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Following the money

image

One thing that has long baffled me about our ongoing global clusterfuck has been the push to just pretend that it's not happening. Who benefits financially from that?

I think the answer is, commercial landlords and hotel financiers.

Backing up:

I don't think that the dropping of all mitigation measures happened just because "people" are "over it". I don't think it's some spontaneous groundswell. People have been given permission to say they're "over it", by misinformation campaigns that have been inflicted upon them.

Random individuals may be driven by infantile short-sightedness, but they are being encouraged in this by businesses, governments and state actors; they are being given cover to just pretend that it's not happening. Businesses are legendarily short-sighted, rarely able to see past the end of the quarter, but more than two years into this, shouldn't they have seen some patterns emerge? Even from the point of view of Capitalism Red in Tooth and Claw, how is it in their interest to have their employees dying by the thousands? To have them become saddled with life-long disabilities that will impact work and jack up the companies' own insurance costs for decades to come?

We've got stunts like this, where Maskless Mayor Breed gathers together a Rogue's Gallery of the world's worst businesses and pressures them into forcing their employees back into their cars and cubicles:

By committing to San Francisco, these businesses and many more are investing in this city and the people who live and work here. We are excited to welcome people back to downtown to work, dine, and experience our arts and culture. March is a new chapter for SF!

Which, due to character limits, she followed up with a second twit containing nothing but a list of the various companies' twitter handles. Ideally she'd be forced to wear their logos on her blazer like a NASCAR jacket, but she probably wouldn't even be embarrassed by that. Scarlet letter my ass.

tbreisacher: If the @SFPride parade was a tweet:

London Breed:
>
>> @BankofAmerica @BlackRock @sffed @FibroGenInc @GapInc @warriors @Google @HOKNetwork @Invitae @jpmorganchase @Meta @salesforce @united @Kilroyrealty @Mastercard @Microsoft @Orrick @SFGiants @SFSymphony @SPUR_Urbanist @Uber @usfca @Visa @WellsFargo

If a CEO wanted their employees back in the office for whatever reason (they think they're more productive, more controllable, whatever) they would just DO it. they don't need permission. They don't need the mayor campaigning for it. It's literally their call, and theirs alone. So why is the mayor campaigning for this? On whose behalf? We know it's not the CEOs, those are the targets of the campaign.

Part of the party line on this has been about the financial pain suffered by other downtown businesses, so is this on behalf of the hot dog cart on the corner? The food truck, the pizzeria, the upscale lunchtime businessman steakhouse?

No. Those businesses have no lobbying muscle at all. And more to the point, the various mayors and governors gave zero fucks about those businesses during the decades when the tech companies were building their own "free" cafeterias and restaurants directly into their office towers. Those companies did the math and figured out that if they served their employee a $6 meal in-house, they'd get an extra 2 hours work out of them every day. And all they had to do was shank that hot dog cart, that food truck, that pizzeria. The mayor gave zero fucks while that was happening.

So who's left?

Commercial landlords. They see the spectre of the Googles of the world deciding that they need half as much floor space, and strong-arming their way into smaller leases, or just defaulting on it and daring them to fight it out in court. "We're Google, what are you gonna do?"

I think that those are the donors on whose behalf Breed is lobbying. That's why she wants us to believe the pandemic is over. So that when the CEOs tell everyone to get back to work, to justify those downtown tower leases, that the drones don't just quit. She, and the landlords, require the consent of the abused.

Notably, it will not be the employees of the commercial real-estate holding companies whose lives will be put at risk by these back-to-the-cubicle policies.

Who else, though? Here's another clue:

Breed is currently on a corporate-funded tour of the Great Houses of Europe, glad-handing movers and shakers in the capital cities, putting on her dog-and-pony show about how San Francisco is still a great tourist destination. Hitting all the talking points countering the Fox News stories about blood in the streets, telling everyone the Tenderloin is still a safe and welcoming place for High End Retail.

So who benefits from that? Which lobbyists will be pulling those strings? Airlines, obviously, but more importantly, hotel financiers, and the money-laundering oligarchs who love them.

As we learned from Scooby Doo, Donald Trump and Lex Luthor, it's always a real estate scam.

Always.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

#uncategorized #bigbrother #conspiracies #corporations #doomed #firstperson #plague #sf

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krzwierz79@iviv.hu
krzwierz79

Hey everyone, I’m #newhere and just looking around (I’m not too big on being social)

I’m equally into #computers #education #translation #psychology and #photography. Depends on a day.

If I’m not learning modern #javascript (I stopped making websites in early 2000s) or #python (mostly to scratch my own itch), I may be #translating something from #English to #Polish
(and the other way round), #meditating and #journaling with #ACT or trying to find:
good #SF or #fantasy to read, some time to make the photos of my wife #dancing look good with #darktable, bands like #godsmack, people to talk to and values to go by.

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robertgforge@diaspora-fr.org
Robert Forge

Bonjour tout le monde, je suis auteur et #nouveauici.
Mes centres d'intérêt sont nombreux > #apprendre, #écrire, #blender, #unity, #dessin, #running, #voxel

J'ai un roman à mon actif Nouvelle Conscience un #policier #SF #intelligenceArtificielle > https://amzn.to/2Zatsfx
... un second en écriture et 3 ou 4 à venir (mais pas tout de suite ^_^ )

Voici mon site d'auteur > http://www.robertforge.fr/

A bientôt de pour des échanges 3C : calmes, créatifs et constructifs :)

#écrireunroman, #écriture, #écrivain, #roman, #IA

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classiques-sf@diaspora-fr.org
classiques-sf Classiques-sf

Le troisième article du blog de Classiques-sf parlait du livre de Philip K. Dick "Rapport minoritaire" (plus connu sous son titre en anglais "Minority Report"). Ecrit sous forme de nouvelle, ce livre est en fait assez éloigné du célèbre remake cinématographique de Spielberg.

Critique et résumé ici : https://classiquessf.wordpress.com/2021/11/29/rapport-minoritaire/

#philipkdick #science-fiction #sf #blog #littérature

Classiques-sf

Articles et critiques sur les grands textes de la Science-Fiction

nadloriot@diaspora.psyco.fr
nadloriot

Valérian et Laureline, toute une histoire...

Sans le savoir, Mézières et Christin viennent de créer une référence du cinéma de science-fiction, qui n’existe pas encore. (...)
Luc Besson a lu ces albums pendant sa jeunesse. Dans les années 1990, il demande à Mézières de concevoir les décors du Cinquième Élément. Plus tard, le réalisateur rend un deuxième hommage au héros de son enfance avec le long-métrage le plus cher du cinéma français, Valérian et la Cité des mille planètes. Deux films appréciés par le dessinateur.
Ce sera moins le cas pour les inspirations de George Lucas, le créateur de Star Wars. L’Américain s’inspire grandement de Valérian et Laureline pour créer la trilogie originale, sortie entre 1977 et 1983. La forme d’un vaisseau spatial ou le bikini de Princesse Leia lui valent même d’être accusé de plagiat. Jean-Claude Mézières demandera des explications à George Lucas, mais sa lettre restera sans réponse.

Without knowing it, Mézières and Christin have just created a reference of the science-fiction cinema, which does not exist yet. (...)
Luc Besson read these albums during his youth. In the 1990s, he asked Mézières to design the sets of The Fifth Element. Later, the director pays a second tribute to the hero of his childhood with the most expensive feature film of French cinema, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Two films appreciated by the designer.
It will be less the case for the inspirations of George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars. The American was greatly inspired by Valerian and Laureline to create the original trilogy, released between 1977 and 1983. The shape of a spaceship or the bikini of Princess Leia even earned him accusations of plagiarism. Jean-Claude Mézières will ask George Lucas for explanations, but his letter will remain unanswered
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

https://www.franceculture.fr/bande-dessinee/jean-claude-mezieres-pionnier-de-la-bd-de-science-fiction

#art #dessin #drawing #bd #comics #sf #mézières #rip #hommage #tribute #vendredilecture

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classiques-sf@diaspora-fr.org
classiques-sf Classiques-sf

Retrouvrez le premier article paru sur Classiques-sf, un résumé/critique de l'ouvrage d'Asimov nommé "Fondation", ou le premier tome du Cycle de Fondation. Adapté en série TV récemment, ce roman est devenu culte dans le domaine de la SF!

A lire ici : https://classiquessf.wordpress.com/2021/11/15/fondation-le-cycle-de-fondation-1-asimov-isaac/

#science-fiction #sf #asimov #fondation #blog #littérature

Classiques-sf

Articles et critiques sur les grands textes de la Science-Fiction

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