Daily Archives: July 27, 2022

Soaked With The Blood Of Innocent Victims: Trump Blasts Democrat Politicians In Speech Focused On Crime – Daily Caller

Posted: July 27, 2022 at 11:33 am

Former President Donald Trump blasted Democrats for crime waves in blue cities at a speech for the America First Policy Institute on Tuesday.

Trump emphasized law and order in his speech, blaming rising crime on Democratic efforts to defund police in major cities.

Under Democrat rule in Democrat-run cities, Democrat-run states and a Democrat-run federal government, the criminals have been given free range more than ever before, Trump said.

There has never been a time like this, he went on to say. Our streets are riddled with needles, and soaked with the blood of innocent victims. (RELATED:The Bears Cant Even Be Bribed To Stay In Crime-Ridden Chicago)

There is no longer respect for the law, and there certainly is no order. Our country is now a cesspool of crime, we have blood, death, and suffering on a scale once unthinkable.

Violent crime hit record highs in Atlanta, Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. in June. Homicide, rape, assault and robbery have been on the rise since 2020.

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Democrats have another infrastructure problem – POLITICO – POLITICO

Posted: at 11:33 am

Given that tortured backstory, Democrats said they were hardly surprised that voters knew so little about their prized infrastructure bill. Some lamented that their own party hasnt done enough to promote it.

We were so focused on passing the next thing, we forgot to tell people about it. And thats a huge mistake, said Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.). We passed a historic, bipartisan infrastructure bill. And why we werent crooning about that from minute one is still a mystery to me.

Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) speaks with members of the press outside the White House.|Patrick Semansky/AP Photo

While House Democrats collectively held over 1,000 events to promote the bill, the polling shows it didnt resonate with most people. Roughly one-third of voters said they believed it was still being worked on in Congress, while 9 percent believed it was not being worked on in Congress and will not be passed. About 37 percent said they didnt know the status of the package at all.

There was a bright spot in the data for Democrats: Pollsters said the trend could be reversed before this falls midterms if the party can harness the right message. They found that voters support for the infrastructure bill reaches 80 percent after learning about whats in it Democrats just have to reach them first.

In selling this legislation, the first order of business is to remind, inform, and convince voters that it is now law, Third Way analysts, from a polling firm that worked for Bidens campaign, wrote in a memo.

The poll, which included 2,000 likely voters from across the country, found that the bills biggest programs were also its biggest selling points. Nearly 8 in 10 people said they believed it was extremely or very important to have better roads with fewer potholes, as well as high-quality water. Sixty-five percent of people felt the same about improving high-speed internet.

But the pollsters cautioned that Democrats shouldnt try to pitch the bill as a solution for all problems. For instance, it found that voters dont believe politicians promises that the bill will fight inflation or climate change. Instead, they advised Democrats to stick to the basics: Better roads, cleaner water, and faster internet made with American products and built by American workers is what this bill is about and what sells.

Another message that worked: Attacking Republicans for voting against the broadly popular bill.

The memo found that swing voters were much less likely to support a Republican as the result of a message attacking GOP lawmakers for siding with Big Oil on the bill. Voters also said they were less likely to support Republicans after viewing negative messages that called out GOP members who took credit for local project funding that came from an infrastructure bill they voted against.

Party arms like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have already leaned into that type of attack, which theyve dubbed vote no, take the dough. But many Democrats believe their party needs to do more.

Weve not done a good job with that. I never understood why we would not be running an ad against every single Republican who didnt vote for the infrastructure bill, said Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.).

Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) speaks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.|Stefani Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images

Other centrist Democrats said the polling should also act as a general warning about their strategy. These centrists complained the party tended to move quickly past more modest achievements, like last months bipartisan gun deal, rather than laud them as significant progress.

Instead, those Democrats argue, some in their party push for more sweeping bills with no chance at becoming law in the current Congress like a ban on so-called assault weapons to demonstrate ongoing pressure to base voters.

Centrist Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) said hes worried some of his Democratic colleagues will do the same thing if theyre able to pass a bill this summer that would allow the government to negotiate drug prices with Medicare. Thats a long-held priority for the party, but the rest of the proposed legislation has significantly shrunk compared to earlier iterations that also aimed to address climate change and taxes frustrating progressives.

Were going to have the same problem on prescription drugs, mark my words, Schrader said. When the prescription drug bill comes out, it passes, the Democrats are gonna go well, Thats great, but ... The average person is gonna go, But? That means its not that good, isnt it? And thats not true. Its a great, great bill.

The Third Way and Impact Research poll was conducted online from June 2 to June 9, with a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.

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Get free Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 goodies on GOG – PC Gamer

Posted: at 11:31 am

CD Projekt Red turns 20 this year, and to celebrate its anniversary GOG is giving away two bundles of goodies (opens in new tab) related to The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077, which include art, comics, soundtracks, videos, and more. You might already have some of these goodies, either thanks to claiming them in previous giveaways or by owning the games in question on GOG, but odds are you don't have all of them. There's a lot.

The Witcher pack includes footage of a concert performance of The Witcher 3's excellent score from a Krakw music festival, high-resolution copies of art and art books, "emoji" interpretations of characters like Geralt, Ciri, and Regis, and comics like Fox Children, which is tucked away in the Thronebreaker goodies pack. Based on a story from Sapkowski's book Season of Storms, it's one of the better Witcher comics.

Meanwhile, the Cyberpunk 2077 goodies pack contains wallpapers, concept art, art from the SteelBook edition's cases, and posters of in-game advertisements, fashions, and gang graffiti. It's not quite as much stuff, but then it's based on one game rather than three RPGs and some card game spin-offs.

Note that this 20th anniversary is the birthday of CD Projekt Red, the game development studio founded in 2002 when CD Projekt the Polish retailer and publisher acquired the rights to Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher and decided to try its hand at this whole videogame-making thing. CD Projekt itself dates back to 1994, when founders Marcin Iwiski and Micha Kiciski, who'd been selling cracked copies of games on CDs in a Warsaw marketplace, decided to go legit. If you're interested in the history, here's how CD Projekt Red climbed to the top of the RPG mountain, then slipped.

CD Projekt Red's last release was another Witcher spin-off, the roguelike deckbuilder Gwent: Rogue Mage, which is the most brutal Witcher game yet. As our own Lauren Aitken says, "One thing I've realised since playing Rogue Mage is that I'm actually not as good at Gwent as I thought. While I've figured out the meta for some of the cards, there are certain enemy types that keep obliterating me and, as PC Gamer's resident Witcher aficionado, I'm not happy about it."

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Stray Falls Into The Usual Orientalism Pitfalls Of The Cyberpunk Genre – Kotaku

Posted: at 11:31 am

Image: Annapurna Interactive

If youve felt uncomfortable about the rice paddy hats in Stray, you arent the only one. Stray lifts Asian aesthetics to evoke exoticism and danger, but it doesnt engage with the history of the city it appropriates. This is especially problematic because its real-world setting carries painful historical baggage that cant be reduced to neon signs and cramped apartments.

With more than three million people per square mile (which is 47 times more densely populated than Manhattan), the Walled City was the most densely packed city in world history. The streets were lit by neon signs because the buildings didnt allow much natural light to filter in from above. The developers of Stray told USA Today that the Walled City of Hong Kong was the perfect playground for a cat. The artists at BlueTwelve Studios were inspired by how the real-life city was organically constructed and was filled with details and interesting points of view, such as the air conditioning units and exposed pipes. And they werent the only ones who admired the environment. Photographers and architects lauded the ingenuity in the ways people lived without safety codes or a centralized government.

But that organic construction came about for painful historical reasons. The Walled City was originally a Qing dynasty era military base. It became a separate enclave from British-controlled Hong Kong after China was weakened by the Sino-Japanese War. Japan, China, and Britain all tried to lay claim to the Walled City throughout its history. To ease international tensions, both China and Great Britain eventually gave up trying to govern the Walled City after the end of World War II. The ensuing lawlessness fermented organized crime and opium dens. The Triad gangs turned the enclave into the epicenter of Hong Kongs narcotics trade. None of this context is particularly apparent when you explore the dusty streets of Walled City 99.

Jessie Lam, a video game concept artist whose family originates from Hong Kong, explains, [The Walled City] was this super packed city block full of crime and destitutionthanks triads-that it took decades until it was finally demolished. We dont talk about the highrise coffin sized apartment rooms these daysThere is a muted anger there.

The history of the Walled City is inextricably tied to colonial rivalries, but none of it is represented in Stray. In the game, the city was a shelter built to protect humans from the plague. The only sentient beings left are self-aware robot Companions who have built their own society in humanitys absence. I later appreciated their charming personalities, but when I first met these robots, my first thought was: Why are they wearing rice paddy hats?

Screenshot: Annapurna Interactive

Conical rice hats have a troubled history within the Asian diaspora community. Theyre used as a racial shorthand to indicate Asian origins, regardless of the actual context. Clothing retailer Abercrombie and Fitch, for example, once used images of Chinese men in rice paddy hats in its product line. While the existence of farmer hats is not offensive by itself, it becomes astoundingly racist when used in unrelated imagery, such as a racist parody of a laundry business. Protests and angry letters forced Abercrombie and Fitch to pull the offensive t-shirts from their stores.

Thankfully, Stray meets the bare minimum of not racist language to describe the robots (even if its gratuitous use of the Japanese language in fictional Hong Kong is a bit eyebrow-raising). But the games rampant appropriation of Asian history and culture needs to be supported by care in design and implementation. Singapore-based Alexis Ong wrote an excellent Polygon article about Strays accuracy to Hong Kong, while others like Lam are less impressed by how the game portrayed the Walled City.

The graffiti and signage is a huge question mark. Anything in English is clearly player facing but [in-game], who would those tags be for? Lam told Kotaku. Its one thing if its robots passing messages to each other but some overlap each other instead of being written around each other. Which calls into question if said developers also understand graffiti culture and the etiquette. But also...Why deliberately make some robots wear rice hats? When theres clearly no way to go outside or anywhere in game to farm? Headwear such as baseball hats have become ubiquitous to urban fashion, which could explain the companions copying this style, but rice hats have not. These conical hats have been used to denote Asianness in western media, and Stray cannot separate itself from this history.

Since this comes up every time I write a blog about Asian representation: No, I dont believe that BlueTwelve Studios is intentionally racist. Nor do I think that the resulting game is the worst offender when it comes to cultural appropriation. Its foibles are typical of the cyberpunk genre as a whole. Cyberpunk originates from Americas anxieties about Japans economic dominance, but cyberpunk media is often reluctant to populate their cities with Asian characters. I felt the same sense of alienation while I played Stray.

Im sure that the developers werent gleefully rubbing their hands together when they decided not to implement any human characters. But Walled City 99 was yet another cyberpunk city in which people like me werent welcome. Not unless I was a robot in a conical hat. And that doesnt sit well with me either. Asian Robot is a Hollywood troupe that frequently dehumanizes Asian people (Ex Machina, Cloud Atlas, The Matrix). Theres even a genre name for it: Techno-orientalism. In these works, Asia is expressed through an aesthetic sensibility rather than by representing or centering actual Asian characters. Stray falls squarely within this genre.

Screenshot: Annapurna Interactive

[Theres] lots of the same general ideas being recycled a lot across projects and sometimes that extends into the cyberpunk genre, Lam told Kotaku over Twitter messages. The orientalism as a whole isnt new.

I just wanted to play a cute cat game without the techno-orientalism. Unfortunately, Stray does not interrogate its creative influences at all. And from the moment that the developers decided to base their game off an enclave that was created by British colonialism, they had a responsibility to grapple with its history. Stray takes so much care in how it represents cats. I just wish it was as consistent about real humans legacies.

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This cyberpunk RPG claims it teaches real hacking skills but I can’t get past the clown makeup – PC Gamer

Posted: at 11:31 am

Forget play-to-earn, how about some play-to-learn? World of Haiku (opens in new tab) is an educational cyberpunk RPG that says it'll teach you the real-world skills needed to become a cybersecurity professional. As you learn coding and hacking while playing, World of Haiku says you can add your new skills to sites like LinkedIn and

I'm sorry, hold on one second. Just what in the hell is going on in the official launch trailer?

And why does it prominently feature a cyberclown?

If World of Haiku wants to teach me real cybersecurity skills then it unfortunately fumbled the ball three seconds into its own launch trailer. It opens with a cyberpunk cityscape and a flying car, which is a good futuristic start. Then a man dressed as a cyberclown steps into frame and I completely forget that I'm supposed to be learning about a game that's supposed to be about learning. All I can think is: clown.

The cyberclown has a cape and a vaguely theatrical collar, which could imply the future but could just as easily imply clown attire. The real distraction is his makeup, which I think is supposed to be a cool skull-shape painted on his face in neon blue? And while I can sorta see what they were going for, it looks like a first attempt you would quickly wipe off before trying again. But they just kinda stuck with it. I honestly think if they'd leaned in a bit more and actually gave him a big round nose like a circus clown he'd look less silly than he does. It could blink, maybe. That would be futuristic.

Anyway, we're only four seconds into the trailer at this point, which is a bad sign because I've watched those four seconds about 10 times. The caped cyberclown pretends to poke buttons on his arm where there do not actually appear to be any buttons and says "Transmitting new intel." A bunch of floating computer screens pop up on both sides of him, and the actor glances toward where I guess they told him the screens would be even though they're not, with the ultimate effect being that he doesn't seem to be looking at the screens at all. Also, if he's the one transmitting new intel, why is he the one examining the new intel? Did he transmit it to himself? If so, why announce it? Also, and I can't stress this enough, why is he a clown?

Then he looks into the camera, at me, a man who has now rewound this entrance and watched it at least five or six more times already in the past two minutes. "A worldwide nuclear event is imminent," Commander Cyberclown tells me. "You must stop the launch."

It sounds serious and I would love to take it seriously. If a worldwide nuclear event is imminent, someone must stop the launch, and as the potential person who is going to play World of Haiku that someone is probably me. And look, I promise I'll do everything I can to stop the launch because I am definitely opposed to imminent worldwide nuclear events but first I need a few questions answered about the giant blue circle painted on your face.

I force myself to stop rewinding the intro and watch the rest. The trailer continues in a caf, where a woman logs into World of Haiku and takes on the avatar of a mid-tier cosplayer for "a gamified cyberpunk experience that provides aspiring cybersecurity professionals with fast affordable training for a rewarding cybersecurity career." Some villains appear and everyone starts typing on virtual screens. I am reluctantly starting to learn about the game again but Corporal Cyberclown abruptly teleports into the caf and I literally say out loud, "Yay!"

Corporal Cyberclown nods encouragingly to the avatar, and there's more air-typing on floating screens as Team Clown and Team Evil fight over I've already forgotten. Something was imminent but I'm just too distracted to remember. He has blue lines on his arms, too, and tubes going into the back of his head. I only have more questions now.

I want to be perfectly clear about this: I'm not making any judgments about World of Haiku the game. It says it teaches real life cybersecurity skills and as far as I know, or don't know, that is true, or it's not true, or maybe it's partially true. I have no idea. I have not looked into it for even a second. I have done no research and I definitely haven't played the game.

All I've done is sit here watching the launch trailer 14 times in a row because seeing Corporal Cyberclown delights and puzzles me. And I don't have to stop, because there are actually a bunch of trailers. Let's watch all of them!

For instance, I just learned Corporal Cyberclown's in-game name is, disappointingly, Gungnir. He's a Cybermancer, and he has his very own character trailer where he does a little air-cybering on floaty screens and then flexes to music. Then the music sort of fades out leaving an awkward 10 seconds of silence while he holds his pose. I'm not bashing him: the dude is jacked and if I looked even remotely like that I would be flexing at every available opportunity. It's just weird to stand there in complete silence with straining muscles while nothing is happening. The music eventually remembers, oh yeah, we're in the middle of a character reveal trailer, and sheepishly kicks back in.

Thankfully I get some backstory from his trailer. His real name is Dr. Omen Parks, a name I absolutely accept. He and his daughter (Raf Rose Pathfinder: excellent) created new cyber security technologies which are named Phoenix Scanner, Data Dragon, Tiger Key, Turtle Shield, and Serpent OS. That's some anime-sounding shit, and while I don't even watch anime I highly approve.

I also learn that Dr. Omen "Gungnir" "Cyberclown" Parks operates at "Purity Level 5." I don't know what that means but I immediately believe it. If there's a clown from the future who invented the Turtle Shield and named his daughter Raf Rose Pathfinder, I can't imagine him operating on a Purity Level lower of four or lower. No chance.

I think I'm going to do it. I think I'm going to play World of Haiku! (opens in new tab) I'm not really interested in developing real-life cybersecurity skills, but the idea of adding "Learned to hack from a Cyberclown" to my LinkedIn is too tempting to pass up. Once I watch the trailer a few more times, that is.

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Cyberpunk Action Adventure Game ‘ANNO: Mutationem’ Is Coming to iOS and Android TouchArcade – Touch Arcade

Posted: at 11:31 am

With many great announcements at the TapTap Presents showcase this weekend, a highlight for me is ANNO: Mutationem being announced for mobile. ANNO: Mutationem from developer ThinkingStars has been a joy to play on PS5 since its release this March. It debuted on PS5, PS4, and PC platforms, and I expected a Nintendo Switch port to get announced soon. I didnt think it would come to mobile before that, but here we are. The cyberpunk action adventure game has great visuals and music with memorable characters and some nice cameos. A price point hasnt been announced for the mobile version, but a beta will be available this winter. Watch the ANNO: Mutationem mobile announcement trailer via Gematsu below:

On console and PC, ANNO: Mutationem is available as a standard release, and a deluxe edition version with bonus music, costumes, and more. It is unclear if the mobile version will offer this content from the start, or whether it will come as paid DLC. What stood out to me when I first saw ANNO: Mutationem gameplay, is how it blended 2D and 3D pixel aesthetics. I didnt finish it on PS5, but will definitely do it before the mobile version releases given how good it looked and ran on PS5. If youd like to pre-register for the mobile version, you can do so on TapTap for now. Check out the Steam page for ANNO: Mutationem here for more screenshots and information about the game and its DLC. Have you played ANNO: Mutationem before on PS5, PS4, or PC?

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Bona Ventura: The Good Journey – St. Bonaventure

Posted: at 11:31 am

Jul 26, 2022

By Emily Putzke

The Franciscan tradition runs deep throughout Western New York, particularly in the foothills of the Enchanted Mountains, where St. Bonaventure University immerses the region in the spirit of St. Francis. The effects of this Franciscan-hearted way of living can be felt hundreds and thousands of miles away as many Bonaventure alums have found their way to Franciscan Mission Service (FMS).

Franciscan Mission Service builds partnerships with lay Catholic women and men who are inspired to live and serve in solidarity with economically poor and marginalized communities across the globe as advocates for peace, justice, reconciliation, and care of creation. Long-term mission opportunities are offered through the Overseas Lay Mission program in Bolivia, Jamaica, and on the United States-Mexico border, along with yearlong domestic service opportunities for young adults in the DC Service Corps program.

For Sr. Margaret Carney, O.S.F., President Emeritus of St. Bonaventure University and a board member at FMS, and many Bonaventure alumni serving as DC Service Corps volunteers, overseas lay missioners, and board members throughout the years, the connection between these two organizations runs strong.

I have learned so much about the work and the lives of our mission members serving abroad and our members serving right in Washington, D.C. Each of these dedicated volunteers is bringing untold generosity into the lives of persons who suffer in ways I can barely imagine, Sr. Margaret said about FMS mission. One of the gifts I have received is to be part of the work of Liz Hughes, a Franciscan leader whose work I admire a great deal.

St. Bonaventure offers students the opportunity to live out the Franciscan ministry of presence, whether theyre involved in BonaResponds or serving at The Warming House, Bonaventures student-run soup kitchen.

Francis and Clare of Assisi were close to the poor, to the ordinary citizens of their town, Sr. Margaret said. Our students show this same kind of solidarity on so many levels whether in the area around campus or back home. There is no student organization that does not find a way to do something for the needy or to support important services like blood drives, food pantries, collections for families in need, the list goes on.

Victoria Wangler, 21, graduated from St. Bonaventure with a double major in professional & creative writing and English literature and minors in marketing and Spanish. She is a current DC Service Corps volunteer, serving as FMS development and operations associate.

DC Service Corps volunteers are placed in nonprofits throughout the District of Columbia, including the FMS office, United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees, the Fr. McKenna Center, and Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School. Volunteers live together in an intentional community at FMS house of hospitality, Casa San Salvador, in northeast D.C. during their year of service.

Wangler credits St. Bonaventure with expanding her understanding of Franciscanism while she was a student.

I had so many opportunities to lean more into my Franciscan spirituality. Volunteer days at Mt. Irenaeus and The Warming House, as well as longer term service trips, allowed me to directly use my hands and my heart to care for vulnerable people and creation, she said.

Wangler first heard about FMS when she traveled with St. Bonaventure on a short-term service trip to Guatemala in June 2019. The students stayed at the Valley of the Angels Orphanage outside of Guatemala City, Guatemala, where they spent their days living and volunteering in the community. The trip was led by Meghan Meros, former associate director of FMS.

It was an incredibly eye-opening and heartbreaking experience that had a profound impact on me. When I came back home, I had a fire in my soul to pursue service after I graduated from Bonaventure. The more I learned about FMS and its domestic service program, the DC Service Corps, the more I felt strongly to apply. I submitted my application in the winter of 2021 and by March I had signed the paperwork and began to plan my new life in Washington, D.C., said Wangler.

Lauren Barry, 21, graduated from St. Bonaventure with her BA in psychology and with minors in sociology and theater. She was first introduced to FMS through a short immersion trip with Bonaventure to St. Francis Inn in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during her freshman year. The trip was led by Jeff Sved, former director of the Franciscan Center for Social Concern at St. Bonaventure, former FMS board member, and an FMS lifelong missioner who served in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

By her senior year, Barry knew she wanted to do a year of service and was encouraged by Wangler to apply for the DC Service Corps. Through her role as case manager at the Fr. McKenna Center, she assists men experiencing homelessness with applying for Social Security, food stamps, and finding jobs.

Barrys understanding of Franciscan spirituality, instilled at St. Bonaventure, has grown during her time with FMS.

When I first came here, I thought care for creation was just nature, but then I broadened my horizons and now see it also as the creation of my Casa members and the relationships I have between them, she said.

Wanglers parents, who are also St. Bonaventure alumni, wrote her a letter to open after they helped her move into St. Bonaventure as a freshman in 2017.

In the center of the page, my mother had written, Welcome to your Bona Ventura the good journey. The bona ventura. The good journey. What is this life if not a good journey? What are Gods plans for us if not the good journey? I am so happy to be here. I am so grateful for finding my home in the Franciscan tradition, she said.

To learn more about Franciscan Mission Service, visit their website http://www.franciscanmissionservice.org.

(Emily Putzke is a communications associate at Franciscan Mission Service.)

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Saudi Arabia Wants to Build This Bizarre City Dubbed ‘The Line’ – Gizmodo

Posted: at 11:31 am

Promotional video for a new city planned to be built in Saudi Arabia from scratch, dubbed The Line.Gif: YouTube

Saudi Arabia is developing a new city, 150-stories tall and built from scratch, that will serve as a semi-enclosed environment where people can live and work without ever stepping foot outside. And while the promotional videos released Monday are likely an attempt to give the development a utopian feel that recalls so many intentional cities of the 20th century, the project comes across as extremely dystopian.

The city, completely walled on four sides with some kind of ventilation on top, is planned to be about 546 yards tall (500 meters), 218 yards wide (200 meters), and 105 miles long (170 km), according to the promotional videos, and will feature cutting-edge technology along with high-speed transportation from end-to-end. Cars will be completely unnecessary.

A video uploaded to Twitter proclaims this new city will house 9 million residents to provide a more healthy and sustainable quality of life. And while its being advertised as an eco-friendly project, with water and power supplies billed as 100% renewable, the details have yet to be provided.

For too long, humanity has existed within dysfunctional and polluted cities that ignore nature. Now, a revolution in civilization is taking place. Imagine a traditional city and consolidating its footprint, designing to protect and enhance nature, the narrator of the new video explains.

The video shows what appears to be autonomous drones zipping around the new city, with plenty of greenery. And people who live there will supposedly be able to go from one end to another in just 20 minutes.

Residents have access to all their daily needs within 5-minute walk neighborhoods, the narrator continues.

Another promotional video, uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday and similar in content, shows the city from the perspective of a young woman literally flying through the environment. And its soundtrack definitely helps it sound dystopiana dark and spooky cover of Louis Armstrongs Its a Wonderful World.

Why would they use a dark and spooky version of the songsomething youd be more likely to hear in the trailer for a 2010s movie about a serial killer? Your guess is as good as ours. But its certainly a choice.

As we mentioned earlier, this is far from the first time that an incredibly expansive planned community has taken shape on the drawing board. Even Amazon founder Jeff Bezos showed off something similar in 2019, albeit his plan is for a space colony.

Whether it was George Pullmans hyper-capitalist town in Chicagoland, the drug-free cult of Synanon in California, or Upton Sinclairs socialist cooperative in New Jersey, history has shown intentional communities are often ruined by the egos of the people building them. And theres arguably no bigger ego on the planet than the developer of this city, Mr. Bone-saw himself, Mohammed bin Salman.

We cannot ignore the livability and environmental crises facing our worlds cities, and NEOM is at the forefront of delivering new and imaginative solutions to address these issues, MBS said in a press release about the project.

NEOM is leading a team of the brightest minds in architecture, engineering and construction to make the idea of building upwards a reality, the Saudi royal continued.

The question is whether MBS will be able to pull this one off. The country likely has enough money to make it happen, but as weve learned from countless utopian communities of the 19th and 20th centuries, you always need more than just money to make a utopian experiment work.

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‘The Resort’ Is a Twisty Summer Vacation Thriller – TIME

Posted: at 11:31 am

Emma and Noah come to Mexico for the same boring reasons that most longtime couples take vacations: to relax, to make memories (whatever that really means), and most of all to reconnect with each other. It is their 10th wedding anniversaryor, as an eccentric staffer at their all-inclusive resort puts it, the puberty of marriage. This, she explains, is when the real love begins. You become what you will be. For some, a week of drinks by the pool might suffice to ease the marriage into that forever stage. But these two, played by the charming Cristin Milioti and William Jackson Harper, seem to have more on their minds than a slackening sex life. Its going to take more than a beach getaway to open the next chapter of their relationship.

This is the familiar place where The Resort, a wild vacation romp from Andy Siara, begins its itinerary. But the eight-episode series, premiering July 28 on Peacock, sets a lighter tone than last summers sublime White Lotus and ridiculous Nine Perfect Strangers, in part by avoiding the ennui that comes with plots that revolve around rich-people problems. (At one point, Emma and Noah agree to buy a custom-made dress, only to flee the shop in a panic when they learn the five-figure price.) Somehow both broader and quirkier, shaggier and more propulsive than those predecessors, this genre-jumping adventure is billed as a comedic thriller and stakes out a space between the culty Lodge 49 and the crowd-pleasing Palm Springs in Siaras canon. It doesnt hang together quite as well as those titles, but it does still make for a fun summer binge.

Cristin Milioti and William Jackson Harper in 'The Resort'

Peacock

The caper takes off when Emma, the more restless of the two, crashes her ATV during an expedition into the jungle and lands next to an old, broken flip phone. Something compels her to track down a working model that will read its SIM card. She quickly realizes the phone belonged to a college kid, Sam (Skyler Gisondo of The Righteous Gemstones), who went missing along with another young vacationer, Violet (Nina Bloomgarden), in 2007, just before a hurricane destroyed the resort where they were staying. Noah doesnt exactly share his wifes eagerness to spend their vacation searching for two strangers whove probably been dead for 15 years, but he throws himself into it in the hope that some amateur sleuthing will revitalize their marriage. People do all sorts of dumb sh-t for love, he explains at one point. I mean, look at me.

As he and Emma start digging, flashbacks flesh out Sam and Violets story. On the plane to Mexico for a family vacation, Sam sneaks a look at his napping girlfriends (Debby Ryan) text messages and discovers shes sleeping with a professor. Violet and her father (Nick Offerman, a study in sad masculinity), meanwhile, have come to mark the first anniversary of her moms untimely death. A chance meeting that begins with a skateboarding Sam slamming his head into a palm tree and Violet administering questionable first aid soon escalates into a romance. In the context of Emma and Noahs story, they become avatars for the lustful intensity of young love.

Skyler Gisondo and Debby Ryan in 'The Resort'

Abey CharronPeacock

The season unfolds as a series of plot twists, tempered by apparent digressions into more philosophical territory. (An episode that positions resorts as intentional communities built around the manufacturing of memories could double as a backdoor pilot for a series in the Lodge 49 vein.) Our heroes sift through the ruins of Sam and Violets resort. They get mixed up with a fearsome dynasty of tailors. A mysterious local author seeds the script with leftfield musings on time. High Maintenance creator and star Ben Sinclair, also an executive producer and director of The Resort, surfaces as a skateboarding Santaand his role only gets stranger from there. Siara keeps adding genres to the mix: comedy, suspense, romance, action-adventure, sci-fi.

At times, the storys incomplete foundation creaks under the weight of so much activity and so many concepts. Questions that seem important go unanswered. Long-awaited insight into characters pasts too often comes across as generic groundwork for a trauma plot, which takes away from the overall emotional impact. And the show can be a bit too meta for its own good. This isnt the end, a character declares in episode 4. The second half is a heartbreaker.

Nina Bloomgarden and Nick Offerman in 'The Resort'

Luis VidalPeacock

Yet its hard to fault Siara, Sinclair, and a creative team that also includes, among its executive producers, Mr. Robot and Homecoming mastermind Sam Esmail too much for touching too lightly on too many ideas, when so much TV has nothing at all to say. Amid all the spectacle, the show does, finally, strike a thoughtful contrast between puppy love and the more mature variety, which it doesnt make the mistake of overstating. But mostly its defined by small pleasures, from the likability of the main players and the casting of real-life character-actor couple Dylan and Becky Ann Baker as Sams parents to its loving homage to Latin American literature and the L.A. punk Easter egg of Alice Bag and Kid Congo Powers cameo as a lounge act. Like any good vacation, The Resort flies by. You can tell you had fun because its over way too soon.

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Illinois sees spike in tax revenue from sales of adult-use cannabis in fiscal 2022 – Financial Regulation News – Financial Regulation News

Posted: at 11:31 am

The State of Illinois saw a massive 50 percent increase in total tax reported from adult-use cannabis over the past year.

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Specifically, tax revenue went from $297.7 million in fiscal year 2021 to $445.3 million in fiscal year 2022. Overall, total adult-use cannabis sales also rose 50 percent, increasing from $1 billion in 2021 to $1.5 billion in 2022. In addition, cannabis tax disbursements to local governments jumped 77 percent, from $82.8 million in fiscal year 2021 to $146.2 million in fiscal year 2022.

Illinois has done more to put justice and equity at the forefront of this industry than any other state in the nation and has worked to ensure that communities hurt by the war on drugs have had the opportunity to participate, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said. The $1.5 billion in sales of adult-use cannabis in Illinois translates into significant tax revenue with a portion of every dollar spent being reinvested in communities that have suffered for decades.

Illinois law mandates that 25 percent of tax revenue generated by adult-use cannabis sales must support communities that are economically distressed, experience high rates of violence, and have been disproportionately impacted by drug criminalization.

Legalizing cannabis for adults has been a wise investment for the Illinois economy, and sales have continued to rise, leading to additional revenue for the state, State Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford said. Consistent cash flow from the cannabis industry assists the state with funding essential services such as violence prevention, mental health, and local government.

The state has awarded $113.5 million in grants to date from funds generated from taxes on adult-use cannabis sales. The money is used to invest in underserved communities through Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authoritys Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) Program.

These much-needed resources for communities impacted by the drug war are the exact reason why policymakers who understand the pain and trauma being experienced by community is vital, State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Chicago) said. This isnt just happening. These directed resources were the result of intentional policy decisions to begin repairing harm. But this is just the beginning. I am eager to see newly licensed Black businesses get a slice of the pie.

Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) Director David Harris said the cannabis industry continues to have a positive impact on the states economy.

It has created hundreds of jobs at cultivation centers and dispensaries throughout the state, and tax revenue generated continues to flow to local governments, help with drug programs and treatments, and is also being reinvested back into the communities that need it the most, Harris said.

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