Category Archives: Atlas Shrugged

Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah has proven to be one of the few Republican elected officials willing to denounce former President Donald Trump and the far-right faction of the party currently inhabiting Congress. Romney twice voted to convict Trump in his impeachment trials and has since become persona non grata among the party's base.

That doesn't mean Romney has dispensed with age-old Republican principles, such as protecting the nation's richest from any increase in taxes, even at the expense of expanded protections for the middle class.

In a recent Fox News interview, Romney rejected the idea of increasing taxes for billionaires, who pay taxes at lower rates than most Americans, if they pay them at all.

Watch below.

Senator Romney expresses concern that taxing billionaires could cause them to invest in paintings or ranches rather https://t.co/ENFb23nG25

Romney specifically spoke out against proposed capital gains tax expansions, which would tax the super wealthy on investments as the investments accrue value, instead of just when these investments are sold.

Romney told Fox's Bret Baier:

Romney's analysis that the super rich will abandon the stock market over a capital gains tax increase seems far-fetched. The top 10% of wealthy Americans already own nearly 90% of stocks. The top 1% hold more than half of corporate equities and mutual-fund shares.

However, comments defending America's wealthiest aren't new coming from Romney. As the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, Romney dealt his campaign a death blow in the final weeks after video surfaced of him railing against the "47 percent" of Americans who didn't pay income taxes.

Romney said of these people, most of whom are explicitly excluded from the tax code due to poverty:

It's long been established that Romney, who himself is worth around a quarter billion, would rather increase taxes for working class Americans than on the wealthiest.

He took some heat for his Fox News comments online.

Billionaires' wealth surged during the pandemic as everyone else suffered an enormous recession, and as soon as you https://t.co/LloYFZgMFQ

Bill Gates owns 300,000 acres of farmland. https://t.co/MZTd6BKKYQ

Its truly incredible how little self-reflection Mitt has done since tanking his presidential campaign with this ex https://t.co/nHa0Qy5NIq

Shed a tear for the downtrodden billionaire. Can we get Sally Struthers to do some fundraising commercials for them https://t.co/ZE4Dih5qTt

Love when rich dudes like Romney start gesturing at Atlas Shrugged and peddling this nonsense whenever taxing the w https://t.co/Ep9QrCS0HG

If they invested in things that build jobs, they probably wouldnt be billionaires now, would they? https://t.co/fv0BBCXl5M

Others found Romney's comments downright insulting in how outdated they were.

Hey Mitt. 1988 called and even they think this is a tired acid-washed-jeans argument suited for that bygone era of https://t.co/tnRQaxEHDX

The talking points are stale 30 years later. https://t.co/rASWyQd8rD

When a lord tells the peasants trickle down still has a shot. Just hang in there. https://t.co/mS9m2iOEDx

Increasing taxes on the wealthy are a key component in financing President Joe Biden's ambitious infrastructure agenda, which could create millions of jobs if passed in its full formrebutting Romney's claim that the United States can't create jobs by taxing billionaires.

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Romney Says Billionaires Will Just Buy Paintings if Taxes Raised - Second Nexus

Faculty members at the University of Texas at Austin still have lots of questions about the Liberty Institute, a think tank apparently coming to campus. Thats even after the university provost addressed the matter at a recent Faculty Council meeting.

What more do professors want to know?

Everything, said Domino Renee Perez, chair of UT Austins Faculty Council and associate professor of English. The faculty need to hear directly from the president, since he is the one who identified this as a priority for the university.

Most professors first learned of the Liberty Institute idea late last month, via a Texas Tribune investigation finding that university leaders had been working with private donors and Texas Republican lieutenant governor Dan Patrick for eight months to launch it. Internal proposals describe the institute as dedicated to the study and teaching of individual liberty, limited government, private enterprise and free markets, according to the article.

The Tribune found that Texas legislators had already approved $6million in initial funding for the institute in the 2022-23 state budget. The university reportedly committed another $6million, and a private donor promised $8.5million to a center back in 2016. No details about the project had been made public, and the university did not provide them, according to the report, which was based largely on documents obtained via open records requests.

The article names Jay Hartzell, UT Austins president, as being involved in the project, along with Patrick and Kevin Eltife, a Republican former state senator who was appointed to a second term to the University System of Texass Board of Regents this year by Republican governor Greg Abbott. Donors Bud Brigham and Bob Rowling, both conservatives, are also involved, per the report.

Following the Tribune report, faculty members have sought more information about the project and expressed concerns that the Legislature is earmarking money for an academic endeavor that few, if any, professors seem to know anything about.

Members of the council, for instance, submitted a list of eight questions to the university, including whether the Tribunes account is accurate and how the institute will uphold intellectual freedom and faculty governance. What will the institute offer that is not already available or possible within existing programs in law, government, business and public affairs, the council also asked. How exactly is the institute funded, and are any strings attached?

What role will the faculty play, including in faculty recruitment? And how will the center be structured?

Provost Sharon Wood attempted to answer some of these questions at the council meeting earlier this week. Yet Wood, who became provost in July, said she didnt have answers to some of their questions because discussions about the institute predated her arrival in the presidents office.

The goal is to provide students who cross traditional boundaries and consider problems from multiple points of view, Wood said. The institute will help students understand how regulatory and legal environments are going to impact markets. They also will have the analytical and quantitative skills to solve complex problems and understand more economic drivers.

Regarding the Tribunes report, Wood said it ignored the role of faculty governance and faculty hiring and also developing new degree programs and implied there was no interest among students. But she did not share a clear plan for faculty governance or the faculty role in hiring.

Jeffrey Abramson, professor of government and law, said after the meeting, The normal thing for a self-respecting university to have done, once it raised the money for the institute, would have been to go to the regular faculty and empower them, in the exercise of academic freedom, to make the hiring and curricular decisions. Abramson said the possibility that the institute could stand outside of the normal ways mature universities make academic decisions is a threat to the integrity of UT and gives far too much power to private donors over who teaches what to our students.

Centers dedicated to the study of free enterprise, individual freedom and limited government exist elsewhere. Many are funded by the Charles Koch Foundation and are seen by their supporters as a counterpoint to the less conservative systems and approaches students encounter in the classroom. The BB&T bank foundation also used to offer Moral Foundations grants to colleges and universities, stipulating that they offer classes on or provide students a copy of Ayn Rands pro-free market novel Atlas Shrugged. In some cases, these grants came with stipulations about faculty hires. A 2011 Western Carolina University advertisement, for instance, said applicants for its BB&T Distinguished Professor of Capitalism should be at least familiar with, if not actively receptive to, the writings of Ayn Rand. Also in 2011, it was revealed that in cases at more than one university, Koch grant agreements stipulated that the foundation have a say in faculty hiring. A third institution, George Mason University, said in 2018 that some of its earlier agreements with Koch involved donor influence in faculty hiring.

Koch has since said that it always valued academic freedom, and that it has purposely moved away from agreement language of this nature. Its also released a template for current donor agreements. BB&T has also ended its Ayn Rand-based program to concentrate on financial literacy-based philanthropy.

Faculty concerns about these centers remain, beyond the issue of donor influence in faculty hiring. Academic freedom advocates worry, for instance, that the underfunding of higher education makes public institutions, in particular, at risk for compromising on faculty rights to secure private funding. The state of Texas appears committed to funding this particular project, but that raises eyebrows, as well, given that politicians may know more about it than professors.

Another concern is that these institutes may be used to promote political ideas as academic research. Immunologists at Stanford University, for instance, worried about this with respect to Scott Atlas, a fellow at Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution, when he was challenging the effectiveness of wearing masks as the Trump White Houses coronavirus adviser. Atlas wasnt working directly for Hoover in this role, but his academic credentials, including his medical degree, were often cited regarding his public comments.

Elsewhere faculty members have rejected proposed centers on the grounds that they would compete with existing academic departments, namelyeconomics.

The Hoover Institution is reportedly one model for the UT Austin institute. Wood also said at the council meeting that Tom Gilligan, former dean of the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin, had been helping plan the Liberty Institute before he left for the Hoover Institute, in 2015. Gilligan, who is now a fellow emeritus at Hoover, did not respond a request through Hoover Thursday.

Abramson said that in the current political climate, Americans are divided, and rightly argue about the proper balance to strike between individual liberty and the public good. But he said his fear is that the Liberty Institute, while promising to bring diversity of thought to campus, will in fact be stacked in its hiring and course decisions to favor only one side of this essential debate.

Not all professors are so skeptical of the Liberty Institute, as they understand it thus far, however. Richard Lowery, an associate professor of finance, said during the council meeting that he was confused by some of the criticism, as the university already funds various programs that are "explicitly political," including social justice and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

Lowery declined an interview request but provided the following written statement:

The University of Texas at Austin administration, with the enthusiastic support of the faculty, has implemented a diversity, equity and inclusion plan, the original version of which was described by the Foundation [for] Individual Rights in Education as follows: [T]he proposals mandates present a serious threat of establishing a viewpoint based litmus test for both hiring and promotion, with the final version being, in my opinion, as bad or worse than the original draft. Thus, not only are the supposed concerns about a political test in a potential Liberty Institute hypocritical, but in light of this explicit, and many implicit, political tests being used at the university, it is absolutely essential to establish some structure at UT-Austin where academic freedom can be restored. While I support the principle of establishing such a structure, the Provosts plan is clearly designed to give control over such a unit to the existing faculty, who generally oppose academic freedom, and thus would serve as little more than a fig leaf.

Daniel Brinks, chair of government, said he knew little about the institute but that hed heard it could involve a cluster hire of faculty members who research areas including collective decision making, government regulation and its effects on economic and other outcomes, market design and social welfare, and drivers of social prosperity.

Speaking only for himself, he said, I imagine that whether our department would support a hire within this cluster would depend on how the scope of the cluster is defined, and how well it lines up with our priorities and disciplinary standards. And as with any hire, he said, Im sure we would all expect that our normal governance processes will be respected, including our normal role in selecting the faculty we hire.

J. B. Bird, spokesperson for the university, said he was conferring with the provosts office on a request for comment or an interview. Late in the day, he shared a link to a new bullet point-style information page on the institute. Bird highlighted the following point: Any new professors will be hired within normal university protocols, which include deans anddepartment chairs." Hedistinguished new professors from current professors who become affiliated with the institute. As for academics, the page says, we plan to do an inventory of existing courses to develop a list of new classes that may be added.

Bird added that the institute is still in a planning phase.

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UT Austin's Liberty Institute? What's that, professors ask - Inside Higher Ed

Most of my children are readers, especially my oldest daughter, who is quite busy but makes time for a lot of reading.

I have always taken that for granted, I guess, but a mutual friend told me the other day she does not really have time to read any more and listens to books instead.

In recent years, I have heard others say the same thing and I have also realized I do not read nearly as much as I once did, other than articles or research materials. But I have not yet switched to audio.

Listening may have the same impact, but I am a visual learner and retain and understand information much better if I actually see it rather than hear it. So I am not sure what I will do and my inclination is to simply make time for more reading, a routine pastime for me when I was growing up.

Other than the Bible, which I grew up with of course and, believe it not, have read in its entirety, the first book I remember having a profound impact on me was Call of the Wild by Jack London. I was convinced it would always be my favorite book of all time.

For a boy who loved the outdoors and dogs and adventure, yep, it was quite an experience. I think it came at a time when I was also reading The Hardy Boys mysteries, devouring every one of them as soon as I can get my hands on them.

These books are still popular, thank goodness. The characters are basically solid, steady and believable personalities who use a lot of common sense and logic.

With maturity comes a taste for more complicated reading fare, of course, so I graduated to Ian Flemings James Bond series.

Just like The Hardy Boys, I loved every one of those books. They went from small city shenanigans by the bad guys to global confrontations often involving the use of nuclear weapons or other devices of mass destruction.

If I wanted to be Frank Hardy when I was 11, James Bond took his place when I was 14. Both characters were smart, quick-thinking and fearless, of course. Things a boy aspires to be.

Obviously, James Bond also possessed a knack for attracting women, which, by the time I was 14, was a far more interesting element than when I was 11. Not that it mattered. I was no James Bond, or Frank Hardy for that matter. Fantasy is a wonderful thing.

Most of that time, I actually felt more like Buck, the dog in Call of the Wild, trying to overcome adverse circumstances and to be free, hoping to find a safe haven from the trials and tribulations of being a teen.

I also enjoyed Agatha Christie and still love Edgar Allan Poe. Of course, my literary palate kept expanding, from Ayn Rand to Kurt Vonnegut. My favorite books changed as I got older too, with Rands Atlas Shrugged taking that top spot for years.

This happens to everybody who reads, I think, as we explore the world of experiences, cultures, philosophy well, about everything. We always find things that make a difference in our lives and thoughts. Cinema and TV can do the same thing, depending, just like books, on the quality of the material.

Fortunately, I also had good teachers who always urged me to read and praised me when I did.

Gosh, for those of us who grew up in these mountains, isolated in many ways from the rest of the world, reading opened up the world to us. We could go everywhere and experience countless things, learning about the world and ourselves in the process.

Reading presents the most diverse, intense, in-depth, profound and often life-changing impacts. And those of us who loved to read traveled to every corner of the universe of experience and emotion and thought, never being satisfied with the here and now.

After all, curiosity and the desire to learn and experience and understand are the foundations of being rational human beings.

Every now and then, I make a list of my favorite books, usually my top 10 based on the impact they had on my life. But that list changes every time with only a few exceptions.

The Bible is in a category all by itself, so that list includes my favorite books, with the top one in the Old Testament Job and in the New Testament Galatians. For anyone who discounts the Bible as not having any literary, creative, historical or philosophical value, you have no idea what you are missing.

And for anyone who doesnt read, well, remember what those wonderful teachers told you.

They were right.

Charles Boothe is a reporter for the Bluefield Daily Telegraph and can be reached at cboothe@bdtonline.com

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FROM THE OPINION PAGE My literary palate continues to expand with each passing year - Bluefield Daily Telegraph

According to Brandy Melville employees, CEO Stephan Marsan wants his staffers to be young, thin, pretty, and white.

Every day, girls who work at the fast-fashion stores are required to send a full-body photo to executives. Some are as young as 14. If Marsan thinks a girl is too heavy or unattractive, he demands that she be fired, according to Luca Rotondo, a former senior vice president. If Marsan decides a Brandy Melville store has too many Black employees, he has them replaced with white women, Rotondo said.

During Rotondo's nearly nine years at the company, Marsan instructed him to fire hundreds of employees, Rotondo said.

"If she was Black, if she was fat he didn't want them in the store," Rotondo told Insider.

In September 2019, Marsan received a photo of a manager in Newport Beach with dark hair wearing chain necklaces. Marsan texted Rotondo, writing in his native Italian that the store was "only hiring pieces of shit." They're going to destroy the store, Marsan wrote in a text message viewed by Insider.

"Cacciala," Marsan demanded or "kick her out."

Brandy Melville is the go-to brand for the type of high-school girls who spend hours on TikTok and worship Bella Hadid. Named after two fictional characters Brandy, an American girl, and Melville, an Englishman who fell in love in Rome, the line has developed a loyal following among teenagers who arrive by the thousands to a store opening. It's Contempo Casuals for the Gen Z set: crop tops, miniskirts, and a controversial "one size fits most" tagline.

But while Marsan has made a fortune selling fast fashion to teenage girls, interviews with more than 30 current and former employees from eight cities suggest a business largely built on the exploitation of young women and discrimination against anyone who fails to meet Marsan's white, blond, and skinny ideal.

Some current and former employees say higher-ups regularly crossed professional boundaries; one former employee told Insider an Italian store owner sexually assaulted her. Rotondo and former Canadian store owners alleged in two separate lawsuits that they were ousted after refusing to fire employees based on race and appearance. A group text with Marsan and other top executives contained racist, sexist, and antisemitic jokes, including one photo in which, a former business partner says, Marsan edited his face on Hitler's body.

In a filing inRotondo's lawsuit, Bastiat USA, the company that operates Brandy Melville locations in the United States, denied that it "has ever fired an employee on account of his or her race." Brandy Melville representatives, attorneys, Marsan, and other executives named in this article did not respond to Insider's requests for comment.

"If I could say anything to the owners, I would say: 'You had such an amazing opportunity to be a safe, inclusive space for young women, and instead you took advantage of them,'" Mina Marlena, a former employee, said.

"People don't realize how corrupt this company is," a current employee at a Massachusetts store said. "It's a disgusting company, and the company needs to be shut down."

For many of Brandy Melville's customers, the brand is a way of life. Almost every item most costing less than $40 comes in just one size, the equivalent of a small. As of 2019, annual global revenue had surpassed $250 million, according to a former executive, with teenagers scouring the resale site Depop for "Rare Brandy." One teenager gushed to the fashion publication i-D that the brand was "the female Supreme."

During sales at one of Franco Sorgi's Canadian shops, thousands of girls would arrive before dawn to line up, he told Insider. "I'm talking about September, in Canada, at 4 o'clock in the morning, freezing my ass off," Sorgi, who used to own 11 stores, said. "These girls would stay there, in the cold."

For some customers, the dream is a job at Brandy Melville. YouTube videos and TikToks about what it's like to work at stores rack up millions of views. Employees who appear on the brand's Instagram can become celebrities in their own right. Scarlett Rose Leithold, now an established model with 3.5 million Instagram followers, got her start at Brandy Melville.

Despite Brandy Melville's 94 locations worldwide, including 34 in the US, few know the name of the man who started it all: Stephan Marsan, its elusive founder, owner, and CEO.

Marsan has apparently never given an interview. In a 2014 article, the Italian outlet Viterbo News said the family behind Brandy Melville had "made a religion of confidentiality."

Marsan opened the first Brandy Melville stores in Italy in the '90s, following in the footsteps of his father, a manufacturer for fashion brands. In 2009 he opened the first US outpost in Westwood, California, near the UCLA campus. At the time the brand had 40 stores in Italy (many have since closed). But Marsan wanted more, and the US was key to taking the brand international.

People familiar with the company described Marsan as a workaholic who micromanages all aspects of the business.

"There was a day when Stephan told us, 'Take everything but the three smallest sizes off the floor,'" a former Brandy Melville employee who worked at stores in California and New York starting in 2013 said. "From that moment on, we did not carry anything above a size 4."

For Marsan, political correctness is blasphemy, Sorgi said. The CEO broadcasts his prejudices to executives, calling Black people primitive and claiming that women only create problems, Sorgi said. But to secure their spot in the world of Brandy Melville, employees at all levels said they had to endure and often enforce Marsan's beliefs.

When Franco Sorgi opened Brandy Melville's first stores in Canada, in 2012, Marsan was clear about the target audience, Sorgi said.

Sorgi says that Marsan told him he did not want Black people to buy Brandy Melville clothing, telling the Canadian store owner it would damage the brand's image to have Black or overweight women wearing his "nice and delicate" garments. According to Sorgi, Marsan said he would rather sell to "good-looking rich little girls."

Employees say they were held to even more exacting standards.

In the New York City flagship store, Marsan and fellow executives have an elevated work area from which they watched shoppers, according to an employee who quit last year. If they saw someone who fit the Brandy Melville look, they pushed a button, setting off a light that prompted the cashier to ask for the girl's photo and contact information so she could be recruited.

"There was no sugarcoating it," a former New York regional manager who left in 2017 said. "It was, 'She is skinny, white, blond, and pretty let's hire her.'"

Top executives are sent photos of all candidates for retail positions before hiring them, according to multiple current and former employees. Eight employees who worked at the brand from 2013 through now said a new employee's pay was often determined solely by her photo and, in some cases, a screenshot of her Instagram. Those who fit the look tended to be brought on with higher pay, they said.

The employee who worked in California and New York said the executives would text yes or no on the spot "and give us a rate that that person would be hired at." She said she watched coworkers use Facetune to edit the appearance of a qualified applicant, making her taller and skinnier and erasing blemishes on her face before sending the photo to executives.

Sorgi says he pushed back on Marsan's modus operandi and began hiring employees based on merit. The girls featured on Brandy Melville Canada's Instagram grew more diverse, while the US account continued to be overwhelmed with comments asking why almost all the models were white.

Sorgi suspected he was on thin ice in April 2017 when three Brandy Melville executives flew to Canada to visit his stores: Salvatore Rianna, the chief financial officer, Luca Rotondo, a senior vice president, and Yvan Marsan, Stephan's brother who works for YYGM, the Swiss company that owns the Brandy Melville trademark.

According to Sorgi, even before they got out of the car at the Square One mall in Ontario, Rianna and Yvan didn't like what they saw. The issue, as Sorgi understood it, was that "there's only Indians here, there's only dark people," Sorgi told Insider. Yvan told Sorgi the customers were "ghetto" and demanded he shut down the store. He scolded Sorgi about a manager at a different store, telling Sorgi that she was too "short and fat" to work at Brandy Melville, accroding to a lawsuit filed by Sorgi.

After the visit, Sorgi said, he was pressured to close stores outside predominantly white areas. A year and a half later, Sorgi says he and his business partner, Paolo Simeone, were told by Yvan that YYGM was terminating their trademark agreements, a move Sorgi alleges was made at the direction of Bastiat USA. In August 2020, Sorgi and Simeone filed a suit against Bastiat USA, alleging their agreements were terminated because they refused to discriminate based on race or appearance.

All 32 current and former US employees who spoke with Insider, ranging from stockroom workers to executives, said they felt the company's hiring and firing practices were heavily influenced by appearance. Many including managers in New York, California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts who worked directly with top executives said this guidance came directly from Marsan and other leaders. All but a handful said they saw evidence that race played a role. (Most of the employees requested anonymity in order to speak without fear of repercussion, but their identities and employment histories are known to Insider.)

Ex-employees at Brandy Melville's New York stores said that in their experience, Black staffers were typically relegated to the stockroom or night shifts. Three former managers and two employees at New York City stores said it also appeared that management would hire Black employees for prime hours when a store was extremely understaffed and then fire them when more white candidates became available.

"Even if they were the best employees ever, they would only keep the ones that were pretty or mixed" race, a former regional manager in New York said. She remembered screaming at Marsan and his right-hand man, Jessy Longo, telling them they couldn't keep firing all the people of color.

In late September 2017, Stephenie Legros, who is Black, was nearing her first anniversary as a Brandy Melville employee. There were more people of color working with her at the New York City flagship than usual, she and another former employee said.

Marsan had been spending more time at the store, watching employees, Legros recalled. On her day off, Legros found out she'd lost her job. Human resources told Legros it was because of a lack of funds. A week earlier, though, the store had hired two new employees, one white and one Asian, Legros said. The newly hired white teenager told Legros she was earning $13 an hour, $2 more than the more experienced Legros.

"I felt like they were trying to get rid of some of the Black girls because that's not Brandy's look," Legros said.

Rotondo told Insider that Marsan could be ruthless when it came to achieving his vision. In his lawsuit, Rotondo says that when he refused to fire the "piece of shit" Newport Beach manager at Marsan's order in 2019, his salary was cut by $40,000, to $260,000. Three months later, Rotondo says he was let go. (In a filing in Rotondo's lawsuit, Bastiat USA denied that his salary was cut, stating that Rotondo "had lesser responsibility [at that time] following his shift to the West Coast territory only.")

Rotondo declined to be interviewed on the record on any topics beyond his lawsuit, citing concerns for his safety.

"I believe that he is not rational," Rotondo said of Marsan. "You can still have stores made out of good and great workers, no matter race, color."

Marsan and fellow executives weren't shy about sharing their opinions. Insider viewed more than 150 screenshots that appear to show Marsan and Brandy Melville's top brass exchanging pornography, photos of Hitler, and memes featuring the N-word in a group text called "Brandy Melville gags." People familiar with the inner workings of the company said it was active from about 2017 to 2020. The group chat included more than 30 men, including members of Brandy Melville's senior leadership Marsan, his brother Yvan, and Rianna, the chief financial officer.

Many participants sent photos of naked or topless women, including one video of a woman penetrating herself with a sex toy. Matteo Centaro, a graphic designer who works with the brand, appeared to have sent a photo of a woman in a wet see-through shirt squeezing her breast with the caption "La maglia chiaramente brandy," or "That's clearly a Brandy shirt."

Holocaust and Nazi references appeared frequently. Hitler was mentioned 24 times in the more than 150 screenshots Insider viewed.

One image featured Hitler with the text "Premio Nobel per la brace," or "Nobel Prize for barbecue." Another screenshot showed an image of Hitler with the text "Happy New Year My [N-word]." Yet another included an edited image of a severely emaciated woman wearing underwear and a sash reading "Miss Auschwitz 1943."

Top executives, in many cases, appeared to be leading the charge when it came to sharing antisemitic content. A selfie taken by Adriano de Petris, the chief technology officer, showed Roberto Tatti, Marsan's brother-in-law and a Brandy Melville supplier, alongside another man performing a Nazi salute. Marsan sent a picture in which he folded a shirt to obscure certain letters, spelling out "Hitler." Another screenshot showed an edited image of Marsan as Hitler, which Sorgi said Marsan himself created.

The screenshots also showed chat members mocking Black people, with several memes featuring the N-word. A photo of the cast from the TV show "Happy Days" was shared with text that translates to "There were no Black people in this show that's why it was called 'Happy Days.'" One screenshot showed a photo of a T-shirt with the words "Capitalist [N-word]." Another featured someone holding up a National Geographic magazine with an ape on the cover next to a young Black man.

Sorgi said many people went along with the group chat because they wanted to stay on Marsan's good side.

"Everybody will laugh at the most stupid joke he made, even if they were not funny," Sorgi said. "Everybody would kiss his ass like you can't even imagine. I wouldn't be surprised if people ... in the chat would post nasty stuff just to make him happy."

Keeping Marsan happy, after all, was crucial. Every day, Brandy Melville retail employees have their pictures taken and sent to higher-ups, a practice known as "staff style." For years, these photos were sent directly to Marsan and other company leaders via group text, according to multiple managers who were a part of the exchanges. Marsan regularly received more than 2,000 text messages a day, according to a former executive with direct knowledge of the matter. (Earlier this year, managers began emailing the photos to a company account.)

Marsan methodically saved some girls' photos, according to the employee who quit last year. She once spotted a folder on his computer labeled with her name it appeared to contain every photo taken of her from the day she was scouted to her most recent staff-style shot.

Executives told employees that the photos allowed Marsan and other higher-ups to keep track of clothing trends.

"In retrospect ... it's really fucking weird that we all as underage people had to text this mid-to-late-30s guy photos of what we were wearing," the former employee who worked in California and New York said.

But for many, anything was worth it if it meant being able to work at Brandy Melville.

"We call it a sorority ... so many horrible things are happening, but at the time it was the coolest thing to be a part of," a former New York employee who started working at Brandy Melville in 2015 said. "Like, I would go back to school and be like, 'Yeah, I work at Brandy.' And they're like, 'Oh my God, you work at Brandy?!'"

Some former employees in Santa Monica dubbed executives' favorites "special snowflakes."

According to current and former staffers, these special employees got access to the company credit card for $1,000 shopping sprees, were invited on work trips to Hawaii or Italy, and were allowed to use the "Brandy apartment," a lavish two-story, five-bedroom apartment in New York's SoHo neighborhood.

Many girls were desperate to earn a spot among the favorites.

Long hours were part of the job, and two former New York employees who worked at the company from 2013 to 2016 said it was common for girls to take Adderall to stay up all night. In some cases, managers encouraged the drug use, they said.

Eight former employees from five stores said there was widespread concern that gaining weight could cost workers their jobs. One girl who worked in New York until 2018 said a visit from Longo and Marsan could prompt storewide diets. Three girls said they believed that working at Brandy Melville sparked or fueled their eating disorders.

People said that teenage employees as young as 14 would frequently undress in front of male executives to try on new clothing for them. Four former employees in California and New York told Insider there was a belief among some retail workers that if you went fully topless in front of the executives, you might get paid more.

Mina Marlena, who started working in the Santa Monica store in 2012 at age 17, said that the first time she tried on clothes for Marsan and Longo, she went to the bathroom to change. After she did this a few times, they told her to "just stay down here and change here," she recalled. In an effort to stay in their good graces, she began to change in front of the executives, typically wearing nothing but thong underwear.

"I always felt like I had to do what they were asking or I would lose my position," said Marlena, who now works as a content creator.

"Even though it was sus, everybody wanted" to be one of the favorites, one of the former employees who started at Brandy Melville in 2013 said. "You'd hear about it and be like, how do you get those privileges?"

Numerous current and former employees told Insider that professional boundaries were often crossed at Brandy Melville.

They said executives sometimes took retail employees out for drinks, including those who were underage. A former New York manager who left in 2016 said Marsan and Longo once brought beers to a store to share with her and a 16-year-old employee. Another former manager recalled executives sending bottles of wine for employees, most of whom were underage, to drink during an overnight shift in a San Francisco store.

Several former employees mentioned the behavior of Longo, the brand's top executive alongside Marsan while Brandy Melville gained footing in the US. One former staffer said Longo approached her on her first day in the Santa Monica store as an 18-year-old, told her she looked like Naomi Campbell, and asked for her number and to take her out. She declined, but Longo continued to come up behind her, tickling her or whispering compliments in her ear, she said.

Marlena, who worked at the Santa Monica store until 2015, recalled Longo pinching her sides and making comments such as, "Oh, are you eating good?"

At least one employee, a former manager in New York, says the sexual comments turned physical.

In July 2015, she asked if she could stay at the Brandy apartment for a night.

Andrea Castagnasso, who owns some Brandy Melville stores in Italy, showed her the room she'd be staying in, she said. Castagnasso said his room was next door something that surprised her. She'd thought the apartment was primarily for store employees and models visiting from out of town, not older executives.

Castagnasso, in his 30s at the time, took the then 21-year-old manager out for drinks and dinner, she said. She said she had a few drinks with Castagnasso at a bar in Brooklyn. Then, she said, her memory went blank.

"I do not recall getting in the car or coming back to the apartment, I do not recall how my clothes were taken off, and I do not recall how I ended up in his bed or engaging in any sexual activity," she told Insider.

"I did not recall consenting to have sex with this person," she went on. "I was very sick and disoriented when I woke up the next morning in his bed. He told me I was very drunk and wanted it, although I do not believe I was in any way in a state to consent to this."

(Castagnasso did not respond to Insider's request for comment.)

According to medical records Insider viewed, the manager went to the hospital to receive treatment to prevent HIV and STIs, as recommended for victims of sexual assault. Records from July 28, 2015, said she told medical staff she had been sexually assaulted two days prior.

She declined to file a police report despite medical staff advising her to do so, according to the records. A doctor wrote that the manager said her boss "raped her" and that she recalled having a drink at a bar then nothing until the next morning. But the doctor wrote that she did not wish to press charges because "she may lose her working visa."

Castagnasso was a powerful player at Brandy Melville and a personal friend of Marsan's. The manager was in the US on a visa and didn't want to jeopardize it, she told Insider. Shortly after, she spoke with a few coworkers, one of whom recounted the incident to Insider. Then the manager stopped talking about what happened for years.

"I don't believe in anything the company stands for," she said, "but I was just desperate to stay in the country."

Technically, Brandy Melville is a brand, not a business. The trademark is owned by YYGM, which controls brands connected to the Marsan family, including the agricultural company San Bartolomeo. (Brandy Melville sells the family's olive oil online for $25.)

Every Brandy Melville store in the US is owned by a different independent company. All 34 are named a variation of Bastiat, after the libertarian economist Frdric Bastiat. (Marsan is an ardent libertarian, naming a sub-brand John Galt after the character from "Atlas Shrugged," personal copies of which he displayed in early stores.) Business filings list Marsan as the CEO or director for each Bastiat company and the president of Bastiat USA.

It's an "unusually complex" structure, said Neil Saunders, the managing director at GlobalData, a research agency. Saunders said Brandy Melville's attempts to fly under the radar made it "harder for criticism to be attributed to any individual or for the brand to be probed too deeply."

The structure adds layers of confusion for anyone pursuing legal action against Brandy Melville. In 2015, the attorney Tristram Buckley found himself on a wild-goose chase attempting to serve legal papers on someone anyone who could be considered an executive at Brandy Melville, he said. Buckley repeatedly visited addresses associated with the brand only to discover that there was no one but teenage girls present. (Buckley told Insider the case was settled out of court.)

Sorgi said Marsan's anonymity is purposeful.

"He is not like the typical CEO that sits on a chair and makes a million dollars a year in bonuses while the company is sinking into debt," Sorgi said. "He doesn't want nobody to know him because he's sitting on a pile of cash."

From the outside, Brandy Melville is a massive success.

The brand has stores in 15 countries. In 2011, PacSun started selling Brandy Melville products in the US. In 2013, Abercrombie looked into buying all its North American stores, the Canadian franchisees' lawsuit said. At one point, Marsan spoke with Goldman Sachs about going public and shocked the bankers when he told them the business had no debt, Sorgi said.

As a privately held brand, Brandy Melville does not disclose its financial figures. According to a former executive, though, high-performing US stores can surpass $10 million in annual sales.

Its financials are helped by low costs. Brandy Melville doesn't have a massive corporate office and has only a few salaried executives. Marsan manufactures the vast majority of clothes in one size at factories that the Marsan family owns overseas. The clothes are sold around the world by teenage girls making close to minimum wage.

Clothing designs are often directly copied from other brands or artists, according to several former employees. Two employees who worked at Brandy Melville between 2013 and 2018 said that, when they worked there, the entire creation cycle of a shirt could occur in the building behind the Santa Monica store: Teenage girls would find images on Tumblr, get approval from Marsan or Longo, have them screen printed on shirts, and immediately start selling them in the store.

Sometimes Marsan or another executive would literally buy an employee's outfit off her body, replicate the design, and name the new product after the staffer, according to multiple former employees who worked at the company as recently as 2020.

In 2015, Brandy Melville appeared to be introducing a more formal structure to the business. The company opened a corporate office in Iselin, New Jersey, and hired Salvatore Rianna as chief financial officer. Today, insiders say, Marsan spends most of his time in Europe and New York, where he recently bought a $9.6 million townhouse.

Several people familiar with the company said Longo was rumored to be taking the lead on launching a Brandy Melville pizza chain. The brand has also been working with the New York City street-fashion brand Yellow Rat Bastard, signaling a possible move into the menswear market.

Despite the momentum, current and former employees told Insider they thought Brandy Melville's moment of relevance was coming to an end.

"Every year that goes by, the beauty standard is shifting a little bit," a Black woman who worked at Brandy Melville from 2016 to 2019 said. "And I feel like they're so out of touch still. They don't even try to keep up with the times. They're stuck in this whole 2013 bubble where they feel like young, skinny, blond-haired, blue-eyed girls should be the face of their brand.

"We're past that," she continued. "You know, it's not going to kill you to put a girl of color on your Instagram multiple girls of color at that."

Many insiders said they'd been waiting for years for the brand's inner workings to be exposed, swapping horror stories in group texts with names like "Brandy Melville survivors." While Brandy Melville has faced backlash for its sizing and lack of diversity, executives' hiring and firing practices, racist and antisemitic comments, and allegations of sexual misconduct have gone unreported. A former New York employee suspects this was partially because of what she called a "culture of fear."

More than a dozen employees Insider interviewed put the blame squarely on Marsan and other executives.

"The way that they run the company, these people are absolutely evil," a current employee in Massachusetts said.

Some employees are severing ties and hoping customers do the same. One New York employee told Insider that she quit in 2020 partly because of the way she felt the company treated Black people and the lack of a public response to Black Lives Matter protests. Another former New York employee said, "This store should not be a thing."

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Brandy Melville: Behind the Scenes at the 'Evil' Fast-Fashion Empire - Business Insider

Every once in a long while, I manage to have an encounter with the film producer Albert S. Ruddy. Its alwayswhat?

Funny? Fascinating? Enlightening? Unexpected?

I think Ill go with amazing.

Its certainly amazing to see Al Ruddy, at the age of 91, credited as a producer of Cry Macho, which is set for release by Warner Bros. and HBO Max on Sept. 17and not just because the movie is directed by and stars Clint Eastwood, who is also 91. To put things in perspective, Ruddy has been trying to get the picture made since I was an struggling doctoral student of Modern European History, which would be 46 years ago, give or take. Once, the film seems to have started, with Roy Scheider, in Mexico. (That would be somewhere among iterations that involved Burt Lancaster and Pierce Brosnan.) But something happened, and the plug got pulled. By then, Eastwood had already been in and out of the project. He put it aside to do The Dead Pool, which was released in 1988a long time ago, when cop movies were still popular.

In 2003, during my second tour as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, I joined colleague Claudia Eller in writing about Ruddys plan to cast his close friend Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Cry Macho lead. He was to have played a somewhat battered horse breeder and ex-rodeo star who finds redemption on a mission to retrieve another mans son from South of the Border. Having put aside politicsor so our story saidSchwarzenegger was looking for role that would highlight his softer side. That was printed on July 31. On August 7, Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy in that years California recall election. By Nov. 17, he was governor.

Amazing.

At that point, a more perturbable producer might have given up. But not Ruddy. Nothing seems to shake him. I once saw him listen calmly as fellow producer Arthur Cohn, whose habit is to toast each and every guest at his annual Oscar dinner, delivered a warm tribute to Ruddys spouse, Wanda McDaniel.

Arthur, thats beautiful, said Al, with a nod toward his companion. But this isnt my wife.

Back in the mid-70s, having produced The Godfather, Ruddy courted Ayn Rand, in pursuit of rights to her Atlas Shrugged. They disagreed over script approval. Then Ill put in my will, the one person who cant get it is you, Ruddy recalled Rand telling him. Forty years later, he gave me a call at The New York Times, to report that he had the rights. His plan, at that point, was for a television series. Amazing. Anything is possible.

When Ruddys Million Dollar Baby won the Best Picture Oscar in 2005, he told Leonardo DiCaprio, whose The Aviator was a runner-up, Dont worry baby, youre going to get a hundred of those things. Or so he told me and my Times co-writer Brooks Barnes in a typically unfiltered interview in 2016. The gravel in his voice makes everything plausible.

I was certainly a believer five years earlier, when Ruddy got on the line with another amazing report. Cry Macho, he said, was finally being made. This was in early May of 2011. Arnold Schwarzenegger had stepped back in. The film would be his first since leaving office. Rights were being scooped up in Cannes, never mind an inconvenient flap that week, when it was reported that Schwarzenegger had fathered a child with his housekeeper.

At that point, this real-life son would have been about the same age as Schwarzeneggers young sidekick in the movie. It seemed a bit close for comfort. But all is A-OK . . . production commences August 24th, rasped Ruddy.

Well, it didnt quite work out that way. In a day or two, Schwarzenegger was out.

But, ten years later, Eastwood is back in, and, if the posters on the bus stops are to be believed, the imperturbable Al Ruddys Cry Macho arrives in two weeks.

And that is truly amazing.

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The Truly Amazing Al Ruddy Delivers Cry Macho After All These Years - Deadline

In between Zoom meetings and online classes, watching Netflix movies,YouTube and TikTok videos, or idly browsingthrough online shops,our lives havebecomemore centered onwhat's available online. However, we also need to disconnect tobetter connect. Just detach from our everyday distractionsand rediscover the joy of reading books. What are thebest booksyou've read so far?

If you've been logging in too many hours online, then you know it's time to catch up on your reading. Coincidentally, it'sNational Read a Book Day this September 6, so you have a good excuse to look up thebest books to read ever. In case you're at a loss on which titles to get, here's a list of thebest books of all timethat you can easily get through online book stores.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Photo: bookshop.org

From the wildly imaginative Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five is afiction novel laced with history and a touch of sci-fi. The protagonist is the son of an American barber who survives a series of unfortunate events during World War II, including being capturedbyGerman forces and the Dresden fire bombing. After the war, he becamea successful optometrist but iskidnapped on his wedding night,this time by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore.

On The Road by Jack Kerouac Photo: bookshop.org

Written in just three weeks in1951, Kerouac submitted sheets of tracing paper taped together as a 120-foot scroll. It contained the firstdraft of On The Road. While the firstreleased copiesin 1957 were heavily edited, the originalversion is wilder, rougherand rawer.

1984 by George Orwell Photo: bookshop.org

What was described as a negative utopia by Orwell was written in 1949 yet is still very relevant today. Set in 1984, the haunting narrative hooks you from start to finish with its dystopian setting. This novel has aneerie yet seemingly prophetic message. Get a copy of 1984 from Bookshop.org.

Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor Photo: bookshop.org

One of the best books of 2021, Filthy Animalsisa series of intertwined stories of young creativesset in the American Midwest. From a young man balancing two lovers in an open relationship toteenage drama that results in violence andsnippets of other lives in between, this National Bestsellershowcases the vulnerability of humanity and mankinds desire for love in a world that withholds it.

Against White Feminism by Rafia Zakaria Photo: bookshop.org

Attorney and political philosopher Rafia Zakaria presents feminism from the eyes of an American Muslim woman. The book is a reconstruction of feminism, veering away from the perceptions ofupper-middle-class white women who are heralded as the experts in the movement. Against White Feminism centers on women of color as a counter manifesto to the cultural superiority of white feminism.Get this radical critique of feminism on sale in hardcover for $22.03 atBookshop.org.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand Photo: abebooks.com

Considered as Rands magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged succedes The Fountainhead and extensively showsRandsviews on Objectivism. The story revolves around John Galt, a powerful yet mysterious figure. It is thestory of the ideal man, one who is perfect and consistent in his actions and integrated into the actions of his comrades.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck Photo: abebooks.com

Referred to asthe first book by Steinbeck, East of Eden is set in the rich agricultural land of Salinas Valley in California.It tells the story oftwo rival families --the Trasks and the Hamiltons. Their story is similar to the fall of Adam and Eve andthe bitter rivalry between Cain and Abel.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Photo: abebooks.com

Blending Gabriel Garcia Marquezs signature magical realism with political reality, One Hundred Years of Solitude is often described asone of the most original books written in the 20th century. It is the story of seven generations of the Buendia family and Macondo --the town they have built surrounded by trees and shrouded in mystery and magic.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Photo: abebooks.com

A timeless Russian classic on love and destruction, Anna Karenina is a reflection of humanity and its tragedy, as well as a peek into Russianlife. The protagonist, Anna Karenina seems to have it all -- wealth, beautyand statusbut she throws everything away for her lover which ends in tragedy.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Photo: abebooks.com

Thistragic novel starts with the untimely and violent murder of landowner Fyodor Karamazov, which left his sonscompletely changed.The Brothers Karamazov is the story about three brothers and a bastard half-brother, the novel blurs the linebetween good and evil as they aretested until the truth comes out.

An Ugly Truth by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang Photo: blinkist.com

Offering great insights on this controversial read through Blinkist, itprovidesan in-depth look into Facebooks rise to power as the social media powerhouseit is today. This critical investigation reveals the politics and personalities behind its stellar rise.

The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau Photo: blinkist.com

An important factor in the foundation of political and social thought, The Social Contract is Rousseaus most influential piece. Here, he lays out the cornerstones for building a nation-state and governing it. Get this condensed 12-minuteversion only on Blinkist if you subscribeor try it for free.

The Plant-Based Athlete by Matt Frazier Photo: blinkist.com

This 13-minute read debunks the beliefthat your body needs meat, dairyand eggs to reachpeak athletic performance. Through extensive research and a series of interviews with athletes who have shifted to a plant-based diet, itreveals that the latter actually results in better performance, faster recovery timeand overall better health and well-being. Learn more about this book throughBlinkist.

The Secret World of Weather by Tristan Gooley Photo: blinkist.com

Stop relying ondaily and weekly weather forecasts and tune in to natureto read the clues to understand what its trying to tellyou. Understand the language of your local climate and predict the weather based on cloud patterns, wind direction, plants and every other environmental factor through The Secret Worldof Weatheron Blinkist.

Blinkist offers over 4,500 nonfiction short reads. Photo: blinkist.com

Blinkist offers over 4,500 nonfiction titles condensed into 15-minute reads or less. Have the option to read it on your electronic device or listen to it as an audiobook. Blinkist offers key insights into nonfiction reads so your learning experience never stops even if you're busy. Subscribe here for$14.99/month or $89.99/year. You may alsoavail of the free 7-daytrial, here.

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14 Best Books To Read Ever On National Read A Book Day 2021 - International Business Times

When the first passenger train to Wichita arrived the night of Thursday, May 16, 1872, it seemed the entire town had waited up to meet it. Rolling up to the wooden depot on Douglas, the steam train and its 44 occupants were met by a cowboy brass band.

Jubilation is not a strong enough word to describe the mood in the city.

Regular through trains reached our depot yesterday, wrote Marshall Murdock, the usually sober frontier editor, in the next days paper. The bosom of our valley heaved and sot with ecstatic emotion. All is joy and many, very many, are too full for utterance. We are exhausted, bewildered and can say no more. It is enough.

Such was the relief, as Murdock put it, of being within the bounds of civilization. You could board the train one day in Wichita and be in St. Louis the next, and Chicago the day after. By May 1872, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway had already crossed most of Kansas and was nearing the Colorado border. It had already reached Emporia in 1870 and Newton in 1871. It did not veer south to Wichita, but continued its westward journey, generally following the old Santa Fe Trail, which had been scouted half a century before. It took a spur line, the Wichita and Southwestern Railway Co., to bring passenger service to the city, but that line was soon absorbed by the Santa Fe.

I dont know exactly what old mutton chopped Murdock meant when he said the Ark Valleys bosom was sot drunk with joy, perhaps? But I am reminded of the rich history of passenger rail in Kansas nearly every summer when my wife, Kim, boards the Southwest Chief in the middle of the night at Newton for points west. Shes typically bound for some location La Junta, Colorado, or Albuquerque, New Mexico, or Las Vegas, Nevada (which requires a bus ride) to meet me at the Western Writers of America convention, which drifts about the mountains and the plains. I will go on ahead and road trip with my New York editor, and after a week in which said editor and I alternately pledge our undying friendship and plot to kill one another, rendezvous with Kim a week or so later at whatever station is closest to the convention hotel. She alights from the train, sometimes after a day or more, suffering delays and fools, with her eyes like saucers and craving coffee and roadhouse food.

Such were the spirits too, perhaps, of the first passengers that alighted that giddy night in 1872. The depot was near the location of what is now the railway viaduct over Douglas. In 1914, Union Station which would serve three major railways, the Santa Fe, the Frisco and the Rock Island would be built on an impressive elevated platform overlooking downtown. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers would leave for World War I and World War II from this platform, and one can only imagine the tearful, and sometimes final, farewells.

In 1971, as passenger rail service declined nationally in favor of air travel, the federal government stepped in by founding Amtrak, a quasi-public corporation to operate passenger rail routes. Amtrak served more than 30 million passengers annually before the pandemic, and about half that currently. It depends on a combination of state and federal subsidies. In comparison, U.S. airlines carry about 2.9 million passengers every month.

Amtrak typically incurs heavy losses on its long-distance lines, such as the Southwest Chief, and received $1.8 billion in federal subsidies in the last fiscal year. Past cost-cutting measures typically have been reflected in reduced service or routes, and Amtrak service to Wichita ended early in the national passenger rail experiment.

The last Amtrak train left Union Station in Wichita on Oct. 6, 1979, bringing an end to passenger rail service that had begun in 1872. There are still great hulking steam and diesel locomotives on the elevated platform above Douglas, poised as if to pull into the station, but theyre mostly displays of the Great Plains Transportation Museum. Freight trains still rattle over the tracks on the west side of the viaduct, however. The Union Station building remains, but has been repurposed as commercial office space.

As with most things in our pandemic world, answers to our most pressing problems may be found in the past. From masks to social distancing, we have returned to what works best. For mass transportation as most modern nations know rail works exceedingly well. But the most important reason for Americans to again embrace passenger rail is that its better for the environment. With the world at a code red point for climate change, according to a recent United Nations report, we should be employing every strategy available to reduce our carbon emissions. Rail travel produces 84% fewer carbon emissions than driving and up to 73% fewer emissions than flying, according to Amtrak. The rail service may be using the best possible scenario here, but other sources generally agree, with a 2020 report showing, per passenger, rail has fewer CO2 emissions for trips less than 700 miles.

The problem with Amtrak in Kansas is there are only six places to board, limited to the same route the Santa Fe forged across the state in 1870-72. Thats great if you live in one of the towns with an Amtrak station and want to go to Kansas City, Missouri, or Lamar, Colorado. Its not so good if you dont live where the Southwest Chief stops or if youd rather go, say, to Oklahoma City. The stations in Kansas are Topeka, Lawrence, Newton, Hutchinson, Dodge City, and Garden City.

Although the Southwest Chief passes through Emporia, it hasnt stopped since 1997, when service was eliminated because the existing bus shelter style stop was insufficient. The old train depot, built in the 1880s, later burned down, and the city was uninterested in building something new. In 2017, there was community interest in bringing Amtrak back, but the cost seemed prohibitive to city officials, according to the Emporia Gazette.

Bashing Amtrak for a failure to turn a profit is a kind of sport among conservatives, and the service is often held up as an example of government inefficiency. Yet, the fact that we continue to have a national rail passenger service at all is an accomplishment, and a vital part of our infrastructure that should not just be maintained, but expanded.

The thing the Ayn Randos dont get is that not every damned thing is transactional. There are some things, like education and safety and national passenger rail service, that contribute to the public good and which must not be treated as businesses. We have seen, over and over, how privatization poisons everything, from prisons to the DMV. Atlas Shrugged, Rands 1957 manifesto disguised as a novel (with passenger rail!), is not just wrong, but morally corrupt. Its the stuff of dreaming oligarchs. It should be abundantly clear at this inflection point in history as it was in the Great Depression that it takes a strong central government (and yes, federal money) to meet the challenges of a hostile world. Only by sustained and coordinated effort, aimed at the public good, and not private profit, can we transcend the plagues upon us.

The bipartisan, $1 trillion infrastructure bill that recently passed the Senate would give Amtrak $66 billion, the most since the services founding. It would also change Amtraks legal mandate, from satisfying a performance level sufficient to justify expending public money to meeting the intercity passenger rail needs of the United States.

Amtraks plans for increased service, thanks to the prospect of the infrastructure bill, may bring passenger rail back to Wichita, via the Heartland Flyer. The Flyer currently connects Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, but a proposal calls for an extension to Wichita and Newton.

Now is the time for communities to create the infrastructure necessary to provide Amtrak stops or stations. Emporia, in particular, should reconsider the long-term benefits of providing a stop for the Southwest Chief. Not only is it the green thing to do, but its the practical thing to do; as home to a state university, a station would be convenient for students and become a point of civic pride.

The deeper we go into the successive waves of the pandemic, and the greater a toll is taken on our institutions, the more important our infrastructure becomes. We have forgotten, as a nation, how much we rely on what the government provides, from schools to rail service. There will always be the myopic who complain the future is unclear, the selfish who are against anything that doesnt enrich themselves, the ignorant who decry the inefficiency of government.

Somehow, we must find our enthusiasm again for real progress.

When passenger rail returns to Wichita, it would be fitting to meet that first Heartland Flyer with a cowboy brass band.

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On the frontier, trains brought progress. They still do. - Kansas Reflector

NH government is back on a right-wing leash

As reported in the Valley News, and as summarized in Forum letters by state Rep. Laurel Stavis (Surreal, vicious measures in NH budget, July 28) and Beth Dingman (A total lack of concern for fellow citizens, July 30), recent retrograde actions by New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and the Republican-dominated Legislature reversing progressive legislation passed by prior Democratic administrations appear to mark the vampire-like return of departed former Gov. Mel Thomson and publisher William Loeb, who kept New Hampshire state government on a tight, right-wing leash for several decades.

As Stavis noted, certain rights and groups are particularly favored by the current administration and legislators, especially Second Amendment zealots, who have been given the right to wave arms in many venues, while the right to free speech and unimpeded inquiry is undermined and women are compelled to undergo needless medical tests. And in addition to promoting a specious vaccine freedom that will land more New Hampshire residents in ICUs, Gov. Sununu rashly ended the vital mask mandate rather prematurely it would seem, now that the full threat of the delta variant is evident.

The cited letter writers omitted mentioning several other recent Scrooge-like actions by the Republicans, such as severely curbing state spending on sewer renewal projects and other useful infrastructure, loading more costs on local taxpayers. Consequently, to offset this, and in the same spirit, I advocate that the investors who are going to receive the rare boon of being compensated by the state treasury (i.e., taxpayers) be obliged to accept state bonds, with the savings used to improve sewers, rather than pour money down them.

JERRY ROTH

Enfield

A new school year is just around the corner, despite the shadow of coronavirus variants rising in our nation. There is another shadow hanging over the dedicated teachers of New Hampshire: The law regarding the propagation of divisive topics.

Really? At a time when public education is challenged economically and by a national pandemic, our teachers are forced to look over their shoulders when conducting their duties to educate our children because our politicians feel compelled to restrict what issues can be taught? Perhaps parents whose tax dollars are being used to support a watered-down education for their children might consider suing the state for its failure to provide a full and complete education for the dollars they are spending.

If we feel it is important for our youth to gain sound, comprehensive knowledge of our history, learn skills of understanding and managing their lives within the society they live and be equipped to compete in the business of the future, then our teachers need to be free to do the best possible job in their chosen profession. Having politicians dictate the depth and length of social issues that can and cannot be taught in our publicly funded educational institutions just will not, in my opinion, pass the litmus test for sound educational practices.

I want our educators in New Hampshire and all states to encourage and promote students to learn and grow beyond their abilities so that they are more suited to deal with the life they will face as adults. When the state says that teachers cannot do their jobs as educators, then we dont get our tax moneys worth, and our children will be participating in a fully dumbed-down educational system.

I hope students leave their education with a full toolbox of knowledge and skills for good and health-filled lives, both physically and mentally. New Hampshires divisive topics law robs our children of that gift in their learning experience.

Act to get your moneys worth for your children.

ROBERT KEENE

Hanover

It may be that the word systemic is losing its power through overuse, but I know no better term when trying to address the whole of this planet. Lets first consider the trivial case of the July 24 dust devil that interrupted a soccer match in Bolivia. Scale that up to the transcontinental smoke blown from the Western wildfires, darkening lungs back East. Were also beset by the coronavirus and its variants. Id let that burn itself out, being a single vector affecting very few species, primarily a deniers disease. Whatve we got to lose?

Regardless, could the commonality be that its just something in the air? Or could it be others who are to blame? If youre a Trumpist, the other could be Rep. Liz Cheney; if a historic separatist, the Church of Englands your foil; for rocks, theres hard places. Our ecologic situations bad enough, but politically it seems each party is more interested in obstructing the progress of the others than the needs of constituents.

A system is a network of nodes. In this model, the nodes are us and them, interwoven by our actions, fortunes, talents, shortcomings, ecosystem and governments, etc. When a change occurs, the signal reverberates across the system, downstream nodes reacting in accordance with their resonance, sometimes setting up feedback loops for the good or detriment of the system.

In the beginning, alls quiet. A cosmic strings plucked, delivering musica universalis. Chemical reactions aggregated into flora and fauna, in step with the law of the jungle. Paradise was then lost by a clever band of self-important naked apes, and the urgent need to act as good stewards now rapidly approaches the point of no return, negative feedback loops ever accelerating the speed and intensity of our ruin. This monkey business must stop!

In a parallel universe, the Union lost the War Between the States. Further, both sides agendas are realized: The Norths fully vaccinated populus has a 100% green economy, Miltons Paradise is recovered. And Atlas? Un-shrugged. One wonders the Alt-Confederacys fate.

KEVIN McEVOY LEVERET

White River Junction

I was surprised that Forum contributors Pam and Steve Skillman were triggered by recent Miss Manners columns, due to the advice being so outdated (Miss Manners advice seems out of touch, July 30). To trigger someone means to remind of past trauma, causing an intense emotional or physical reaction. And shes such a polite person! I remembered reading the column about accepting dinner invitations from single older men, read it again, and realized that these Gentle Readers hadnt understood what Miss Manners was saying at all. Oh dear.

Seeking to clarify this communication failure for myself, I found this quote from Emily Post: But etiquette also expresses something more, something we call the principles of etiquette. Those are consideration, respect, and honesty. These principles are the three qualities that stand behind all the manners we have.

Good to remember! With these principles, our manners are likely to stand the test of time, in all sorts of relationships and situations. Just ask yourself if you are acting with consideration, respect and honesty. Some things never go out of style.

GRETCHEN GRANER

South Strafford

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2014 movie

Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt? is a 2014 American science fiction-drama film based on the philosopher Ayn Rand's 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged. It is the third installment in the Atlas Shrugged film series and the sequel to the 2012 film Atlas Shrugged: Part II, continuing the story where its predecessor left off. The release, originally set for July 4, 2014,[4] occurred on September 12, 2014.[1] The film used a completely different cast and crew than the second film,[5] which itself used a completely different cast from the first film. Directed by J. James Manera, it stars Laura Regan, Kristoffer Polaha, and Joaquim de Almeida.

The owner of the 20th-century Motor Company has died and his children have taken over, with a new plan to operate the company: that everyone work as hard as he can, but that salaries be "based on need". A lab engineer named John Galt objects and announces, "I'll stop the motor of the world."

Twelve years later, the economy of the United States spirals downward. Shortages have grounded airlines and returned the railroads to dominance; over-regulation has led to financial disaster. Galt seems to be behind the disappearances of corporate executives and other experts. The latest disappearance is that of Dagny Taggart, the executive officer of the largest railroad company, Taggart Transcontinental. She had chased Galt in a private plane and crashed hers.

Dagny has reached Galt's Gulch, and Galt himself rescues her from the crashed plane. She meets several "disappeared" achievers, such as banker Midas Mulligan, who say they quit after coming to believe that government was enslaving them. On the outside, the government develops a classified new weapon called "Project F" and nationalizes the railroads, including Taggart Transcontinental.

The public grows increasingly frustrated with the central planning, comes to view Galt as the solution, and holds rallies calling for him to reform the government. Thompson, the Head of State,[6] offers Galt a job in the government, but Galt rebuffs the offer. Later, the government tortures Galt using the power of "Project F". However, others from the Gulch arrive to free him and they escape back to their refuge as the power grid around New York City begins to collapse.

In an interview with Bill Frezza of Forbes, the producer John Aglialoro mentioned that the film would include a short dialogue between the heroine Dagny Taggart and a priest, a character which he said Rand struggled with and ultimately cut out of the original book.[8] This scene did not appear in the final cut.

A month prior to the release of Part I, Aglialoro suggested that Part III might be made into a musical.[9] In 2013 he promised to create "something closer to the book," and predicted that critics would pan the film.[10] In a YouTube promotional piece where organizers discussed the film, he asserted that it was vital for the team to have a director who is professional, collaborative, and knows Rand's work: "I don't care if I've got to fire five directors that's fine. We're going to get it right."[11]

The film was directed by J. James Manera, whose experience included directing a documentary in 2010 and a 1996 episode of the television show Nash Bridges.[12] The cinematographer was Gale Tattersall.

David Kelley, founder of The Atlas Society and an expert on the philosophical themes of Atlas Shrugged, consulted on the script, as he did for Parts I and II.[13]

As with the second part, a new set of actors was cast to play the major characters.[14] Former Congressman and Presidential candidate Ron Paul, and network commentators Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, played themselves giving responses to John Galt's speech.[15]

The trade press reported that filming began in January 2014,[1] after the film posted on Facebook that its target start date was Autumn 2013.[16] The budget was partially funded by a Kickstarter campaign that raised $446,907 against a goal of $250,000.[17]

On July 9, 2014, a sneak preview was shown at the Anthem Film Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada.[18]

The film opened on September 12, 2014 on 242 screens and grossed $461,179 during its opening weekend.[19] Total gross was $851,690 against a budget of $5,000,000.[3]

The film was universally panned, holding a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 10 reviews for an average rating of 1.4/10.[20] On Metacritic, the film has a 9/100 rating based on 7 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".[21] Alan Scherstuhl of The Village Voice wrote: "Rand's parable is meant to showcase just how much our world needs the best of us, but this adaptation only does so accidentally by revealing what movies would be like if none of the best of us worked on them."[22]

Writing for The Austin Chronicle, Louis Black said "In 1949, when Warner Bros. filmed The Fountainhead, Rand threatened to burn down the studio if they compromised her novel. I'd like to think that if she were alive she'd be looking for lighter fluid for this one."[5]

Atlas Shrugged: Part III was nominated for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel at the 35th Golden Raspberry Awards.[23]

Continued here:

Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt? - Wikipedia

It's the curiosity more than anything. I've already seen the first two "Atlas Shrugged" movies; can't really leave the trilogy unfinished, right? This is what drove me to finish an unsatisfactory series of movies. And the final entry finishes things off in the worst possible fashion.

I'm not even concerned with Ayn Rand's philosophy, only with Part III's complete mishandling of it. This is a cartoon with robotic performances, non-existent production values and haphazard direction. The dialogue's stilted, none of these TV actors have any breathing room, and the story rolls out in a hurried low-standards manner. It's so cheap and so cut-rate that any message (even one delivered with a smug sledgehammer) is smothered in the execution. At a certain point, it just becomes unintentionally funny. Just not funny enough to be entertaining.

Is this at all like the book? I have no idea, but once was more than enough with this movie. What a sad end.

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Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt? (2014) - IMDb