand patients as uninsurable? The questions highlight how important the health law’s protections are in the midst of this unpredictable pandemic.

In further evidence that health insurers are weathering this pandemic storm fairly well, UnitedHealth announced that it would offer premium credits to some customers.

States, meanwhile, are buckling under the financial burden of the outbreak and are eyeing their expensive Medicaid programs for cuts that could provide a bit of relief. The problem is that with millions of Americans losing coverage through their jobs, those programs have never been needed more than they are now.

The Great Reopening Debate of 2020 continues to play out across the country (and will continue to play out in the months and weeks to come). So far, the main players have been the governors and the federal government. But with state legislatures gaveling back in, state lawmakers are entering the fray.

Many of the areas that are rushing to reopen are more rural places that on first glance have avoided devastation the likes of New York City. A deeper dive into per capita data shows that rural America has not emerged unscathed. And cases are continuing to climb. “It’s just gone haywire,” said a funeral home director in rural Georgia. “People dying left and right.”

Even as protesters grab the national spotlight, poll after poll shows that Americans are anxious about reopening too early, and favor restrictions that are based on public health. The weariness could complicate some conservative leaders’ desire to jump-start the economy.

In related news: The Wall Street Journal: Smart Or Lucky? How Florida Dodged The Worst Of Coronavirus

In this politically fraught era, masks are becoming a visual symbol to signal what side of the divide the wearer is on a la Trump’s red MAGA hats. Tensions over the scraps of cloth boiled over this week leading to violent — and in one case fatal — confrontations.

With all eyes on Gilead after the successful remdesivir study, many wonder if the drugmaker will emerge a hero or a villain. The company has a reputation for charging through the nose for its breakthrough drugs. But if it listens to its better angels, there’s a chance the company could actually help alter the price-gouging narrative that has hounded pharma for the past few years.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is in control of distributing the current supply of the drug, but doctors and hospitals say chaos and confusion have dominated the process. Even hospitals that have seen a surge of COVID patients say they’re being denied the drug without explanation.

In related news: The New York Times: How Remdesivir, New Hope For Covid-19 Patients, Was Resurrected

The global vaccine race is the modern day hunt for a Holy Grail, and with that comes geopolitical intrigue, safety concerns and… a dash of hope. The rewards are potentially great, but so is the potential disappointment of billions of wasted dollars. What’s more, many are worried what will happen to poorer countries if the United States is the first to develop a successful vaccine.

Scientists also worry that chatter about compressing the vaccine development timeline are fueling false hope for Americans. Even if one is proven safe and effective by the fall, that doesn’t mean people will be rolling up their sleeves anytime soon.

How can you not click on a story that posits: “Could the porn industry offer a model for reopening?” But it’s more than just a click-bait headline: Since the late-1990s, the porn industry has been implementing policies to keep its workers safe in environments that could lead to dangerous infections. Among other things, workers have to be tested every 14 days before they can be cleared to work. The industry has also had decades to work through the growing pains of large-scale testing and enforcement that could offer lessons as businesses face the daunting task of bringing employees safely back to work.

Speaking of testing, the FDA just approved a process that relies on CRISPR technology and could provide results within an hour. And the agency is also trying to cut red tape for companies who are developing at-home tests that consumers could then send off to a lab.

The jobless rate hit 14.7% in April — the highest since the Great Depression — meaning that nearly all the job growth achieved during the 11-year recovery from the Great Recession has now been lost in one month. That news came on Friday following Thursday’s unemployment data which found a total of 33 million Americans have sought aid since the pandemic began. Many experts say that even though those numbers are eye-popping in and of themselves, they don’t fully capture the economic devastation the outbreak has wrought.

Democrats are swinging for the fences as they put the finishing touches on their next relief package that is expected to focus on individuals, localities and testing access. Some lawmakers say this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to offer a counter point to then-President Bill Clinton’s declaration that the “era for Big Government is over.”

The Navajo Nation has been struggling to contain the growing outbreak on their reservation that reaches into three different states. On Wednesday, the Navajo Nation reported nearly 2,500 confirmed cases and at least 75 deaths — more than in all of Utah. The tribe, and others, have been struggling to get help from the federal government, but after a meeting with Trump this week the Navajo Nation announced it would receive about $600 million in federal funds.

And a 170-year old act of kindness is getting repaid (in a story that, no kidding, left me a little teary). During the potato famine nearly two centuries ago, the Choctaw Nation sent $170 to starving Irish families despite their own hardships. Now, Irish residents are getting a chance to return the favor.

As I’ve said, some of my favorite news from the week is always the scientific developments, so here’s a quick glance at what came out this week: studies find the virus was in France as of December; the lungs may be the battlefield, but the virus attacks the body like it’s a world war; UV lights could help stores reopen safely; yes the virus has mutated, no that doesn’t mean it’s more dangerous; children are being hospitalized with an inflammatory syndrome believed to be linked to Covid; and scientists are befuddled by the geographical riddle that is the spread of Covid.

And here are some good reads for your weekend:

→ Politico: ICE Detention Centers First Brought Jobs To The Rural South. Now, They’re Bringing Covid-19.

→ Reuters: Facebook, YouTube Remove ‘Plandemic’ Video With ‘Unsubstantiated’ Coronavirus Claims

→ The New York Times: The NYPD Arrested 40 People On Social Distancing Violations. 35 Were Black.

→ Undark: Covid-19 Reignites A Contentious Debate Over Bats And Disease

→ ProPublica: How Climate Change Is Contributing To Skyrocketing Rates Of Infectious Disease

→ The New York Times: In Harm’s Way

That’s it from me! Have a safe weekend.

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[thelmasirby32]

Seven iron-clad methods to drive traffic to your website

You’ve written and published an awesome blog post, and now you’re waiting for that website traffic to start pouring in?

Well, I hope you’re comfortable because it’s going to be quite a wait.

While the benefits of content marketing are well-known, they are well-known to everyone. Blog posts, case studies, and white papers are published left and right (four million pieces each and every day, actually) so getting through the clutter can be difficult.

How do you get noticed in such an oversaturated environment? You master these two important skills:

Writing educational, engaging, and timely content, and

By working hard on driving traffic to your website.

I’ll assume that you know how to write engaging content (if you don’t, this article could help you) and focus here on seven methods of driving traffic to your website.

Some are conventional (like social media and email) but it’s the unconventional ones that I hope you will put to good use. Ultimately, it’s a mix of both that will help you generate a steady stream of website traffic, and I hope that you’ll find some of the ideas here inspirational enough to try them out.

Conventional methods to drive website traffic

1. Organic Traffic (SEO)

Organic search engine traffic is the Holy Grail of website traffic.

Most authority sites in your niche get the bulk of their visits from organic Google searches but this is an important traffic channel for every type of website (see screenshot below – 12% traffic from organic is nothing to be scoffed at for an ecommerce store).

Here are a couple of evergreen tips for you to keep in mind when writing content and doing SEO for your website:

Keyword research – Spend some time learning how people search for content in your niche. Identify keywords that you have a chance to rank for (long-tail keywords with low competition, for example), and write content around them.

On-page and technical SEO – Work on your headings, keyword density, meta descriptions, load times, and similar. Most importantly, make your content engaging, informative, and fun to read. For more on on-page SEO, check out this guide that we published recently.

Backlinks – Backlinks are the votes that other websites cast that tell Google that your content is worthy of that top spot in the search engine results pages (SERPs). They can occur naturally but you don’t want to depend on it – make sure you have a couple of backlinking strategies up your sleeve whenever you publish a really good piece of content.

2. Promotion on social media platforms

Social media is dominating the web, and if you’re not there promoting your content and your website, you’re missing out on a very important source of website traffic.

Depending on your niche, you’ll want to consider (at least) making an appearance on the following social media platforms:

Facebook – Set up your Facebook business page as soon as possible, and start working on growing your base of followers. Regularly publish your content here but make sure to cross-post to other relevant groups and pages on Facebook. Check out this post for more tips on how to get the most out of your Facebook business page.

Instagram – To interest your Instagram audience, you will need to become a visual storyteller (think infographics and beautifully designed images). Since Instagram doesn’t allow links, get creative and use your bio section, Instagram Stories, and IGTV video descriptions to drive traffic to your website (for more details, read this Instagram traffic generation guide from Tailwind).

Twitter – This is a very cluttered and noisy social platform but it’s still great for sharing bite-sized pieces of your content. Use a post scheduler like Buffer, TweetDeck, Hootsuite or others to get several tweets out automatically during the day. On Twitter, it pays to be provocative, funny, and on time (think about hijacking trending topics and hashtags) if you want people to click on the links you share.

When using social media to drive website traffic, the most important thing is to make sure that you’re on all of the platforms where your target audience(s) tend to hang out.

3. Email marketing

Marketing your content and your offers to a curated list of people who have already expressed an interest in what you have to say is a no-brainer, right?

To drive traffic to your website using your email list, consider the following:

Send out a newsletter regularly, highlighting your recently published blog posts, unique tips and tricks, or special offers.

Segment your list and send special reminders to different subsections when you publish something that might be of particular interest to that group.

Add social media buttons to your email blasts so that your subscribers are reminded to follow you on your preferred networks. Encourage them to share your newsletters with friends either via social networks or by forwarding the emails.

Unconventional methods to drive traffic to your website

4. Slack communities

Slack is a tool that teams use to communicate but it’s also home to Slack Communities where like-minded people hang out. Even if a group has only 1000 members, a lot of them will be active at any given time, which means that your potential audience will have a chance to see and interact with your link in real-time.

How to do it

First, find Slack communities that fit your niche.

Note that you will quickly get a feeling whether or not Slack is the right traffic channel for you – communities mostly revolve around marketing, tech, business, SEO, and similar digital topics (check out this list of great SEO Slack communities from Ahrefs).

Don’t get discouraged if you’re not in marketing: photography, writing, design, web dev, community management – if you publish content in any of these niches, you’re golden.

When you find a community that interests you, send a request to join.

Here’s some advice on how to use Slack to drive traffic to your website (without getting booted out of a community on day one):

Introduce yourself and let people know what it is that you do, and what you expect from joining the community.

Don’t just spam your links everywhere – answer questions in full, and only add a link to your content if it adds context and details to your answer.

If a question has a weird angle (not exactly something you talk about in your content) but it’s related to a piece of content you’ve written, consider updating the post and then answering the question and adding your link.

Slack communities are searchable. If your comments are particularly valuable, you can expect other users to share them with newcomers from time to time. Because of this, even older comments can yield a small trickle of website traffic from time to time.

5. Blog and forum comments

Blog comments may not be a very reliable SEO link building technique, but they still work for traffic generation.

How to do it

First, look for blog posts related to your content. Pull up recent articles by clicking on the “tools” box on the search result page.

Copy the URL of interesting posts to a spreadsheet (do the same with interesting forum topics). Keeping these links in one place helps you build a database of sites in your niche for future reference.

The key is to make thoughtful comments and only link to your content when it’s actually relevant. Try to add real value to the blog post with every comment that you make.

Each blog comment may only drive a few visitors to your site. But, if the post goes viral or sits on Google’s page one for a long time, that’s enough to get a steady stream of visitors to your website every month.

6. Appear as a guest on popular podcasts

Podcasts are huge – around 51% of the US population has listened to one or more in the last few months. Somewhere around 35% of them listen to the entire episode once they start it.

This means that podcasts are a great opportunity for savvy marketers.

And, what’s best, you don’t even have to record one, you can simply pitch your ideas to hosts of existing podcasts to try to secure an invite to a future episode.

How to do it

Do a quick Google search – just type in “top [your niche] podcasts” and go through the list while recording URLs (and requirements to guest star) in a spreadsheet.

Craft an interesting (and personalized) pitch, and send it to the host, outlining why you should be invited to star in one of their future episodes.

When appearing, be informative, interesting, and educational. But, above all else, be shameless when promoting your content and your website. Answer questions thoroughly but don’t be shy about adding “By the way, you can read all of this on my blog, which you can access if you visit [your website]”.

Ensure that the episode description mentions your name clearly, as well as links to your website and some of the more interesting pieces that can be found there.

7. Use QR Codes to drive traffic to your website

QR codes (or quick response codes) are another great, but a severely underutilized way to drive traffic to your website.

By placing a QR code on business cards, flyers, and posters (and even your Facebook and LinkedIn pages), you give people a quick way to access your website. All they have to do is scan it and their phone will open up any URL associated with the code.

How to do it

Use a free QR code generator to create a unique code that people can scan. Add a general code that leads to your website to your Facebook and LinkedIn profiles.

If you’re visiting a conference or a meet-up, consider adding content-specific codes (meaning, the ones that link to a piece of content on a specific topic) so that people scanning them land on something that will feel a bit more personalized and tailored to them.

Closing note

Driving traffic to your website is an 80/20 game  – 80% of your traffic comes from 20% of your actions. Once you have enough data to determine where that 80% of traffic is coming from, it will be easy to ramp up your efforts in that area. But, to get there you will have to experiment with both conventional and unconventional methods of driving website traffic. Try some of the ones listed here and then comment here to let me know what worked best for you.

The post Seven iron-clad methods to drive traffic to your website appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

from Digital Marketing News https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2019/12/10/seven-iron-clad-methods-to-drive-traffic-to-your-website/

[mystlnewsonline]

New Post has been published on https://www.stl.news/house-spy-program-conflicting-trump-tweets/66251/

House OKs spy program after conflicting Trump tweets

WASHINGTON /January 11, 2018 (AP)(STL.News) — President Donald Trump’s puzzling tweets about a key U.S. spying law threw the House into temporary disarray Thursday, but lawmakers ended up renewing the law — with a new restriction on when the FBI can dig into the communications of Americans swept up in foreign surveillance.

During a hectic morning of House votes and presidential tweets, Trump’s national intelligence director also issued new guidance for how officials can find out the names of Americans whose identities are blacked out in classified intelligence reports.

Trump has said previous rules were far too lax and led to damaging leaks about top aides, a claim fiercely contested by Democrats.

The new guidelines on “unmasking” Americans, however, were a side show to the House showdown over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, reauthorizing a collection program set to expire on Jan. 19. The bill passed 256-164 and is now headed to the Senate. It would extend for six years the program, which includes massive monitoring of international communications.

Trump has said he’ll sign the renewal, but his first tweets Thursday suggested he had suddenly turned against the program, alarming intelligence officials.

In one tweet, Trump linked the program to a dossier that alleges his presidential campaign had ties to Russia.

“‘House votes on controversial FISA ACT today,'” Trump wrote, citing a Fox News headline. “This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?”

Trump then spoke by telephone with House Speaker Paul Ryan, according to a Republican familiar with the call but not allowed to publicly discuss private conversations.

And a short time later, Trump changed his tune. “This vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land,” he tweeted. “We need it! Get smart!”

Democrats pounced on his earlier criticism.

“This is irresponsible, untrue, and frankly it endangers our national security,” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the Senate intelligence committee’s top Democrat, tweeted. “FISA is something the President should have known about long before he turned on Fox this morning.”

National Intelligence Director Dan Coats applauded the House action, saying it was a critical step in protecting Americans and U.S. allies and “I have faith that my former colleagues in the Senate will follow the House’s lead.”

“Our security is not a partisan issue,” said Coats, a former senator from Indiana.

Lawmakers had begun the day readying for two votes related to the program that intelligence officials call the “holy grail” because it provides insight into the thinking and actions of U.S. adversaries.

While the program focuses on foreign targets, Americans’ emails, phone calls and other communications get vacuumed up in the process. Privacy advocates and lawmakers from both parties have argued for years that government agencies should have to get warrants if they want to look at Americans’ communications in the database.

The bill approved by the House allows the FBI to continue scanning the database, using search terms, for information on Americans. But it would require investigators to get probable cause warrants to view the actual content in cases unrelated to national security.

Exceptions would apply, such as for murder, kidnapping and other crimes specified in the bill. The House rejected an alternative proposal that would have imposed stiffer restrictions on the FBI, requiring warrants to query the database at all.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the House intelligence committee’s top Democrat, warned that stiffer restrictions would “cripple” the intelligence program. He described the bill that passed as reaching a “very sensible balance.”

However, fellow California Democrat Zoe Lofgren, who backed the defeated proposal, warned the government was gathering “the content of your phone calls, content of your emails, content of your text messages, video messages,” and searching them “for crimes that have nothing to do with terrorism.”

The vote cut across party lines, with 65 Democrats joining 191 Republicans to pass the bill. Forty-five Republicans and 119 Democrats voted no.

There are no obvious links between the dossier Trump spoke of, which includes salacious but unsubstantiated allegations against him, and the reauthorization of the spying program, or between the program and Trump’s oft-repeated claims that the Obama administration wiretapped Trump Tower during the presidential campaign.

Top intelligence and FBI officials and Republicans in Congress have rejected the wiretapping accusations as false.

CNN reported last year that details from the dossier were used in part to get a warrant to monitor Trump adviser Carter Page after the FBI independently corroborated them. The Associated Press hasn’t independently confirmed the report.

White House aides scrambled on Thursday to explain Trump’s apparent about-face, saying the president was happy to see the House approve the bill.

“We weren’t confused, but some of you were,” press secretary Sarah Sanders said.

Just as the House was voting, National Intelligence Director Coats issued his own guidance on how redacted names of Americans in intelligence reports can be requested and disclosed. Only top intelligence officials or their designees can approve such requests, which must be justified and documented.

Coats’ policy is designed to prevent names from being disclosed for political reasons, especially during presidential transitions. But Republicans and Democrats dispute whether there is any need for the change.

Republicans have alleged that Obama administration officials improperly shared the identities of Trump presidential transition team members mentioned in intelligence reports. Democrats say there is no evidence that happened.

____

By DEB RIECHMANN and JONATHAN LEMIRE, by Associated Press – published on STL.News by St. Louis Media, LLC (Z.S)

___

[euro3plast-fr]

Fundamentals of building and earning backlinks for SEO

Introducing the periodic table of linking building and acquisition

This article takes a look at the various levels of link building tactics commonly known throughout the SEO and digital marketing industry to address their relevance in today’s market. Backlinks remains a pillar of SEO ranking success, although the methodology behind acquiring them is ever-changing. Keep up to speed with the best practice for sculpting a healthy backlink profile with this simple and easy-to-follow guide.

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Access the 10 business-limiting SEO mistakes

Is link building still relevant for successful SEO?

Yes, but not in the same way it was 10 years ago. The algorithms no longer rely solely on the quantity of backlinks to rank websites in search results. Experts still agree that backlinks are critical for conquering SEO, however, many other factors now come into play - localization, mobile, contextualization of on-site content to name but a few.

So we can take this to mean building backlinks as an automated action is no longer the killer tactic for climbing the SERPs summit. But if a website is technically sound, serves highly relevant content to search queries, is mobile friendly, and then on top of this accumulates a ton of links, that’s when the power of link building really counts.

There is a clear-cut difference between acquiring a backlink from a manual placement of a text link and having someone link to you externally through on merit. The former best describes traditional “link building” whereas the latter relates to “link earning”, a process that Google encourages the application and distribution of exceptional content. Excessive use of link building can only take you so far and rankings may plateau after time, although in contrast, link earning is symptomatic of a well-drilled content strategy and has potential to increase keyword visibility tenfold.

Identifying and classifying link building tactics

The hierarchy of link acquisition tactics can be seen in The Periodic Table of Link Acquisition, a visual guide from Indago Digital. This educational tool for SEO categorizes the methods commonly used to generate backlinks based on their long-term value and approach. The dividing up of methods helps to shine a light on which aspects digital content and marketing specialists can focus on when considering multiple tactics used as part of a long-term strategy. Or simply to compare the value of one tactic against another.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the items highlighted in the table.  

Building links within directories

Ignore the noise. Directories are a staple of link building when used in moderation. Submitting a company profile to directory listings makes good business sense. It’s the modern equivalent of the phone book. It pays to be seen there.

Directories fall within a wealth of industry and geographical sectors, and so it's easy to see why brands can get carried away with submitting to more sites than are necessary. Only look for the relevant few.

No further SEO value is likely to be gained from submissions on a mass scale. Some directories may charge to fend off spammers and will state this clearly on-site. Paying for a placement should be purely a business decision. The same can be said for local forums, job portals and news outlets.

Guest blogging and collaboration

Guest blogging has received a bad rap in recent years, chiefly due to link schemes paving the way for brands to buy backlinks and publishers to earn from the privilege. This exchange flies in the face the of the white-hat ethos Google is championing SEOs to adopt. It carries a high risk of penalization. Don’t be put off - collaborating with bloggers is still a gold mine. Just be wise about who you are partnering with.

Typical activities can include the promotion of a competition, giveaway, blogger round-up or publishing of a feature article. All of the above are valid reasons for pitching to personal blogs and influencers. There is no one-size-fits-all execution because the packaging of the messaging or content must always emulate the tone and style of the partner website.

Bloggers and influencers with a strong social following and high authority score have standards to uphold and SEO protocol to adhere to. Google demands that the publisher include a no-follow tag and label content as being sponsored where applicable.

Earning top tier backlinks

We mentioned earlier about the shift from systematically building links to producing content that attracts backlinks. This is a mindset that the traditional SEO may not be accustomed to, as the practice technically lies between content and public relations. Others label this sweet spot “outreach” or “content marketing.”

Why invest time and resources into creating content for earning backlinks instead of paying for them? In a competitive market, this is likely to be the only way to move the needle to achieve higher keyword visibility. Identifying what content subject matter is of interest to a top-tier publication is an essential research task. Very few brands can attest to successfully fulfilling that need by creating content people are willing to link out to.

Momentum builds through attracting the attention from other influencers and journalists who write about the same subject matter. A strong content piece can accumulate up to 100 referring domains and push thousands of sessions through referral traffic. This snowball effect is key to raising the link count to a single URL or domain and helping it achieve a higher ranking status in SERPs. Take studies, news, infographics, interactive landing pages as prime examples of how great content can spread like wildfire and become an evergreen reference for the industry.

Forget old-school teaching of anchor text placement or begging for the embedding of a link in these instances. A backlink, regardless of a nofollow tag from the top sites in any industry or news field is as good as a vote of confidence from the publication they represent. It's the holy grail of link building and acquisition. Even the fifth most popular site on the planet, Wikipedia, issues nofollow links.

Final thoughts on link building

Forget about SEO for a second. Let’s remind ourselves that Google’s mission was always to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. With that perspective in mind, any hyperlink pointing to or from a website should be in place for a reason, with a view to aiding user experience.

Sculpting a backlink profile is an art. A healthy backlink profile is one consisting of inbound links from a multitude of different website types, who are passing PageRank with pure intentions. Websites with a clean and respectable profile, such as government and educational websites, and in most cases international news and magazine sites, are also highly valuable assets to acquire backlinks from.

Acquiring too many links from one site is a red flag to Google, as is a high ratio of low-quality websites, which signals that spammy tactics have been deployed. Anchor text also has a part to play too - think natural language rather than over optimisation as a driver for rankings.

Pandering to the search engine is the second priority for the publisher or author. Specialists may defer to link tools to assess the quality of opportunity from any given website, however, this is only the tip of the iceberg. A valuable backlink is a byproduct of building a solid relationship and can be measured through the contribution of indirect SEO metrics, such as traffic and user engagement.

Thanks to Tom Willis for sharing their advice and opinion in this post. Tom is an online content and SEO specialist at Indago Digital, a Sydney based agency specialising in acquisition marketing. You can connect on with him on LinkedIn.

from Blog – Smart Insights https://www.smartinsights.com/search-engine-optimisation-seo/link-building/fundamentals-building-earning-backlinks-seo/

[thepayonercard20-blog]

Payoneer Card Billing Address

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