#bankruptcy shopping

[mostlysignssomeportents]

One of America’s most corporate-crime-friendly bankruptcy judges forced to recuse himself

Today (Oct 16) I'm in Minneapolis, keynoting the 26th ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing. Thursday (Oct 19), I'm in Charleston, WV to give the 41st annual McCreight Lecture in the Humanities. Friday (Oct 20), I'm at Charleston's Taylor Books from 12h-14h.

"I’ll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one." The now-famous quip from Robert Reich cuts to the bone of corporate personhood. Corporations are people with speech rights. They are heat-shields that absorb liability on behalf of their owners and managers.

But the membrane separating corporations from people is selectively permeable. A corporation is separate from its owners, who are not liable for its deeds – but it can also be "closely held," and so inseparable from those owners that their religious beliefs can excuse their companies from obeying laws they don't like:

https://clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu/2014/10/13/hobby-lobby-and-closely-held-corporations/

Corporations – not their owners – are liable for their misdeeds (that's the "limited liability" in "limited liablity corporation"). But owners of a murderous company can hold their victims' families hostage and secure bankruptcies for their companies that wipe out their owners' culpability – without any requirement for the owners to surrender their billions to the people they killed and maimed:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/11/justice-delayed/#justice-redeemed

Corporations are, in other words, a kind of Schroedinger's Cat for impunity: when it helps the ruling class, corporations are inseparable from their owners; when that would hinder the rich and powerful, corporations are wholly distinct entities. They exist in a state of convenient superposition that collapses only when a plutocrat opens the box and decides what is inside it. Heads they win, tails we lose.

Key to corporate impunity is the rigged bankruptcy system. "Debts that can't be paid, won't be paid," so every successful civilization has some system for discharging debt, or it risks collapse:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/bankruptcy-protects-fake-people-brutalizes-real-ones/

When you or I declare bankruptcy, we have to give up virtually everything and endure years (or a lifetime) of punitive retaliation based on our stained credit records, and even then, our student debts continue to haunt us, as do lawless scumbag debt-collectors:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/12/do-not-pay/#fair-debt-collection-practices-act

When a giant corporation declares bankruptcy, by contrast, it emerges shorn of its union pension obligations and liabilities owed to workers and customers it abused or killed, and continues merrily on its way, re-offending at will. Big companies have mastered the Texas Two-Step, whereby a company creates a subsidiary that inherits all its liabilities, but not its assets. The liability-burdened company is declared bankrupt, and the company's sins are shriven at the bang of a judge's gavel:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/01/j-and-j-jk/#risible-gambit

Three US judges oversee the majority of large corporate bankruptcies, and they are so reliable in their deference to this scheme that an entire industry of high-priced lawyers exists solely to game the system to ensure that their clients end up before one of these judges. When the Sacklers were seeking to abscond with their billions in opioid blood-money and stiff their victims' families, they set their sights on Judge Robert Drain in the Southern District of New York:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/23/a-bankrupt-process/#sacklers

To get in front of Drain, the Sacklers opened an office in White Plains, NY, then waited 192 days to file bankruptcy papers there (it takes six months to establish jurisdiction). Their papers including invisible metadata that identified the case as destined for Judge Drain's court, in a bid to trick the court's Case Management/Electronic Case Files system to assign the case to him.

The case was even pre-captioned "RDD" ("Robert D Drain"), to nudge clerks into getting their case into a friendly forum.

If the Sacklers hadn't opted for Judge Drain, they might have set their sights on the Houston courthouse presided over by Judge David Jones, the second of of the three most corporate-friendly large bankruptcy judges. Judge Jones is a Texas judge – as in "Texas Two-Step" – and he has a long history of allowing corporate murderers and thieves to escape with their fortunes intact and their victims penniless:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/07/hr-4193/#shoppers-choice

But David Jones's reign of error is now in limbo. It turns out that he was secretly romantically involved with Elizabeth Freeman, a leading Texas corporate bankruptcy lawyer who argues Texas Two-Step cases in front of her boyfriend, Judge David Jones.

Judge Jones doesn't deny that he and Freeman are romantically involved, but said that he didn't think this fact warranted disclosure – let alone recusal – because they aren't married and "he didn't benefit economically from her legal work." He said that he'd only have to disclose if the two owned communal property, but the deed for their house lists them as co-owners:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24032507-general-warranty-deed

(Jones claims they don't live together – rather, he owns the house and pays the utility bills but lets Freeman live there.)

Even if they didn't own communal property, judges should not hear cases where one of the parties is represented by their long term romantic partner. I mean, that is a weird sentence to have to type, but I stand by it.

The case that led to the revelation and Jones's stepping away from his cases while the Fifth Circuit investigates is a ghastly – but typical – corporate murder trial. Corizon is a prison healthcare provider that killed prisoners with neglect, in the most cruel and awful ways imaginable. Their families sued, so Corizon budded off two new companies: YesCare got all the contracts and other assets, while Tehum Care Services got all the liabilities:

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/prominent-bankruptcy-judge-david-jones-033801325.html

Then, Tehum paid Freeman to tell her boyfriend, Judge Jones, to let it declare bankruptcy, leaving $173m for YesCare and allocating $37m for the victims suing Tehum. Corizon owes more than $1.2b, "including tens of millions of dollars in unpaid invoices and hundreds of malpractice suits filed by prisoners and their families who have alleged negligent care":

https://www.kccllc.net/tehum/document/2390086230522000000000041

Under the deal, if Corizon murdered your family member, you would get $5,000 in compensation. Corizon gets to continue operating, using that $173m to prolong its yearslong murder spree.

The revelation that Jones and Freeman are lovers has derailed this deal. Jones is under investigation and has recused himself from his cases. The US Trustee – who represents creditors in bankruptcy cases – has intervened to block the deal, calling Tehum "a barren estate, one that was stripped of all of its valuable assets as a result of the combination and divisional mergers that occurred prior to the bankruptcy filing."

This is the third high-profile sleazy corporate bankruptcy that had victory snatched from the jaws of defeat this year: there was Johnson and Johnson's attempt to escape from liability from tricking women into powder their vulvas with asbestos (no, really), the Sacklers' attempt to abscond with billions after kicking off the opioid epidemic that's killed 800,000+ Americans and counting, and now this one.

This one might be the most consequential, though – it has the potential to eliminate one third of the major crime-enabling bankruptcy judges serving today.

One down.

Two to go.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/16/texas-two-step/#david-jones

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a hopeful novel of the climate emergency. Amazon won't sell the audiobook, so I made my own and I'm pre-selling it on Kickstarter!

#pluralistic #texas two-step #bankruptcy #houston #texas #mess with texas #corruption #judge david jones #fifth circuit #southern district of texas #elizabeth freeman #yescare #corizon #prisons #private prisons #prison profiteers #Michael Van Deelen #Office of the US Trustee #sacklers #bankruptcy shopping #johnson and johnson #impunity

[tomorrowusa]

Don't be fooled by phony support for labor from billionaires like Donald Trump.

Contrary to what a few media outlets reported, Trump did NOT speak to striking UAW workers. The owner of a non-union shop invited him to hold what amounted to a campaign rally at his building.

The Media Falls for Trump’s Labor Lies

[O]nce you strip away Trump’s bluster, you see a recognizably Republican creature. His labor lies are proof. The former president wanted people to believe he was speaking to striking auto workers, but the UAW had not invited him and its president, Shawn Fain, had sharply criticized Trump. The press fell for Trump’s lies anyway. [ ... ] Here’s what else we know about Trump and labor. His Labor Secretary, Eugene Scalia, was resolutely anti-union and anti-worker. Scalia rewrote “dozens of rules that were put in place to protect workers” The New Yorker reported, and during his tenure, OSHA “explicitly told employers that none of its COVID-19 recommendations impose new legal obligations.” Under Trump, the National Labor Relations Board reversed some Obama-era regulations that made it easier for workers to organize. Politico itself reported in 2018 that the Trump administration was “rolling back worker safety protections affecting underground mine safety inspections, offshore oil rigs and line speeds in meat processing plants, among others.” On labor, Trump is an orthodox conservative. We know that Trump’s “mixed legacy” with labor is, in fact, clear. He likes to sound like a populist, but he is a proven conman. Yet those facts are relatively absent from mainstream coverage right now. Why are political reporters still making such basic mistakes? Why are they even furnishing his lies? Trump’s claims deserve skepticism, at minimum, like any politician. As long as Republican voters prefer Trump in spite of his anti-worker record, and Republican lawmakers are still anti-union, we can hardly speak of “a long coming convergence between his own party and union members,” as Politico does. [ ... ] As my colleague Eric Levitz recently argued, a paper or news channel can find it difficult to cover Trump “without sounding like a shrill, dull, Democratic propaganda outlet.” Therefore the media “comports itself as an amnesiac, or an abusive household committed to keeping up appearances, losing itself in the old routines, in an effortful approximation of normality until it almost forgets what it doesn’t want to know.” In such circumstances, the press should ask itself if objectivity is even possible, let alone desirable. The truth will not long withstand business as usual.

While pretending to be pro-US labor, Trump merchandise was being made in China during his administration.

Trump flags: Made in China

Trump treats his own workers like shit, he considers them disposable and screws them out of their rightful benefits.

How Trump's Casino Bankruptcies Screwed His Workers out of Millions in Retirement Savings Trump made out like a bandit, but his employees paid the price.

#michigan #uaw #united auto workers #uaw strike #joe biden #biden visits picket line #a living wage #workers rights #republicans are anti-labor #donald trump #drake enterprises #trump is anti-union #trump speaks at a non-union shop #trump cons the media #trump is an enemy of working people #trump's bankruptcies hurt his workers #trump merch made in china #election 2024

[thisgodwontforgiveyou]

the album art fucking RULES

#if it was like a vectorized logo fucking 2 months to bankruptcy gentrified ice cream shop thing it would be the worst thing ever #but the fact that the official version is just pixelated to living hell owns owns owns

[onenettvchannel]

BALITANG LOKAL: Dumaguete's Local Retail Giant 'Lee Super Plaza' faces an uncertain future and potential mall bankruptcy by the year-end of 2023 [#OneNETnewsEXCLUSIVE]

DUMAGUETE, NEGROS ORIENTAL -- Lee Super Plaza, a well-known shopping mall located in the heart of Dumaguete City is facing an uncertain future, concerning of a potential city-wide strike and financial instability have emerged, casting a shadow over the local retail giant of Negros Oriental.

(CONTRIBUTED SCREENGRAB LOGO COURTESY: Lee Plaza Shopping website via Internet Archive)

It is owned & operated by the Dynamic Development Corporation (DDC), was being a fixture of the Dumaguete City's commercial landscape for many years, and was opened on Thursday (September 8th, 1988 -- Dumaguete local time). At first, the only commercialized mall, which opened with grand promises and ambitions, offered a diverse range of retail stores, entertainment options and a bustling food court. Over time, it became a central hub for both shoppers and public service in the region. However, recent events have raised questions about the mall's viability and future.

In a series of Facebook status posts from early October 2023 (owned by Meta Platforms Inc.), concerns about the potential closure of Lee Super Plaza (LSP) have surfaced. These posts allude to issues related to labor disputes, financial difficulties and the mall's possible bankruptcy.

While the authenticity of these claims remains uncertain, the series of posts paints a bleak picture of LSP's future. Some posts suggest a pending strike by mall employees due to alleged unfair labor practices and unpaid wages.

Others speculate about the mall's financial instability and possible bankruptcy. All in all, OneNETnews cannot independently verify the authenticity of its potential mall issues at the time of our writing. To date, the management of the Lee Super Plaza was yet to release an official public statement addressing these concerns or confirming the allegations raised on social media. The lack of information from the mall's management was only fueled speculation and anxiety among both employees and patrons.

The uncertainty surrounding the future of LSP, sparking discussions among local residents of Negrosanon people, the city of Dumaguete, and local business owners. The potential closure of such a prominent retail establishment could have far-reaching consequences, affecting not only the livelihoods of the mall's employees but also the local economy.

(SCREENGRAB from a Deleted FB Profile Reel post)

Local authorities and a disclosed labor group are closely monitoring the situation. They have urged transparency and open communication between the mall's management and its employees to address any legitimate concerns and prevent further unrest.

The future of LSP, a beloved fixture in the said cities' commercial landscape, remains uncertain amid growing concerns about a potential mall strike and bankruptcy. While unverified claims of social media have raised their alarm, the lack of official information from the mall's management was left many in the dark.

As the story continues to develop, residents of Dumaguete City & Negros Oriental, and the broader community awaits clarification and hope for a peaceful resolution to the issues that threaten the future of the local commercial mall of the Lee Super Plaza.

PHOTO COURTESY: Rhayniel Saldasal Calimpong (Freelanced Photojournalist and News Presenter of OneNETnews)

SOURCE: *http://www.leeplazashopping.com/the-company.html [Referenced Biography via Lee Plaza Shopping website] *http://www.leeplazashopping.com/lee-super-plaza.html [Referenced Building Statistics and Mall Listing Location via Lee Plaza Shopping website] *https://www.facebook.com/100001136771991/posts/6833135736734251 [Referenced FB Status Post #1 via Roland Baldomar] *https://www.facebook.com/100001136771991/posts/6843652289015929 [Referenced FB Status Post #2 via Roland Baldomar] *https://www.facebook.com/100013046171744/posts/1748794148898774 [Referenced FB Status Post via Michelle Ragusta] *https://www.facebook.com/100071982191891/posts/333606349048769 [Referenced FB Status Post #3f via Roland Baldomar] *https://www.facebook.com/61550791796086/posts/122129861840026393 [Referenced FB Status Post #1 via Haidee Calumpang] *https://www.facebook.com/61550791796086/posts/122130175706026393 [Referenced FB Status Post #2 via Haidee Calumpang] *https://www.facebook.com/groups/948241189151942/posts/1310689909573733 [Referenced FB Group Status Post via Haidee Calumpang] *https://www.facebook.com/61550791796086/posts/122130567986026393 [Referenced FB Status Post #3 via Haidee Calumpang] *https://www.facebook.com/61550791796086/posts/122130878168026393 [Referenced FB Status Post #4 via Haidee Calumpang] *https://www.facebook.com/61550791796086/posts/122130886910026393 [Referenced FB Status Post #5 via Haidee Calumpang] and *https://www.facebook.com/61550791796086/posts/122131052630026393 [Referenced FB Status Post #6f via Haidee Calumpang]

-- OneNETnews Team

#local news #dumaguete #negros oriental #lee super plaza #shopping mall #bankruptcy #closure #mall strike #potential #retail #awareness #OneNETnews #exclusive #first and exclusive

[ur-mag]

Convenience store chain closing 13 shops and filing for bankruptcy – but insists it won’t impact shoppers or workers | In Trend Today

Convenience store chain closing 13 shops and filing for bankruptcy – but insists it won’t impact shoppers or workers Read Full Text or Full Article on MAG NEWS

View On WordPress

#Celebrities #Convenience store chain closing 13 shops and filing for bankruptcy – but insists it won’t impact shoppers or workers #Money #Motors #Politics #ShowBiz #Sport #Tech #UK #US #World

[batshit-auspol]

With the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, many of the former empire's resources were sold off to the highest bidder, and their $14 billion space shuttle program was no exception.

Seeking to recoup some of that eyewatering spend, in 1998, the "Buran" (Russia's answer to the American Space Shuttle) was offered up for sale on eBay for $10 million.

No serious offers were received - with most people assuming the listing to be a joke, until the New York Post confirmed the sale, with Russian authorities stating they "actually have two" if anyone is interested.

(Pictured: A later auction of a smaller scale Buran in 2005)

Sensing an opportunity, a group of Aussie entrepreneurs including Australia's first astronaut and the lawyer for Prime Minister Paul Keating offer to lease the shuttle from Russia, to put it on display in Australia during the Sydney Olympics.

After gaining permission from the Kremlin for the lease, in 1999 the Russian military briefly stops bombing Chechnya in order to dismantle the Buran, and it is placed on a barge to be shipped to Sydney on the (soon to be infamous for other reasons) Tampa shipping vessel at a cost of $5 million.

Once in Sydney, after a disastrous few months on display where crowds failed to flock to the shuttle exhibition featuring such compelling educational offerings as "activities is to assist in the development of issues of nutrition and hygiene at home" (an actual quote from their website) - the leasing company declared bankruptcy and washed their hands of the space shuttle completely.

The Buran Gift shop where you could buy soviet space ship themed football jerseys, in case you needed one of those

One of four people listed on the lease, described as a business partner of the Prime Minister, also claims he never knew he was a director of the company, which went on to cause a lot more problems.

This whole debacle presented a slight issue for the cash strapped Russian authorities, who had now only been paid $100,000 for the 9 year lease of the shuttle instead of the $600,000 they were owed. Eventually the decision was made to abandon the once $1 billion Soviet pride and joy in a Sydney carpark, where it resided for a year under a small tarpaulin.

Failed attempts to be rid of the shuttle included a 12 day auction hosted by an LA radio station, where listeners were offered the chance to buy the shuttle for $6 million, however all bids turned out to be pranks and the shuttle remained.

Multiple attempts were also made to sell the shuttle to Tom Cruise, with the exacerbated movie star's representatives repeatedly telling the insistent traders that he was not interested in owning a Russian spaceship.

Eventually a Singaporean group dismantled the shuttle and shipped it overseas, however Russian authorities soon reported they once again had been failed to be paid for the lease. Singaporean representatives responded that they definitely had paid for the shuttle, and that they simply couldn't remember when or how much was paid.

Representing the Russian government, Lawyer Suhaila Turani told the Wall Street Journal “I feel sorry for the Russians. They’re good in space, but they’re very naive in business.”

For a time the shuttle was abandoned in the storage yard of event company Pico, with the company owner telling the Wall Street Journal "I just want this thing out of my life" after three years of being stuck with it.

A few years later the shuttle was found by German journalists dismantled in a junkyard, and it was then bought and shipped to Germany to be put on display a museum, so all's well that ends well (except they dropped it from a crane while trying to set it up, but it polished up okay).

#auspol #australia #russia #history #fun facts

[terpia]

???

#personal #reading up on it paperchase was apparently on the edge of bankruptcy and tesco decided to buy it for whatever reason #however getting an email out of the blue saying #'hey so because you bought something online from a stationary shop once like a year ago our supermarket chain now has all your data' #is a bit wild #(is this post intelligible to anyone outside of UK?)

[deceitfuldevout]

Highest Bidder

Dark!Robert Fishcher x Sugarbaby!Reader

Word Count: +3,066

Warning(s): +18, Non con, Loss of virginity, Human auction, Housewife kink, Breeding kink, Misogynistic remarks, Insults, Just plain abuse, Robert is a warning himself.

Author's Note(s): I have been thinking about this for a hot minute. Inspired by @mypoisonedvine Robert Fischer fic go check it out!!

You couldn't stop checking your phone for an update. He was supposed to be here an hour ago. Did he bail? Part of you had hoped so. It would make things a lot easier. Years ago, if someone had told you that you'd be auctioning off your virginity, well, the first thing you'd do is laugh in their face.

That was before everything went to shit. Your parents ended up in neck-deep debt trying to pay off your college, borrowing money from some sleazy loaner company. Soon having no choice but to debate on filing for bankruptcy. Everything they've worked hard for, gone. You didn't want them to worry about that anymore.

This wasn't a huge deal for you. Personally, you've never had any luck with guys and would rather get this over with. Growing up you were always the awkward, ugly duckling of the friend group, so a boyfriend was out of the picture. Only sharing an innocent kiss with a childhood friend, but that was a long time ago. It was only after you reached your 20's where you began to bloom.

He'd bought your outfit and covered the cost of everything. He wants you ready and waiting for him, all wrapped up like a pretty present. He's very particular about these things, even making a list of errands to run before the big day. He requested for photos of the hair and makeup you'd be wearing for the evening. Scolding you every time you did something he disliked. He wouldn't even try hiding it. You reread his previous text message: Change the makeup. It makes you look like a cheap whore. You scoff at the response...how rude.

Even before all of this he would try to test your patience. Sending messages like, 'Do you know who I am? You should be more grateful that I'm giving you this much attention," or "Anyone would be lucky to be in your position,' which made you physically roll your eyes. This morning, he had given you a call as a reminder of where you would meet. He send you the hotel address with money for a cab.

He made sure to give you call in the afternoon as a reminder of what to do after arriving, ending it with, "I don't want to hear any complaining when I get there." before hanging up. You grumble a stray of curse words, this had better been worth it...

You couldn't believe your eyes on how luxurious the hotel was. It's entrance had been decorated with marble and brass statues. There wasn't a drop of it that didn't scream 'money'. You sheepishly sign in, allowing a worker to carry your bag to the room. It had taken a while before you could reach the top. Part of you was impressed, he had really gone all out.

As soon as you enter the room there was this sort of romantic ambiance to it. From the lighting, to the breathtaking scenery of the city. It was all so...dreamy. But this was no dream. You were going to have sex for the first time with some old, rich geezer, gross. You take note of a shopping bag left on the bed, opening it to find a lingerie set.

You held the fabric, inspecting the material. White lace, with hints of glitter that shine in the light. At least the old man has good taste. You take a look at yourself in the mirror, humming at the sight of it. Not bad...hell, you looked fantastic.

Suddenly the door knob jingles, then a heavy knock follows. You leapt from the bed, approaching to open the door for him. But before you could reach the knob it slams open. A man enters, sporting a well-tailored suit, dressed to the nines from head-to-toe. His hair is combed back, a few strands dangle against his forehead. As you scan the man's face, you couldn't help but notice how handsome he was.

There's a light rosy hue to his cheeks. You first notice the striking blues of his eyes and how long his lashes are. He looks like he'd have no problem at all searching for someone. So what is he doing paying for someone like you? For a moment, you were in awe of his presence. Staring back at the man like a deer caught in headlights.

The meeting today had taken its toll on Robert. He was supposed to meet with you hours ago, but there had been an emergency with the company's shareholders. He could practically feel his blood boiling, to the point where it felt almost difficult to breathe. He tugs his tie off and yanks for his shirt to open, a few buttons go flying. He lets out a huff, scanning the room with his blue orbs for something, more specifically, someone.

"So you're the one I've been talking to eh?" a hint of humor in his voice, "Let me guess, you're a good girl caught up in the wrong crowd? Is that it?" he taunts, "I'm sure you've 'never' done this before," the corners of his mouth turn upward into a sinister grin. His eyes are emotionless. Cold as ice. Yet why did they seem so comforting? As if you've seen them before.

He drops his suitcase at the end of the bed, turning towards you. He eyes you up and down, as if he were deep in thought, "Give me a spin," and of course you follow his orders. He raises a brow, "Come here," he commands. You stare back at him, unsure of what he'd just said. Robert sighs, he doesn't have time for this. He's slightly drunk and exhausted from work. Right now he just wants some hard, animalistic fucking.

He tugs your underwear to the side, examining his prize. He bunches up the waistband of your panties before yanking the fabric down. You held your breath, now riddled with anxiety. This was a bit too...casual for comfort. He fists the fabric, holding it to the side while the other hand held your hip.

His voice is deep, much deeper in person, "Hold it for me," he wants to get a good look at his purchase. His thick fingers slide down your pubic area, grazing against the bare skin, he hums, "Even waxed yourself like I told you to, good girl." he slaps the side of your hip, as if he were examining livestock. Your stomach coils at the realization. Never in your life have you felt so...objectified. Still, now wasn't the time to back down. He pushes you against a desk. Until you were now leaning on the table.

He spreads your folds with his thick digits, examining them closely. He held your clit between his fingers, pinching it lightly. You let out a whine from the sensation, bucking your hips from the sudden discomfort. He retreats his hand before flipping you over. His chest now against your back. He pushes you against the table, bending you over for a better view. He was in no rush.

He rubs his fingers over your bare slit. His thumb caresses your bundle of nerves. As soon as he retreats you finally snap the fabric back in place. Now lowering your head with embarrassment. He grips your chin, lifting it until you're face-to-face, "No don't hide from me now..." he plops himself on a chair, tilting his chin up, "Why don't you make yourself useful and help me get this off?"

If you weren't getting paid you would've scoffed at his rudeness. It was obvious he was into power play. Being in total control of everything. Now wasn't the time for letting your emotions emotions get involved. You help him remove his coat and tie, even unbuttoning the rest of his shirt. He's still wearing his pants, now unclasped. He stares you down, a smirk now lingering on his cold features, "Take off your clothes,"

When you start to quickly unclasp the garter belt, Robert's voice booms, "Stop." he orders, "Do it slower," he leans back in the recliner, already palming his erection. You shyly unclasp your belt, letting the straps fall off each shoulder. His hand grazes on an exposed breast, sending shivers down your spine.

He chuckles, "Oh...don't tell me you're that sensitive?" a crude remark. Your brows furrow, why did he have to tease you so? He notices your obvious discomfort, "Don't worry darling, your only job is to fuck," as if that would make things better, "Do you know how to suck cock?" he questions. You give him a hesitant nod, "No...I've never done it before this is my first time--"

"I didn't ask for a whole life story,"

"...No," your lips press in a thin line. He was really pushing it, "So you've never had sex or sucked cock before, tell me, what have you done?" he pulls out his member, already hard and leaking. It's tip was flush pink, the same as his lips. He spits into his palm before working himself up, he knows you're nervous. He wants you to be intimidated by him. He pumps his shafts with slow strokes, "Tell me, what gets you off..." he sighs.

You look down to your feet, suddenly his voice booms, "No, do not look away," to which you began to tear up. His voice is soft now, "Sweetheart, look at me," he huffs. You look up at him now with tearful eyes, he groans, "Oh...that's it..." stroking his cock faster. A finger points directly at you in a 'come hither' motion. You walk towards him, still eyeing his shaft. How was that going to fit?

You felt warm despite the lack of clothing, there's a pooling sensation between your legs. He wraps an arm around your waist, pulling you into his lap. His tongue darts against a breast. He teases the bud with his teeth. He made sure it was swollen and sensitive before giving attention to the other breast.

You never knew it could feel this...good. As soon as your hands reach for his hair he instantly stops, Robert remembers the reason why you're here. It wasn't to see him. You only wanted one thing, and he doesn't have time to play pretend. He just came here to collect what he's owed. At the end of the day, you were just a hired whore. He swats both hands away, giving you the cold shoulder. He lifts himself from the seat, throwing you against the carpet. You're confused at the sudden mood swing. It frightens you. Where the hell did that come from?

"It's a shame, you were doing so well," Robert sits up, his leaking cock now presses against his abdomen. He's pissed. He paid you for your time, you were suppose to focus only on his needs. Every word that came from his mouth dripped with anger, "It seems like you need a reminder on whore etiquette," he knows you've probably fucked a few before him, this was all part of your little roleplay act.

"I'm not a whore!" you detest lying, what made him not believe you? Forget it...this wasn't worth an argument, "You know what? You can take your money back asshole! Fuck this and fuck you--" a hand grips around your neck. He'll have to show you a thing or two of what comes with selling yourself out, especially to a complete stranger. You've always knew deep down that you'd regret your first, but this was downright terrifying.

This man, he didn't even see you as a person. As a human being. To him, this was all a transaction that was paid for, "What did you think that website was for? It's a human auction. Not just your cunt. Meaning I own your ass for the next few hours," he leans in, pressing his nose against yours, he growls, "Remember your place..."

Robert pulls you up by the hair, throwing you onto the bed. You scramble to get away but he's much stronger. He began to wrestle you. To which you land a slap on his cheek, hard enough to leave a mark. You pause, now too scared to move. He touches the tender skin, it would surely leave a bruise tomorrow. Which just so happens to be an important meeting, "You little bitch..." he grips your jaw until it aches, forcing your mouth to open.

He takes the opportunity to spit inside, covering your mouth and pinching your nose. You felt like you wanted to gag. Finally, after fighting to hold your breath, you swallow. He grins, "See? even if you try to fight me, I always get what I want..."

You, of all people, should know this about him. Instead you try putting up a fight, "I hate you! I hate you! Let me go!" thrashing around. Both of his hands now pressed against your throat. He scolds, "If you want it to hurt I'll make it hurt like nothing else..." he flips you over, pressing his body against your own, making it harder to breathe.

He lets his pants slide down. Tugging off his boxers. He spits a wad into his hand, that should be enough to get comfortable, for him. But for you? Well, he wants it to hurt you. Otherwise, how will you learn? Whores like you deserve to feel pain. That's what you get for teasing him in your photos. He growls into your ear, "Time to try my pussy..."

He yanks down your panties before pressing his leaking tip against your opening. He muffles your cries in his palm. You couldn't hold back the tears. This man is going to break you! As retaliation you tilt your head to the side and bit into his forearm. He grunts from the pain, it only encourages him to carry out your punishment. He thrusts harder, grinding down his hips to reach as deep as he could go.

You sob from the pain, going limp from shock. All you could do was cry into his hand, bracing yourself against the cushioning below. You turned your head to face the mirror, taking a good look at your own sad, pathetic reflection. You were being dominated by a complete stranger. How did it get to this point? When did you become so pathetic? So desperate to the point where you became a whore for hire?

He held you close to his chest. He knows now you're too tired to fight him off. He kept jutting his hips back and fourth, moaning in your ear with a deep grumble. You could smell the alcohol and cigarettes on his breath. It repulses you. The only sounds that could be heard in the room were of skin-to-skin slapping, Robert's insults, and your muffled cries.

"Fuck....fuck m'gonna cum..." he grunts. He rubs his nose against the crook of your neck, inhaling the sweet scented perfume. He drags his face across the soft, supple skin. He can tell by the shimmer that you applied an expensive lotion earlier. Of course you wanted him, what woman wouldn't? He's handsome, rich, successful, he's the entire package.

So why were you begging for him not to finish inside? You were just being stubborn, that's all. He'll have to remind you of who's in charge, "I bought this pussy fair and square. If I want to put a baby in it, then bitch, I will," he sinks his teeth into your shoulder, biting until the skin breaks. He doesn't stop thrusting his hips. Plunging his cock deep inside to coat your womb. He moans, furrowing his brows from the feeling of your velvety walls.

"You think you're better than me huh? Old enough to fuck but not old enough to get knocked up, yeah fucking right" he huffs, "You just wanted an excuse to be whore..." His voice becomes hoarse, as the pleasure began to increase, "Fuck...fuck I'll buy you a big house just so I can fuck you in it...hm...yeah you'd like that wouldn't you?" he doesn't stop his vigorous thrusts, "I’ll fuck some babies into you hm? You'd like that? I’ll give you a baby with blue eyes…something to remind you of me…" he flips you over, locking an arm around your neck.

All you could do was whine as you wait for the inevitable. Robert licks a stripe against your ear. He grunts with satisfaction, "Want you to remember this for the rest of your life....every time you think about your first time, you'll be thinking of me...." he fastens his pace. All you could do was stare back at your reflection. A tear trickles down your cheek. You couldn't help but agree. It was true, this moment would haunt you for the rest of your life.

Robert knows it. That's what gives him such an ego boost. He felt like he was on top of the fucking world. He growls in your ear, "Remember this, I.Fucking.Own.You." before unloading his spunk deep inside. He muffles a moan in the crook of your neck, bowing his head down to feel the bliss of it all. Fuck, he never came so much in his life. Was it the adrenaline or the pussy? He doesn't care. All he knows is that it's money well spent.

He slowly begins to pull out, hissing from the pleasure your pussy gave. He moans at the sight of his shaft dipped in a crimson tint, "Fuck me...if that isn't a sight for sore eyes..." he's made sure to mark his territory. He flips you over, you're too scared to even look at him.

He slides his hand from your stomach to your pelvis, "Hold on...I want to see it.." giving your lower abdomen a light push, forcing the rest of his seed out. It's mixed with a string of red. His lids are hooded, there's a twitch to his features. He grins, "Fuck...guess you weren't lying about me being your first..." he chuckles, "And here I thought you were just another lying whore..." playing with your emotions.

Robert lifts himself from the bed. He retrieves his belt on the floor, tying your wrists to the bed post. He doesn't want to risk you running away from him. Not while he still had a few hours left. He fixes himself in the mirror, coming his hair back to how it was before. Making sure that there wasn't a single strand out of place. He admires himself in the mirror. He felt like a fucking champ. Like nothing in the world could stop him, and so far there hasn't been.

Robert knew this was a good idea the moment he saw your profile online. He'd been tracking you down for quite some time, it's been a while. His obsession growing with each message sent. He had to own you. Mind, body, and soul. It was a good idea to install the hidden camera in the hotel. He could only stare at you from his office, viewing you changing into the set he'd purchased, admiring yourself in the mirror. He had to wait another agonizing hour before work was finished.

He notices the way you'd tried being presentable, all for him. How you would constantly check your phone just to see what his orders were. Submissive, compliant, needy. So fucking needy. That little pussy of yours needed his cock to break it in. He doesn't want it to end, he tosses a few bills onto the mattress, you don't even flinch. Your mind had already escaped.

Robert leans in, caging your body with his arms, "Why don't I keep you as my little plaything, hm?" he knows you've recently graduated. But what use was a degree compared to what he could give? What greater reward than being his pretty little housewife? You might as well put those looks to use. He plants a kiss against your lips, humming in satisfaction, "Need a good girl to balance me out..." he begins to rant, "And if you ever think of leaving me, I'll send a video of us fucking to your parents,"

But the thing is, you never told him who your parents were. It was then when the pieces began to fall into place. How could you be so stupid? His username was R-Morrow.

This was no other than the owner of Fischer Morrow, the man responsible for your landing parents in deep debt. Of course they trusted him, because he's your childhood friend. You lift yourself up and face him. Your voice in disbelief when you question the identity of the strange man, now with a tearful look, "R-Robbie?" you whisper. He pauses for a moment, head turning to the side as he looks your way, "Did you miss me?"

"...Why? I-I don't understand..." you began hyperventilating. This wasn't happening. Your childhood friend had taken your virginity. At one point, he was your entire world. He approaches you, no longer a lanky young boy but a man. He cups your face, pressing his forehead against yours. He sighs, "Don't you remember the promise we made? To find each other?" his eyes bore into yours, "I could only dream of it, but now?" he wraps his arms around you, holding you close to him, "Now you're finally mine..."

#dark!robert fischer #dark!robert fischer x reader #reader #reader insert #fem!reader #afab!reader #fab!reader #dark!fic #dark!fanfic #dark!fanfiction #dark!smut #dark fic #dark fanfic #dark fanfiction #cillian murphy character #cillian murphy smut

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The Sacklers woulda gotten away with it if it wasn't for those darned meddling feds

The saga of the Sacklers, a multigenerational billionaire crime family of mass-murdering dope-peddlers, is an enraging parable about how the wealthy, the courts, and sadistic high-powered lawyers collude to destroy the lives of millions, profit handsomely, and evade justice.

But there's an unexpected twist to this tale. After the Sacklers procured a sham bankruptcy that denied their victims the right to sue while leaving their fortune largely intact, the Supreme Court – yes, this Supreme Court – saw through the scam and froze the process, pending a full hearing:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/us/supreme-court-purdue-pharma-opioid-settlement.html

The Sacklers basically invented modern, legal dope peddling. Arthur Sackler, the family's original crime-boss, revived the practice of direct-to-consumer drug marketing, dormant since the death of the medicine show, to peddle Valium. An aggressive and shrewd lobbyist, Arthur built the family fortune and, more importantly, its connections:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-the-sackler-family-built-a-pharma-dynasty-and-fueled-an-american-calamity/

A generation later, the family's business company created Oxycontin, and procured misleading and false research about the drug's safety kickstarting the opioid epidemic, whose American body-count is closing in on a million dead. Armed with inflated claims about opioid safety, the Sacklers' pharma reps bribed, cajoled and tricked doctors into writing millions of prescriptions for oxy.

This scam had a natural best-before date. As ODs flooded America's ERs and bodies piled up in America's morgues, it became increasingly clear that something was rotten. The Sacklers pursued a multipronged campaign to keep the truth from coming to light, and to keep the billions flowing.

On the one hand, they hired McKinsey to find novel ways to encourage doctors to keep writing prescriptions and to convince pharmacists to turn a blind eye to abuse. McKinsey had all kinds of great ideas here, including paying pharma distributors cash bonuses for every overdose death in their territory:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/03/business/mckinsey-opioids-settlement.html

When the issue of these deaths came up in public, the Sacklers blamed "criminal addicts" for their own misery, stigmatizing both people who desperately needed pain relief and the people who'd been deliberately hooked on the Sacklers' products. The legacy of this smear campaign is still with us, both in the contempt for people struggling with addiction and in the cruel barriers placed between people in unbearable agony and medical relief.

But mostly, the Sacklers kept their names out of it. They laundered their reputations by donating a homeopathic fraction of their vast drug fortune to art galleries and museums in a bid to make their names synonymous with good deeds.

The Sacklers didn't invent this trick. Think of the way that history's great monsters – Carnegie, Mellon, Rockefeller, Ford – are remembered today for the foundations and charities that bear their names, not for the untold misery they inflicted on their workers, their crimes against their customers, and the corruption of governments.

But the Sacklers made those Gilded Age barons seem like amateurs. They invented a modern elite philanthropy playbook that Anand Giridharadas documents in his must-read Winners Take All, about the charity-industrial complex that washes away an ocean of blood with a trickle of money:

https://memex.craphound.com/2018/11/10/winners-take-all-modern-philanthropy-means-that-giving-some-away-is-more-important-than-how-you-got-it/

As part of this PR exercise, the individual Sacklers kept their names and images out of the public eye. For years, there were virtually no news-service photos of individual Sacklers. When journalists dared to criticize the family, they used vicious attack-lawyers to intimidate them into retractions and silence (I was threatened by the Sacklers' lawyers).

They also worked their media mogul pals, like Mike Bloomberg, who added their names to the "Friends of Mike" list that Bloomberg reporters were required to consult before writing negative coverage:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/02/29/friends-of-mike-enemies-of-the-people/#sacklerbergs

But Stein's Law says that "anything that can't go on forever will eventually stop." As lawsuits mounted, the Sacklers found themselves increasingly synonymous with death, not charitable works. But like any canny criminal, the Sacklers had a getaway plan.

First, they extracted vast sums from Purdue and shifted it into offshore financial secrecy havens:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-purduepharma-bankruptcy/sacklers-reaped-up-to-13-billion-from-oxycontin-maker-u-s-states-say-idUSKBN1WJ19V

Even as this money was disappearing into legal black holes, the Sacklers demanded – and received – extraordinary protection from the courts, who aggressively sealed testimony and materials presented through discovery:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-courts-secrecy-judges/

When this gambit finally failed, the Sacklers insisted that were down to their last $4 billion, and, with trillions in claims pending against them, they declared bankruptcy.

When a normal person declares bankruptcy, they are required to divest themselves of nearly everything of value they possess, and then still find themselves hounded by cruel arm-breakers who deluge them with threatening calls and letters:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/19/zombie-debt/#damnation

But for the richest people in America, bankruptcy is merely a way to cleanse one's balance sheet of liabilities for any atrocity you may have committed on the way, without giving up your fortune.

The Sacklers are a case-study in how a corrupt bankruptcy can be conducted.

Purdue Pharma presents a maddening case-study in the corrupt benefits of bankruptcy. When it was announced in March, many were outraged to learn that the Sacklers were going to walk away with billions, while their victims got stiffed.

First, they converted their victims' right to compensation into "property" that the Sacklers themselves owned. This transferred jurisdiction over these claims from the regular court system to the bankruptcy court. A bankruptcy judge – not a jury – would decide how much each of these claims was worth, and then what how much of that worth these victims (now recast as creditors) would be entitled to through the bankruptcy.

Thus tens of thousands of claims were nonconsensually settled without a trial, by an administrative judge with no criminal jurisdiction, not a federal judge who'd undergone Senate confirmation:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/03/31/vaccine-for-the-global-south/#claims-extinguished

These "coercive restructuring techniques" are not available to everyday people who are drowning in student debt or credit-card bills – these are the exclusive purview of the wealthiest Americans, who enjoy a completely different bankruptcy system that is rigged in their favor.

Three judges – David Jones and Marvin Isgur of Houston and Bob Drain of New York – hear 96% of the country's large corporate bankruptcies:

https://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2021/05/judge-shopping-in-bankruptcy.html

These judges are unbelievably horny for corporations, embracing a legal theory "that casts the invention of the limited liability corporation alongside that of the steam engine as a paradigmatic development in the pursuit of prosperity":

https://prospect.org/justice/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-the-sacklers-purdue-pharma-bankruptcy/

Now there are more than three bankruptcy judges in America, so how do the nation's biggest companies get their cases heard by these three enthusiastic Renfields for corporate vampirism?

They cheat.

For example: when GM was facing bankruptcy, it argued that it was a New York company on the basis that it owned a single Chevy dealership in Harlem, and got in front of Judge Drain.

The Sacklers were – characteristically – even more brazen. They really wanted to get their case in front of Judge Drain, the nation's most enthusiastic supporter of "third party releases," through which bankrupt billionaires can wipe the slate clean, securing dismissals of all claims by the people they wronged.

Drain is also uniquely hostile to independent examiners, "an independent third-party appointed by the court to investigate 'fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, misconduct, mismanagement, or irregularity…by current or former management of the debtor."

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3851339

If you're the Sacklers, hoping to keep two thirds of your billions and extinguish all claims by your victims, there is no better helpmeet than Judge Robert Drain of the Southern District of New York.

So, 192 days before filing for bankruptcy, the Sacklers opened an office in White Plains, New York (a company may claim jurisdiction in a specific court once they've operated a business there for 180 days).

Then they filed a bankruptcy in which they altered the metadata on their casefile, inserting the code for a Westchester county hearing into the machine-readable, human-invisible parts of the documents they uploaded to the federal Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system (they also captioned the case with "RDD, for "Robert D Drain").

They chose their judge, and the judge obliged. UCLA Law's Lynn LoPucki is one of the leading scholars of these bankruptcy "megacases," and has written extensively on why these three judges are so deferential to corporate criminals seeking to flense themselves of culpability. She sees judges like Drain motivated by "personal aggrandizement and celebrity and ability to indirectly channel to the local bankruptcy bar. The judge is the star and the ringmaster of a megacase – very appealing to certain personalities."

Thus, these judges are "willing and eager to cater to debtors to attract business…[an] assurance to debtors that…these judges will not transfer out cases with improper venue or rule against the debtor…"

https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/02870w66d

This kind of judge-shopping goes beyond the Sacklers; the cases that Drain and co preside over make a mockery of the idea of America as a land of equal justice. "Prepack" and "drive-through" bankruptcies are reliable get-out-of-jail-free cards for capitalism's worst monsters: private equity firms.

Whether PE murdered your grandmother by buying her care-home and putting each worker in charge of 30 seniors:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/portopiccolo-nursing-homes-maryland/2020/12/21/a1ffb2a6-292b-11eb-9b14-ad872157ebc9_story.html

or poisoned your kids by filling your neighborhood with carcinogens:

https://www.webmd.com/special-reports/ethylene-oxide/20190719/residents-unaware-of-cancer-causing-toxin-in-air

limited liability wipes the slate clean.

30% of America's bankruptcies are private equity companies using the bankruptcy system to wipe away claims for their misdeeds, while keeping a fortune, thanks to the shield of limited liability.

Take Millennium Health, JamesS lattery's fake drug-testing company, which promised to help nursing homes figure out whether seniors were abusing (or selling) their meds by testing their piss for angel dust and other drugs. Slattery defrauded Medicare and Medicaid for millions, borrowed $1.8 billion (Slattery got $1.3 billion of that). He eventually walked away from this fraud after paying a mere $256m to settle all claims, and kept a fortune in assets, including the 40 vintage planes his private company ("Pissed Away LLC" – I am not making this up) owned:

https://prospect.org/justice/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-the-sacklers-purdue-pharma-bankruptcy/

For the wealthy, bankruptcy is the sport of kings, a way to skip out on consequences. For the poor, bankruptcy is an anchor – or a noose. This is by design: judges who preside over elite bankruptcies speak of their protagonists as heroic "risk takers" and tiptoe around any consequences, lest these titans be chained to a mortal's fate, costing us all the benefits of their entrepreneurial genius.

PE companies helped the Sacklers design their own bankruptcy strategy, and it was a standout, even by the standards of Bob Drain and his kangaroo bankruptcy court. But now, the Supreme Court has pumped the brakes on the whole enterprise.

The judges ruled that the exceptions the Sacklers took advantage of were intended for bankrupts in "financial distress" – not billionaires with vast fortunes hidden overseas. In so doing, the court threatens all manner of corrupt arrangements, from "the Boy Scouts, wildfires and allegations of sexual abuse in the church diocese — where third parties get a benefit from a bankruptcy they themselves aren’t going through.”

The case was brought by the DoJ's US Trustee Program, which lost in the Second Circuit when it tried to halt the Purdue bankruptcy and argued that the Sacklers themselves had to declare bankruptcy to discharge the claims against them.

Now the Supremes have hit pause on the bankruptcy the Second Circuit approved, and will hear the case themselves. It's only one step on a long road, but it's an unprecedented one. Some of the country's filthiest fortunes are riding on the outcome.

Going to Defcon this weekend? I’m giving a keynote, “An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet’s Enshittification and Throw it Into Reverse,” tomorrow (Aug 12) at 12:30pm, followed by a book signing at the No Starch Press booth at 2:30pm!

https://info.defcon.org/event/?id=50826

I’m kickstarting the audiobook for “The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation,” a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and bring back the old, good internet. It’s a DRM-free book, which means Audible won’t carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/11/justice-delayed/#justice-redeemed

Image: Edwardx (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Serpentine_Sackler_Gallery,_June_2016_05.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

#scotus #us trustee program #drive-through bankruptcy #coercive restructuring techniques #blood money #opioids #opioid epidemic #oxycontin #purdue pharma #elite philanthropy #reputation laundering #elite impunity #sacklers #judge drain #sdny #bankruptcy #bankruptcy shopping #friends of mike #pluralistic #debt #mckinsey

[dragon-ascent]

I can’t help but imagine a comical scenario of Reader quickly sneaking back home through the front door after sneaking out in the middle of the night, putting all their bags down and locking the door all while making as little sound as possible… only to be immediately surprised when they turn around and see their husband Zhongli (possibly in dragon form even) looking at them with a cranky stare (he’s probably so cranky because he woke up in the middle of the night only to find his beloved missing from bed!). Reader immediately scrambles to try and make up a lie about what they were doing so late at night but Zhongli keeps silently glaring at them, their defences begin to get increasingly weaker and weaker until, under Zhongli’s harsh stare and nothing else, Reader breaks and confesses that they snuck out to go on a shopping spree, “I know you said I should save my money but I couldn’t help myself!! There were just so many wonderful trinkets in the market, I couldn’t just leave them behind!”, and Zhongli just stands there both relieved they didn’t get into any real trouble but also shocked because he didn’t have to say a single word and they just confessed to everything! Is he truly that intimidating when silent..? Of course he tells them that it’s okay as long as they’re not hurt, but they should still be careful less they run themselves right into bankruptcy! Maybe next time they want to go out shopping they should invite him so this doesn’t happen again… This got a lot longer then I thought it would my bad-

Aaaaa how adorable!! And also ironic too, considering Zhongli also has a habit of buying all sorts of things - during his reign as Rex Lapis he'd gone around buying up all those soldiers' time-dials for instance. A part of him might find it endearing that you're also similar to him in this regard, so he wouldn't be too mad hehe~ and yup, next time he'll accompany you for sure, his wallet at the ready so he himself can purchase the things you like.

(maybe in the mirror he'd practice some less intimidating stares in his dragon form? roleplaying with himself to see what works and all)

#sini answers #he's unintentionally a tad intimidating #he doesn't mean it #he's just worried about his beloved after all

[softdykellie]

ੈ✩‧₊˚ motion sickness part i | ellie w.

next part here

PAIRING: modern!ellie x fem!reader

SUMMARY: having grown up together, everyone knew eachother in jackson. when a brooding newcomer owner to a tattoo shop comes along apparently charming her friendly florist neighbor things seem to take a turn.

WARNING: alternative universe! purposefully all lower case. multiple part series. not a very eventful beginning as ellie’s relationship with reader is slow burn but i promise it will evolve.

WORD COUNT: 716

the entire town of jackson had stopped on its tracks to peek into the blacked out windows of what used to be cat’s bakery, an exciting guessing game at every arrival of trucks unloading black leather chairs and tall unopened boxes that according to jesse made heavy noises to the shake. the owner, whoever they may be, haven’t made their way to the building yet, and all pointed towards a newcomer. jackson wasn’t used to those.

“you think it’s a woman?”

“i just hope they’re hot” dina says, getting in response a subtle glare from jesse as she poured whiskey from her expensive cabinet onto your cup. it was always on the house for her best friend, a near prayer for bankruptcy.

you chuckled before clinking your glasses together and taking a long sip to avoid the topic you knew awaited you by the way dina raised her eyebrows suggestively, squinting her eyes towards the bar’s furthest corner where abby anderson, former basketball star and current police chief, downed her own drink. the woman never wore her hair down and was an apparent fan of uniforms, having once used religiously her numbered jersey and now eternally in dark blue slacks. once upon a time there had been something between you, if you could call it that: a drunken kiss at a frat party after a winning game, all nerves and eagerness, tongue and hands. years later, dina would never let you live it down.

“i’m just saying your love life is about as interesting as jj’s and he’s two years old!” she whispered agressively before whistling for abby’s attention “oi, anderson! c’mon let us in on the secret, what’s the new shop for?”

“didn’t take you as a gossip, dina”

“well then you clearly don’t know me enough! entertain us, we won’t tell”

abby seemed to think for a minute, glancing between you and the empty bottom of her cup. with a sigh she walked over from her seat towards your spot at the barstools, the smell of fresh mint and citrus radiating off her. under the dim lighting her blonde hair still shone - nearly sparkled - at every ray, inevitably, you stared until she smirked. another bitter whiskey sip.

“some asshole’s tattoo shop” up close, that was when you took note of her bruised hand, red knuckles still somewhat clenched up. it suddenly made sense why the stoic figure was seen day drinking at her job, something to numb the pain without looking weak. still, everything seemed unlike her. hot-tempered. dina asked bluntly what you found yourself too stunned to ask: “what the fuck anderson, you punched the newcomer?”

her eyes were on you again, pale blue like a stormfront, searching your expression. abby anderson was a different kind of beauty, ragged around the edges, rough and sharpened. everyone guessed college would straighten that out of her, ivy league scholarship with the rich and powerful far enough from jackson you’d think nostalgia was a disease amongst the trophies and gpas. no one could bare look her in the eye since the career ending injury that lead her to come back, besides you. she figured that’s what kept her enthralled; not being a walking failure to at least someone in her hometown.

your staring match as over before it fully began. a swing of the door echoing bells throughout the establishment. jesse straightened his back, ready to serve, dina fixated on the hand still, abby looked down and you turned your body towards the entrance. 5”7 and fully tattooed at every visible corner of skin besides her face - oh that face - right eye stained in swollen purple. she looked no one in the eye besides dina.

“one beer please”

she caught your eye for a second, taking you in under her shuddering gaze in such precise detail you were sure all the lines and dots connected into the paiting of your face had made themselves a maze under microscope. she searched for something in you, a reaction, you barely even noticed how your breath had hitched until you ran out of air. her hand slowly reached towards your face in what appeared at first to be a cheek caress, before she tugged a leaf from behind your ear, stuck to your hair.

“you must be the flower shop girl. hi, neighbor. i’m ellie.”

#ellie williams x reader #ellie x reader #ellie williams #ellie the last of us #the last of us #tlou #ellie x fem!reader #modern!ellie williams #ellie williams fanfic #ellie fanfiction #softdykellie #abby x fem!reader

[20dollarlolita]

Did you hear about joannes going bankrupt? Do you have any thoughts on that?

(Quick note so no one um actually's me: I'm aware that not all bankruptcy is Chapter 11. Thank you)

As a crafter, I'll say: oh dear, that's going to make shopping harder.

As a person who was aware of the insides of how that company was running, I'm going to say, "about fucking time."

See, here's what was happening with Joann. Problem #1 was that they stopped taking the "you have to spend money to make money," mentality and applying it to labor. A store is not about the products or the customers. The life of a store, the thing that keeps it beating, is the employees who serve the customer and serve the corporate ownership.

When they first started notably cutting labor, the store did have a lot of driven, passionate people who were willing to pick up the slack. It's possible to cut the freight shift one night a week when you have daytime floor associates who can do the freight when there's no customers immediately needing help. You can expect store managers to clean and recover the store, because it's a task that keeps them free to disconnect from when a store needs a manager to be acting as a manager. You can expect any free employee to fill in at the register or cut counter to cover a break or a lunch or fill in during a high-customer time. The store had a lot of employees who didn't mind doing some multitasking, and didn't mind being completely busy from the start of the shift until the very end.

However, when these labor cuts proved to be an effective way to save the store money, the amount of multitasking, and the amount of expecting one shift to cover for cuts made to another shift, started going up. It was no longer cutting the freight shift one day a week. It was cutting the freight shift until it was ONLY one day a week.

And that's where they made the big mistake in labor load. Instead of, "serve the customers, and do these tasks when you have time," it became, "do the task, and serve the customers if they demand your attention." A store is not the customers; it's the people who work in the store. But one of the key players in a retail store's staffing is the employees for whom making the customers happy is their primary drive. The way that stores were staffed, people whose primary drive was to serve customers were not allowed to adequately do so to reach customer satisfaction.

We need to add to this that, in addition to demanding more from every employee, Joann corporate has several of their demands on employees to be automatically measured. Customer response surveys, ship-from-store fulfillment, buy online pickup in store response times, number of remnants that were rolled to be sold, all of that can be sent to corporate with a pass/fail number assigned to it. Other elements of the store, like how much freight from a box actually makes it onto the shelf on time, or if a wheelchair can navigate the store, are not measured. This means that the company prescribes which tasks will actually be done and which can be shoved in the back for later. With the work load that was being put on employees, corporate decided that the ONLY tasks that should get done are ones that have specific metrics tied to them.

Employees whose drive is to help customer, who are not permitted to help the customers asking for help, will quit and go to a place where customers actually come first. Employees who are okay with doing two people's jobs, but who are asked to do three jobs, will leave to a place where they only have to do one job. Employees who have worked for the company for 4 years and never received a raise despite being praised for excellent work will go to a job where they get paid more. And suddenly, the only people who are left are the people who aren't overworked, because they're the people who will only do one job no matter how much demanding corporate has for them.

The last two years that I was at Joann, there were tons of employees asking or begging for more hours. It was not that they couldn't hire people. It's that they wouldn't assign labor hours. Employees who would happily work 35-40 hours a week, but who are assigned three hours a week, will leave and find a job where they can get a consistent number of hours. When they made all floor managers part time, a lot of people who had been with the company for years left to get more hours or some health insurance.

But, despite all of this, corporate never said, "if we put more people on the floor, our customers will be happier, and will spend more money." They still continued to treat labor as an unnecessary expense that should be limited. Why put more people on the floor when you can just overwork the people who bothered to show up for work today?

So, weirdly enough, that business model was absolutely not working for them, and it's all come crashing down. Damn right, as it should be. Respect the people who work for you, and they'll work for you. Take away the things that they're there to do, and they'll go somewhere else. Simple math.

Also, in the last decade, the fact is that, "Joann has a lot of coupons, so I can save money!" changed in the eye of the public into, "Joann is overpriced unless you know how to play the coupon game."

So yeah. I'm not surprised, and I hope their restructuring does good things for the employees who work there. Hell knows they need it, because their current system just proved that it cannot survive in that state.

#joann fabrics #today at work #long post

[deadmotelsusa]

Ingleside Resort of Staunton, Virginia dates back to 1928. The property consists of 4 motel-style buildings and a hotel totaling 200 rooms. It also has a conference center, ballroom, cocktail lounge, two restaurants, multiple pools a fitness center, bowling alley and tennis courts.

In the 1940s, it was leased to the federal government and was put into service as an internment camp. By the 1950s, it opened back up as an exclusive resort and operated until 2003. After filing for bankruptcy, the resort was abandoned.

The original 18-hole golf course remains open for business. One of the motel buildings is still used as the pro shop.

#ingleside resort #staunton #virginia #then and now #deadmotelsusa

[ereardon]

Bob Floyd masterlist

*All of my fics are 18+. Please do not repost my work without consent or steal my work. Reblogs and comments give me life so please do interact if you'd like!

✤: Fluff

❂: Angst

❀: Smut

Series

❀❂✤ Friends Don't — Bob x OC [Reid Coleman] – Complete

Bob has been your best friend for almost a decade, ever since he quietly volunteered to tutor you in college. The two of you have spent years chasing each other around the globe – Bob as a WSO, you as a travel blogger. You’ve always been the anywhere-but-here girl, and he’s been your rock. But when a surprise diagnosis threatens to crumble your picture-perfect life, you’re on the first flight back to San Diego, desperate to put down roots for the first time. Will Bob finally have it in him to admit that you could be the love of his life? What will he say when he finds out the secret you’ve been skillfully hiding from him? Or worse, what if he doesn’t find out until it’s too late?

❀❂✤ Golden Hour — Bob x Bradley x OC [Dr. Olive James]

Willow, Georgia. Barely even a town, just a speck on a map that you tried to wipe off, mistaking it for a crumb. You’re the outsider: a fancy New York doctor, fresh out of a failed engagement, with zero primary care experience. You’re also the new town doctor, taking over for a recent retiree who was beloved. His son, Bob Floyd, is the other physician at the practice, and takes an immediate dislike to you. But you were looking for a fresh start, and Willow doesn’t seem all that bad if you can get past the fact that there's only one restaurant in town. It helps that you've caught the eye of Bradley Bradshaw, the town attorney, despite the fact that you vowed to take a break from dating. How long until you start to make friends in a town where social circles have been set in stone since elementary school? And what will it take to make Bob Floyd see you’re not as bad as he wants to believe you are?

❀❂✤ The Back Seater and the Baker — Bob x OC [Haley Nichols]

Bob hasn't seen Haley Nichols since he was fifteen. But when Haley shows up out of the blue with one sentence that throws Bob for a loop – "I'm turning thirty in two weeks, are we still on?" – all of the feelings from their childhood return. Bob never thought that Haley would remember the marriage pact the two made when they were just kids, even if he never forgot. So what happens when Bob falls all over again for his childhood crush? And what will Bob do when he discovers the real reason she came back to capitalize on the pact is to secure her inheritance and save her bakery from bankruptcy? Will he believe Haley when she confesses that she loves him, too?

One shots

✤ One Night — Bob x Reader – Complete

You have your eyes on Bob at the Hard Deck, but have to shoot down Jake Seresin first.

✤ Gas Station Tears — Bob x Reader – Complete

After your boyfriend dumps you, your car stalls out in a gas station parking lot. Luckily, Bob Floyd happens to be there to fix your car. Can he fix your heart, too?

❂✤ It Was Never Him — Bob x Reader – Complete

You catch your boyfriend Rooster making out with a girl at the Hard Deck and only one person can comfort you in the aftermath: Bob Floyd. 

❂ What Are You Thinking? — Bob x Reader – Complete

Bob Floyd is a quiet man. Sometimes you have to ask him what he’s thinking just to know what wheels are turning inside of his head. He always gives you a response, until one day, years into your marriage, he turns the question on you. 

❀ When I'm Done With You — Bob x Reader – Complete

At a fraternity mixer, you lose your (admittedly shitty) boyfriend in the crowd. That’s when Bob Floyd, president of Alpha Tau and your boyfriend’s personal nemesis, finds you and decides to make you his. 

❀ She Calls Him Daddy – Bob x Reader – Complete

Coming home from college for winter break, the last thing you expected was to run into your best friend’s father while out shopping for new lingerie to surprise your fuck buddy with. You had always tried to hide your attraction for Mr. Floyd because he was Anna’s father. But all rules are thrown out when Bob invites you over on Christmas Eve while Anna is at her mother’s house. You’ll never be able to look at your friend’s dad the same way ever again.

✤ More Than Enough — Bob x Reader – Complete

The first two times Bob Floyd ends up in your emergency room he’s a mess. You never expected him to return a third time. But when he does, it changes everything.

#bob floyd x reader #bob floyd fanfiction #bob floyd #bob floyd fluff #bob+floyd+x+reader #bob floyd imagine #bob floyd au #bob floyd x oc #bob floyd x you #bob floyd x female reader #bob floyd x y/n

[tokkias]

something old, something new ship: natsu dragneel x lucy heartfilia summary: Though Lucy tries not to let herself live in the grief of losing her mother, there still lingers a hint of regret that she never got to meet Natsu. Or at least, that's what she thinks. The red string of fate seems to have a different story to tell. ao3

A soft cough passes through Lucy’s lips as dust sputters up into the air. It’s been a while since she’s been in this storage unit and the thin layer of grime that has built up on every surface shows it.

She’s not a hoarder, but the look of the unit, holding every single memory of her late mother that she could get her hands on might imply her to be one. She’s not, she’s just sentimental.

It’s hard to go through this stuff, but it’s harder to get rid of it, so it stays inside this unit. Today she has no intention of ridding herself of the burden of anything in here though, no, she has something much different in mind.

Lucy idly twists the ring on her left hand—a habit she’s picked up since the day that Natsu first got down on one knee. She’s not really a ring person so she’s not used to the way it feels on her finger yet. Natsu had told her that she didn’t have to wear it, that they could change it for something else, a necklace, a bracelet, perhaps, but she had staunchly refused. The ring was special, something he had put a lot of time and thought into. If she wasn’t a ring person, she would become one, just for this.

It’s nothing fancy, a simple gold band with a dazzling red garnet as the centrepiece. Red isn’t typically her colour, but it’s Natsu’s colour and she is his and he is hers so it only feels fitting.

Though she hasn’t stepped foot in here in many years, she still knows most of what makes up the mess. She knows her mother’s astronomy books are piled up in the left corner, right on top of her vast collection of fairy and folktales. Her jewellery, sparse of what’s left of it, sits in a box right next to her collection of dresses, both of which pique Lucy’s attention today.

With their wedding date inching closer each day, she’s in here looking for something that might constitute her something old to bring the memory of her beloved mother with her on what is soon to be the happiest day of her life.

She knows her mother would have loved Natsu and she knows he, in turn, would have loved her. It’s a thought she doesn’t like to dwell on for too long. Though knowing that at least one of her parents would have loved her life-partner is soothing to the soul, if she lingers for just a moment too long, it fills her with a deep sorrow that she often cannot contain. Knowing the fondness the two most important people in her life would have no doubt held for each other just makes it all the worse knowing that they would never meet, that though Layla lives on in Lucy’s heart and memory, that is all of her that she can share with Natsu—memories.

Before her thoughts can lead her any further astray, Lucy reminds herself of why she’s here. Weaving past boxes stacked across the floor, she makes her way to the back of the unit to find her mother’s jewellery.

Though she wasn’t one to flaunt their rather excessive wealth, Layla had procured a few pieces in her time. Most of them were lost to time and pawn shops upon the bankruptcy of the Heartfilia Konzern but there were still a few sentimental pieces that Lucy couldn’t bare to part with that remained in her possession. Several earrings, a few necklaces, a bracelet or two—hopefully one of which would lend itself to match the rest of her wedding ensemble.

As Lucy goes to retrieve the jewellery box, she’s stopped in her tracks when she finds a stack of photos sitting atop it. They’re not personal ones—all of her family photos now reside in Lucy’s apartment, rather, it’s a collection of school class photos. Before she had succumbed to her illness, Layla had been an elementary school teacher, a job that Lucy could not think suited better to anyone than her mother. She was full of love, kindness, compassion—everything you would want in someone who was raising a future generation of children. She had no doubt touched the lives of hundreds of students who passed through her classroom in her tenure.

A soft smile graced Lucy’s lips as she thought about it. Most of her students would no doubt be her age by now. She wonders if they still look fondly back on their time in Mrs. Heartfilia’s classroom. She hopes so. She hopes that her legacy lives on in the hearts of more than just her kin.

Unable to thwart her curiosity and sentimentality, Lucy picks up the stack and begins to flip through it.

She doesn’t expect to recognise anyone in the photos—Layla taught at a public school whereas Lucy found herself attending private school at her father’s insistence, so it’s mostly brief glances as she leafs through the images, watching the way her mother ages through each one.

Mostly, anyway.

There’s one image in particular that does manage to pique her interest. If she had spent even just a second less looking at the students in it, she’s certain she would have missed it altogether, but she doesn’t—she spots it out of the corner of her eye and she almost can’t believe what she’s seeing. Right there, next to her mother, is a familiar head of pink hair, one that she knows she would recognise anywhere, one that surely belongs to her beloved fiancé.

Lucy can’t do anything but sit and stare at it for a moment in disbelief.

Surely it can’t be him.

If her mother had taught her fiancé, she feels like that’s something that would have come up in conversation before now, but that messy pink hair combined with those lively dark eyes and that toothy Natsu grin that always had her tripping over her feet and words are the telltale signs that give him away.

Her eyes flick down to the names and what she has already figured out is confirmed when she sees the name Natsu Dragneel printed out at the bottom.

It feels like a prank, something too good to be true, but no, it’s real. It’s in print, in her hands, and as she runs her thumb across Natsu’s image, she knows that her eyes aren’t playing tricks. She doesn’t even realise she’s crying until her vision starts to fog up and the tears begin to land on the picture, rolling off the laminate and leaving a damp trail in its wake.

She doesn’t bother going through what she came here for, barely even remembering to grab it on her way out, her attention instead captured only by the photo in her hand.

“Natsu!” She calls out into the apartment, class photo in hand. “Natsu!”

Her cries draw his attention up from his lunch and she doesn’t give him any explanation before she thrusts the picture into his hands. He glances up at her in confusion for a moment, finding her looking expectantly back at him which prompts him to give it a better look.

“Where did you get this,” he asks, brows furrowed in confusion as he finally realises what it is.

“I found it in mama’s storage unit,” Lucy explains.

He looks up at her, then back down at the photo, then up at her again, and she can see the gears turning in his head as he begins to put the pieces together. His mouth drops open as he seemingly struggles to come up with a coherent response but Lucy doesn’t need one. She’s so overcome with joy over this new revelation that simply sharing it with him is enough for her.

She had already mourned the loss of her mother once, then again as she mourned the fact that she and Natsu would never meet. Now, she realises that the red string of fate that winds around her finger has always led back to him, as though her very own mother had sent him to her from her space now amongst the stars.

“You’re Mrs. Heartfilia’s daughter,” he finally manages to say, a hint of disbelief tainting his voice.

He holds up the class photo as if to look at her and her mother side-by-side, comparing them as though to see if it’s real. She’s been told that she’s the spitting image of her mother, but given how young Natsu must have been when she taught him, she doesn’t blame him for not realising it until now.

“Man,” he breathes as he finally puts the photo down before breaking out into a grin. “She was the best.”

Lucy laughs, her heart swallowed with an insurmountable joy that she’s certain words will never adequately convey. She imagines a rowdy child Natsu running around her mother’s classroom, she imagines scribbled drawings of dragons and fire scrawled with crayon filling up Layla’s desk. It gives her a sense of closure that she had never even thought possible until now.

She beams up at Natsu, her heart full as she embraces him, burying her face in his chest. As his arms slip around her, she’s able to make peace knowing the tie between her something old and her something new.

#nalu #fairy tail #natsu x lucy #fanfiction #fan fiction #mya writes things

[theiconicmeghanmarkle]

So the Sussexes are irrelevant, shunned by Hollywood and on the verge of bankruptcy but they own a mansion and control every media company and A-lister while also buying prestigious awards and shopping for a second mansion and paying a top PR agency to promote them 24/7.

#meghan markle #duchess of sussex #duchess meghan #meghan duchess of sussex #the duchess of sussex #harry and meghan #the duke and duchess of sussex #prince harry #meghanmarkle #the duke of sussex