India might ban private cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and develop a national digital coin
Makes no sense whatsoever.
We already have a national digital coin. The Rupee combined with online transfers mechanisms like UPI, NEFT, PayTM etc is the national digital coin.
To understand this, one needs to first understand what is a blockchain and what problem it solves?
The problem solved by blockchains/cryptocurrencies is the problem of double spending?
What is the double spending problem?
Let's take the example of a movie DVD or a song CD to understand the problem. Let's say you have a song CD or a movie DVD. You gift/sell it to someone. Then he has the CD or DVD & you don't have it. This is because it's a physical item. Compare this with a MP3/MP4 file of a song or a movie which is not actually a physical item. If you give it to your friend, then you still continue to have it with you. Because when you send it to your friend via WhatsApp or email, all you have sent to him is a copy of the file.
The same thing happens with money also. Let's say there is a something called as a digital 100Rs coin. Now compare an actual physical Mahatma Gandhi 100 Rs paper note & the digital coin. Let's say you go to a shop & buy something with your 100 Rs note, the shopkeeper gets the note. You no longer have the note with you. You cannot spend the same note two times because the moment you spend the note, it's gone.
This is not the same with a digital 100 Rs coin (if one existed without a blockchain like technology). You have a 100 Rs digital coin. You want to buy cheese & it costs Rs. 100. So you send the 100 Rs coin to the vendor by email or whatever. He sends you the pack of cheese. But you still have the 100 Rs digital coin with you. You can go & spend it once more.
This is the double spending problem with digital currency.
What is the traditional solution to the double spending problem?
The traditional solution is a Trusted Third Party (TTP). Your bank or NPCI or PayTM is the TTP. People at both ends of the transaction trust the Bank or NPCI or PayTM as a TTP. The TTP guarantees that they will debit the money from one account before transferring it to the other account thereby solving the double spending problem. The solution is a centralized solution. So the INR is already a centralized digital currency when used in combination with NEFT, UPI, PayTM etc.
What is blockchain technology?
In 2008, an anonymous person (or group of people) under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakomoto published a paper detailing decentralized online currency. The decentralized technology was called as Blockchain. He/They also published their proof of concept implementation of blockchains with a currency they named bitcoin. Today there a lots of different kinds of blockchains (with some differences but all based on the same underlying blockchain concept) & different cryptocurrency.
Blockchains use cryptographic techniques to solve the double spending problem. Blockchains use a combination of cryptographic primitives to ensure that adding a transaction to a ledger of transactions is relatively easy but undoing the transaction (deleting/changing it) is very, very hard (impossible for all practical purposes). This is how the blockchain solves the double spending problem in a decentralized way. When you try to spend a bitcoin, the blockchain can tell if you have already spent it before, thereby preventing the double spending
NPCI/NEFT/SWIFT also uses cryptographic techniques to protect the authenticity & integrity of a digital transaction but they require a Central Authority, a TTP. Blockchain is the first technology to do the same in a dencentralized way. And Blockchains use cryptographic primitives to achieve this & hence it's called cryptocurrencty (note - http://www.cryptoisnotcryptocurrency.com/)
India isn't the only country trying to do this
This is an article written in the London School of Economics blog by Martin C. W. Walker, the director of banking and finance at the Center for Evidence-Based Management
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2020/12/15/central-bank-digital-currency-nine-key-questions-answered/
He also writes about how several central banks are trying to come up with a Govt blockchain based blockchain & why it makes no sense.
One of the main points from his article - a national digital currency doesn't need a blockchain & blockchain isn't the best solution for it.

Q. Does a CBDC (Central bank digital currency) need a Blockchain? A. The simple answer to this question is “No”. Neither Avant nor Dinero Electrónico used blockchain. Bakong used a form of blockchain called Hyperledger Iroha. The sole role of blockchain in Bakong according to the white paper is to record processed transactions on a centralised permissioned ledger. A role that could be performed by many other technologies.

The point being Blockchains do not solve an unsolved problem. They solve an already solved problem in a different way. The existing ways were centralized. Blockchains solves the same problem in a decentralized way. But if the blockchain is run by the Govt then it makes no sense because it defeat the purpose of decentralization. Blockchain aren't more secure or more efficient than traditional methods. They are used only because they are decentralized.
What this post is about & what it's not about?
Around 3-4 years back, Chandrababu Naidu & several other CMs in India proposed setting up govt blockchains to store land records, logistics solutions & lots of other things. Back then, I have had fierce arguments in india about why this makes no sense.
The main reason is that a Govt blockchain by definition is a contradiction of terms. The other reason is that since then I have believed that the blockchain has very few uses except as a currency. Blockchain is fantastic technology created from existing cryptographic primitives, but it's use is limited except as a currency - this is not a criticism - a technology which creates a decentralized currency is a great feat by itself.
In this post & the comment thread, I am not going to be discussing other uses of Blockchains - logistics, land records, smart contracts, whatever. Because even if Blockchains can be effective for those things, you can solve those issues in centralized way - the bottom line is that a Blockchain created by the Govt is a contradiction - so it doesn't matter what it is used for. I don't want to detract from that topic.
This post isn't also about the banning of bitcoin & other cryptocurrencies - that's a different topic. It's rather about the meaninglessness of creating a govt cryptocurrency & govt blockchain.
Banning of cryptocurrency is of course inevitable & I never expected otherwise, so this post is not about that.
TL;DR Govt Digital Coin is meaningless. There already exists a Govt Digital Coin. It's the rupee in combination with NPCI etc.

Background:

The Trans-Pacific Partnership was a proposed trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States, with Colombia, Taiwan, The Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka being potential members. It was drafted on the 5th of October 2015 and officially signed on the 4th of February 2016
However, on 23rd of January 2017, US President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum to withdraw the United States' signature from the agreement, making its ratification as it was in February 2016 virtually impossible

Limiting China

-If ratified, the TPP would have strengthened American influence on future rules for the global economy. President Obama has argued "if we don't pass this agreement—if America doesn't write those rules—then countries like China will" and it did four years later
-I think that any person should look at China in its current state and say, "yeah, that's messed up."
-The way that the TPP would do this is by importing and relying less on Chinese made goods and instead favoring goods from TPP countries, which would hurt the Chinese economy
-The US and other members of the TPP could then force China to stop with the ongoing Uighur genocide and force it to liberalize its government in exchange for inducting China into the TPP
-This may seem like a pipedream, but even if the TPP is unsuccessful in doing this, I still believe we should import less from genocidal regimes
-Best thing is, even though the TPP didn’t come into effect, it still forced Chinese leaders to consider domestic economic reforms seriously
-However, with America's exit from the TPP, Asian countries are now more dependent on China's economy.

General economic benefits

-In economics, when there is a tariff on an import, it results in a deadweight loss. which hurts the average consumer
-The TPP gets rid of around 18,000 tariffs, which would result in lower prices on goods for your average American, which would result in more money in the hands of working-class citizens
-TheWorld Bank and the USITC both conclude that the TPP will increase U.S welfare while having marginal effects on overall employment and wages.
-Although there has been one study from Tufts University that found adverse effects on the economies of all nations in the TPP, the study has been scrutinized for its flawed methodology.

Increased Labor Standards

-The TPP obliges members to adopt and maintain laws and practices governing “acceptable conditions of work” in three areas: minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety and health regulations (Article 19.3.2)
-This is in addition to the ILO Declaration which means the International Labour Organization(ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up (1998), which include:

1. Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining
2. Elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor
   
3. Effective abolition of child labor
   
4. Elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation
   

-According to TPP Article 19.6, members “shall also discourage, through initiatives Parties consider appropriate, the importation of goods from other sources produced in whole or in part by forced or compulsory labor, including forced or compulsory child labor.”

Enforcement of these labor standards

-Before addressing the TPP approach, let’s consider the US track record of enforcing labor provisions worldwide. Under the US GSP program, the precedent for enforcing labor provisions was set, which includes a mechanism for filing complaints against beneficiary countries for labor violations, with the option to suspend GSP benefits based on a final determination by USTR. Though trade sanctions are advocated as a “stick” for compliance, the actual removal of trade preferences is often viewed as a last resort. This partly explains the low level of GSP suspensions and trade sanctions. Before GSP was reauthorized, in June 2015, the United States was reviewing labor petitions against Georgia, Niger, the Philippines, Uzbekistan, Thailand, and other countries.
-One high profile case of action was the decision to suspend the GSP for Bangladesh, which had long been under investigation for its labor practices. The decision came after a global outcry in April 2013, following the collapse of a garment factory that had had aberrant safety regulations, resulting in the death of more than 1,000 people.
-We see that the US is no stranger to labor rights enforcement across the globe
-Now let’s get to the actual TPP itself
-TPP Article 19.5.1 sets the baseline for the agreement’s enforcement: “No Party shall fail to effectively enforce its labor laws through a sustained or recurring course of action or inaction in a manner affecting trade or investment between the Parties after the date of entry into force of this Agreement.”
-Like other US free trade agreements, the TPP establishes a labor council of senior officials at the ministerial level to guide cooperative activities and work programs. The council will meet within one year after the TPP’s entry into force and every two years after that, which would make it unique among other US free trade agreements, which were nonspecific, with the council meeting “as often as it considers necessary.”(Article 19.12)
-”Each Party shall invite the views and, as appropriate, participation of its stakeholders, including worker and employer representatives, in identifying potential areas for cooperation and undertaking cooperative activities”(Article 19.10)
-There are also 3 TPP bilateral labor plans that include implementation and review guidelines, particularly for Vietnam, which particularly faces poor working conditions and long hours

1. Government oversight: A standing committee composed of senior US and Vietnamese officials will monitor and ensure rapid response to compliance concerns. Ministerial review of the plan’s implementation will occur at regular intervals (the 3rd, 5th, and 10th years following the entry into force).
   
2. ILO assistance: Vietnam will establish a technical program with the ILO to support the implementation of proposed reforms, and the ILO will issue a public report two years after entry into force, with biannual meetings after that for eight years.
   
3. Independent monitoring: A three-member labor expert committee made up of independent non-governmental experts (such as the ILO) will provide reports of the progress toward reforms, with recommendations to the senior officials’ committee two and half years after entry into force and every two years after that(after eight and a half years, reports can continue every five years).
   

Environmental Protection

1. TPP takes a series of steps, including levying sanctions and other penalties against individuals or entities engaged in this activity, to combat and prevent the illegal trade of wild flora and fauna.
   
2. The TPP is very clear that it wants to promote the conservation of sharks, whales, dolphins, sea turtles, sea birds, and other marine species. TPP requires countries to institute measures such as “catch limits,” which lay out what and how much can be caught, as well as “bycatch mitigation protections,” which limit the accidental capture of non-targeted animals (Article 20.16.4)
   
3. TPP protects the ozone layer by limiting the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances that are banned by the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement designed to protect the ozone layer. These substances include refrigerants, coolants, and aerosol-can propellants. TPP also promotes cooperation between countries to increase the development of cost-effective, low-emissions technologies and alternative, clean, and renewable energy sources(Article 20.15.1.) and (Article 20.15.2)
   

4. The TPP eliminates tariffs on numerous environmentally-beneficial goods.
-As an example, tariffs on wind turbines will immediately go from 5% to duty-free, and parts for solar panels to Brunei will eventually drop from a 20% tariff to duty-free(Line 8541.90, page 286 for the lazy)
-There’s more at https://www.thirdway.org/memo/tpp-in-brief-environmental-standards, but I think the above gives a good picture of what the TPP does environmentally

Common Criticism of the TPP

-The most common, at least among online communities, is the IP law that the TPP imposes, with it effectively setting strict US copyright laws on other countries in it
While valid, I believe that these critiques are overstated, and this can be summarized with this quote by the Australian Trade Minister that said, “In regard to intellectual property, TPP will not require any changes to Australia’s patent system and copyright regime.”
-Secondly, the IP law of the TPP “would reduce access to health care in poorer countries by increasing costs for life-saving medicine” -I have no way of verifying if this is true, because, as far as I can tell, no real expert has weighed in on this
-It is important to note that the new CTPP does not include these IP laws
-The other common criticism is that “it would allow corporations to sue x country when they pass a law that hurts their profits.”
-This is unequivocally false as Andrea Bjorklund, an expert on international arbitration and trade law at McGill University, said, “the investor will only recover if the investor can prove a breach of the agreement and can prove a certain measure of damages. So ‘lost profits’ are not a valid basis of claim. Rather, the investor has to allege a violation of the treaty.” She added, “it is true that any investor can attempt to submit a claim and can attempt to justify it as a fair and equitable treatment violation.”
-In simpler terms, this means that a corporation can only sue if it breaches the agreements of the TPP AND it loses profits

Is there any hope for the TPP?

-Before we get to that, it is important to acknowledge that the CPTPP exits however, it isn’t as strong as the TPP mainly because of the lack of America in it
-In the background section, I mentioned how TPP was “killed” under Trump, but we have a new president now
-Sadly, it seems like there isn’t much, with Biden saying "I’m not going to enter any new trade agreement with anybody until we have made major investments here at home and in our workers and in education”
-An even more dashing blow is the Buy American executive order that Biden has enthusiastically praised
-However, there is some hope with Biden’s secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who has come in support of the TPP, as it doesn't allow China to become influential in the region
-Overall, it seems like the TPP will likely not come back, at least not for another couple of years
Further Reading
-I can’t review all the benefits of the TPP in a Reddit post, so here are some recommended readings for anyone more curious
Here's a nice way to read the whole TPP
Brookings institute article about the case for the TPP, which mainly deals with the economics of it
Badeconomics post about how the US gains from free trade in general

He showed up 30 days ago. There are so many posts. This is a TINY subset of his responses, I'm not going to comment on them all. This person literally posts all day every day and night. I am so sorry you guys have been subjected to somebody so completely removed from how to properly socially interact with people. The level of narcissism is something I have never seen on reddit before. I will never cheat on you guys with /wallstreetbets again! I'm so sorry you had to deal with this.
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"I'm just unusually good at Internet-based digging (I've been doing it for 25 years). I'm the one friends come to when they're dating someone new, etc." - yeah, we nipped that in the bud earlier. have several seats.
"I figured people here would value the amount of unique info I dig up, but I guess if I accidentally discover any info that would force them to adjust the model of Hilaria that's already solidified inside their brains, they'd prefer to not hear anything new at all." - value you lmao
"Here's one where I dug up some first-person comments from people who knew her as Hillary, that had never been reported before." - nope, we had all that on DCUM.
"Yes, Alec donating $1M does reduce his wealth by less than $1M. But it reduces his wealth by more than not donating anything would. If wealth-maximization was his only goal, he'd donate $0." -- thank god we have you to explain the complicated math that is tax brackets and writeoffs.
"Alec donates millions to non-profits (via the foundation) every year, since long before Hilaria (it was just "the ABF" until recently). I've looked at their IRS filings, and it seems to be a legitimate, well-operated foundation, not doing anything shady for tax purposes." - We know how much he donates. It's online. We didn't need the IRS filings, clearly.
"I gave *you* the link to the clearinghouse, I have the link to the clearinghouse, and neither of us (nor anyone else on this site) checked it! So we both have first-hand experience showing that "giving someone the link to something" doesn't mean a damn thing. Anyone can send an email about anything to the NYT requesting a correction, the fact that they did so is not indicative of anything."
"I somewhat believe Flat_Slide_5680 did actually speak to someone at the registrar's office, but given the sloppiness with details and repeated mistakes in their posts, I agree with you that the likely scenario is that they just never gave the correct name to the registrar to look up, and so "we couldn't find a person who doesn't exist" isn't positive proof of anything." - WHAT THE FUCK?! You do NOT get to come in my subreddit and act like you are the editor of the damn Wall Street Journal berating an intern.
"In your original post, you say she was under "Hilaria Lynn Thomas". Here you say it was "Hilaria Haywood-Thomas". And the latter is definitely not, nor has it ever been, her last name! Not improving my confidence in your credibility here." - See above.
"Forgive me if I still have more trust in the New York Times over an anonymous Reddit user, but we're going to need better receipts from you than that." -We? Who is we?? Are we turning something in? When is it due?
"Since you don't believe me, let's see what the Linguistic Society has to say on the matter:" -my god you are insufferable
"You should have been following all my comments more closely. ;-)". - No shit, you would have been banned a month ago.
"Making a charitable donation reduces the amount of your income subject to tax, it doesn't stand in as an alternative to paying tax. And it doesn't carry over. In order to "not owe taxes", you would need to donate 100% of your income, and keep $0 for yourself. Even then, there's nothing that would carry over to the next year." - here we go again.
"See my comment here for more details on how a tax-deduction actually works." - bye felicia
"No, nothing is weird about that at all. Your lack-of-understanding is making you see conspiracy where it doesn't exist." - No wonder you aren't a member of any other subbreddit.
"But I do appreciate that you recognize (unlike so many others here) that her social-media influencer antics are not at all unusual for that field, and not the reason why Hilaria is a story." -I appreciate that you recognize you will never see the inside of this subreddit ever again.
"The Tax Map Parcel ID is 0300150000100001014 and the unofficial address is 361 Town Ln, Amagansett, NY, in case anyone can search a more-private MLS database or something like that. Where are my real-estate wonks?" - My god, what do you need the real estate listing for. Do you want me to do a title search too? How about a notarized copy of the deed?
"Before the sub devolved into a den filled with simple-minded dehumanizing Hilaria-haters, we used to get great info like this from people who knew the human Hilaria. Unfortunately that's mostly dried up, probably at least in part because people find this place too gross to associate themselves with it." - BITCH YOU GOT HERE 4 WEEKS AGO
When asked about how recording a podcast works we are treated to this:
"My experience was ~20 years ago, so hopefully enough knowledge would have trickled out by now, especially as recording techniques have continued to evolve and become democratized, that nothing that was surprising then would be particularly surprising anymore. But back then (especially in the rock/metal world I was in), everyone liked to envision the whole band rocking out together, and the engineer would just hit "record". No, in most cases, each guy sits alone and records his instrument all by himself (or maybe even one guy records both guitar and bass, but two guys get credited; especially the the "bass player" has great hair for the band photo, but kinda sucks at playing bass). Similarly, if the guitar part for a verse gets recorded, no need to play the whole song through, just copy and paste that part for the next verse. And then of course run auto-tune to correct the pitches of everything. So all stuff that was hardly "secret", even back then, but things people generally avoided learning about.
Once upon a time I was peripherally involved in the music industry, so that's what really opened my eyes to "things are not as they seem". Sitting in a recording studio while an album is being recorded makes you realize "the fans have NO idea what really goes on in here". And more than that, I learned that most fans don't want to know the truth about their favorite band, because if they did, it really doesn't take much effort to see the various subterfuges going on behind the curtain.
Unfortunately I was out of that biz before the explosion of the Influencer Economy, so like you, I wish I had more direct insight into that particular domain. I've always tried to pick up whatever factual information people would publicly reveal, but while I've read endorsement deals and recording contracts in the music biz, I've never seen one in this domain." - Sorry your shitty 80's hair band didn't get signed. Sounds like that autotune was working pretty hard. And once again, check yourself. Butch walker is a good friend of mine, he bought my friend's recording studio in atlanta. He has a book called Drinking With Strangers. You can learn from that. In the meantime, the question was about a podcast.
"Beware, checaco3 claims all sorts of things that we have no evidence for. They claimed 5 days ago to have a screenshot of a website where Hilaria's parents said they "were able to move to Spain AND start their business with a Generous Donation From HABF Foundation", but thus far have failed to produce said screenshot. I don't think it's malicious, it seems to just be a mis-remembering/mis-interpretation of different things that they saw." -FAILED TO PRODUCE A SCREENSHOT? is there some reason they are required to give you one?? malicious? dude, you have serious issues. and a lot of nerve
"We are on the same team! That's why I'm giving you the links to archive.org, to help you figure out how to find the evidence that Hilaria's parents were able to move to Spain AND start their business with a Generous Donation From HABF Foundation. And I really want to see the screenshot you have, because that would be some really good evidence of shadiness that hasn't been exposed yet! Is there anything I can do to help you find it? Do you need help searching your computer's drive?"-Nobody is required to give you dick so stop asking.
"But you had a screenshot, so them changing their website wouldn't matter. Did your computer die or something?" -what is your problem?
"Their website has changed formats over the years, but the content appears to have largely remained the same. You can use archive.org to find the evidence you're looking for in the old versions." -When did we hire a project manager in this sub??
"Here's an August 2020 version that looks just like the current website, but you can go back all the way to 2014 if you need to. https://web.archive.org/web/20200803124231/https://internationalintegrators.org/". -is there some reason you are assigning work to my redditors?
"Since you research charities to gauge their quality, you surely must be familiar with IRS 990 forms?" -Is this how you talk to people in real life? No wonder you work in computer hardware. Nobody wants to deal with listening to you.
"BTW, have you found that screenshot yet showing Hilaria's parents were able to move to Spain AND start their business with a Generous Donation From HABF Foundation? I'll help you shout that news from the rooftops if you can find it again." -Bring this up one more time. I dare you.
"For this theory to have any legs, I think you need to show evidence of a school transfer at some point. I don't believe we have that?" -I am so sorry you guys, I will never leave this sub alone again.
"It's all explained here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2350777/Twitter-time-bug-Alec-Baldwins-wifes-funeral-tweets-led-actor-unleashing-homophobic-rant.html"
"I'm not blaming you for getting it wrong or anything; being aware of the original (wrong) story and but not the later correction is a totally normal thing, I was just taking your post as an opportunity to make people more aware of the correction." - I'm going to make you aware of what a dick you are by getting you banned from DCUM too.
"Where in the article does it say that the horse rescue charges $1500 a month. It explicitly says the opposite, that the $1500/month is for horses that are NOT part of the horse rescue"
"Horse owners who pay to keep their animals at the barn make their checks out to “Alexander Baldwin III,” not to the incorporated, non-profit Amagansett Horse Rescue."
"There may very well be something untoward happening here! But misunderstanding the facts uncovered so far will only make that more difficult to uncover, not easier!" - STOP SPEAKING TO MY REDDITORS LIKE THEY ARE FIVE.
"Your understanding is incorrect. Non-profit schools charge tuition to students. Non-profit hospitals charge bills to patients. A non-profit stable charging rent for horse stalls would be completely legal and within the scope of a non-profit." - here we go again.
"But on top of that, it's not even clear that the non-profit is charging rent for horse stalls! The article makes it clear that there is both a non-profit, AHR, and a for-profit business, both being run at the same facility. The only evidence they offered of money being paid was to the for-profit side of the operation (the $1500 checks to Alexander Baldwin). The didn't have any record of money being paid to the non-profit (which, again, even if it was, that would be ok!)". - Dear God, where did I go wrong? What sin did I commit in my past life that of all the redditors in the world, I'm stuck with THIS one.
"But simply assuming "any foundation is suspect" is far more lazy and incorrect than assuming "anyone with a Spanish accent is Spanish". It's really not hard to look at individual cases and determine what the truth is, there's no value added by being broadly cynical." - Well, you are the expert when it comes to not adding any value to something.
"The implication the Post is trying to make is that the year's-rent was not a good-faith request from the landlord, but rather, a request that he knew would be impossible for Jan to meet; a way to terminate her lease while giving the landlord plausible deniability: "no, I didn't terminate the lease, she could have renewed for as long as she liked!" - We don't need you explaining a Post article to us. And besides that was reported everywhere.
"But yes, that in itself is a story that doesn't really make sense, because generally, it would be the landlord's job to do the property maintenance, not the tenant (Jan), so simply swapping tenants wouldn't necessarily improve anything at the property." - WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?
"If someone half-interested comes to this subreddit to learn about Hilaria, they'll see it dominated by these meme-posts, and rightly say "huh, yeah, those ladies on The View and Hilaria and Alec were right, this *is* just a big pile-on; I doubt she actually did anything bad..." -She became a meme. That was the point. That went right over your 50 year old bald head.
"Diluting the sub dilutes the message of the unique bad thing Hilaria actually did." -Go start your own damn sub then.
"Without more detail, I don't yet see anything absolutely damning in regard to the non-profit relationships, though certainly the lack of transparency is concerning. It's interesting that the Post apparently saw an IRS 990 form for AHR, but don't provide it for the reader, and I can't find a public version." -Why on EARTH would the Post publish an IRS form.
"That's where critical-thinking skills come in, which should be active for all media consumption. Caveat emptor and all that. "This thing that's being presented to me, how could its presentation diverge from reality, and what could be the motivations behind that divergence?" -After I deleted your post for containing politics, you actually said because what you said about Trump was true that didn't count as political. Then insulted me by saying "now I know why the post was removed. You didn't understand that
"And for social media influencers in particular, it barely takes any critical-thinking at all! All you have to ask is "how do I, as a random nobody, use social media? Do I post an accidental, uncurated view of my life?" I think the answer is "hell no" for almost everybody, so it's insane to even use that as a starting assumption for people with huge followings."
"I think the thing is that people don't want to know that it's not real. Every single time I point out that Hilaria's photos are intentionally ridiculous because she wants to make money, I get downvoted to hell. I don't remember if I saw this reference here somewhere, but it's like professional wrestling: it's more entertaining to people (both in a want-to-be-the-face, and a hate-the-heel way) if they can maintain the illusion that it's all real."
"There is no evidence that Sarma was friends with Hilaria." - Except for the PICTURES I HAVE OF THEM TOGETHER.
"It looks like II was started ~2013, after the move to Spain. It's a super-small "business", I would guess that the parents are the only employees, and that it's just a structured way for them to "keep busy" in their retirement. It probably makes very little money (their "retreats" are very infrequent, and small), but it lets them putter around as much or little as they like, and feel like they're making a difference in the world."
"Where have you seen her say December 2010? Everything I recall seeing, they've both been consistent and specific, it was February 18, 2011 (they say it was an unusually warm day, and I've fact-checked that, and it's true!)". - How long have you been unemployed for?
"Ah, a link to a set of links...how it makes my heart sing".
"I should have searched to find that thread myself, but Reddit's search is such shit it discourages me from even trying"-
"I'm pretty sure from all my research that she was never technically an "owner" of Yoga Vida, that was one of her lies, but for the purposes of self-certifying, I think that's irrelevant. She was enough of a player in YV despite not being an "owner"- Sign that information up for kindergarten, because it's 5 years old. Lmao how much time did you waste on that?
"You're sure going to have to show where you came up with that "she was his yoga teacher first" thing, because that just ain't true as far as what anyone has uncovered until now. It was also more like sometime in 2009 (maybe as late as the beginning of 2010, when Yoga Vida launched) that "Hilaria" was born." -Nobody has to show you anything, GTFO.
"I'd say just edit your original post to add the El Mundo article (or replace the OE). Then newcomers will see the original source without having to dig into the comments, and there won't be two separate discussion threads." - Well, you wont have to worry about that anymore now, will you?
"In a better-run sub, we'd have a stickied post with a constantly updated list of references, but..." I DO. OKAY BYE.
"First day on the Internet? Here's how you make a link: https://www.yourtango.com/2020339461/who-sarma-melngailis"
"The entirety of evidence that Sarma and Hilaria knew each other comes from a single, anonymous post on DCUM, and it's just repeated on yourtango.com. That DCUM post also says "the article mentions the people who ponied up money to get Sarma out of trouble. Alec kicked in $100k on Hilaria's request", but the referenced NYPost article mentions no such thing."
"In other words, that's really not a credible source."
"I mostly agree the vision of The Birth Of Hilaria that you lay out here, I just think that using the word "con" to describe all that renders the word meaningless. I mean, women discover they get extra attention and affirmation when wearing low-cut tops and a push-up bra. Is that a "con" too? And I strongly disagree that a "long con" doesn't require a specific end goal. Look at the Wikipedia entry for "con" (which includes a section on "long con"). None of the language in that whole entry is remotely close to describing Hilaria's life or actions."
:And the "restauranteur fraudster-friend offered to set her up with Alec Baldwin" is one of the most non-sensical unsupported bits of wisdom that gets thrown around here. The only way involving Melngailis in Hilaria's story makes any sense is if Hilaria diverts a bunch of Alec's money to Melngailis, which if that happened, then I would definitely agree at least that part of it (but still not the Spanish part) was a long con!"
"Believe what you like, but just keep in mind that all successful detectives, from Sherlock Holmes on down, keep their emotions out of the way, because they make it harder to determine what is truth. No human in history was ever 100% anything (good, evil, liar, truthful), so reducing Alec (or anyone) to such a simple, one-dimensional caricature takes us further from truth rather than closer to it." -Sir, this is a Wendy's.
"No idea, she hasn't responded to my query yet. Official reason was "No Politics", but there weren't any politics in the post or happening in the comments. She was of the "Alec gave money to Hilaria's parents" camp, so I don't know if she just didn't like having that view challenged? Aw, shucks, you're making me blush. But I really appreciate it, especially since McNasty420 took down my deeply-researched RANA post today for no discernible reason, so that was making me feel like my work was a big waste of time. But maybe it's better that way, because yes, I'm sure my employer would appreciate me spending more of my skills on them rather than on this!" -Employer lol. So check this out. I removed it because it said Trump steals money from his foundation and this guy didn't consider that political because: "My statement about Trump's foundation wasn't a "theory", and more importantly, not any sort of value-judgement. I now understand that you weren't aware of how non-controversial my mention of Trump was". You are such a DICK. Where do you get the nerve to talk to people like that?
"Oh, yeah, I wasn't arguing your point or anything! I'd just had more time to look into his ancestry and wanted to write down some actual numbers."
That theory isn't possible, because she invented the Spanish persona long before she met Alec. That's a key fact to know for anyone trying to figure out the 'why' of it. It had zero to do with Alec, and was almost surely her own creation with no particular goal in mind (which the OP seems to understand)."
Oh, ok, awesome! Where's your screenshot? -What are you doing? Why do you need this?
How? You can't just say stuff like that without backing it up! "Hilaria is definitely connected to Spain" is a lie that you created this whole subreddit to expose, so let's not just take her place as people who claim untrue things!
And I'm saying none of what you're saying is true. You might have read something like that here, but that was from people who didn't know what they were talking about. There was no "generous donation to the parents in 2012" from ABF.
No, I'm saying that people here misinterpreted the RANA donation to be a donation to International Integrators (and then repeated it 'til it became conventional wisdom), but it's really not at all. Unless there was some *other* donation to II that has been found somewhere? -RANA is a side project under the umbrella of International Integrators now please STFU about it
OMG, and then did you hear where she said she lies to her kids that the wheels on the bus are broken, because she's sick of singing "The Wheels on the Bus"? Or that she hides the fact that she's going to be gone for a day or two from them? Oh wait, those were lies other moms reported telling their kids. It's all part of a regular segment called "Momfessions"! The whole point is to show that it's a fairly normal thing for parents to do. Pretending Hilaria is the only one who lies to her kids is weird, and completely ignores all the other parents who nod along and laugh in the audience. -Thank you, 50 year old guy with no kids.
Erm, his donations were definitely NOT funneled to family members; where did you get that from? Perhaps actually read my post!
Also, yes, he gets a tax deduction for charitable donations, but so does every US taxpayer. -WE KNOW. JESUS.
I'd like to say it's something about living the last four years in the US, when "the truth" seemed to matter less than it ever has before. Creating even awareness of the oft-repeated lies, much less consequences for them, felt like trying to push a pile of air up a hill. So when this opportunity came along at the end of 2020 to expose lies and establish truths, at a sweet-spot big enough where a significant number of people were paying attention, but small enough that I could play a personal role, where that pile of air transformed into something solid that I could definitively poke holes through, it felt like something I had to participate in. -FULL STOP. WHEN THIS OPPORTUNITY CAME ALONG? ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT MY SUBREDDIT?? PLAYING A PERSONAL ROLE? YOU ACT LIKE I HIRED YOU TO BLESS US WITH YOUR PRECIOUS GOOGLE SEARCHING ABILITIES. THE OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO EXPOSE LIES? AT THE END OF 2020? DUDE, THE LIES WERE ALREADY UNCOVERED. HENCE THE MEDIA FIRESTORM.
But that can only be at most a part of the answer, since I felt exactly the same obsession in 2016, when doing crowd-sourced investigation of the real-time cheating of Rob Young / MarathonManUK), a man who had claimed to run 365 marathons in a year, with 0 training, and then was caught (accidentally, by a fan) in the middle of the night riding on/in his support RV while he was claiming a world-record pace for a run across the US.
So for me, there's definitely a Sherlock Holmes factor. Just something about the investigatory process of discovering facts and organizing them to reveal lies, particularly when the lie is so bold, unusual, and created for mystifying reasons. -WE HAD ALREADY BROKEN THE STORY DIPSHIT.
n contrast to many here, the small lies that are pedestrian, banal, and created for obvious reasons (the presentation of herself as someone more-accomplished / put-together / knowledgeable than she actually is, in order to make money) hold no interest for me, since there is nothing unique to her there. Everyone who has ever attempted to make money from their personal brand has presented an embellished version of themselves, but almost no one has trapped themselves 24/7 for a decade walking through their life on such a high-wire of a lie as Hilaria has, while leaving the truth so discoverable far below the entire time.
Thank you! Finally an NYU post, that, while still lacking-in-receipts, at least comes from someone with a posting history that provides significant credibility, and written with a level of detail that provides trustworthiness on its own, but also matches all known facts from independent sources. -STOP. JUST STOP.
Didn't we go through this already? Yes, charitable donations lessen your tax burden. But they also lessen your wealth! Here is the itemized list of $1.4M in donations the ABF made in 2014. If he had *not* made those donations, yes, his tax bill would have been higher, but he would have had more money left in his bank account to spend on a yacht or whatever for himself. So lessening his tax burden cannot be his "entire goal". -for the 50th time, we know how taxes work.
It *has* made donations to the RANA foundation (approx. $70k total, I believe), which Hilaria's parents advertised on their website, but that's not "money to Hilaria's parents" (as people here often say), and I don't even see an obvious connection between the RANA foundation and the Hayward/Thomases. -IT'S LISTED AS A PROJECT ON THEIR WEBSITE DIPSHIT
It looks like it's this, a $369 dedicated paella grill. -this adds that "value" you provide to this sub you were talking about.
Ha. Yep, I'm of a similar age/era, and while I still have a FB account, I've never followed a single celebrity, brand, or even a business, and am rather baffled by people who do. -YET I'M 100% STALKING ALEC BALDWIN'S LIFE
Did you click my links on the bottom? By what rationale do you make the claim that she "brought things to an entirely different level"?
I linked to a picture of a naked mom taking a piss with her baby on her lap, showing off her toenails, and taking a selfie all at the same time! And it took me 2 minutes to find that.
In your original post, you say she was under "Hilaria Lynn Thomas". Here you say it was "Hilaria Haywood-Thomas". And the latter is definitely not, nor has it ever been, her last name! Not improving my confidence in your credibility here. -REMINDER. YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO SKIN IN THIS GAME. YOU SHOWED UP HERE ONE DAY AFTER THE STORY FINALLY STOPPED TRENDING AND TRIED TO REGULATE SHIT. NOBODY NEEDS TO HAVE "CREDIBILITY" WITH YOU. YOU ARE A BYSTANDER.
"As much as I'd like solid confirmation either way, this is most definitely not it. It's the first post from a brand-new account, and the details given make no sense."
"There is absolutely nothing unique about Alec and Hilaria here. Here's a random list I found in 2 seconds"
If I had kids
If you know nothing about language immersion, see what the Linguistic Society has to say on the matter.
The hard part is making sure they have enough natural exposure to both languages. Most of the time, one of the two languages you want them to learn will be "more important" somehow, and the trick is to provide enough opportunities for them to use the "less important" one in a way that isn't forced or artificial. The best way, if you can manage it, is to put children in situations where only the "less important" language is used so that there is no temptation to mix languages or revert to the "more important" language.
It doesn't say that he was also working in that period. Do you have that from another source?
"I graduated from a prestigious university (in my field), but don't have any cap-and-gown photos because I had no interest in attending the graduation ceremony." -PLEASE, I'M DYING. I CAN'T WAIT TO FIND OUT WHAT SCHOOL THIS WAS THAT PREPARED YOU FOR YOUR ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER IN COMPUTER HARDWARE.
" Have you attempted to try the online version I suggested to perhaps get something in writing? https://secure.studentclearinghouse.org/vslandingui/mosiac-landing-page"
"But if you spoke with NYU, and they told you straight up they have no record of her being a student, why are you even considering far-more-tenuous absence-of-evidence evidence like this?"
Your lack-of-understanding is making you see conspiracy where it doesn't exist. "Notability" is a requirement for a Wikipedia page to continue existing, and it's decided by other Wikipedia editors.
But I do appreciate that you recognize (unlike so many others here) that her social-media influencer antics are not at all unusual for that field, and not the reason why Hilaria is a story.
Um, those requirements are from St. Patrick Cathedral in Fort Worth, Texas.
Ugh, not very pleasant to see all those grouped together in an easily digestible list, but thank you!
First, this definitely isn't evidence that she's a hypocrite. That would require her to be a major player in the operation at Yoga Vida, which, just like extensive time in Spain, seems to be something she wanted people to believe, rather than something that's actually true.
Then, the plaintiffs allege that the instructors conspired to export YV's client database, which they were not authorized to do, and sent a mass email to that list of clients. I have no idea how meritorious such a lawsuit is
There have been a lot of people in this sub over the last couple weeks questioning "how did she get away with this for so long?? People on the Internet have been talking about it for at least 5 years! Why wasn't it a story until now?!" The non-answer answer is "because the right series of events hadn't happened until now". Essentially, the story hadn't bubbled up to enough influential and listened-to people until now, so it had very little spread. Part of the process for a story to bubble up to the next level of influence is for that level to have trust in the lower-level source. - YES, PLEASE EXPLAIN MY OWN STORY BACK TO ME THAT IS AT THE TOP OF THIS SUBREDDIT.
"Yeah, obviously even if I *had* the power to make this Reddit sub a repository of impeccably-sourced content, I know it wouldn't actually make a damn difference. But, I had to give it a shot anyway." -COME AGAIN?? YOU MEAN PEOPLE DIDN'T APPRECIATE YOU SHOWING UP OUT OF THE BLUE WAY AFTER THE STORY HAD RAN, ACTING LIKE AN OVERBEARING MANAGER WHO BERATES THEM FOR NOT DOCUMENTING THEIR "WORK" THE WAY YOU WANT IT DONE? THEY DIDN'T LIKE BEING GIVEN ASSIGNMENTS WITH DEADLINES? I'M SHOCKED THAT DIDN'T WORK OUT FOR YOU. This is Reddit, douchebag, not Time Magazine. And the story had already run. Everywhere. You showed up afterward, barked a bunch of demands at people, and are now complaining that my subreddit is unorganized and you "tried" to fix it but couldn't?
"Really it's just a nostalgic rant missing the "good old days" of this sub (like 5 days ago) when it was genuinely producing a high density of quality, original information that uncovered a lot of truth." --THEN LEAVE FINALLY
"Yeah, now this is the kind of quality-content I came here for!" -Reddit?
"I actually have Google Doc filled with links, mostly organized as a timeline of Hilaria's whole life. I've been trying to decide whether I should open it to crowd-sourced contributions, but it still feels a bit messy/incomplete for me to do that just yet." - AND IT'S SAFE TO SAY AFTER TONIGHT, YOU NEVER WILL.
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, HE APPARENTLY INVENTED NAPSTER!!
"I was one of the first people in the world to host downloadable audio files on a website (from a dorm-room server), so I was long familiar with the music side of it. Once Spotify et al finally came along and revealed that "hey, if you make it easy, most people don't actually want to steal stuff" that really changed a lot in that world, a bit similar to what the changing business models have done for the software world."
​
Here is his "Manifesto":
https://www.reddit.com/HilariaBaldwin/comments/kp71jo/this_sub_has_begun_playing_right_into_hilarias/

Posting on a throwaway for obvious reasons.
In dollar terms, I’m almost a bitcoin millionaire. It feels good, but not because I can brag about the accumulated wealth, it’s more that the people who I told to invest whatever money they could afford to lose, back in early 2013, all told me I was an idiot. Those same people have now been humbled.
The story starts back in late 2012. A guy I was on head-nodding terms with at the gym, got talking to me in the changing room about one of the podcasts he was listening to. He was talking about how he loved his weed and had heard about the Silk Road and how the only way to buy drugs on it was using this new “virtual” currency called bitcoin. It was in November 2012 and the price was hovering around $10-$11. I thought to myself, I love my weed - and I remember from years and years ago, a company in Canada called bud mail, used to operate an online weed store. That’s where my thinking stopped - and I didn’t bother looking into it any further.
Acquiring my first coins In early Jan 2013 my mate had mentioned bitcoin to me, again - a big weed smoker and thought it’d be a good idea to grab a few coins and try it out for ourselves. We’re in the UK, and Coinbase wasn’t open for UK residents yet. The only way we could purchase bitcoins were on localbitcoins.com or bitstamp. We chose the latter, but had no idea what a SEPA transfer was. To be frank, there were a lot of hurdles to overcome in order to acquire bitcoin back then.
We had to use TransferWise to send our money to some bank in Estonia (I think?). The money arrived a few days later, and bam - we were able to purchase our first coins in March 2013 at $57 a pop. The next few days, the price continued to rise - until it got to about $230. This was heavily fuelled by the Cyprus Haircut. The other two mates who I’d bought these coins with, and who I shared the bitstamp account with wanted to sell. I didn’t. We decided that I would take my coins off the exchange, and they’d keep theirs together at bitstamp. It was at this stage that I was looking into bitcoin security.
Paper Wallets Trusty bitcoinpaperwallet.com taught me all I needed to know. I ran a few tests first with very small amounts. Sending some to paper wallets, and then sweeping those paper wallets so that I could trust that it all worked. It did.
Acquiring more knowledge, then more coins By now, I was deep into the rabbit hole, but I always felt it was important to invest as much (if not more) of my time into learning how bitcoin worked, and how to skill up on my bitcoin opsec. I should state, with bitcoin - you never stop learning. The beauty of this thing is it constantly evolves. As I got more comfortable with my knowledge, I bought more coins, still only ploughing in what I could afford to lose and not care about.
2013 High It was December 2013, and the price had reached ~$1200. The friends and family I’d told about it were all screaming at me to sell - “you’ve made more than 20x your investment”.
I told them the same thing then as I tell them now - that they didn’t understand that this was a new paradigm. This thing is going to change the world, and yes the price is volatile, but if you understand the fundamentals of bitcoin, and have even a tiny grasp of macro economics and how messed up the system was, it was obvious that bitcoin was born to absorb all of the endless money printing etc. Back then, money printing was nowhere near the scale we’ve seen in the past 12 months.
Bear market until late 2017 I had everyone telling me how stupid I was for not selling. After the 2013 high, we wouldn’t see the price exceed it’s previous ATH for another 4 years. Whilst everyone was telling me how stupid I was, I was continuing to buy. I was continuing to extol the fantastic qualities of bitcoin, and how it had previously had bull and bear cycles that was heavily influenced by the halved supply of coins every 4 years. They looked at me like I was talking a different language. They didn’t want to invest their time understanding how things worked. All they knew was that every single news outlet was saying that Bitcoin was for terrorists and criminals. I continued going to as many bitcoin meetups as I could. Listening to some of the bitcoin veterans live on stage. It was still very fringe back then, but I was lucky to speak to people such as Andreas Antonopolous, Gavin Andresen, Mike Hearn, Jeremy Allaire, Jameson Lopp, and others. Some of these people will be remembered for the wrong reasons, but at the time - it seemed all of them had good intentions for bitcoin. I still follow Andreas and Jameson, and genuinely think they're some of the most intelligent and visionary minds out there.
Christmas 2017 I remember it well. I was with my family out for dinner and the price was close to $20k. “I can’t believe you still haven’t sold”, they said. I blurted out the same mantra that I did back in 2013. I didn't sell.
2018 We all know how this year went. It wasn’t pretty, the few people who knew I had bitcoin thought I was silly for not selling. I knew in my heart of hearts I wasn’t. I stuck to the plan, and continued accumulating.
2019 - IVF Me and my wife had struggled trying to conceive. I won’t go into all the details but suffice to say, I don’t come from a particularly wealthy background. That’s not to say that I was a deprived kid - I wasn’t, but I certainly didn’t come from a wealthy background. In order for me and my wife to have our first child, it was becoming obvious that the only option left to us at this point was IVF. IVF was going to cost the best part of £30-£40k.
I’m a true hodler, but I felt that I had been extremely lucky to find bitcoin at the time I did, and so I’d sold a decent amount of coins to fund the IVF. Yes, I could have sold some in late 2017, and liquidated fewer coins to get to the amount I needed - but I didn’t know back then that we’d go down the IVF route.
2020 - No regrets In January 2020, our little baby boy was born. Our bitcoin baby. A baby, that I honestly don’t think we would have been able to have, had it not been for me stumbling across bitcoin and disregarding all of the naysayers along the way. He’s the light of our lives, and if bitcoin went to zero, I’d still be an absolute winner! At this point, I've cashed out about 3x of all the money I've put into bitcoin, and still have a sizeable portion of my coins left.
2021 It’s the first day of 2021, and whilst I’m not quite at $1m in terms of my btc holdings, I’m not far off, but better than that, the friends and family that told me to sell are no longer saying "why don’t you sell?", but asking how they can buy. I could be an arsehole about it, but that’s just not me. I continue to help anyone and everyone that shows any kind of interest in this.
The Future I think the next 24 months are going to be extremely exciting. I’m hoping to get to a point whereby me, my wife and my son can move into our forever home. I have plans for a 50% equity payment, leaving the rest of my coins to hopefully accumulate more value so that at a later stage, I can pay the rest of the mortgage off, and live a debt free life.
To conclude I never thought I’d accumulate the wealth I currently have. It’s still peanuts in terms of what some people in this world have gained (looking at you Bezos), but if it means that I can quit my job, to spend more time with my family, and putting my precious time into learning new things, being more charitable with my time and generally living life to the max - then I’ll be a very happy man.
Peace, love and good luck to all of you in the future.

Previous Post Here
Rock the vote! Power to the people! Get out and vote. Every vote counts. And the beat goes on. And on. And on. And on. And we buy it. Hook. Line. And sinker. Don't we? But, we live in a democracy! Yep. Sure do. We vote and then they do whatever they have planned. Seriously. Guantanamo Bay? Still there. Rich getting richer? Still happening. Gain of function testing on viruses? Still happening. Nafta? Who actually voted? No. One. Big bank bailouts? No choice. Get it? The illusion of choice is all it takes to pacify the masses. That's it. Our votes are the placebo effect.
Do some of us notice? Yes. A few. For all the good that does us. So why are they able to get away with it? Surely at some point we would have noticed. Well we did notice, and they adjusted, and we're still living with the consequences. When did we notice?
The Vietnam War.
All the pictures of body bags and all the reports of the horrors of war were too much. We questioned why? The answer wasn't good enough. An economic system. Sure they tried to convince us back then that it was because human rights and liberty. Ok. Then we fast forward to present day and we trade with Vietnam. But nobody says, HEY! AREN'T THEY EVIL COMMUNISTS! No. One. Why? Because those in charge learned. All the images of war changed. Now we only see video game targets on screen. Now we only hear of all the amazing technology making war so advanced! War has become a Walt Disney production. Sanitized for the masses.
How did they do it? How? Simple. They know in advance what stimulus will have the greatest effect on us, and what effect that stimulus will be. How? Simulations. And it's been going on for a very long time.

Simulations and Scenarios

In this scenario, we don’t want to marginalize the more extreme candidates, but make them more ‘Pied Piper’ candidates who actually represent the mainstream of the Republican Party,” read the memo. “Pied Piper candidates include, but aren’t limited to: • Ted Cruz. • Donald Trump. • Ben Carson. We need to be elevating the Pied Piper candidates so that they are leaders of the pack and tell the press to [take] them seriously."

Oh. Ok. So Crooked Hillary's team wanted to pump up Trump. Let me say that again, Pump Up Trump (sounds like a new sex toy, doesn't it? I'll get my people to call your people and lets make this happen. It'll be huge and people will love getting screwed by it!). And then it gets worse.

“Just like everybody, I thought this was a Bush against a Clinton, that’s all it was going to be,” said former Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle. “When I saw the first set of debates, I would turn them on in an entertainment mode to see what Donald’s going to say today. It was funny." Source Here

Trump is funny. Ha. Ha. Ha. Let's get in some of that new Reality TV show called The Political Apprentice. Right.
So is Trump a part of something nefarious? Or is he fighting the Deep State? But what if the answer is more complicated than that? What if all the peices are moved, including President's, on purpose, and with a plan?
Crazy? Surely that's just plain nonsense and there's no way that could happen, right?
Well, let me show you some additional things before the Internet of Things is in everything and we can't do anything.

They Pick, You Vote, Don't Matter. They Already Know.

What? Preposterous you say? Let's travel back to JFK and the People Machine.

Consider the strange trajectory of the Simulmatics Corporation, founded in New York City in 1959. (Simulmatics, a mash-up of ‘simulation’ and ‘automatic’, meant then what ‘artificial intelligence (AI)’ means now.) Its controversial work included simulating elections — just like that allegedly ‘pioneered’ by the now-defunct UK firm Cambridge Analytica on behalf of UK Brexit campaigners in 2015 and during Donald Trump’s US presidential election campaign in 2016. Journalists accused Trump’s fixers of using a “weaponized AI propaganda machine” capable of “nearly impenetrable voter manipulation”. New? Hardly. Simulmatics invented that in 1959. They called it the People Machine. As an American historian with an interest in politics, law and technology, I came across the story of the Simulmatics Corporation five years ago when researching an article about the polling industry. Polling was, and remains, in disarray. Now, it’s being supplanted by data science: why bother telephoning someone to ask her opinion when you can find out by tracking her online? Wondering where this began took me to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, to the unpublished papers of political scientist Ithiel de Sola Pool. Simulmatics, hired first by the US Democratic Party’s National Committee in 1959 and then by the John F. Kennedy campaign in 1960, pioneered the use of computer simulation, pattern detection and prediction in American political campaigning. The company gathered opinion-poll data from the archives of pollsters George Gallup and Elmo Roper to create a model of the US electorate.

Lasswell, whose research on communication purported to explain how ideas get into people’s heads: in short, who says what, in which channel, to whom, with what effect? During the Second World War, Lasswell studied the Nazis’ use of propaganda and psychological warfare. When those terms became unpalatable after the war ended, the field got a new name — mass-communications research. Same wine, new bottle. Like Silicon Valley itself, Simulmatics was an artefact of the cold war. It was an age obsessed with prediction, as historian Jenny Andersson showed in her brilliant 2018 book, The Future of the World. At MIT, Pool also proposed and headed Project ComCom (short for Communist Communications), funded by the US Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). Its aim, in modern terms, was to try to detect Russian hacking — “to know how leaks, rumors, and intentional disclosures spread” as Pool described it.

Isn't that odd? Computers making predictions back in 1960. Computers analyzing human behavior in order to predict human behaviours and control the election outcome. And the scientist who it all started with came from MIT. And we wonder how all that Jeffrey Epstein money was spent.

The press called Simulmatics scientists the “What-If Men”, because their work — programming an IBM 704 — was based on endless what-if simulations. The IBM 704 was billed as the first mass-produced computer capable of doing complex mathematics. Today, this kind of work is much vaunted and lavishly funded. The 2018 Encyclopedia of Database Systems describes ‘what-if analysis’ as “a data-intensive simulation”. It refers to it as “a relatively recent discipline”. Not so. Buoyed by the buzz of Kennedy’s election, Simulmatics began an advertising blitz. Its 1961 initial stock offering set out how the company would turn prediction into profit — by gathering massive data, constructing mathematical models of behavioural processes, and using them to simulate “probable group behaviour”.

Do you really think these What-If Men are done and gone, set out to pasture like the cattle they manipulate? Really? Seriously. No. Obviously not. Or there wouldn't be such a fuss about Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. Same Crap. Different Flies. Only know there are more flies and the crap pile is bigger.

In 1963, on behalf of the Kennedy administration, Simulmatics simulated the entire economy of Venezuela, with an eye to halting the advance of socialism and communism. A larger project to undertake such work throughout Latin America, mostly designed by Pool and known as Project Camelot (Project Camelot, where have I heard that before?), became so controversial that the next president, Lyndon B. Johnson, dismantled it (sure he did). After 1965, Simulmatics conducted psychological research in Vietnam as part of a bigger project to use computers to predict revolutions. Much of this work built on earlier research by Lasswell and Pool, identifying and counting keywords, such as ‘nationalism’, in foreign-language newspapers that might indicate the likelihood of coups. Such topic-spotting is the precursor to Google Trends. Before his early death in 1984, Pool was also a key force behind the founding of the most direct descendant of Simulmatics, the MIT Media Lab. Pool’s work underlies the rules — or lack of them — that prevail on the Internet. Pool also founded the study of “social networks” (a term he coined); without it, there would be no Facebook. Pool’s experiences with student unrest at MIT — and especially with the protests against Simulmatics — informed his views on technological change and ethics. Look forward. Never look back. Source Here

Unrest and protest at MIT against Simulmatics. I guess you could call it Rage Against the Machine. Maybe we should ask Jeffery Epstein if that's a good name? He did invest a lot of money into the MIT Media lab, after all. Surely he has an opinion on it. Too bad he killed himself. Snicker.
Look forward. Never back. That sounds suspiciously like a No Regrets policy, doesn't it? The ends justify the means. Let's hurry up and get those vaccines out. We can test for them along the way. It's all good.

Decades before Facebook and Google and Cambridge Analytica and every app on your phone, Simulmatics’ founders thought of it all: they had the idea that, if they could collect enough data about enough people and write enough good code, everything, one day, might be predicted—every human mind simulated and then directed by targeted messages as unerring as missiles. For its first mission, Simulmatics aimed to win the White House back for the Democratic Party. The University of California political theorist Eugene Burdick had worked for Greenfield in 1956, but decided not to join Simulmatics. Instead, he wrote a novel about it. In “The 480,” a political thriller published in 1964, a barely disguised “Simulations Enterprises” meddles with a U.S. Presidential election. “This may or may not result in evil,” Burdick warned. “Certainly it will result in the end of politics as Americans have known it.” That same year, in “Simulacron-3,” a science-fiction novel set in the year 2034, specialists in the field of “simulectronics” build a People Machine—“a total environment simulator”—only to discover that they themselves don’t exist and are, instead, merely the ethereal, Escherian inventions of yet another People Machine. After that, Simulmatics lived on in fiction and film, an anonymous avatar. In 1973, the German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder adapted “Simulacron-3” into “World on a Wire,” a forerunner of the 1999 film “The Matrix,” in which all of humanity lives in a simulation, trapped, deluded, and dehumanized.

The Matrix? A people machine. A Total Environment Simulator. Yikes. That sounds extremely far fetched, doesn't it. Trapped. Deluded. And. Drumroll please. Dehumanized.

In 1967 and 1968, at home, Simulmatics attempted to build a race-riot-prediction machine. In 1969, after antiwar demonstrators called Pool a war criminal, the People Machine crashed; in 1970, the company filed for bankruptcy. (Most of its records were destroyed; I stumbled across what remains, in Pool’s papers, at M.I.T.) Source Here

A race riot machine that apparently failed? And look what happened nine months ago? Coincidence? Foreign power information warfare? AI training wheels? Kinda scary, ain't it? And guess what? We're not done yet.

Ithiel de Sola Pool

So the Simulmatics Corporation was responsible for this;

Sept 17, 2020 • In 1960, media reports of dark forces behind John F Kennedy’s winning presidential campaign caused what Jill Lepore calls a “national hullabaloo”. America’s new leader, it was widely reported, had clinched the victory with the help of a “secret weapon”: a super computer that crunched troves of data to profile voters, allowing Kennedy to better target his political messaging before the polls opened.

And now let's look deeper at somebody who worked at the Simulmatics Corporation, Ithiel de Sola Pool.

For all of Simulmatics’ efforts at automating prediction, it is company executive Ithiel de Sola Pool, an MIT academic with a focus on social networks, who in Lepore’s telling proves to be the most accurate prediction machine — foreseeing the “data-mad and near-totalitarian twenty-first century” that he was instrumental in helping to create. “In the coming atomised society, the information the citizen gets will arise from his own specific concerns,” he wrote in 1968, predicting a communications revolution, “customised news feeds” and the dismantling of party politics for a “politics of self, every citizen a party of one”. Source Here

That's extremely prescient. Did he predict the future or make it? What came first, the chicken or the egg? Don't matter. Don't care. Not at all. Because the end result is the same,
So what more can we find out about de Sola Pool? How about the fact that he studied Nazis and Communists? Heck, he studied totalitarianist speeches to figure out how words could carry power and influence. Over us. Overload us.
But how unethical was Pool? Well, the guy who risked everything to bring us the Pentagon Papers (the papers that proved the Gulf of Tomkins incident was a false flag) thought this: Daniel Ellsberg would later say of Pool, “I thought of him as the most corrupt social scientist I had ever met, without question.”
Not cool. Definitely. Not. Cool. Because if you naively believe that Pool’s research isn't being used by the Technocrats today, then more power to you. Believe what you want. Or should I say, believe what they want.
And who are "they"? They are the Rockefeller's and Rothschilds, the Technocrats, the World Economic Forum, the Bilderberg Group, CIA, NSA, and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Speaking of which.

At that point in his (Pool’s) career, he was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, advising several countries around the world. Pool felt that the world was underestimating the importance of communications and technical change. Source Here

Oops. Pool was a member of the CFR advising several countries around the world. Ok. Next step.

2004 • The transformation of the United States into a power able and willing to take a leading role in world affairs was not achieved solely through policy changes in Washington, DC, let alone simply by changes in the structure of world power. This chapter examines the vital role of the CFR in transforming American public opinion from ‘isolationist’ to ‘globalist’ as an important aspect of America’s rise to globalism. In this regard, the Council focused its energies to undermine and marginalise isolationism while promoting its own internationalist views as the best means to achieve the American national interest. Source Here

So if a bunch of unelected officials are officially changing policy, why do you vote? Rock the vote? Don't make me laugh. More like Don't Rock the Boat.
They started running simulations back in the sixties. Remember, Nixon was the odds on favorite to win. Kennedy was a long shot. And then, Kennedy was the President. Nixon probably wasn't happy. After all, he was part of the power structure. He went to Bohemian Grove. And then he had the rug pulled out from underneath him. And what did he end of calling Bohemian Grove attendees? A bunch of fags. Oops. Who pissed in his cornflakes?
They run simulations. Then they have different scenarios that dictate policy. Then they use the CFR, the WEF, the Rockefeller Group, and other NGO'S to adapt and shape future policy decisions to steer society. Heck. They probably even use the Mickey Mouse Club at this point.

November 21, 1971 • Of the first 82 names on a list prepared to help President Kennedy staff his State Department, 63 were Council members. Kennedy once com plained, “I'd like to have some new faces here, but all I get is the same old names.” Source Here

So a "People Machine" helped get JFK "elected" and his State Department list was mostly comprised of Council members. It's starting to look more and more like our heads of state are manipulated just like us, doesn't it? Let's jump back into the Pool one more time.

In 1965, he wrote "The Kaiser, the Tsar, and the Computer," an essay about a computer-simulated international crisis. Later, his interest in quantitative analysis and communications would contribute to computer models to study human behavior.

Computer Models aren't Playboy Centerfolds

It doesn't matter who gets voted in. They may think they're in charge. They may go along. Or they may think they're making changes. But, I guarantee you the changes they make are the changes those behind the scenes want. Even if our leaders know it or not.
No way! Thats crazy! Insane! Ok. Sure. But remember this, in a world of insanity, a sane man is always perceived as being insane. So let's dive into the DEEP END OF THE POOL and see what we can find.

October 2, 2019 • With AI, the models suddenly become more realistic. “One of the things that has changed is an acceptance that you really can model humans,” says F. LeRon Shults, director of the Center for Modeling Social Systems at the University of Agder in Norway. “Our agents are cognitively complex. They are simulated people with genders, ages and personalities. They can get married, have children, get divorced. They can get a job or get fired, they can join groups, they can die. They can have religious beliefs. They’re social in the way humans are. They interact with each other in social networks. They learn from each other, react to each other and to the environment as a whole.”

Hold on. Agent's are cognitively complex? That's scary, isn't it? And this is a very strange situation we find ourselves in, isn't it? Agents. Simulations. Viruses. Sentinels. Didn't they try and block out the sun? Ahem. Bill Gates. And I've read that originally the script didn't have humanity as batteries, but instead used humans as their RAM. In other words, we we're used for our brains ability to think. More on this in an upcoming post. Just think about it for now.

Final Thoughts

The what if men and the people machine. They model society and we see what they want us to see. Kind of like the model in the Matrix wearing the red dress. We're too busy looking for danger everywhere but where we should look. And that's a mistake. This is why we can't dismiss anything. We have to question everything.
In the previous post I said that it was called the Sentinel World Simulation. I found the article. I made a mistake. It's called the Sentient World Simulation. Words matter. Always. But I still don't think my mistake alters what's going on. We are being steered by an unseen group. And this is why China + Russia + USA are heading towards a cliff. He who controls AI controls humanity. But who controls who?
More soon.

NEW INFO 5 Results from share redemption are posted. Less than .2% redeemed. Very bullish as investors are showing extreme confidence in the future of PLBY.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/playboy-mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-120000721.html
NEW INFO 4 Definitive Agreement to purchase 100% of Lovers brand stores announced 2/1.
https://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Playboy+%28MCAC%29+Confirms+Deal+to+Acquire+Lovers/17892359.html
NEW INFO 3 I bought more on the dip today. 5081 total. Price rose AH to $12.38 (2.15%)
NEW INFO 2 Here is the full webinar.
https://icrinc.zoom.us/rec/play/9GWKdmOYumjWfZuufW3QXpe_FW_g--qeNbg6PnTjTMbnNTgLmCbWjeRFpQga1iPc-elpGap8dnDv8Zww.yD7DjUwuPmapeEdP?continueMode=true&tk=lEYc4F_FkKlgsmCIs6w0gtGHT2kbgVGbUju3cIRBSjk.DQIAAAAV8NK49xZWdldRM2xNSFNQcTBmcE00UzM3bXh3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&uuid=WN_GKWqbHkeSyuWetJmLFkj4g&_x_zm_rtaid=kR45-uuqRE-L65AxLjpbQw.1611967079119.2c054e3d3f8d8e63339273d9175939ed&_x_zm_rhtaid=866
NEW INFO 1 Live merger webinar with PLBY and MCAC on Friday January 29, 2021 at 12:00 NOON EST link below
https://mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/press-release-details/2021/Playboy-Enterprises-Inc.-and-Mountain-Crest-Acquisition-Corp-Participate-in-SPACInsider-ICR-Webinar-on-January-29th-at-12pm-ET/default.aspx
Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis
!!!WARNING READING AHEAD!!! TL;DR at the end. It will take some time to sort through all the links and read/watch everything, but you should.
In the next couple weeks, Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp is taking Playboy public. The existing ticker MCAC will become PLBY. Special purpose acquisition companies have taken private companies public in recent months with great success. I believe this will be no exception. Notably, Playboy is profitable and has skyrocketing revenue going into a transformational growth phase.
Porn - First and foremost, let's talk about porn. I know what you guys are thinking. “Porno mags are dead. Why would I want to invest in something like that? I can get porn for free online.” Guess what? You are absolutely right. And that’s exactly why Playboy doesn’t do that anymore. That’s right, they eliminated their print division. And yet they somehow STILL make money from porn that people (see: boomers) pay for on their website through PlayboyTV, Playboy Plus, and iPlayboy. Here’s the thing: Playboy has international, multi-generational name recognition from porn. They have content available in 180 countries. It will be the only publicly traded adult entertainment (porn) company. But that is not where this company is going. It will help support them along the way. You can see every Playboy magazine through iPlayboy if you’re interested. NSFW links below:
https://www.playboy.com/
https://www.playboytv.com/
https://www.playboyplus.com/
https://www.iplayboy.com/
Gambling - Some of you might recognize the Playboy brand from gambling trips to places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Cancun, London or Macau. They’ve been in the gambling biz for decades through their casinos, clubs, and licensed gaming products. They see the writing on the wall. COVID is accelerating the transition to digital, application based GAMBLING. That’s right. What we are doing on Robinhood with risky options is gambling, and the only reason regulators might give a shit anymore is because we are making too much money. There may be some restrictions put in place, but gambling from your phone on your couch is not going anywhere. More and more states are allowing things like Draftkings, poker, state ‘lottery” apps, hell - even political betting. Michigan and Virginia just ok’d gambling apps. They won’t be the last. This is all from your couch and any 18 year old with a cracked iphone can access it. Wouldn’t it be cool if Playboy was going to do something like that? They’re already working on it. As per CEO Ben Kohn who we will get to later, “...the company’s casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth.” Honestly, I stopped researching Scientific Games' sports betting segment when I saw the word ‘omni-channel’. That told me all I needed to know about it’s success.
“Our SG Sports™ platform is an enhanced, omni-channel solution for online, self-service and retail fixed odds sports betting – from soccer to tennis, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, motor sports, racing and more.”
https://www.scientificgames.com/
https://www.microgaming.co.uk/
“This latter segment has become increasingly enticing for Playboy, and it said last week that it is considering new tie-ups that could include gaming operators like PointsBet and 888Holdings.”
https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/05/business/playboys-gaming-ops-could-get-a-boost-from-spac-purchase/
As per their SEC filing:
“Significant consumer engagement and spend with Playboy-branded gaming properties around the world, including with leading partners such as Microgaming, Scientific Games, and Caesar’s Entertainment, steers our investment in digital gaming, sports betting and other digital offerings to further support our commercial strategy to expand consumer spend with minimal marginal cost, and gain consumer data to inform go-to-market plans across categories.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tMDAA1
They are expanding into more areas of gaming/gambling, working with international players in the digital gaming/gambling arena, and a Playboy sportsbook is on the horizon.
https://www.playboy.com/read/the-pleasure-of-playing-with-yourself-mobile-gaming-in-the-covid-era
Cannabis - If you’ve ever read through a Playboy magazine, you know they’ve had a positive relationship with cannabis for many years. As of September 2020, Playboy has made a major shift into the cannabis space. Too good to be true you say? Check their website. Playboy currently sells a range of CBD products. This is a good sign. Federal hemp products, which these most likely are, can be mailed across state lines and most importantly for a company like Playboy, can operate through a traditional banking institution. CBD products are usually the first step towards the cannabis space for large companies. Playboy didn’t make these products themselves meaning they are working with a processor in the cannabis industry. Another good sign for future expansion. What else do they have for sale? Pipes, grinders, ashtrays, rolling trays, joint holders. Hmm. Ok. So it looks like they want to sell some shit. They probably don’t have an active interest in cannabis right? Think again:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/09/24/playboy-gets-serious-about-cannabis-law-reform-advocacy-with-new-partnership-grants/?sh=62f044a65cea
“Taking yet another step into the cannabis space, Playboy will be announcing later on Thursday (September, 2020) that it is launching a cannabis law reform and advocacy campaign in partnership with National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Last Prisoner Project, Marijuana Policy Project, the Veterans Cannabis Project, and the Eaze Momentum Program.”
“According to information procured exclusively, the three-pronged campaign will focus on calling for federal legalization. The program also includes the creation of a mentorship plan, through which the Playboy Foundation will support entrepreneurs from groups that are underrepresented in the industry.” Remember that CEO Kohn from earlier? He wrote this recently:
https://medium.com/naked-open-letters-from-playboy/congress-must-pass-the-more-act-c867c35239ae
Seems like he really wants weed to be legal? Hmm wonder why? The writing's on the wall my friends. Playboy wants into the cannabis industry, they are making steps towards this end, and we have favorable conditions for legislative progress.
Don’t think branding your own cannabis line is profitable or worthwhile? Tell me why these 41 celebrity millionaires and billionaires are dummies. I’ll wait.
https://www.celebstoner.com/news/celebstoner-news/2019/07/12/top-celebrity-cannabis-brands/
Confirmation: I hear you. “This all seems pretty speculative. It would be wildly profitable if they pull this shift off. But how do we really know?” Watch this whole video:
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/playboy-ceo-telling-story-female-154907068.html
Man - this interview just gets my juices flowing. And highlights one of my favorite reasons for this play. They have so many different business avenues from which a catalyst could appear. I think paying attention, holding shares, and options on these staggered announcements over the next year is the way I am going to go about it. "There's definitely been a shift to direct-to-consumer," he (Kohn) said. "About 50 percent of our revenue today is direct-to-consumer, and that will continue to grow going forward.” “Kohn touted Playboy's portfolio of both digital and consumer products, with casino-style gaming, in particular, serving a crucial role under the company's new business model. Playboy also has its sights on the emerging cannabis market, from CBD products to marijuana products geared toward sexual health and pleasure.” "If THC does become legal in the United States, we have developed certain strains to enhance your sex life that we will launch," Kohn said. https://cheddar.com/media/playboy-goes-public-health-gaming-lifestyle-focus Oh? The CEO actually said it? Ok then. “We have developed certain strains…” They’re already working with growers on strains and genetics? Ok. There are several legal cannabis markets for those products right now, international and stateside. I expect Playboy licensed hemp and THC pre-rolls by EOY. Something like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/842996758/10-playboy-pre-roll-tubes-limited?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pre+roll+playboy&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1 Maintaining cannabis operations can be costly and a regulatory headache. Playboy’s licensing strategy allows them to pick successful, established partners and sidestep traditional barriers to entry. You know what I like about these new markets? They’re expanding. Worldwide. And they are going to be a bigger deal than they already are with or without Playboy. Who thinks weed and gambling are going away? Too many people like that stuff. These are easy markets. And Playboy is early enough to carve out their spot in each. Fuck it, read this too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimosman/2020/10/20/playboy-could-be-the-king-of-spacs-here-are-three-picks/?sh=2e13dcaa3e05
Numbers: You want numbers? I got numbers. As per the company’s most recent SEC filing:
“For the year ended December 31, 2019, and the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s historical consolidated revenue was $78.1 million and $101.3 million, respectively, historical consolidated net income (loss) was $(23.6) million and $(4.8) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was $13.1 million and $21.8 million, respectively.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Licensing segment contributed $44.2 million in revenue and $31.1 million in net income.”
“In the ninth months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Direct-to-Consumer segment contributed $40.2 million in revenue and net income of $0.1 million.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Digital Subscriptions and Content segment contributed $15.4 million in revenue and net income of $7.4 million.”
They are profitable across all three of their current business segments.
“Playboy’s return to the public markets presents a transformed, streamlined and high-growth business. The Company has over $400 million in cash flows contracted through 2029, sexual wellness products available for sale online and in over 10,000 major retail stores in the US, and a growing variety of clothing and branded lifestyle and digital gaming products.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
Growth: Playboy has massive growth in China and massive growth potential in India. “In China, where Playboy has spent more than 25 years building its business, our licensees have an enormous footprint of nearly 2,500 brick and mortar stores and 1,000 ecommerce stores selling high quality, Playboy-branded men’s casual wear, shoes/footwear, sleepwear, swimwear, formal suits, leather & non-leather goods, sweaters, active wear, and accessories. We have achieved significant growth in China licensing revenues over the past several years in partnership with strong licensees and high-quality manufacturers, and we are planning for increased growth through updates to our men’s fashion lines and expansion into adjacent categories in men’s skincare and grooming, sexual wellness, and women’s fashion, a category where recent launches have been well received.” The men’s market in China is about the same size as the entire population of the United States and European Union combined. Playboy is a leading brand in this market. They are expanding into the women’s market too. Did you know CBD toothpaste is huge in China? China loves CBD products and has hemp fields that dwarf those in the US. If Playboy expands their CBD line China it will be huge. Did you know the gambling money in Macau absolutely puts Las Vegas to shame? Technically, it's illegal on the mainland, but in reality, there is a lot of gambling going on in China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/10/19/magic-johnson-and-uncle-buds-cbd-brand-enter-china-via-tmall-partnership/?sh=271776ca411e “In India, Playboy today has a presence through select apparel licensees and hospitality establishments. Consumer research suggests significant growth opportunities in the territory with Playboy’s brand and categories of focus.” “Playboy Enterprises has announced the expansion of its global consumer products business into India as part of a partnership with Jay Jay Iconic Brands, a leading fashion and lifestyle Company in India.” “The Indian market today is dominated by consumers under the age of 35, who represent more than 65 percent of the country’s total population and are driving India’s significant online shopping growth. The Playboy brand’s core values of playfulness and exploration resonate strongly with the expressed desires of today’s younger millennial consumers. For us, Playboy was the perfect fit.” “The Playboy international portfolio has been flourishing for more than 25 years in several South Asian markets such as China and Japan. In particular, it has strategically targeted the millennial and gen-Z audiences across categories such as apparel, footwear, home textiles, eyewear and watches.” https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/playboy-expands-global-footprint-india It looks like they gave COVID the heisman in terms of net damage sustained: “Although Playboy has not suffered any material adverse consequences to date from the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has been impacted both negatively and positively. The remote working and stay-at-home orders resulted in the closure of the London Playboy Club and retail stores of Playboy’s licensees, decreasing licensing revenues in the second quarter, as well as causing supply chain disruption and less efficient product development thereby slowing the launch of new products. However, these negative impacts were offset by an increase in Yandy’s direct-to-consumer sales, which have benefited in part from overall increases in online retail sales so far during the pandemic.” Looks like the positives are long term (Yandy acquisition) and the negatives are temporary (stay-at-home orders).
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921006093/tm213766-1_defa14a.htm
This speaks to their ability to maintain a financially solvent company throughout the transition phase to the aforementioned areas. They’d say some fancy shit like “expanded business model to encompass four key revenue streams: Sexual Wellness, Style & Apparel, Gaming & Lifestyle, and Beauty & Grooming.” I hear “we’re just biding our time with these trinkets until those dollar dollar bill y’all markets are fully up and running.” But the truth is these existing revenue streams are profitable, scalable, and rapidly expanding Playboy’s e-commerce segment around the world.
"Even in the face of COVID this year, we've been able to grow EBITDA over 100 percent and revenue over 68 percent, and I expect that to accelerate going into 2021," he said. “Playboy is accelerating its growth in company-owned and branded consumer products in attractive and expanding markets in which it has a proven history of brand affinity and consumer spend.”
Also in the SEC filing, the Time Frame:
“As we detailed in the definitive proxy statement, the SPAC stockholder meeting to vote on the transaction has been set for February 9th, and, subject to stockholder approval and satisfaction of the other closing conditions, we expect to complete the merger and begin trading on NASDAQ under ticker PLBY shortly thereafter,” concluded Kohn.
The Players: Suhail “The Whale” Rizvi (HMFIC), Ben “The Bridge” Kohn (CEO), “lil” Suying Liu & “Big” Dong Liu (Young-gun China gang). I encourage you to look these folks up. The real OG here is Suhail Rizvi. He’s from India originally and Chairman of the Board for the new PLBY company. He was an early investor in Twitter, Square, Facebook and others. His firm, Rizvi Traverse, currently invests in Instacart, Pinterest, Snapchat, Playboy, and SpaceX. Maybe you’ve heard of them. “Rizvi, who owns a sprawling three-home compound in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a 1.65-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida, near Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, moved to Iowa Falls when he was five. His father was a professor of psychology at Iowa. Along with his older brother Ashraf, a hedge fund manager, Rizvi graduated from Wharton business school.” “Suhail Rizvi: the 47-year-old 'unsocial' social media baron: When Twitter goes public in the coming weeks (2013), one of the biggest winners will be a 47-year-old financier who guards his secrecy so zealously that he employs a person to take down his Wikipedia entry and scrub his photos from the internet. In IPO, Twitter seeks to be 'anti-FB'” “Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia looks like a big Twitter winner. So do the moneyed clients of Jamie Dimon. But as you’ve-got-to-be-joking wealth washed over Twitter on Thursday — a company that didn’t exist eight years ago was worth $31.7 billion after its first day on the stock market — the non-boldface name of the moment is Suhail R. Rizvi. Mr. Rizvi, 47, runs a private investment company that is the largest outside investor in Twitter with a 15.6 percent stake worth $3.8 billion at the end of trading on Thursday (November, 2013). Using a web of connections in the tech industry and in finance, as well as a hearty dose of good timing, he brought many prominent names in at the ground floor, including the Saudi prince and some of JPMorgan’s wealthiest clients.” https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/technology/at-twitter-working-behind-the-scenes-toward-a-billion-dollar-payday.html Y’all like that Arab money? How about a dude that can call up Saudi Princes and convince them to spend? Funniest shit about I read about him: “Rizvi was able to buy only $100 million in Facebook shortly before its IPO, thus limiting his returns, according to people with knowledge of the matter.” Poor guy :(
He should be fine with the 16 million PLBY shares he's going to have though :)
Shuhail also has experience in the entertainment industry. He’s invested in companies like SESAC, ICM, and Summit Entertainment. He’s got Hollywood connections to blast this stuff post-merger. And he’s at least partially responsible for that whole Twilight thing. I’m team Edward btw.
I really like what Suhail has done so far. He’s lurked in the shadows while Kohn is consolidating the company, trimming the fat, making Playboy profitable, and aiming the ship at modern growing markets.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-ipo-rizvi-insight/insight-little-known-hollywood-investor-poised-to-score-with-twitter-ipo-idUSBRE9920VW20131003
Ben “The Bridge” Kohn is an interesting guy. He’s the connection between Rizvi Traverse and Playboy. He’s both CEO of Playboy and was previously Managing Partner at Rizvi Traverse. Ben seems to be the voice of the Playboy-Rizvi partnership, which makes sense with Suhail’s privacy concerns. Kohn said this:
“Today is a very big day for all of us at Playboy and for all our partners globally. I stepped into the CEO role at Playboy in 2017 because I saw the biggest opportunity of my career. Playboy is a brand and platform that could not be replicated today. It has massive global reach, with more than $3B of global consumer spend and products sold in over 180 countries. Our mission – to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure – is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct to consumer capabilities,” said Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy.
“Playboy today is a highly profitable commerce business with a total addressable market projected in the trillions of dollars,” Mr. Kohn continued, “We are actively selling into the Sexual Wellness consumer category, projected to be approximately $400 billion in size by 2024, where our recently launched intimacy products have rolled out to more than 10,000 stores at major US retailers in the United States. Combined with our owned & operated ecommerce Sexual Wellness initiatives, the category will contribute more than 40% of our revenue this year. In our Apparel and Beauty categories, our collaborations with high-end fashion brands including Missguided and PacSun are projected to achieve over $50M in retail sales across the US and UK this year, our leading men’s apparel lines in China expanded to nearly 2500 brick and mortar stores and almost 1000 digital stores, and our new men’s and women’s fragrance line recently launched in Europe. In Gaming, our casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth. Our product strategy is informed by years of consumer data as we actively expand from a purely licensing model into owning and operating key high-growth product lines focused on driving profitability and consumer lifetime value. We are thrilled about the future of Playboy. Our foundation has been set to drive further growth and margin, and with the committed capital from this transaction and our more than $180M in NOLs, we will take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, building to our goal of $100M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
Also, according to their Form 4s, “Big” Dong Liu and “lil” Suying Liu just loaded up with shares last week. These guys are brothers and seem like the Chinese market connection. They are only 32 & 35 years old. I don’t even know what that means, but it's provocative.
https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1832415.htm
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-ii-002600994.html
Y’all like that China money?
“Mr. Liu has been the Chief Financial Officer of Dongguan Zhishang Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., a regional designer, manufacturer and distributor of LED lights serving commercial customers throughout Southern China since November 2016, at which time he led a syndicate of investments into the firm. Mr. Liu has since overseen the financials of Dongguan Zhishang as well as provided strategic guidance to its board of directors, advising on operational efficiency and cash flow performance. From March 2010 to October 2016, Mr. Liu was the Head of Finance at Feidiao Electrical Group Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese manufacturer of electrical outlets headquartered in Shanghai and with businesses in the greater China region as well as Europe.”
Dr. Suying Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., commented, “Playboy is a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, its proven consumer affinity and spend, and its enormous future growth potential in its four product segments and new and existing geographic regions. I am thrilled to be partnering with Ben and his exceptional team to bring his vision to fruition.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
These guys are good. They have a proven track record of success across multiple industries. Connections and money run deep with all of these guys. I don’t think they’re in the game to lose.
I was going to write a couple more paragraphs about why you should have a look at this but really the best thing you can do is read this SEC filing from a couple days ago. It explains the situation in far better detail. Specifically, look to page 137 and read through their strategy. Also, look at their ownership percentages and compensation plans including the stock options and their prices. The financials look great, revenue is up 90% Q3, and it looks like a bright future.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
I’m hesitant to attach this because his position seems short term, but I’m going to with a warning because he does hit on some good points (two are below his link) and he’s got a sizable position in this thing (500k+ on margin, I think). I don’t know this guy but he did look at the same publicly available info and make roughly the same prediction, albeit without the in depth gambling or cannabis mention. You can also search reddit for ‘MCAC’ and very few relevant results come up and none of them even come close to really looking at this thing.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOvAd6lebs452hFlWWbxVjQ3VMsjGBkbJeXRwDwIJfM/edit?usp=sharing
“Also, before you people start making claims that Playboy is a “boomer” company, STOP RIGHT THERE. This is not a good argument. Simply put. The only thing that matters is Playboy’s name recognition, not their archaic business model which doesn’t even exist anymore as they have completely repurposed their business.”
“Imagine not buying $MCAC at a 400M valuation lol. Streetwear department is worth 1B alone imo.”
Considering the ridiculous Chinese growth as a lifestyle brand, he’s not wrong.
Current Cultural Significance and Meme Value: A year ago I wouldn’t have included this section but the events from the last several weeks (even going back to tsla) have proven that a company’s ability to meme and/or gain social network popularity can have an effect. Tik-tok, Snapchat, Twitch, Reddit, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter. They all have Playboy stuff on them. Kids in middle and highschool know what Playboy is but will likely never see or touch one of the magazines in person. They’ll have a Playboy hoodie though. Crazy huh? A lot like GME, PLBY would hugely benefit from meme-value stock interest to drive engagement towards their new business model while also building strategic coffers. This interest may not directly and/or significantly move the stock price but can generate significant interest from larger players who will.
Bull Case: The year is 2025. Playboy is now the world leader pleasure brand. They began by offering Playboy licensed gaming products, including gambling products, direct to consumers through existing names. By 2022, demand has skyrocketed and Playboy has designed and released their own gambling platforms. In 2025, they are also a leading cannabis brand in the United States and Canada with proprietary strains and products geared towards sexual wellness. Cannabis was legalized in the US in 2023 when President Biden got glaucoma but had success with cannabis treatment. He personally pushes for cannabis legalization as he steps out of office after his first term. Playboy has also grown their brand in China and India to multi-billion per year markets. The stock goes up from 11ish to 100ish and everyone makes big gains buying somewhere along the way.
Bear Case: The United States does a complete 180 on marijuana and gambling. President Biden overdoses on marijuana in the Lincoln bedroom when his FDs go tits up and he loses a ton of money in his sports book app after the Fighting Blue Hens narrowly lose the National Championship to Bama. Playboy is unable to expand their cannabis and gambling brands but still does well with their worldwide lifestyle brand. They gain and lose some interest in China and India but the markets are too large to ignore them completely. The stock goes up from 11ish to 13ish and everyone makes 15-20% gains.
TL;DR: Successful technology/e-commerce investment firm took over Playboy to turn it into a porn, online gambling/gaming, sports book, cannabis company, worldwide lifestyle brand that promotes sexual wellness, vetern access, women-ownership, minority-ownership, and “pleasure for all”. Does a successful online team reinventing an antiquated physical copy giant sound familiar? No options yet, shares only for now. $11.38 per share at time of writing. My guess? $20 by the end of February. $50 by EOY. This is not financial advice. I am not qualified to give financial advice. I’m just sayin’ I would personally use a Playboy sports book app while smoking a Playboy strain specific joint and it would be cool if they did that. Do your own research. You’d probably want to start here:
WARNING - POTENTIALLY NSFW - SEXY MODELS AHEAD - no actual nudity though
https://s26.q4cdn.com/895475556/files/doc_presentations/Playboy-Craig-Hallum-Conference-Investor-Presentation-11_17_20-compressed.pdf
Or here:
https://www.mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/default.aspx
Jimmy Chill: “Get into any SPAC at $10 or $11 and you are going to make money.”
STL;DR: Buy MCAC. MCAC > PLBY couple weeks. Rocketship. Moon.
Position: 5000 shares. I will buy short, medium, and long-dated calls once available.

Hi all,
I thought I would share my profits for Matched Betting Extra Place Horse Racing for Jan 21. January 2021 has turned into my best month of Matched Betting since I started way back in Summer 2018. This months profits are roughly £4,707. A life changing figure for many and a great figure seeing this is achievable on top of a full time job. Matched Betting is the only decent side hustle I have actually found, compared to doing hundreds of boring online surveys...yuck! (Unless you are a good business person / have 5 lodgers / lots of family money etc.) To see some of my other Matched Betting profits you visit my site: https://cashontheside.co.uk/
I will be investing some of my profits this month in ETF/Shares and putting into house improvements like a new drive way. In addition with Cheltenham horse festival coming up in March, I will be increasing my bank to cover liabilities.
The bulk of my profits came from Extra Place racing, large underlayed winners and BOG (best offer garuntee). Variance was certainly on my side this month and I must have had at least 10 large winners which won upwards of £1600 pounds per bet. As I underlay my bets I made more profit than If I had fully layed of the bets. About 5% of these profits came from low risk casino. After you have completed all welcome offers...in Matched Betting. Ep's become a gold mine...and I truly recommend them to anyone.
Some more of my bets this month illustrating underlayed bets and ep:
https://cashonthesidecouk.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/winnings4.jpg
https://cashonthesidecouk.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/winnings.jpg
https://cashonthesidecouk.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/another-winner.jpg
​
Images of one of my bets illustrative of Best offer guarantee: https://cashonthesidecouk.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/136707133_10159536662702922_8507610622687908137_o-1.jpg?w=544
For those who are starting out on their Match Betting journey in 2021 these sort of figures are achievable to you once you have experience….unfortunately this will not come overnight! I do put a lot of time into it..between 2-5 hours a day, 7 days a week sometimes. For the average person you could earn at least £500 a month.
To learn more about Match Betting please visit my article Boost Your Income with Matched Betting. Alternatively you can start an Odds Monkey free trial where they will teach you step by step and give you the calculators you need: odds monkey trial https://www.oddsmonkey.com/affiliates/affiliate.php?id=64754(affiliate) or www.oddsmonkey.com. (non affiliate)
To those with a little more experience who want to learn about Matched Betting Extra Places you can visit my guide here Extra Place Match Betting tips here or I have copied and pasted it all below.
For those with Matched Betting Experience - my guide and tips to Extra Places:
What is Extra Place Matched Betting?
Extra Places can be a very lucrative technique to learn. Extra Places are available for us to do pretty much every day, increasing the appeal. Extra Place Offers are available to all customers. This means that even if you get gubbed with a bookmaker, in most cases, you can still make money with them by Matched Betting on their Extra Place Offers.
Extra Places are considered an advanced reload offer, as they not risk-free. However once you have gained some experience on more basic horse racing offers, you can start to take advantage of the lucrative profits available. It may sound complicated but as soon as it ‘clicks’, it becomes simple. Essentially we are taking advantage of the bookies and exchanges paying out if the horse you have backed comes a certain ‘place’ in a race e.g. 4th.
Extra Places combined with additional offers such as BOG (Best Offer Guarantee) can mean additional profits. For example, you back a horse at odds of 15 and then the starting odds move up to 23. If that horse wins you win an extra x8 on your bet. You can see some real life scenarios I found of Extra Place combined with BOG below. Depending on the size of the underlay, profits below would range up to £3,000+

What is a ‘place’ in horse racing?

Quite simply a ‘place’ is the position the horse finishes a race in. For example if a horse wins a race it comes 1st, if a horse comes 2nd its 2nd. In some races with a large number of horses some bookies will pay out if a horse finishes the race in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th position. Horse Racing festivals such as Cheltenham or Ascot are particularly well known for this.

What is an ‘Extra Place’ in horse racing?

Now we’ve understood what a place is in horse racing you may have probably already guessed what an ‘extra place’ is going to be! An ‘extra place’ is where the bookies add one (or more) additional places to their standard place classification on a particular race. For example they may offer to ‘pay 7 places on a race’ instead of the standard 3 places. The ‘extra place’ in this instance cover 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th.
What are my Extra Place top tips?

1. Some of my biggest profits have come from big underlayed winners and BOG. I typically underlay most of my bets by about 20% sometimes more. If you are starting out I would underlay on the place only by about 10% to play it safe until you learn more.
2. Don’t bet on more places than a bookmaker is offering. E.g. If the bookmaker is offering 4 places don’t bet on more than that.
3. Whilst your learning, take horses on implied odds of at least 12 or more on a match of 80%+.
4. Look to keep qualifying losses down. E.g. for £100 profit, £5 ql.
5. Please note, the best odds are typically found between 10 minutes up and to race time. You have to be quick on your ‘toes’…learn to walk before you run etc. Start out on easy horse racing officers before doing extra places.
6. You will need a bank of at least £1000+ for your exchanges, ideally more. The more you have the more of the field you can cover. You can do EP with several hundred in your exchange but you won’t be able to make bigger profits.
7. Be consistent, don’t take risks, don’t chase your losses and learn from matched betting extra place forums.
8. Keep the Odds Monkey up throughout the day...and check for good matches.
9. Use Bookies Boosts to increase your odds and matches.
10. Do not give in to your fear of missing out on offers…Tomorrow is another day.
11. Have at least a dual monitoscreen setup. It is important to be able to see exchange, books and calcs.

How do I find Extra Places offers?
I use the the Odds Monkey Extra Place Matcher to find the best opportunities for profit. The Matcher is explained in the below video.
https://youtu.be/oOKAdiSJidg
I am also a regular visitor of the active Odds Monkey community forums. You can sign up for an Odds Monkey free trial today here today https://www.oddsmonkey.com/affiliates/affiliate.php?id=64754 www.oddsmonkey.com (non affiliate). Odds Monkey provide you with the all guides, calculators etc. I have been a member for over 2.4 years now.
Feel free to get in touch or ask below if any questions.

From its inception in 2009, GirlsDoPorn was billed as:
"... a reality website that features 18-21 year old females making their very first adult videos."
The site would feature a new girl every week, over several years, like clockwork. As he had seen done through his work with prior sites (such as Exploited Teens), Michael Pratt would feature small previews of the GirlsDoPorn videos on larger platforms - Pornhub, Xvideos, Youporn - which were some of the largest websites in the entire world. But the clips would always direct viewers to his website, GirlsDoPorn.com, where they could unlock the full video for a monthly subscription.
The site would find a lot of success early on, but that success would continue to snowball in later years, as the site gained more and more recognition in the internet community.
But a 2016 lawsuit would reveal that dozens of women had been tricked into participating in the videos for GirlsDoPorn. After responding to job postings online (advertising for legitimate modeling work), dozens of young women - some as young as 16/17 years old - had been hoodwinked by Pratt and his associates, Matthew Wolfe and Ruben "Andre" Garcia. Most claimed that they had been promised the videos would never appear online. Many claimed to have been docked pay for made-up, fraudulent reasons. Others claimed that they had been sexually assaulted by the men involved, or straight-up manipulated/groomed into participating in the pornographic films (and forced into signing contracts under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol).
The lawsuit would eventually reach a conclusion in 2020: the defendants (GirlsDoPorn) had to pay out ~$13 million to the 20+ plaintiffs. But at around the same time, the U.S. Department of Justice would announce sexual trafficking & conspiracy charges against the three men at the center of this scheme (Pratt, Wolfe, and Garcia) as well as some of their employees.
While Wolfe and Garcia have been held in custody since October of last year, GirlsDoPorn founder Michael James Pratt has been a fugitive from justice. The FBI announced a $10,000 reward for any information leading to his arrest just a few weeks ago, in September of 2020, but Pratt's current whereabouts remain unknown.
It's also worth noting that Pratt was singled out by federal prosecutors and charged with production of child pornography, alleged to have solicited a girl as young as 16 to participate in a pornographic film.
Born in New Zealand, Pratt also has ties to Australia and the U.S. as well as the following nations: Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Singapore, Japan, Chile, Croatia, and France. Pratt and his associates managed to funnel a lot of their earnings through shell corporations and offshore bank accounts (as well as moving some into cryptocurrency), so it's possible that he is using this money to create a new life for himself elsewhere.
I covered this story on the most recent episode of the Unresolved podcast, which you can find at the following link:
Unresolved - GirlsDoPorn
A list of additional sources:
FBI: Most Wanted - Michael James Pratt
Vice (Motherboard) - "Girls Do Porn Goes to Trial Over Allegations Women Were Tricked Into Videos"
The Washington Post - "The men behind GirlsDoPorn lured young women with modeling jobs, then tricked them into porn, FBI says"
BuzzFeed News - "A Group Of Women Sued Girls Do Porn For Coercing Them Into Doing Videos. Now They Own All The Rights."
ABC - "'They're con artists and scoundrels': NZ best friends built GirlsDoPorn empire on lies and deception"
The Sun - "'Vile Predator' - Huge $10,000 reward in hunt for fugitive GirlsDoPorn boss who 'forced underage girls to perform sex acts for site'"

Hello r audiodrama! We survived 2020!
According to u/thecambridgegeek 's AudioDramaDebut Twitter, he tracked 1363 audio drama/fiction/RPG debuts in 2020. That's a lot of shows to be competing for attention and some may have fallen through the cracks. I've a curated list of debuts from July 2020 to now, that still have 20 or fewer ratings on the iTunes store. Links are either to landing pages with multiple subscription options or directly to RSS feeds. If you have suggestions for shows that I may have missed, please feel free to add in the comments. If you're interested in exploring past posts I have made to highlight underrated podcasts, check these links out: 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6. Some of those podcasts went on to acquire a large following but others could use your help.
There's also been interest in supporting podcasts by Black creators so I've highlighted the relevant podcasts.
​

1. Little Montgomery (Comedy, Complete): Megan and Kimmy are fourteen-years-old, best friends, and currently planning to commit grand larceny against country music star Rick Montgomery at his concert tonight. As they put their plan into play, songs will sung, secrets will be revealed, and teenage girls will find out how difficult it is to exact revenge.
2. October Jones & Fish With Legs (Fantasy, Family Friendly): Fish with Legs, a fish with legs, is the Elemental Creature of water. She and her human best friend October Jones are trying to stop an evil two-headed snake from releasing a terrible monster that will destroy the world! October's brooding teenage angst and Fish's bubbly optimism make for an interesting pair as they set out together to warn the other Elemental Creatures about the snakes’ devious plan...
3. Seeds (Historical Fiction, Complete): A new podcast series based on the incredible true story of the world’s first seed bank. Established in St Petersburg in 1921 by Nikolai Vavilov, it contained vital samples of crops and plants from all over the world to guard against famine and preserve the future of biodiversity.
4. If Anyone Should Find This (Apocalyptic, Weird Horror, Complete): The world is changing. Will you change with it? “If Anyone Should Find This” is a 9 episode audio drama that follows two security guards as their lives are forever transformed.
5. Nicked (Friendship, Family Friendly, Complete): Since childhood, Nicoletta Nowell and Sarah Locke were inseparable. But the start of eighth grade marked Nicoletta’s sudden transformation from best friend to relentless bully with seemingly no cause. Come December, Sarah is resigned to the new state of affairs until she is swept up in a plot to straighten her bully out by Colzsákos—a Christmas faerie of the Holly Court, specializing in reforming naughty children. It seems like a dream come true, but is Col as ‘good’ as he seems, and can his reformation methods be trusted? A little Mean Girls, a little A Christmas Carol, and a little Labyrinth, Nicked is a holiday faerie tale about good kids, bad kids, and best friendship gone cold.
6. Crypt I.D. (Cryptid): The world is stranger than it seems. Incomprehensible creatures, inexplicable events, the weird and unusual are lurking around every corner. Most people will never see it once. This audio drama follows the experiences of a woman who can't seem to escape it. Note: Ignore the D&D episodes and description. The Crypt I.D. episodes are scripted.
7. Eternal Strife (Comedy): "Life's a bitch - and then you can't die" Life. Death. God. Immortality. Aliens ... a flatulent self-righteous seagull. This high concept comedy series has it all!
8. Today's Lucky Winner (Comedy, Supernatural): “Life may not be fair, but the afterlife tries to be.” That’s the motto of the DMV. (The Department of Mishaps and Violence).When Dawn Menendez finds out that she’s met her untimely demise in a freak curling iron/fire sprinkler accident, she’s met with a posthumous opportunity. She was the 777th soul reaped by the department that day. She now has the opportunity to go back to earth for an entire year, chaperoned by the Reaper who took her soul. The only hitch? Before she’s sent back to earth, she learns that her cosmic scale has been found wanting. Her soul weighs just enough to get sent to a hell dimension. What could she have possibly done? All she did was play MMO’s and go to work. Her first night on earth, her reaper suggests that her accidental demise may have been murder. If she can prove she was murdered, she gets to be reincarnated, and avoid going to hell. Now, Dawn has a year to prove she was murdered and balance the cosmic scales in her favor. Things would be a lot easier if her Reaper would stop getting high and help her.
9. The Embers of Eden (Science Fiction, Thriller): Rival officers Sumner and Hewitt have found themselves trapped inside the mysterious ship which destroyed their own. Finding the truth about its origin may be just as important as staying alive. They'll have to set aside their personal conflict to withstand alien attacks, killer drones, the vacuum of space, and creatures which defy nature. Is the priority to escape or thwart a new danger to all human worlds? What secrets still burn like embers? Each episode of this science fiction adventure switches between the perspectives of Hewitt and Sumner as they fight for survival and answers.
10. The Legion Tapes (Post-apocalyptic, Science Fiction): The Legion Tapes are selections from an archive chronicling the world after the end. The alien Legion takes over worlds and absorbs the sentients of those worlds. They've assimilated eleven species so far, and humanity is next on their list. But even after the nations of the world fall, and even after being reduced to communicating solely by radio, humanity's fighting back. Season 1 (subtitled The Archivist) begins four years and fifteen days after the Legion's arrival on Earth. Normally content to listen, record, and edit tapes for the Archive, Owl finds herself drawn into more and more danger after a mysterious car brings the Legion to her door.
11. Dinosaur Hunter (Time Travel, Adventure): Donovan King is a Paleontologist and Dinosaur Denier (what?!) who has developed a way to travel back in time to disprove the existence of dinosaurs. The plan goes awry, Donovan and his videographer Karl get stuck in the Cretaceous Period unprepared…while his lab assistant Holly tries to fix the machine to get them back. Their survival is in serious jeopardy, and not just because they’re being hunted by hungry beasts or dying from exposure.There is much more at stake...
12. My Parallel Life (Young Adult, Parallel Universes): Daniel Jones' perfect life just took a sharp turn for the worse. His parents separated, he has to move to an apartment in the city and go to a PUBLIC school (ugh!) where everyone is a TOTAL SLACKER and no one cares about his high GPA and PRESTIGIOUS WRITING AWARDS, and worst of all, his mom just up and left the country. Daniel is working up a plan to make his life more acceptable, when he discovers a strange door... A door that takes him to a parallel life where his parents hadn't separated.
13. The Devil Hates Mondays (Workplace Comedy): A supernatural audiocomedy about a Regular Guy that gets caught up in a Not-So-Regular situation.
14. Clarion Dawn (Cyberpunk, Complete): In a disquieting future, all of humanity is united by the System, the ultimate in communications technology that connects all minds simultaneously. But in the distant fringes of outer worlds, agitators plot to separate human consciousness and society from the System's power; it falls on Captain Kennick Anderson to stop them, but in the twilight solitude of space he's left to wonder where his loyalties really lie. "Clarion Dawn" is a tense thriller that explores strange new ideas about human nature, in the style of classic 20th century science fiction.
15. Russell Gets Revenge (Dark Comedy, Complete): Russell Gets Revenge is a pitch black comedy about a man on a quest for vengeance for the murder of his wife. We follow him and his friends and family as he struggles through all the indignities of being a hapless accountant trying to hunt down a murderer.
16. Through The Attic Door (Comedy, Surreal): Step through the attic door, and into the wacky and whimsical world of Hotel Elsewhere! Join The Scientist, The Gremlin, Brian The Robot and the colourful residents of the Hotel in this narrative broadcast about secret mice revolutions, unexpected friendships, and all the radio hijacking you can handle!
17. The Strange Tales of Virgil Kaylock (Horror): Set in the 1920’s. “The Tales” tell the story of Virgil Kaylock. A modest and insecure young man whose life takes the strangest of turns as he battles with dark, supernatural forces and confronts his own feelings of inadequacy and fear. His adventure takes him to a haunted Moor, a cursed Sailing Ship, the Hellfire caves and the Arctic wastes as he battles with an incomprehensible evil. But why? Why do the forces of darkness pursue him? He will ultimately discover the shocking truth.
18. Blast into Adventure! (Drama, Complete): A COVID-quarantined suburban dad starts listening to a 1940s radio show that shouldn’t exist. Then the show starts listening back.
19. Moving On by Cinema Viscera (Drama, Comedy): Molly has always had trouble facing the harsh realities of life, so when her partner of seven years, Jake, suddenly walks out on her, Molly’s subconscious gives her a unique coping tool in the guise of a larger than life imaginary version of Jake who won't leave her alone. With the help of her best friends Delilah and Zack - both with problems of their own - Molly has to face the hard fact that she has been dumped and find a way to regain her sense of self if she has any hope of getting rid of her imaginary boyfriend...
20. TIGHTS (Superhero, Comedy, Complete): Geoff wants to be a superhero. But he's not very super.
21. Vamps (Comedy, Urban Fantasy): Glizelda, Mariana, Ophelia, and Jean have been stuck in a castle together for a long time. A very, VERY long time...
22. Shark-Man (Comedy, Family Friendly, Complete): Shark-Man is a 9 part series. It tells the story of Dewey Dorsalfine and his journey into shark magic and discovering his true shark nature on the Oregon Coast. This is a fantasy story meant for the whole family. It involves silly language and magical thinking.
23. Pershing Radio (Post-Apocalyptic): A young woman crawls out of the bank vault she was working in when the bombs fell and finds the world destroyed around her. She steps over her dead coworkers and crosses the highway to break into an old radio building. Unsure if the broadcast equipment still works, she uses it to try and contact survivors, wherever they may be, and until she finds them, she reports on her surroundings, both the terrifying and the benign.
24. Papal Aspirations (Comedy, Mystery): Pope Pius XIII is dead. Accident? Plucky reporter Meredith Blanc-Schwartz isn't so sure, so she makes her way to Rome to ask the Vatican’s very holy men some very uncomfortable questions. (Voiced entirely by two young ingenues / novice voice actresses.)
25. The Stranger (Horror): When comedy podcast bro Julian Black discovers his great-grandfather's tapes, he assumes it's an immersive radio drama. That was his first mistake. Posting the tapes online? Well, now he's asking for it. He'll come face-to-face with supernatural creatures as he's plunged into a centuries-old mystery. And at its heart is a mysterious Stranger in a dark suit.
26. The Petrol Station (Horror): Nina Sudbrooke is a young girl who works the nights at her local remote petrol station. One evening she encounters something...stranger and now is desperate to tell somebody, anybody. The Petrol station is a semi horror podcast about the lonely world of working the graveyard shift in the middle of nowhere.
27. The TARN Conspiracy (Thriller): When a teen boy goes missing from the remote logging town of Archangel, Brandon Jones, a tabletop game store owner and conspiracy theorist, can’t help but see the similarities to his own sister’s unsolved disappearance from twenty years earlier. He decides to publish an investigative podcast drawing attention to Thomas’s case before it goes as cold as his sister’s, but soon discovers that the reason his sister's case remained unsolved may be more sinister than he imagined. The TARN Conspiracy is a fictional story told as a series of investigative reports that's perfect for fans Twin Peaks, and The X-Files.
28. This is Where We Go (Science Fiction, Black Creator, Complete): This series is inspired by the OCTAVIA BUTLER quote from PARABLE OF THE SOWER: “All that you touch/You Change. All that you Change/Changes you. The only lasting truth/Is Change./God is Change.” A future built on commodity and access is altered forever with the disappearance of it’s main life force. With the fate of the universe rocked by change, four strangers find the answer to survival in each other. Four strangers, four paths, one destination.
29. This Mortal Coil (Comedy, Mystery, Complete): When a Hamlet-inspired murder ruins her dress rehearsal, Elissa’s delighted. The detective’s an old actor pal and she’d forgotten her lines anyway. Lured in by the promise of Jammie Dodgers, Elissa pursues a dastardly killer with a penchant for Shakespeare.
30. The Rift (Steampunk): A steampunk, monster-hunting adventure through Victorian England and the surrounding Universes. It's steampunk Victorian England and monsters are invading the otherwise peaceful balls and tea parties. The Baroness, gutsy and eccentric, funds a team of monster hunters that include her brother, a scholar who recently found out he was the father of a teenager, her protegee, a young scientist whose mother wants her to spend more time flirting than tinkering with machines, and her man-servant Gunner. At its heart, it's a character piece about finding yourself in a world that won't accept you, but building the community that will lift you up.
31. Grounds (Drama, Black Creator): GROUNDS is the story of 5 Black Professors at a 4 year PWI. A fictitious college and town in the rural south, which is the home of a predominately white 4 year college with students totaling 1700 with 15% of those self-identifying as students of color. 7% of those are Black. The story follows the lives of five Black professors. The only full time, tenure track Black lecturers who work at Morris & Wilkins University. It highlights the trials, obstacles, and joys of maintaining a Black existence within a white academic structure.
32. The Rest is Electric (Science Fiction): In the year 2109 humans and robots work alongside each other as coworkers. Jordan Mede, a human employee of Somnotech, is transferred to the entirely robot run manufacturing department. While initially the transfer seems to be the result of a clerical error, Jordan soon begins to suspect that there’s something more sinister going on…
33. Swiss and Lali hijack Hollywood(Comedy): Swiss and Lali Hijack Hollywood follows two young L.A. slackers who take over Hollywood by becoming accidental con artists, all so they can give up “the hustle” and retire at their dream beach house in Malibu. Utilizing multi-media platforms that span across audio, animation, and live-action video, Swiss and Lali creates a colorful world of dysfunction, shenanigans, bamboozling, and most importantly, friendship.
34. The Way We Haunt Now (Supernatural): Eulalie Elizabeth Reed is haunted by lots of things. Paths not taken. Failed relationships. Mistakes. Fears. Hopes. But she’s never been properly haunted before. That’s about to change. The Way We Haunt Now is a lighthearted horror audio drama about female friendships, found family, and fighting the narratives that try to define us––even in the afterlife. Oh, and ghosts. Did we mention ghosts?
35. Absolutely No Adventures (Fantasy, Comedy): Absolutely No Adventures is a fantasy (un)adventure podcast that follows Sig, the owner of Signature Eats bakery, as he aggressively avoids becoming embroiled in any daring quests or chosen one shenanigans even though the universe really seems to want him to do just that. Follow Sig as he chills with his friends and stays far, far away from the slightest whiff of adventure. And bakes. He also bakes.
36. Haunted House Flippers (Comedy, Horror): Hilarity and spooky shenanigans occur when Tom and Janet set out to renovate and resell an inherited home that turns out to be intensely haunted.
37. Fast Radio Burst! (Science Fiction): Contemporary suspense radio from quarantined New York.
38. Daedalus Compound (Surreal): Jesper Ikaros has found himself in a peculiar situation, he's trapped in a maze-like library with a book that contains his whole life story. Welcome to the Daedalus Compound. Where the past haunts you, the present hunts you, and the only way to escape is by getting to the center of the maze.
39. The Gaia Miracles (Science Fiction, Environment): Join me, Barry Orsen, a journalist with Nice Guise Media, as I investigate the Gaia Miracles more than a year after the catastrophic ending in Chicago and the disappearance of Elisa Garvey, my friend and the first reporter to witness one of the Miracles. With each interview, the established story unravels. Who is to blame? The industrial giant at the center of the Miracles, The Hydell Corporation, or the mysterious group who made them a target, Gaia Prime.
40. Forgive Me! (Comedy, Religion): Father Ben left his congregation in Binghamton, New York, in the cover of night for the smaller, quieter pastures of St. Patrick’s. As our new, young, and at times progressive priest begins to acquiesce to his new surroundings, he finds himself butting heads with the eccentric parishioners who come to him seeking solace and advice. Whether he’s trying to understand Old Margaret’s “usual” confession; parsing out how Tom can better help care for his wife’s pet pig, David; or getting to the bottom of the Christmas Eve Mass Incident, Forgive Me! explores the intertwined lives in Ben’s new community and the funny, sad, and sometimes painful experiences that come out of confession and the Catholic experience.
41. The Boston Project Podcast (Drama): The Boston Project is a new works program that supports the creation of new plays set in Boston, each of which explores what it means to live in this community, and taps into the many experiences and identities that make up life in the Hub.
42. Cinematic Sound Saturdays (Multiple Series, Genre Fiction): This series is a collection of audio dramas written, performed, produced, and recorded by students at Columbia College Chicago.

From the South Essex Heckler:
We’ve come in for a bit of criticism over the last couple of days for our views on the government response to the COVID-19 crisis. Firstly, we’d like to start off by saying that our position on the response to the crisis has changed since it started to emerge at the end of February. At that point, it felt like a massive unknown and that starting to develop our own response in terms of physical distancing and withdrawing from events we were due to participate in seemed to be the sensible thing to do.
Anarchists played a part in this process, working out other ways we could interact with each other while avoiding being physically close as a precaution. They also did and are still doing seriously good work with grassroots mutual aid projects. There was a feeling that this was something that anarchism could own.
For us, that sense of ownership was taken away once the government stepped in to impose their own measures which ended up placing all of us under restrictions that most of us have never experienced in our lives. The legislation the government brought into to implement and enforce these restrictions turned what we were voluntarily undertaking for what we thought would only last a month or so into something that is being done to us with no end in sight.
While we get that those anarchists who initiated ways of dealing what they perceived to be the threat in the early stages of the crisis want to retain ownership of that, with top down legislation and enforcement, the dynamic changed. As the lockdown went on, the negative impact it was having on peoples lives started to become more apparent. We’re talking about the social and mental health impacts ranging from disrupted relationships and isolation through to an increase in the number of suicides. Also, the long term economic impact which we’ll be paying for with mass unemployment and austerity will have a devastating impact on our lives.
As we went into May, routes out of the lockdown that involved surveillance, tracking and further losses of personal autonomy and freedom were being discussed. It was also becoming clear that in order to free up as much bed space in hospitals as possible, elderly patients with the COVID-19 virus were effectively being dumped into care homes. The ensuing tragedy in care homes staffed by low paid workers without the resources to deal with the subsequent wave of infections and deaths has been described by a fair few people as little more than a thinly disguised cull.
All of this prompted us to start asking some serious questions about the narrative we were being fed. That involved a fair bit of reading around and keeping an open mind. Yes, that process did take us into some weird areas that were veering towards what some would term as conspiracy theory. It also led us to take a look at some of the alt right takes on the issue so we could understand how they were exploiting people’s concerns about the lockdown for their own ends. All of this was a necessary research process that helped with our building the list of COVID-19 crisis readings on this blog. A list that we’re prepared to defend as not, in our opinion, going anywhere near conspiracy theory.
Mind you, what is and isn’t conspiracy theory is a grey area and one influenced by subjective understanding and opinion. What has made us more than a bit annoyed is the instant, reflexive dismissal by a number of anarchists of some of the readings we have listed as being ‘conspiracy theory’. Given the restrictions we’re already under plus what will be coming down the line at us if we don’t start showing some signs of resistance, it’s a bit alarming that what we consider as reasonable warnings are getting dismissed out of hand.
As we’ve noted before, we’re in an unprecedented situation. In a 24/7 news and social media landscape, trying to tease out the signal from the noise is a difficult task. One thing is abundantly clear, the massive number of powers the government has conferred upon itself will not be given up without the fight of our lives. That’s not conspiracy theory – it’s just paying attention to the lessons of history. Before long, it’s highly likely that powers that were ostensibly brought in to deal with the COVID-19 crisis will be deployed against us in another ‘crisis’.
All we’ve been trying to do is alert people in order that the right strategies and tactics to resist what’s very likely coming our way can be developed. The range of grassroots mutual aid initiatives that have emerged to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 crisis certainly offer some hope. As well as dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, they will have a role in dealing with the dire consequences of an inevitable economic depression and the crushing austerity that will be inflicted upon us. We hope these mutual aid groups will also take on the task of resisting an increasingly intrusive and oppressive state, aided and abetted by the large corporations they’ve outsourced many of their functions to.
The point is that it shouldn’t be an eitheor situation in being involved with a mutual aid group dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the one hand and on the other, developing a strategy of resistance to deal with and defeat the dystopia to come. It’s just that from where we are, it feels like some groups are focusing on mutual aid as a way of not having to face up to the totalitarian dystopia the government and the corporations will likely be inflicting upon us.
That is why we’ve probably come over as a bit stroppy at times because to us, it feels like there’s not the sense of urgency there should be about what’s coming. We’re not saying this to score intellectual points or to look clever. It’s because we’d like a future where we can lead a full, meaningful life as opposed to one where we merely exist as a cog for as long as the machine will tolerate us. That’s not just for us as individuals or family, it’s also for our community and all of our comrades. Basically, it’s an existential threat that we take personally.
As this is intended to be a statement, we’ve tried to keep it as brief as we can. The aim is to explain how we’ve come to our position in the hope that this can help in the discussion about where we go from here. We look forward to a constructive discussion…
These two pieces broadly set out our position…
The Emerging Political Divide
We’ve been activists in one guise or another for more decades than we care to remember. The ongoing and still evolving COVID-19 crisis is shaping up to be the most significant and seismic event we’ve experienced. In a situation like this, it can be all too easy to allow yourself to be sucked into the day to day passage of events and in trying to deal with and process them as best as you can, to not take a few steps back and try to see the bigger picture. A 24/7 bombardment of news (or what passes for news), opinion, speculation, rumours and a fair few outright lies from a range of news, comment and social media platforms makes the job of trying to isolate some signal from the cacophony of noise a difficult task.
We’ve done our level best to analyse the COVID-19 crisis with an open mind. If you take a look back at the posts we’ve written about the crisis since it started to hit in early March, it’s pretty clear that our thinking has evolved since that early point. In a dynamic, fast moving situation, having a rigid mindset and refusing to alter that will undermine any serious attempt to understand what’s happening, let alone devise the strategy and tactics needed to deal with what you’re facing.
In the early part of March, we took the attitude that in light of what we knew at the time about COVID-19, a sensible response was some form of lockdown and a degree of self isolation. This was seen as a reasonable precaution to take while we took stock of the situation, with the intention of allowing our analysis, strategy and tactics to evolve as our understanding improved. We actually withdrew from participating in an event in March because we were concerned about the possibility of contracting the virus in what was a confined and busy environment. Knowing what we know now, would we have made the same decision? No, we most likely would have concluded that attending didn’t carry any significant risk and would have participated in the event. However, based on what we knew at that point in early March, withdrawing from the event seemed to be the right decision to make.
The major factor that made us change our thinking about the crisis has been the response of not just the UK government, but pretty much all governments across the globe, in dealing with the coronavirus. Speaking from our personal experience, we’re over two months into an unprecedented level of restrictions on who we can associate with, how and where we shop, where we can go to get some fresh air and for us as non-drivers, on (not) using public transport. We’re now at the launch of the app for our phones that will alert us if we’ve been in contact with anyone who has COVID-19 and then, we’ll be pretty much told to self isolate for fourteen days. As an aside, from what is admittedly the social and political bubble we inhabit, the demand for cheap and cheerful burner phones will be soaring over the next few weeks from people who rightly don’t want to be tracked and monitored 24/7.
On top of the restrictions on movement and association plus the roll out of an alert app which is basically a means of monitoring our every move, the economy has taken a massive hit. The kind of hit that will wipe out many small, independent shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants, music venues…the list goes on. The kind of hit that allows the large corporations to suck up more assets for themselves. The kind of hit that the hedge funds and their like are making obscene amounts of money from. The kind of hit that will lead to more wealth being concentrated in fewer hands while the rest of us face an increasingly restricted and impoverished future.
Faced with all of this, it would be negligent of us to not do our level best to draw attention to what’s going on and to prompt people to start asking the questions that need to be asked about why we are where we are. The problem is that as soon as you start to do this, the accusations of ‘conspiracy theory’ start flying around. Some of those accusations have come from so called ‘anarchists’ who we hoped would have know better. That is most likely down to many of them having been taken in by the relentless barrage of what we would term as ‘fear porn’ we’ve been subjected to for the last few months. A barrage that is a form of psychological warfare, also known more colloquially as psyops.
Fear is an amazing tool for securing compliance from the populace for whatever nefarious aims the government of the day and their corporate backers may have in mind. After two months of ‘stay two metres away’ from any other human, the constant pavement dancing needed to adhere to this, interacting with masked up retail staff through plastic screens, seeing plans for school re-openings that will see kids physically kept apart from their peers, it should be all too clear we’re being conditioned to fear each other. As we’ve written before, what makes us truly human with the need for face to face and physical contact is being torn away from us as we’re reduced to atomised, fearful and increasingly easier to control individuals ever more reliant on authority to guide us through the ‘crisis’.
The problem is the number of political activists we know who we thought would have known better, yet have been taken in by this climate of fear. Once you succumb to this fear, it’s harder to take a few steps back and try to form an objective assessment of what’s going on. As well as what we’ve touched upon above, what is also going on is what seems to be a profound reformulation of political and social divides. The labels left and right are starting to become less relevant. What is starting to emerge in the ongoing confusion and chaos is a divide between those of us who value personal and collective autonomy at the grassroots on the one hand and on the other, those who look to the state to provide ‘solutions’ to problems, regardless of how totalitarian those ‘solutions’ may turn out to be. The point is that those who are willing to trade their freedoms for what is an illusion of safety will end up with neither.
After more decades in political activism than we care to remember, we’ve learnt that nothing is ever clear cut. The divide that’s emerging between those who value autonomy and those who look to the state for their security is far from clear cut! What has struck us are the ‘anarchists’ who appear to be quite happy with the lockdown and all of the restrictions that come with it. ‘Anarchists’ who have succumbed to the fear porn to the extent that they are accusing the UK government of ‘incompetence’ in suppressing the spread of COVID-19. Sadly, this is what happens when you buy into the fear porn and render yourself unable to take a step back to ask the critical questions that need to be asked about what’s being done to us. Suffice to say that there are a number of ‘anarchists’ we once regarded as comrades who we no longer feel we can work with.
As old political definitions and divides become redundant while new ones emerge, we’ll find ourselves with some strange bedfellows. Some may end up as firm allies, some may eventually end up as opponents or enemies. The point is that we have to remain open minded and flexible during this ever evolving and often confusing situation. We’re not always going to get it right and yes, if we get through this, in a few years time we may well look back and ask ourselves why the heck did we align ourselves with these particular people?!
To come to some kind of conclusion, given that our personal and collective autonomy is on the line, it’s better to remain open minded and willing to experiment with new alliances. A rigid adherence to a particular line, a refusal to countenance new alliances and condemnation of those of us who are open minded and willing to experiment will inadvertently usher in a techno totalitarian future where we’ll merely exist as opposed to living a full life. A caveat… Pieces like this are a snapshot in a dynamic, constantly evolving and often, confusing situation. Some of these may survive the test of time, some most definitely won’t. As ever, constructive criticism and comradely debate are welcome. Abuse and accusations of ‘conspiracy theory’ will be neither welcomed or tolerated so basically, if that’s all you can manage, don’t bother!
A Sort of Warning:
We’ve had week after week of wall to wall coverage of the COVID-19 crisis in the media. The question is, how many people are still paying attention to it and how many, for the sake of their sanity, are choosing to switch off from it? If this ever ends, it would be an interesting exercise to conduct research on what effect this barrage of coverage has had on people’s mental health. It would also be interesting to see how much this relentless coverage has further undermined people’s already shrinking faith in the media.
We’ve been doing what we can to try and keep up with developments but to be honest, we have days when the stress of trying to discern any meaningful signal from the cacophony of noise is so overwhelming, we simply switch off and try to re-focus the following day. Having said this, a still somewhat scratchy picture is starting to emerge of what we face in the coming months and years as the COVID-19 crisis evolves and morphs into something that will quite possibly be sinister and dystopian.
Fault lines are emerging. On the one hand, there are those who by and large accept the lockdown and the need for it to go on for some considerable time and also, are largely supportive of whatever tracking and monitoring measures have been mooted to ostensibly limit and eventually eliminate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. On the other hand, there are those who have taken a look at the relentless coverage of the crisis, smelt a rat and are starting to question the narrative we’re being fed, particularly when that is being used to justify measures which will restrict our freedom and subject us to more surveillance. As regular readers of the Heckler may have gathered, we tend towards the latter. We’re anarchists and as we’re supposed to accept no higher authority than ourselves and those we collectively organise with, it would be downright negligent of us to not question the narrative we’re being fed!
Coming right in over the top of this is the threat of more austerity to ‘pay’ for the money the government has spent in ‘dealing’ with the COVID-19 crisis. The impact of the last round of austerity is still being felt and has decimated the lives of millions of working class people. Another round of austerity will leave millions with nothing left to lose. That will have consequences as Dr Lisa Mckenzie clearly sets out in this piece: If the UK government brings in a new round of austerity to pay for Covid-19, it’ll spark civil unrest that will see cities burn.
So, all of the extra powers the government has conferred upon itself and all of the surveillance and tracking that’s coming our way, ostensibly to deal with COVID-19, will certainly come in handy when the shit hits the fan as the next wave of austerity is sent to crush us. Just one example are the powers that could see restrictions or bans on large gatherings for the rest of the year and quite possibly, into 2021. As we’ve mentioned previously, large gatherings will take in demonstrations and radical/anarchist bookfairs. Which leaves us with mutual aid work and online propagandising. If you keep your mutual aid work away from digital networks as far as possible, avoid any hierarchy, keep it grassroots and face to face, you’ll get by. Those of us who are basically propagandists and because of the dearth of opportunities to physically distribute our material, pretty much have to rely on being online, will be facing a very uncertain future as we slide towards more authoritarianism.
On the subject of restrictions, there are strong rumours that many cafes, pubs and restaurants will not open again until close to Christmas. Bear in mind, many of these establishments face the prospect of going to the wall: Pubs in the UK Might be Closed Until Christmas – If They Survive at All. As we’ve written before, that’s a massive loss of opportunities to meet up with friends for company, drink and/or food. While those of us whose jobs have survived this massive economic shock will be gradually returning to work, there will be little or no socialising because there won’t be anywhere to go. Life will be reduced to work, commute, eat, sleep, commute, work…repeat on loop, ad infinitum. Entertainment will not be the company of friends but whatever is being piped down to our TVs. A diet of fear-mongering so called ‘news’ designed to keep us frightened and reliant on the authorities to look after us. Sprinkled with a toxic dose of divide and rule to keep us divided, atomised and easier to manipulate and control.
That’s for those ‘lucky’ enough to still be in ‘steady’ work. For the millions more who’ll be on precarious zero hours contracts or unemployed, struggling to find work in an economy that’s been gutted and reliant on Universal Credit, life will be grim. For those who are disabled and rely on Universal Credit and a gutted public sector for the support they need, life is already horrendous as they find themselves increasingly thrown to the margins. As it is for the elderly in care homes pretty much unable to access hospital treatment and finding that they’re subject to ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ notices. We’re in a society where some lives are seen as worth considerably less than others – based on how much people can or can’t contribute to the ‘bottom line’. When that narrative starts to become widely accepted, what is essentially a cull by a combination of neglect and malice starts to become normalised.
The lockdown is tearing us apart from each other. If a loved one has been diagnosed as having COVID-19 before they passed away, not only were you not allowed to be with them in their final hours if they were in hospital, you’re not allowed to see their body before cremation. Numbers are strictly limited at the funeral with physical distancing enforced and no wake afterwards. At a point in life where you need to emotional and physical support of family and friends, it’s denied to you. People are going to be mentally scarred by experiencing the passing of a loved one in this way for the rest of their lives.
We live opposite a park with play equipment, now taped off. It’s been silent since March when the lockdown was brought in. Along with the closure of nurseries and schools, kids have been denied the opportunity to play with each other. Play is not a frivolous activity. From toddlers onwards, play is how kids learn to interact with each other. It’s how they learn to negotiate, compromise and co-operate with each other. It’s how they learn from mistakes and go on to become fully rounded human beings. Denying kids the opportunity to play for any significant length of time is going to cause long term developmental and mental health issues down the line.
Adolescence is when kids really start to work out who they are. It’s when kids quite rightly want to assert their independence and get out into the world. It’s when long term friendships are formed. It’s when they develop a support network of their peers. Can you imagine what an adolescent will be feeling when all of this is denied to them as they face what is to all intents and purposes, indefinite house arrest? A ‘normal’ adolescent will find this hard enough. Anyone with mental health issues will find this agonising. Tragically, this has already led to adolescents feeling they have no option but to take their lives.
Lockdown with an abusive partner or parent is a nightmare that doesn’t even bear thinking about. It’s a potential death sentence. Anyone advocating the continuation of the lockdown really needs to have some thought as to what urgently has to happen to prevent any more tragedies where an individual has been killed by an abusive partner or parent.
As we’ve written previously, it really does feel like we’re being subjected to a massive psychological experiment: A few readings and thoughts on the psychological impact of COVID-19 anxiety and the lockdown. One in which we’re simultaneously being subjected to an unprecedented level of fear-mongering and being torn apart from each other. One in which we’re being made to feel that the only option of being able to move forwards is to subject ourselves to a loss of autonomy through increased tracking and surveillance, ostensibly for our own good. One in which our hopes and plans for the future have been trashed. One in which we’re being atomised and made ever more dependent on the whims of our rulers for our survival. One which has already turned into a fucking nightmare for a lot of people and will do for many more of us.
It seems that when a commentator uses the word ‘reset’ to describe the social and economic turmoil that’s coming our way, the accusations of ‘conspiracy theory’ start flying around. The last few weeks have been quite revealing in terms of where those accusations have been coming from because a fair number of them have come from people who consider themselves to be ‘radical’ and a few from so called ‘anarchists’. The point is that the global lockdown has caused an economic shock of historic proportions that like previous shocks, will end up seeing more wealth concentrated in fewer hands. As has already been seen in the years since the banking crash of 2008.
So, people who may think they’re doing the right thing by supporting restrictions on movement and gatherings, as well as increased tracking and surveillance are actually supporting the creation and enhancement of an apparatus that will completely screw our lives and freedoms. All we ask is that you take a deep breath, take a few steps back, do your best to get some perspective and start to ask some hard questions about what’s being done to us. If those questions aren’t asked and we continue on the trajectory we’re on, for many of us, life will become mere existence as we’re effectively plugged into a dystopian matrix. Many may not even survive to experience this.
You may find this hard to believe but we’d really love it if we were wrong on everything we’ve written above and ended up with a copious amount of egg on our faces. Trust us, we want to wake up and find this has all been a bad dream. The thing is, we wake up every morning, check our news feed, see the deserted playground opposite us, feel that tightening, sickening feeling in our guts and realise this is reality. We’ve got an all too narrow window of opportunity to act and start to resist what’s happening to us. If we don’t, not only are we screwed, generations to come will be as well…