#lps the court of rogues | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

baoshan-sanren · 4 years

Note

Hi, Emperor!WWX anon here again because I'm still dreaming about this: 1) LQR doesn't approve the wedding but there is nothing he can argue against it, so an opportunity to explore his and LWJ relationship!! 2) WWX and NHS playing go while talking spy shit! Wwx loses everytime lol 3) lots and lots of Patriarch porn and WWX in dark dark clothes AAAAA THATS it that's the point idk what I'm doing anymore

listen

i’m 38k into something else (that I will never post) and this just keeps distracting me bc it’s such a good AU and like I wanna write it but I have a thousand questions I need answered first

how much of a bad guy is wei wuxian as an emperor? is he holding grudges for the deaths of his parents? were his parents rulers before him, or were they rogue cultivators who died (is this when wei wuxian decided that the cultivation world is shit, and needs to be restructured under one ruler?)

and while we’re on that, demonic cultivation? is it still a thing or no? does wei wuxian still have a golden core?

bc I feel like if he didn’t have a golden core he would probably never agree to an arranged marriage to someone who doesn’t know they’re tying themselves to a person they can’t dual cultivate with?

who’s actually the bad guy? is there a bad guy? are wen ruohan and jin guangshan still around? bc I bet they’re sending assassins like daily

I really REALLY like the idea of nie huaisang being like the designated emperor companion/tamer - whenever wei wuxian goes on a rampage and threatens to level an entire sect someone is like “go get nie huaisang right now or we’re all dead”

there’s something infinitely appealing about madam yu being recognized as the empress dowager with her own little network of spies, assassins, and an entire court she controls which would probably clash with everything wei wuxian is trying to do like all the time

wen qing as the emperor’s personal doctor i.e. the only living breathing person in the empire who can actually yell at wei wuxian and not get herself beheaded

wei wuxian having an entire empire to run but endlessly obsessed with having yanli marry someone she loves even if it means having to put up with jin gunagshan who is literally trying to stab him in the back every time he turns around

jiang cheng as the captain of the emperor’s guards who is done with everything like 100% of time because wei wuxian might know in theory how many assassinations get stopped every day but jiang cheng is literally the one who is chasing them over the rooftops 24/7, like can wei wuxian possibly comprehend how hard it is to keep his cocky ass alive day to day? not fucking likely

lan wangji arriving as wei wuxian’s betrothed, like falling right in the middle of these really chaotic messy family/court dynamics, half-baked plans, constant assassinations attempts, and being like “bitch, you live like this?”

he lp

#mdzs #cql #the untamed #wangxian #au #I WANT TO WRITE THIS #Anonymous #ask for ts #m

296 notes · View notes

circuit-music · 3 years

Text

2020 Music Recommendations

2020 – WHAT A SHIT YEAR! There was so much craziness in those 365 days – from politics to a pandemic. Music was often times one of those things we could take comfort in or use it as a tool to express a range of emotions. I’m always surprised when compiling these list (of which I’ve been doing for 20+ years now it seems) that no matter the state of the world, there is always an overabundance of great music to be discovered. 2020 musically, delivered - including surprising returns from some bands who’ve been rather quiet in the past years like Consolidated, Cabaret Voltaire, and Portion Control.

The majority of what I listen to is electronic based music, with techno-body music being my favorite and there was STILL PLENTY of that in 2020 from labels like Aufnahme+Wiedergabe, Fleisch, Bite, X-IMG, Sonic Groove, SOIL, and more. Occasionally something a little lighter like the ethereal shoe-gaze goodness of Mint Julep (“Stray Fantasies” was an amazing record), or the post-punk of House of Harm (wonderful new discovery this year with “Viscous Pastimes”) and Sure (you all slept on “20 years” in 2020) works its way in to my listening. I still find synth pop from the likes of Riki, Korine, Tanz Waffen and Wingtips wonderfully appeasing. The wave material from the likes of Handful of Snowdrops, Linea Aspera, Zanias, Hante., Minuit Machine and Replicant was perfect for those melancholy moods. I even dipped into some aggressive near metal stuff this year from the likes of Pudeur, ESA and Youth Code – perfect for those days of anger. Oh, and I was thrilled to see a lot of exclusive, unreleased and remixed Curve material surface this year – a band who embraces several genres (walls of guitar, shoe gaze, industrial) and moods.

This isn’t a top 10, top 25 or even a top 100. Instead, it’s an A-Z recommendation list encompassing many genres as those lines are getting more and more blurred. A good tune is a good tune, regardless of genre.

HIGHLY encourage you to get out there and seek out new music; Visit the record stores, go hear a new DJ, fire up Spotify or another streaming service, check out some new music via podcast, DJ mixes, label sites, online retailers, even Facebook. One of the best sources for discovering new music is BandCamp - who in 2020 with the pandemic started BandCamp Fridays in which the site waived its normal fees to assist artist impacted. Taking place, the first Friday of every month, those will continue in 2021. There’s a plethora of discoveries to be found out there. If you do the work, you’ll be rewarded ;) Speaking of Spotify – I made a playlist this year featuring plenty of the bands on my list. There’s at least a track or more from the artist who have a presence on Spotify. Sadly a few bands on this list aren’t on the platform, but check BandCamp and you can have a listen. Here’s the link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/02kQJZE7uvJxwHJD8j8zrh?si=SHlP4mVRTuaRejh6So3Mig

As in years past I’m certain I missed a few things, ignored the hype on certain releases or just plain forgotten something. It’s a chore to compile this list, but I love to do it. There’s a ton of new pioneering music out there for sure waiting to be discovered and it’s the “what’s next” that keeps me a motivated music fan. There’s never a dull moment in speaking, writing, DJ'ing or promoting new music, so I’ll keep doing it and hopefully be a guide for you all ;). If it needs mention and I overlooked it - I may do an addendum in the next week or so. Anyways, got your notepaper and plenty of beverages ready? Don’t be a TL:DR (Too Long: Didn’t Read) fool. Read up. Enjoy the music of 2020!

Onwards with the list!!! :D

2+2=5 - “Hidden In Plain Sight “ (COUP)

Absolute Body Control - “1980/2020” 3xLP (Oraculo Records)

Agent 15 - “Voices In My Head” (Drone)

Ah Cama-Sotz - “New Skin for Old Tribals “ (Self-released)

Andi - “Corpse to Corpus” 12” (Aufnahme+Wiedergabe)

Arabian Panther - “The Way of the Pentinent” EP (SOIL)

Arnaud Rebotini – “Workout: This is a Quarantine EP6” (Self-released)

Autumns - "You Always Taught Me Better" LP (Detriti Records)

Benedek - “Mr. Goods” 12” (L.I.E.S.)

Blac Kolor - “Extinction” EP (Aufnahme+Widergabe)

Blacksmith - “Dominated” (X-IMG)

Blitzkrieg Baby - “Remixed” (Aufnahme+Wiedergabe)

Blush Response - “Void In” LP (Megastructure) - “Void Out” (Megastructure)

Body Beat Ritual - "Raw Dogs” EP (Pleasure Corp)

Body Divide - “Pleasure From Pain” (Squarewav)

Cabaret Voltaire - “Shadow of Fear” LP (Self-released)

Calvary Stone - “Hate Unit” (Soil)

Caustic - “The King of EBM” (Self-released)

Cervello Elettronico - “No Sides” EP (SquareWav)

Choke Chain - “Chain Tactics” (Self-released) - “Grave” (Self-released)

Chris Shape - “Shaped to Deform” (Unknown Pleasures Records)

Chrome Corpse - “Detecting Movement” Ltd. Edition 12" EP (Oraculo Records) - “Helmet Mounted Display” (Self-released)

Chrome Corpse / Decent News - “Split” (Self-Released)

Codex Empire - “Broken by Fear" Ltd. 12” (Horo) - “Protected by Rage” 12” (Aufnahme+Wiedergabe)

Cold Cave - “Waving Hands” (self-releaesed)

Comfort Cure - “Serpentine City” (Rec.Body.Ltd)

Consolidated - “Capitalism” (Self-released)

Crystal Geometry - “Samiam” EP (Sacred Court) - “Senestre” 2x12” (Sonic Groove)

Curve - “Blindfold EP - Bootleg EP Series 1” (Self-released) - “Curve Oddities Bootleg Series 3” (Self-released) - “Curve Oddities Bootleg Series 5” (Self-released) - “Horror Head Raw DAT Mixes Bootleg Series 4” (Self-released)

Cyan ID - “Blurred Revelation” (X-IMG)

Dive - “Where Do We Go From Here” Ltd. Ed Box set (Out Of Line)

E.L.I. - “Dying to Live” (SOIL)

E.S.A. - “Burial 10” (Negative Gain Productions) - “Eat Their Young / The Scorn” (Negative Gain Productions)

Einstruzende Neubauten – “Alles In Allem” (Potomak)

Evil Dust - “Desolation” (Crave Tapes)

Fatal Morgana - “The Destructive Remixes” 12" (Mecanica Records) - “The Final Destruction” 2LP (Mecanica Records)

Filmmaker - “Reinvent” 12” (Soil records)

Fixmer - "Invasion” 12” (Bite)

Fixmer/McCarthy - “Unreleased From the Archives" (Planet Rogue Records)

Foreign Policy - “Watching Existence” 12” (X-IMG)

Fractions - “Nite NRG” (Monnom Black)

Further Reductions - “Array” 12” (Knekelhuis)

Hakai – “No Flesh Shall Be Spared” 12” (Megastructure)

Halv Drom - “Slum Vatic” LP (Fleisch)

Handful of Snowdrops - “Asymetrical” (NanoGénésie®) - “Echoes -The Complete Cover Collection” (NanoGénésie®) - “The Four Winds” (NanoGénésie®) - “The Impossible Dream” (NanoGénésie®) - “Watch Me Bleed / Theme for Great Cities” (Self-released)

Hante. - “Fierce - Remixes & More” LP (Synth Religion)

HKKPTR - “Macht & Ohnmacht” EP (Aufnahme+Wiedergabe)

House of Harm - “Vicious Pastimes” LP (Avant!)

Human Performance Lab - “Impact Situation” 12" (Aufnahme+Wiedergabe)

Inhalt - “Simulation” 2xLP Remixes (Mechatronica)

Iron Court - “Etched Forseights” (Detriti)

Istigkeit & Angel Karel - “You A’Int No Punk, You Punk” (RND. Records)

IV Horsemen - “Compilation Vol. 1” (Self-released) - “Human Crash” LP (Fleisch)

Karger Traum - “III” LP (DKA Records)

Kenny Campbell - “Blackest Ever Buckfast” (Drone)

King Dude - “Full Virgo Moon” LP (Van)

KLACK - "Two Minute Warning” (Klackprodukt) - “Move Any Mountain” (Self-released) - “Catching Up with Klack” (Razgrom) - “Distancing” (Self-released) - “Move Any Mountain” (Self-released) - “Probably” (Klackprodukt)

Konkurs - “Terminal Stage" (Megastructure, X-IMG)

Kontravoid - “Live from the Void” (Self-released) - “Too Deep Remixes” (Fleisch)

Korine - “The Night We Raise” LP (Data Airlines)

Kris Baha - “Barely Alive” 12” (Emotional Especial) - “Starts to Fall” 12” (Power Station)

Kutkh Jackdaw - “Sweat & Thunder EP and remixes” (Dark Disco)

Lbeeze - “Induced Expressions” (Phormix Tapes)

Liebknecht - “Demos The H4AR 2020" (Self-released) - “Koln : Total Harmonic Noize remix” (Self-released)

Linea Aspera - “LP II” (Self-released)

Looky Looky - “Are You There Beach?” (Self-released)

Machino - “Ciudad Violenta” (X-IMG)

Maedon - “Escape To Berlin" (Sonic Groove)

Marc Ash - “Mirror Glaze Lavish" 12" EP (Fleisch)

Marina Aleksandra - “Animal Industrial Complex” (Randolph & Mort. mix)

Max Durante - “Fear and Desire” 12” (Aufnahme+Wiedergabe)

Mind | Matter – “Souvenirs Brises” (Intervision)

Mint Julep - “Stray Fantasies” LP (Western Vinyl)

Minuit Machine - “Don’t Run From the Fire” 12” (Synth Religion)

New Frames - “Outer Limits” 12” (Bite) - “RNF2” 12” (R Label Group) - “Stylized Fear” 12” (Haven)

Nordstaat - “Singularity Second Coming” (X-IMG)

NZ - “More Of Us” 12” ltd. (Infacted Records)

Objekt Clermont - "Zeitgeist” EP (Self-released)

Ofelia Ortodoxa - “Maleficio” (Soil)

Pablo Bozzi - “Last Moscow Mule” (Dischi Autunno) - “Walk on Wire” EP (Bite)

Phase Fatale - “Scanning Backwards” 2xLP (Osgut Ton)

Portion Control - “Head Buried” EP (Portion-Control.Net) - “Seed 1” EP (Portion-Control.Net) - “Seed 2” EP (Portion-Control.Net)

Pudeur - “Magie Noire” (Area Z)

Randolph & Mortimer - “Enjoy More” 7” (Self-released) - “Manifesto for a Modern World” 2xLP (Mecanica) - “They Know We Know They Lie” (Self-released) - “Union of the Faithful” (Self-released)

Reka X Imperial Black Unit - “Todo Avaricia” 12" EP (Fleisch)

Rendered - “Stone Cold Soul” CD (Audiophob)

Replicant - "Regression” (Self-released) - “Annihilation” (Self-released)

Rhys Fulber - “Diaspora” EP (Aufnahme+Wiedergabe) - “Resolve” (FR Recordings)

Riki - “Riki” LP (Dais Records)

Rommek - “Break The Tension” 12” (Leyla Records)

Salem Unsigned - “Blood Origin” (RND.r recorcds)

SARIN - “Moral Cleansing Remixed" (Bite)

Schwefelgelb - “Der Puls Durch Die Schläfen Instrumentals" (n-Plex) - “Der Puls Durch Die Schläfen" (n-Plex) - “Die Stimme Drängt” 12" (Cititrax)

SDH - “Against Strong Thinking" 12" (Avant!)

Size Pier - “Typhoon in Busan” (X-IMG)

Soft Crash - “Spitzkrieg” 12” EP (Bite)

Soj - “Land of Lovers and Hammers” (Infidel Bodies) - “Slow Burn” (Industrial Complexx)

Statiqbloom - “Asphyxia Remixed” (Synthicide)

Sure - “20 Years” LP (Weyrd Sun Records)

T_ERROR 404 - “Holographic Skull” (X-IMG)

Tanz Waffen - “Led Astray” (Self-Released)

Teatre - “Crime Imagery” (Self-released)

Terrorfakt - “Achtung 2020 Remixes” (SquareWav)

The Marquis - “Poison” (Self-released) - “Scab” (Self-released)

Trauma Phase - “Human Caused Disaster Response” (Detriti) - “The Origin of Social Disabilities” (Self-Released)

Unconscious - “Regnum Novum” (X-IMG) -"Slaves of System" LP (Detriti)

Unhuman - “Voices of Distress” 12” (Bite)

Various Artisits - “ASM II “ (Forkha) with: Chrome Corpse, Mind|Matter, The Undertaker’s Tapes, Evil Dust and more

Various Artist - “Meta Moto 4” (Meta Moto) with: Borsis Barksdale, Raw Ambassador, Filmmaker, Teatre and more

Various Artist - “Antikhrist Visions vol. II” LP (Industrias Mekanikas) with: Downwell, Delectro and more

Various Artist - “BOY Records – Timeless Technology 1988 – 1991" 4xLP (Mecanica) Retrospective box of the legendary Boy label releases.

Various Artist - “Crime Violente Vol.4” (Up North Records) With: Calvary Stone, Lbeeze, Meshes and more

Various Artist - “Dystopia in Action” 12” (X-IMG) with: Alpha & Necromante, Kris Baha, Human Performance Lab and more

Various Artist - “Ecdisis Vol 2” (Frigio Records) Snag this for the outstanding edit of Portion Control’s “Chew You to Bits”

Various Artist - “Murder 01” 12” (Murder) with: Codex Empire, Crystal Geometry, JK Flesh and more

Various Artist - “Northern Nightmares Vol.1” (Up North Records) with: Autumns, Cardopusher, Teatre, Hate Magnum Opus and more

Various Artist - “Northern Nightmares Vol. 2” (Up North Records) with: Notausgang, NGHTY, Violet Poison and more

Various Artist - “Sonic Groove: 25 Years 1995-2020" 2xLP (Sonic Groove) with: Orphx, Crustal geometry, Maedon, Rhys Fulber & Portion Control and more

Various Artist - “Uncanny Valleys Vol. 1” (Area Z) with: Chrome Corpse, Sarin x Imperial Black Unit, Celldod, IV Horsemen and more

Various Artist - “Uncanny Valleys Vol. 2” (Area Z) with: Ah Cama-Sotz, 3.14, MDS51 and more

Various Artist - “Valley of Tears vol 1" 12” (Soil) with: Imperial Black Unit, Fractions, Exhausted Modern and more

Various Artist - “Valley of Tears Vol. 2” 12” (Soil) with: SOj, Djedjotronic, Years of Denial and more

Various Artist - “Seven Years of Delirium" (Liber Null) with: Blush Response, NGLY, Zanias, Celldod, Phase Fatale and more

Various Artist – “Detriti Split 1” 12” split vinyl (Detriti) with: Black Sun Dreamer and Trauma Phase

Various Artist – “Detriti Split 2” 12” split vinyl (Detriti) with: Mind | Matter and Iron Court

Visceral Anatomy - “Modern Anguish” EP (Oraculo Records)

Visitor - “Technofossil” (Braid Records)

Wingtips - “Tears Of Pearls" (Self-released)

Youth Code - “Puzzle” (Self-Released)

Zanias - “Extinction” 12” (Fleisch) - “Harmaline” (Self-Released)

Zola Jesus - “Live at Roadburn” (Roadburn Records)

2 notes · View notes

thelankyrandman-blog · 6 years

Text

Full Album-A-Day List in Alphabetical Order: 2017

Alright, it’s been too long since the end of the year, but here my list of albums I listened to in 2017. There are 365 albums here in alphabetical order by artist and then by release date in each artist. I am repeating the challenge for 2018 and so far I’ve listened to 62 albums. Let me know what you guys think of this list and please check out some of the music on here. Some of my favorite albums ever are on this thing.

Actress - AZD

Alvvays - Alvvays

Alvvays - Antisocialites

Aminé - Good For You

America - America

Anderson .Paak - Malibu

Andy Shauf - The Bearer of Bad News

Andy Shauf - The Party

Angel Olsen - Half Way Home

Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness

Angel Olsen - My Woman

Angel Olsen - Phases

Animal Collective - Marriweather Post Pavilion

Arcade Fire - Everything Now

Ariel Pink - Pom Pom

Atmosphere - Fishing Blues

The Avalanches - Since I Left You

BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNG

Band of Horses - Cease to Begin

Beach House - Depression Cherry

Ben Folds - Songs for Silverman

Berhana - Berhana EP

Blank Banshee - Mega

Big L - Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous

Big L - The Big Picture

Big Sean & Metro Boomin - Double or Nothing

Big Thief - Masterpiece

Big Thief - Capacity

Bob Dylan - Empire Burlesque

Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded

Booker T. & The M.G.’s - Green Onions

Brockhampton - SATURATION

Brockhampton - SATURATION II

Brockhampton - SATURATION III

Capital STEEZ - AmeriKKKan Korruption

Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial

Carly Rae Jepsen - E•MO•TION

Chance the Rapper - 10 Day

Chance the Rapper - Acid Rap

Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book

Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um

Charli XCX - Pop 2

Charlotte Gainsbourg - Rest

Chet Baker - She Was Too Good To Me

Childish Gambino - Because the Internet

Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love

City and Colour - If I Should Go Before You

Clarence Clarity - No Now

Clipping. - Splendor & Misery

Connan Mockasin - Forever Dolphin Love

Connan Mockasin - Caramel

Crosby, Stills, & Nash - Crosby, Stills, & Nash

Crywank - Tomorrow is Nearly Yesterday and Everyday is Stupid

Daniel Caesar - Freudian

Danny Brown - The Hybrid

Danny Brown - XXX

Danny Brown - Old

Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition

Dave Brubeck - Time Out

David Bowie - Hunky Dory

David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars

David Bowie - Aladdin Sane

Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Death Grips - Exmilitary

Death Grips - The Money Store

Death Grips - No Love Deep Web

Death Grips - Government Plates

Death Grips - Fashion Week

Death Grips - The Powers That B

Death Grips - Interview 2016 EP

Death Grips - Bottomless Pit

Deerhoof - The Man, The King and The Girl

Deerhoof - The Runners Four

Deerhoof - The Magic

Deerhoof - Mountain Moves

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

Denzel Curry - Nostalgic 64

Denzel Curry - Imperial

DeYarmond Edison - Silent Signs

Dirty Projectors - The Glad Fact

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan

Dirty Projectors - Dirty Projectors

Earl Sweatshirt - Earl

Earl Sweatshirt - Doris

Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside

Elucid - Valley of Grace

Eric Clapton - Eric Clapton

Everything Everything - Get to Heaven

Fantastic Negrito - The Last Days of Oakland

Father John Misty - Fear Fun

Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear

Father John Misty - Pure Comedy

Feist - Let It Die

Feist - The Reminder

Feist - Metals

Feist - Pleasure

Fever Ray - Plunge

FKA Twigs - LP1

Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant EP

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

Fleet Foxes - Crack-Up

Flying Lotus - 1984

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra

Frank Ocean - channel Orange

Frank Ocean - Blonde

Freddie Gibbs - Shadow of a Doubt

Freddie Gibbs - You Only Live 2wice

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata

Ghost Ship Octavius - Ghost Ship Octavius

Girlpool - Powerplant

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

Greta Van Fleet - Black Smoke Rising EP

Grizzly Bear - Horn of Plenty

Grizzly Bear - Yellow House

Grizzly Bear - Friend EP

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear - Shields

Grizzly Bear - Painted Ruins

Harry Styles - Harry Styles

Huncho Jack - Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho

Hurray For The Riff Raff - The Navigator

Ibibio Sound Machine - Uyai

Ice Cube - AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted

Ice Cube - Death Certificate

IDK - IWASVERYBAD

Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights

Isaiah Rashad - Cilvia Demo EP

Isaiah Rashad - The Sun’s Tirade

J Dilla - Donuts

J. Cole - 2014 Forest Hills Drive

J. Cole - 4 Your Eyes Only

Jaden Smith - SYRE

Japanese Breakfast - Soft Sounds From Another Planet

Jay Som - Everybody Works

Jlin - Black Origami

Joey Bada$$ - 1999

Joey Bada$$ - B4.Da.$$

Joey Bada$$ - All-AmeriKKKan Badass

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

Joni Mitchell - Ladies of the Canyon

Joni Mitchell - Blue

Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark

Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Julien Baker - Turn Out The Lights

Ka - The Knight’s Gamble

Ka - Honor Killed the Samurai

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - The Kid

Kamaiyah - A Good Night in the Ghetto

Kamaiyah - Before I Wake

Kamasi Washington - The Epic

Karriem Riggins - Alone Together

Kaytranada - 99.9%

Kelela - Take Me Apart

Kendrick Lamar - Section.80

Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, m.A.A.d City

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly

Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered.

Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.

Kesha - Rainbows

Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music

King Krule - 6 Feet Beneath the Moon

King Krule - The OOZ

LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening

LCD Soundsystem - american dream

Lil Pump - Lil Pump

Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

The Long Winters - Putting the Days to Bed

Lorde - Pure Heroine

Lorde - Melodrama

Lou Reed - Lou Reed

Lou Reed - Transformer

Mac DeMarco - Salad Days

Mac DeMarco - This Old Dog

Madlib - Shades of Blue: Madlib Invades Blue Note

Madvillain - Madvillainy

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On?

Matmos - The Marriage of True Minds

Melvins - Eggnog EP

Melvins - Lice All EP

MF Doom - Operation Doomsday

MF Doom - Metal Fingers Presents: Special Herbs, Vol. 1 & 2

MF Doom - Mm.. Food

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

Mick Jenkins - The Water[s]

The Microphones - Don’t Wake Me Up

The Microphones - It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water

The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2

The Microphones - Mount Eerie

Miles Davis - Porgy & Bess

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew

Moses Sumney - Aromanticism

Mount Eerie - “No Flashlight” Songs of the Fulfilled Night

Mount Eerie - Lost Wisdom

Mount Eerie - Dawn

Mount Eerie - Wind’s Poem

Mount Eerie - Clear Moon

Mount Eerie - Ocean Roar

Mount Eerie - Sauna

Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me

Mount Kimbie - Crooks & Lovers

Mount Kimbie - Cold Spring Fault Less Youth

Mount Kimbie - Love What Survives

The Mountain Goats - Goths

M83. - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts

NAO - So Good EP

NAO - For All We Know

Nas - Illmatic

The National - The National

The National - Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers

The National - Alligator

The National - Boxer

The National - High Violet

The National - Trouble Will Find Me

The National - Sleep Well Beast

Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms

Neon Indian - Era Extraña

Neon Indian - VEGA INTL. Night School

Neutral Milk Hotel - Everything Is EP

Neutral Milk Hotel - On Avery Island

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies

Nick Murphy - Missing Link EP

Noname - Telefone

Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death

Oddisee - The Iceberg

Open Mike Eagle - Brick Body Kids Still Daydream

The Pablo Collective - The Death of Pablo

Paramore - After Laughter

Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It

Perfume Genius - Too Bright

Perfume Genius - No Shape

Phoenix - Ti Amo

Phosphorescent - Muchacho

Pixies - Bossanova

Playboi Carti - Playboi Carti

Portishead - Dummy

The Postal Service - Give Up

Princess Nokia - 1992 Deluxe

Quelle Chris - Being You is Great, I Wish I Could Be You More Often

Quasimoto - The Unseen

Radiohead - Pablo Honey

Radiohead - The Bends

Radiohead - Kid A

Radiohead - Amnesiac

Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

Radiohead - In Rainbows

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

Rapsody - Laila’s Wisdom

Ratt - Out of the Cellar

Red House Painters - Down Colorful Hill

Richard Dawson - Peasant

Rogue Wave - Out of the Shadow

Run the Jewels - RTJ3

Sampha - Process

(Sandy) Alex G - Beach Music

(Sandy) Alex G - Rocket

SBTRKT - SBTRKT

SBTRKT - Wonder Where We Land

ScHoolboy Q - Oxymoron

ScHoolboy Q - Blank Face LP

Shabazz Palaces - Black Up

Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty

Shabazz Palaces - Quazars: Born on a Gangster Star

Shapes & Colors - Love / Sex / War EP

The Shelters - The Shelters

The Shouting Matches - Grownass Man

Slint - Spiderland

Smino - blkswn

Snakadaktal - Sleep in the Water

Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

Solange - A Seat at The Table

Sorority Noise - You’re Not As ___ As You Think

Spoon - Hot Thoughts

Squarepusher - Feed Me Weird Things

Squarepusher - Music is Rotted One Note

Squarepusher - Go Plastic

Squarepusher - Do You Know Squarepusher?

St. Vincent - Marry Me

St. Vincent - Actor

St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

St. Vincent - St. Vincent

St. Vincent - MASSEDUCTION

Stan Getz & Cher Baker - Stan Meets Chet

Substantial - The Past is Always Present in The Future

Sufjan Stevens - Michigan

Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois

Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell

Syd - Fin

SZA - Z

SZA - Ctrl

The Tallest Man on Earth - Shallow Grave

The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt

The Tallest Man on Earth - There’s No Leaving Now

The Tallest Man on Earth - Dark Bird is Home

Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog

This is the Kit - Where it Lives

This is the Kit - Bashed Out

This is the Kit - Moonshine Freeze

Thom Yorke - The Eraser

Thundercat - The Golden Age of Apocalypse

Thundercat - Drunk

Todd Terje - It’s Album Time

Tonedeff - Polymer

Travis Scott - Rodeo

A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory

A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders

A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service

Tycho - Past Is Prologue

Tycho - Dive

Tycho - Awake

Tycho - Epoch

Tyler, The Creator - Bastard

Tyler, The Creator - Goblin

Tyler, The Creator - Wolf

Tyler, The Creator - Cherry Bomb

Tyler, The Creator - Flower Boy

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Vagabon - Infinite Worlds

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend - Contra

Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

Van Morrison - Astral Weeks

Vince Staples - Hell Can Wait EP

Vince Staples - Summertime ’06

Vince Staples - Prima Donna EP

Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory

Volcano Choir - Unmap

Volcano Choir - Repave

The War on Drugs - Wagonwheel Blues

The War on Drugs - Future Weather EP

The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream

The War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding

Warren G - Regulate… G Funk Era

Wavves - You’re Welcome

We Made God - It’s Getting Colder

The Weeknd - Beauty Behind the Madness

WIFE - What’s Between

Wiley - Godfather

Wolf Parade - Wolf Parade EP

Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary

Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer

Wolf Parade - Expo 86

X - Los Angeles

Xiu Xiu - Forget

The xx - Coexist

The xx - I See You

Yes - Close to the Edge

YG - Still Brazy

Young Pappy - 2 Cups Part 2 of Everything

Young Thug - Beautiful Thugger Girls

Young Thug & Carnage - Young Martha

Your Old Droog - Packs

Zola Jesus - Stridulum

Zola Jesus - Okovi

#’s:

21 Savage, Offset & Metro Boomin - Without Warning

#lankyrandman #music

100 notes · View notes

dippedanddripped · 5 years

Link

Supreme, an underground streetwear brand, has attracted a cultlike following among teens seeking hard-to-get looks by keeping its products scarce. But now an Italian businessman is flooding the market with T-shirts and hoodies bearing its bright red-and-white logo, and claiming he is doing nothing wrong.

Michele di Pierro, who started the rogue version of the brand in Europe, has filed trademarks for variations of the Supreme logo in dozens of countries since 2015, forcing the U.S. company to face off against him in courts around the world. Supreme has denounced his operation as a “counterfeit organization” and succeeded in shutting him down in Italy. Still, his clothes are on sale in stores in Spain and China, and he wants to sell more.

Supreme, born in 1994 out of New York City’s skateboard scene, has long released styles in limited quantities, forcing fans to rush to its website or stand in long lines at one of its 11 stores. The company’s T-shirts and hoodies often sell out immediately and then can be found listing for more than $1,000 on eBay and other sites. With about 13 million Instagram followers, the brand has amassed a bigger following than household names like Ralph Lauren and Under Armour . In 2017, the company sold a roughly 50% stake to private-equity firm Carlyle Group LP for about $500 million, giving it a valuation of nearly $1 billion.

Brand Battle

IBF’s Supreme store in Barcelona makes lavish use of the signature logo. PHOTO: NATHAN ALLEN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Nearly every brand from Gap to Gucci has battled copycats around the globe that can tarnish the name and sap demand by selling fake goods. But unlike streetside vendors selling cheap knockoffs or shadowy counterfeiters on websites like Amazon or Alibaba, Mr. di Pierro isn’t hiding. He is asserting a legal claim and selling through storefronts in major cities.

A spokesman for Supreme declined to make its founder, James Jebbia, available for an interview. Earlier this year, Mr. Jebbia told Business of Fashion that Mr. di Pierro is taking advantage of Supreme because the company doesn’t typically talk to the press. “I don’t think another company has really had to deal with this like we have,” he said. “This is a whole new level with this criminal enterprise—these complete impostors and impersonators.”

The spokesman said in a statement: “Our legal team is currently dealing with these impersonators, but our focus, as always, goes into making the quality products our customers around the world expect.”

Supreme, which was slow to protect its trademark internationally, has now registered it in more than 70 countries and filed injunctions to stop Mr. di Pierro. The company is awaiting the outcome of legal fights in Spain and China, where Mr. di Pierro’s products are still sold in stores. At stake is its billion-dollar brand, which depends on keeping its products scarce.

Products of the American clothing brand Supreme on display at the KICKIT Sneaker e Streetwear Market in Rome in September. PHOTO: ALESSANDRO BIANCHI/REUTERS

Mr. di Pierro said he is making fashion accessible to young people by selling more affordable items than what is available on reselling sites. Shoppers are buying his clothes because the fabric is lightweight, he said, making it more wearable in warm climates. “Our success is not based on the box logo,” he said. “It’s the quality.”

Mr. di Pierro said he has been in the textile industry for decades and studied the rise of streetwear. He couldn’t explain why he picked Supreme for his brand. “When I filed for registration in Italy, I did it in good faith,” he said. “I didn’t know it even existed. It wasn’t popular in Italy. There wasn’t even a store.”

Before launching Supreme Italia, Mr. di Pierro operated a sportswear business, which filed for bankruptcy, and he later was convicted of fraud in relation to that bankruptcy, according to Italian court documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. That judgment was upheld in two appeals, most recently in November 2018. Mr. di Pierro declined to comment on the matter.

His U.K.-incorporated company, International Brand Firm Ltd., has at least seven active trademark registrations with the word “Supreme” and more than 20 pending ones, according to a database maintained by the World Intellectual Property Organization, a United Nations agency based in Geneva.

T-shirts stacked up at IBF’s Supreme store in Barcelona. PHOTO: NATHAN ALLEN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

IBF has registered trademarks for variations such as Supreme Spain, Supreme Kids and Supreme Italia. It has a trademark for a “Supreme Spain” logo with black letters on a yellow skateboard, though much of the apparel at its stores in Spain features the familiar red-and-white “Supreme” logo.

While Supreme stores sell few items with its signature logo, making it hard to come by, Mr. di Pierro’s store in Barcelona splashes it everywhere—on the walls, the checkout counter and dozens of products from suitcases to sweatshirts. There, a white T-shirt with a red-and-white Supreme logo is available for €49 ($56), compared with the $32 Supreme charged the last time it offered the shirt—and the $889 it sold for on StockX, a reselling platform.

Liz Guerrero, on vacation from Chicago, recently bought $300 worth of clothes for her son at the Barcelona store. She tried to return the merchandise about 30 minutes later when she realized it wasn’t the New York-based brand.

“When we got back to the hotel and had internet, we checked it out and found out there’s only like six stores in the world,” Ms. Guerrero said. She was told she couldn’t get her money back, she said. Mr. di Pierro said his stores allow returns within 30 days.

Supreme’s store at Bowery and Spring Street in lower Manhattan earlier this month. PHOTO: AGATON STROM FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

IBF licenses other brands and sells Supreme-branded merchandise in several stores in Spain, as well as through a partner that has opened two stores in China. Due to trademark disputes, Mr. di Pierro said he now employs more lawyers than apparel executives.

Supreme could have avoided some problems had it secured its trademark in every country more than two decades ago when it opened up shop, as brands often do when they launch. It didn’t register its logo in the U.S. until more than a decade after its New York City shop opened, and it waited years to file registrations in other countries. The company didn’t hire a general counsel until 2017.

A U.S. registration doesn’t offer protection abroad. In a famous 1990s case, a restaurateur in South Africa successfully argued that McDonald’s Corp. had let its trademark lapse through nonuse. The fast-food chain fought a long legal battle to reclaim its trademark in the country.

While the U.S. confers rights to the first party to use a logo, many European countries have a first-to-file system, registering a trademark to the first party to get its application in. A single application potentially covers more than 100 countries that are part of an agreement called the Madrid Protocol. Mr. di Pierro filed such an application.

Distinctive Character

If a brand wasn’t the first to register but is well known in a given market, it can argue that another party did a “filing in bad faith” and is causing confusion among customers, said Etienne Sanz de Acedo, chief executive of the International Trademark Association, whose members include Supreme.

Sometimes the similarity between two logos appears far from innocent, he continued. “What a coincidence that it’s exactly the same name, exactly the same combination of colors, exactly the same font,” he said, referring broadly to copycat trademarks. “This is not pure coincidence.” He declined to comment on the specific dispute between Supreme and its foe.

In Mr. di Pierro’s case, the similarities have led to confusion, even among sophisticated corporate partners. At an event in December, Samsung Electronics Co. announced a collaboration in China with Supreme Italia. Mr. di Pierro said the partnership was arranged through his distributors there. After New York-based Supreme publicly said Samsung was working with a counterfeit organization, the company canceled its deal.

“Samsung respects the intellectual property rights of others. Samsung Electronics China did not proceed with the previously announced partnership,” a Samsung spokesman said.

Michele di Pierro, the head of IBF, which sells products bearing the Supreme brand. The company has been accused of counterfeiting the Supreme brand founded in New York. PHOTO: MICHAEL BUCHER/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Mr. di Pierro said Supreme’s recent actions have hurt his prospects but he plans to keep expanding, including by opening more stores. “They file almost every day now in a pretty frenetic, schizophrenic way,” in countries such as India, Denmark and China, he said. A spokesman for Supreme declined to comment on that characterization.

An Italian court ruled in 2017 that Mr. di Pierro was engaging in “parasitic competition.” The products of “Supreme Italia” were seized, stores closed and operations came to a halt. Mr. di Pierro has appealed the decision but currently isn’t allowed to sell in Italy.

In Spain, a judge in October 2018 dismissed a preliminary injunction by Supreme to shut down Mr. di Pierro’s operations, saying he wanted to hear the merits of the case. In China, both sides are awaiting decisions on trademark registrations.

Supreme has faced some challenges in proving its popularity because of its business strategy. It has just 11 stores (two in New York, six in Japan, and one each in London, Los Angeles and Paris), spends very little on advertising and doesn’t push product sales.

A lawyer for Mr. di Pierro’ questioned whether the Supreme logo will ultimately prove too generic to trademark. The European Union’s second-highest court ruled this month that Adidas AG’s iconic three-stripe branding didn’t qualify, saying Adidas hadn’t provided enough evidence that the parallel stripes were a mark of “distinctive character” worthy of protection.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

How much do you worry about other people purchasing knockoffs of premium goods you own? Join the conversation below.

It’s also sometimes hard to determine what is original. Supreme’s logo resembles the work of conceptual artist Barbara Kruger, whose black-and-white photos are often accompanied by captions in red-and-white text.

The brand has also been known to use other company’s logos. In Supreme’s early years, Louis Vuitton sent the company a cease-and-desist letter for doing so. The luxury fashion house later partnered with the streetwear maker to release products that feature hybrids of both logos.

Mr. di Pierro said he himself is dealing with copycats and intends to see them prosecuted. He said he has had to stop doing business in Turkey because factories there would produce thousands of extra garments to sell on the black market.

He pointed to a photo on his smartphone of a bus in China with the words “Supreme Italia” splashed across the side—something he said wasn’t authorized by him or his partners.

“This is the reality,” he said. “There really are ghosts.”

#supreme #supremenyc #fashion business #James Jebbia #streetwear #streetwear blog #fashion blog #urbanwear blog

0 notes

maxwellyjordan · 4 years

Text

Thursday round-up

At the Washington Legal Foundation’s Legal Pulse blog, Lawrence Ebner wonders, “given the unusual alignment of Justices” in Ramos v. Louisiana, in which a fractured court ruled on Monday that the Constitution requires a unanimous jury verdict in state criminal trials, “whether the Court’s application of stare decisis is truly principled, or whether it is just a case-by-case, result-driven expedient for saving or ditching a controversial, and even wrongly decided, precedent.” At the Clause 40 Foundation’s Ad Justitiam blog, Jonathan Blanks unpacks Monday’s opinions in Ramos, concluding that “[t]he tone and substance of the Ramos opinions show how race continues to inflect arguments about American law, and how far we still have to go to be a more perfect Union.” In an op-ed for The New York Times, Linda Greenhouse explains that “[b]elow the surface of [the] 6-to-3 outcome lies a maelstrom of clashing agendas having little to do with the question ostensibly at hand and a great deal to do with the court’s future: Peek under the hood and see a Supreme Court in crisis.”

At The National Law Journal, Marcia Coyle reports that “[a] rare confession of error by the U.S. Office of Solicitor General to the U.S. Supreme Court may give a pro se prisoner in an immigration case another chance to convince a federal appeals court not to approve his removal from the country,” and that “[a]lthough confessions of error at the Supreme Court are uncommon, Brown’s case was remarkable for another reason: Many records in his case are sealed or not otherwise easily accessible.” At the ImmigrationProf Blog, Nancy Morawetz writes that “the confession of error obscures how Department of Justice (DOJ) is likely to continue to try to prevent Mr. Brown from ever having his case heard in a federal court”; she suggests that the Supreme Court “could be more cautious with confessions of error from the SG.”

In an analysis for The Washington Post (subscription required) of their recent research, Guy-Uriel Charles and Luis Fuentes-Rohwer write that “the real culprit” in Wisconsin’s recent election that required people to show up at the polls during a public health emergency “is the Supreme Court’s 2018 political gerrymandering decision in Rucho v. Common Cause: In that case, the court could have — yet failed to — curb the type of extreme partisanship that led to what happened in Wisconsin.” At The Appeal, Jay Willis criticizes the Supreme Court’s “display of feigned judicial helplessness” in the opinion that led directly to the election, Republican National Committee v. Democratic National Committee, which blocked a lower court order extending the deadline for mailing absentee ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Briefly:

At AP, Mark Sherman and Jessica Gresko report that the Supreme Court’s recent “decision to hold 10 arguments in cases via telephone during six days in May and let the public listen in was unimaginable even two months ago.”

At The National Law Journal, Tony Mauro talks to “Oklahoma Solicitor General Mithun Mansinghani[, who] was planning to bring his parents to Washington on April 21 to see him argue before the U.S. Supreme Court” in McGirt v. Oklahoma, before the case was rescheduled for a telephonic argument next month.

At Bloomberg Law, Robert Iafolla reports that the Supreme Court “recently handed down a pair of rulings that cemented its view on the default standard for proving workplace bias, but legal scholars say some confusion remains about what that test requires and how difficult it is for workers to meet.”

For Capitol Media Services (via Tucson.com), Howard Fischer reports that the “Supreme Court has cleared the way for a Mexican national to get a new trial — this time without the bad legal advice he was given the first time that resulted in his deportation” – by declining to review the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling setting aside his guilty plea.

At Forbes, Nick Sibilla urges the court to review a cert petition challenging a “legal loophole” that allows “government agents [to] dodge lawsuits for violating constitutional rights, so long as those rights weren’t ‘clearly established’ at the time.”

At the Institute for Justice’s CJE Bulletin, Adam Shelton echoes Justice Neil Gorsuch’s dissent in Thryv v. Click-to-Call Technologies, LP, in which the court held that federal patent law does not allow an appeal of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decision to institute a procedure for challenging the validity of a patent after a finding that a one-year time bar does not apply, arguing that “[t]he Court’s expansive reading of the prohibition of judicial review is just another decision in which it hands its own power over to the executive branch.”

At The Atlantic (via How Appealing), Garrett Epps hopes the court will summarily reverse a “rogue court [that] has had four chances to apply a foundational First Amendment precedent, and has bobbled it each time[:] That mistake, in a case called Mckesson v. Doe, poses a threat to both freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.”

We rely on our readers to send us links for our round-up. If you have or know of a recent (published in the last two or three days) article, post, podcast or op-ed relating to the Supreme Court that you’d like us to consider for inclusion in the round-up, please send it to roundup [at] scotusblog.com. Thank you!

The post Thursday round-up appeared first on SCOTUSblog.

from Law https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/04/thursday-round-up-523/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

#law #justice

0 notes

courtneytincher · 5 years

Text

The Seas Are Unsafe in a Transactional World

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The seizure of a number of ships in recent months tells an uncomfortable story. In today’s multi-polar world, countries can grab other nations’ vessels and get away with it.It’s not just Iran’s detention of the U.K.-flagged Stena Impero in retaliation for the seizure of one its own tankers by Britain. In recent months, other incidents have occurred that had nothing to do with smuggling or fishing disputes, the standard reasons for vessels to be stopped and held by governments. These detentions are geopolitical in nature.In November, Russia grabbed three small Ukrainian naval vessels that tried to break through its de facto blockade of the Kerch Strait, a barrier intended to defend an expensive bridge Moscow has built to annexed Crimea. It continues to hold the Berdyansk, Nikopol and Yeni Kapu and their crews – despite an order from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to release them. Moscow disputes the tribunal’s jurisdiction and maintains that the vessels crossed the border illegally.On Thursday, Ukraine retaliated by seizing the Nika Spirit, a Russian oil products tanker. According to Ukrainian intelligence, the same vessel was used to block the three ships’ passage under the Crimea bridge.Then there’s the seizure of the North Korean bulk carrier Wise Honest by the U.S. in May, the first ever over alleged violations of international sanctions on the dictatorship.Kim Jong Un’s regime hasn’t retaliated because it wants to get the Wise Honest back rather than escalate the row. The cargo ship is North Korea’s second biggest, and losing it is a major blow to the country’s shaky economy.Meanwhile, there has been talk in the U.S. about trading the Wise Honest for USS Pueblo, the spy ship North Korea captured in 1968. Its crew was returned to the U.S. after 11 months in captivity; some of it are now pushing for the swap. And last week, a U.S. federal court approved the Wise Honest’s sale to pay compensation to the family of American student Otto Warmbier, who died after being imprisoned in North Korea. These ship seizures all have something in common: Military or diplomatic advantages that mean one side feels it can act with impunity.Obviously, Iran could do nothing to prevent the U.K. from grabbing the Grace 1 near Gibraltar. But Britain, too, simply didn’t have the naval power in the Persian Gulf to stop Iran from trying to take one its ships. Its depleted navy has a single frigate in the region, which cannot be everywhere at the same time. The U.S. theoretically, has the resources to stop Iran from hunting British ships, but has chosen not to interfere.Ukraine lacks the naval power to stop Russia from claiming the Kerch Strait as its own, just as it lacks the military clout to take back Crimea. While Western countries have loudly demanded that Russia free the Ukrainian ships and sailors, there’s nothing they can do to force Moscow to comply without creating an unnecessary escalation and perhaps harming Ukraine.But then, Russia, for its part, can’t start an all-out war with Ukraine over a tanker built in 1989. The costs would clearly outweigh the benefits; besides, just to be on the safe side, Ukraine has let the crew go after treating it with the utmost politeness. Russia only threatened “consequences” if its sailors are held hostage. In the U.S.–North Korea case, if the Wise Honest is sold for the benefit of Otto Warmbier’s family, Kim’s regime conceivably could strike back. If that were to happen, the U.S.’s options would be limited since North Korea is a nuclear power now.International rules, such as multilateral sanctions or the Law of the Sea, are nothing without reliable enforcement. But these seizures reveal unsteady balances that make enforcement difficult at best. Rogue actors, such as Iran, North Korea and the Putin regime in Russia, or merely opportunistic ones, as in the cases of Ukraine and, yes, Trump’s U.S., can grab others’ property and people, too, in order to set up trades and bolster their weak diplomatic positions. Exchanges of ships and hostages are too distasteful and too fraught with consequences to contemplate, as my Bloomberg Opinion colleague Bobby Ghosh recently wrote in reference to the Iran-U.K. situation. I would argue, however, that they may be necessary where captured crews are involved; Ukraine, for example would be entirely justified in finding Russian prisoners to trade for its sailors. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s reluctance to accept anything but their unconditional release can only prolong their suffering. In the Iran-U.K. case, the sailors aren’t nationals of the two countries involved, and they shouldn’t be subject to any horse-trading. Both sides should just let them go home. In the U.S.-North Korea dispute, the Wise Honest’s crew wasn’t held.When it comes to the hardware, at least two swaps – between the U.S. and North Korea and between Ukraine and Russia – would likely create win-win situations for all sides without creating potential for any further tit-for-tat seizures. But within a broader global context, they would send the wrong signal: That the global order is a free-for-all, in which the only solutions are transactional rather than dictated by universally accepted rules.In any case, the shipping industry should take note: Without adequate protection, ships can easily turn into geopolitical chips when they sail into waters where their countries’ adversaries can use force with relative impunity.To contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky at [email protected] contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at [email protected] column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Leonid Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion's Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

July 26, 2019 at 12:59PM via IFTTT

#Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

0 notes

lodelss · 5 years

Link

The Dakota Access Pipeline Company Is Abusing the Judicial System to Silence Dissent A federal court threw out a baseless lawsuit against Greenpeace and other pipeline opponents and the company promptly refiled the case in state court.

In a win for free speech, a federal court in North Dakota recently dismissed a baseless $900 million lawsuit brought by the Dakota Access Pipeline company against Greenpeace and a number of individual protesters. The company should have learned its lesson. Instead, it refiled the case in state court.

These meritless cases are textbook examples of “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation,” or SLAPPs. This tactic is increasingly used by corporations to silence critics with expensive legal actions.

The pipeline company, Energy Transfer LP, filed the lawsuit in 2017 against Greenpeace organizations and others, including individual Standing Rock protesters. It relied on defamation law and the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, a federal statute designed to prosecute mob activity.

The company alleged that Greenpeace and the other defendants, in criticizing the pipeline’s potential environmental and cultural damage to the nearby Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, engaged in a criminal network of fraud and misinformation. The 231-page complaint described the defendants as a “network of not-for-profits and rogue eco-terrorist groups.”

The lawsuit rested on two theories, neither of which passed muster in federal court. First, the complaint argued that Greenpeace and the other defendants were engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the public and defame the company. Second, it claimed that the defendants were engaged in an “illegal Enterprise” targeting the company and should therefore be held liable for any illegal actions committed by those who simply shared a common opposition to the pipeline.

These accusations, wild as they seem, would set a dangerous precedent if accepted: Not only might a different decision bankrupt defendants like Greenpeace — due to both litigation expenses and damages — and destroy the lives of the Standing Rock activists, but it could also erode the right of nonprofit organizations to speak out against corporate actions. Further, acceptance of the company’s legal arguments would make any advocacy group potentially liable for the conduct of its supporters and fellow travelers, even without any evidence of direct coordination.

The ACLU, along with a coalition of public interest groups, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Greenpeace and its partners and the individual Standing Rock protesters. We argued that Energy Transfer’s claims violate the First Amendment, which prohibits companies from suing critics out of existence just because their message is anathema to the corporate interests of the plaintiff. We also told the court that the RICO Act can’t be manipulated and exploited to suppress constitutionally protected speech.

The judge agreed and dismissed the case. His order concluded that “Donating to people whose cause you support does not create a RICO enterprise,” and that “Posting articles written by people with similar beliefs does not create a RICO enterprise.” The opinion chided the company for its hyperbolic complaint and vindicated the activists and organizations that sought to speak out on matters of serious public concern.

Last week, in a pigheaded display of its commitment to dragging Greenpeace, its partners, and the Standing Rock protesters through an expensive and unjustified lawsuit for as long as possible, the company refiled the case in state court. This new lawsuit rehashes the same, tired arguments that it presented in federal court, but relies exclusively on state laws.

While the federal court ruled in favor of free speech and common sense, and while the re-filed version of the lawsuit is unlikely to succeed, these cases represent an alarming trend in the suppression of public activism. That’s why the ACLU joined a number of other public interest groups in founding the Protect the Protest Task Force, a coalition dedicated to fighting SLAPP cases.

These unfounded lawsuits attempt to abuse the judicial system in order to suppress constitutionally protected expression by intimidating activists and advocates. The Protect the Protest Task Force provides support for organizations and individuals targeted as a result of their public interest advocacy.

Protesters and advocacy groups have the right to freely and vigorously criticize their opponents, even when their speech threatens to subvert corporate interests. These cases offer a grim reminder of our responsibility to hold companies accountable when they abuse the judicial system with stunt litigation transparently designed to intimidate and bankrupt their critics.

Published March 2, 2019 at 02:00AM via ACLU https://ift.tt/2VxWYV4

#IFTTT #Blogger

0 notes

little-peril-stories · 6 months

Text

nano 2023 let's gooo

Well, friends, it's that time of year again. Why I have once again decided to leap straight from Whumptober to Nanowrimo, no one knows, but here we go.

The difference from 2022 to 2023: last year, for both Whumptober and Nano, I was "playing to win" (so to speak —playing against myself, of course), while this year I wasn't/will not be. Like, if I end up writing 50,000 words this November, great!

But. I have an issue with being competitive (again, only against myself; I hate competing against others in most contexts) and I know I will get obsessive about 1667 words every day and getting every single badge, etc., etc.

So I'm just...not.

I don't have a word count goal. The goal is simply to finish the first draft of angsty heist wip. If I can, great. If not, great. I started it in April, got distracted by TQOL and life, and the poor story's been languishing around the midpoint since I put it aside. I think if I can push beyond the midpoint, I'll be all right. But even if that turns out not to be true—oh well!

I'm still going to work on TQOL, and since I've fallen into editing TPOT and have been looooooving that process, I'm going to keep doing that, too. So this Nano is really just going to be about doing the writing things I want to do and that make me happy, and if angsty heist wip gets finished as part of that journey, well, bonus.

Is this more a #CalmWriMo as coined by @winterandwords? Why, I suppose it is. Thanks for putting forth the idea and the hashtag. 😊

Anyway. Happy November, happy Nanowrimo, happy Calmwrimo, happy another day of being alive, and happy writing!

Bonus lines for anyone who made it to the bottom of this ramble lolololol.

From The Queen of Lies chapter whatever-the-hell-it-is-now-this-one-used-to-be-chapter-7:

In the faintest reaches of her heart, she allowed herself to grieve ever so little, and to wonder if she would ever see him again.

I made it to Chapter 30 in editing The Prince of Thieves, oh god oh god:

“I don’t know anything else,” she says, her voice shaking. She’s half off the floor, frozen now, breath coming in little bursts. I know, whether I live beyond today or not, I will never be able to forget this moment—her terrified gasping, her wide eyes, the way her chest rises and falls so fast it’s hard to follow. My hand tingles, fuzzy and warm in memory of how it clung to hers all night, and I am struck with how much the idea of Hatchett ending Bree Cooper’s life threatens to rip me apart from the inside.

nothing for angsty heist wip lol I'm sure those will be forthcoming throughout the month

#nanowrimo 2023 #wip: angsty heist project #nanowrimo #calmwrimo #lps the court of rogues

27 notes · View notes

littleperilstories · 1 year

Text

when the ideas bucket turns into a potential outline

#writer problems #writing #writeblr #lps the court of rogues

22 notes · View notes

fmservers · 6 years

Text

Silicon Valley is waiting for the dust to settle in Saudi Arabia, but other headwinds are picking up

It’s been painful, the silence of Silicon Valley with regards to Saudi Arabia, whose shifting accounts about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi have nearly veered into slapstick.

He freely walked out the Saudi consulate in Instanbul! No, rogue killers got to him. Okay, fine, the truth is that he was in a fist-fight and was subdued to death by Saudi officials. Wait. We did set out to brutally murder him, just as Turkish officials told the world at the outset.

It isn’t hard to understand why the story of Khashoggi’s final moments has finally come full circle. Why not just tell the truth when the world — including everyone in technology who has taken the region’s money — is too cowardly or greedy to take a stand against it?

In fairness, breaking up with Saudi Arabia, which has drenched the Bay Area in capital, is easier said than done. Forcing an investor to sell is practically impossible if it has a contractual right to be involved and isn’t interested in selling to other shareholders for a higher price. No doubt, too, many see little to gain by speaking ill of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, or MBS, who is running the show and may be more menacing than they’d realized. In fact, while some in tech are using this moment to win points for not raising money from murderous regimes, nary a recipient of MBS’s capital has spoken publicly about why he or she won’t again accept funding from Saudi Arabia until MBS is removed from his powerful position. Not a single person.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son – – whose $93 billion Vision Fund is anchored by a $45 billion commitment from MBS — met with MBS privately on Monday to express concern about Khashoggi’s murder but also to preserve his options, presumably. Indeed, we’d now guess that comments made last week by SoftBank’s COO Marcelo Claure, who said there was “no certainty” that SoftBank will launch another Vision Fund, were largely overblown.

Many will be relieved if that second fund materializes. But if we were running a unicorn company, we still wouldn’t get too comfortable. Even assuming that the Vision Fund continues to deploy billions of dollars with the help of MBS, it will take time to get his scent off future rounds. As analyst Chris Lane of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. told Bloomberg earlier today, likely SoftBank will have to pause three to six months before starting to again cut major deals, owing to its ties to the prince.

In the meantime, the ordeal looks increasingly like part of a series of shocks that are bound to have a systemic effect — and make burn rates more important than ever to control.

Consider: While we’re busy obsessing over MBS, longer-term frictions with China — which has also poured money into Silicon Valley — grow more concerning by the day, from an ongoing trade war with the U.S., to allegations of intellectual property theft, to Beijing’s continued militarization of disputed islands in the South China Sea, to newer concerns over currency manipulation.

There’s also the performance of the U.S. stock market, which is reacting to these various pressures. Tech shares are pushing U.S. benchmark indexes back into positive territory today — one day after the year’s stock market gains were completely wiped out. But these zigs and zags have U.S. endowments, foundations and pension fund managers feeling nervous. More worrying, these traditional “limited partners” to venture firms are already over allocated to venture as an asset class because the cadence of fundraising has been faster than ever in recent years while exits have been comparatively slow.

“We keep stuffing the snake,” says Chris Douvos, an LP who has helped fund numerous seed-stage firms over the years, including First Round Capital. “But not as much is coming out the back end as coming in the front end. That’s left everyone with a huge bubble” with which to contend.

Douvos isn’t sure how big an impact tech’s suddenly strained relationship with Saudi Arabia could have, but he thinks — as we do — that it could be the first shoe to drop. He thinks that’s not necessarily a terrible thing, either. While a flood of capital from around the world has changed how Silicon Valley builds companies, it might be time to rethink that process anew.

“Maybe being cash-flow negative until you’re a $100 billion company isn’t sustainable. Maybe you start building toward earlier profitability,” says a hopeful Douvos. “That’s very much at odds with the traditional Silicon Valley ethos, but it starts to untangle the web of all this trapped capital.��

It would also give public shareholders an earlier crack at fast-growing companies and perhaps help Silicon Valley find its backbone. More realistically, these headwinds may see U.S. companies run even faster to Saudi Arabia, where the prince will only become more emboldened, and his terms more cutthroat.

Above: Salah Khashoggi, a son of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who has been banned from leaving Saudi Arabia and who was forced on Monday to visit the royal court and accept the condolences of MBS.

Via Connie Loizos https://techcrunch.com

#TechCrunch

0 notes

theinvinciblenoob · 6 years

Link

It’s been painful, the silence of Silicon Valley with regards to Saudi Arabia, whose shifting accounts about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi have nearly veered into slapstick.

In the meantime, the ordeal looks increasingly like part of a series of shocks that are bound to have a systemic effect — and make burn rates more important than ever to control.

via TechCrunch

#IFTTT #TechCrunch

0 notes