March 6, 2022 · 22:11

The bad track

I am optionally on the wrong track, yet it is not an accident, it is an intentional choice I make. You see, we see too many ‘populist’ settings going on and I am starting to wonder if we are on the wrong track. Now, most of us are clear. The war in the Ukraine is wrong, Russia started this and there needs to be repercussions. Some have taken to confiscate whatever they could that is owned by Russian Oligarchs (weirdly enough I see almost no residence confiscations in London). Yachts and all other possessions are available. I have mixed feelings. Those with clear support to the Russian government and what is happening now is clear. The rest makes me wonder and for some reason the AP article ‘Fleeing sanctions, oligarchs seek safe ports for superyachts’ (at https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-vladimir-putin-boris-johnson-europe-united-states-10a82777a3b4a6ccafc38c223b659a03) something woke up. It was the quote ““We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets,” President Joe Biden said during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, addressing the oligarchs. “We are coming for your ill-begotten gains.”” So, please explain to me (with evidence) those ‘ill-begotten gains’? It is a serious question. In this specific case we see Alisher Usmanov a metals magnate and early investor in Facebook. So how much did Facebook make him? Is that ill-begotten? There are two trains of thoughts. The first is that we see a new McCarthy mindset starting, which is their choice, but let’s be honest about it. The second track is that the US is so bankrupt that it is now in a stage to confiscate whatever it can to survive. I am not siding with Alisher Usmanov. And if he has done wrong, fine. But in that case this article was a piss poor job and then some. He was also one of the initial people connected to Mail.ru, so he seems to be a smart cookie who got involved with IT projects when it had the greatest impact, nothing ill begotten, merely good timing. Now, this does not mean that I am right, or that they are wrong. There is too much that I do not know. But this comes across as a legalised form of ‘Tax the rich’ which is now transformed into ‘confiscate whatever the rich has’ a democrat party BS approach. So what will happen when it is suddenly the wealth of Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, Sergei Brin, Larry  Page, Tim. Cook and Jeff Bezos dealing with the bills the American government cannot deal with because they refused to clean house for over two decades? 

The AP does give us at the end “But actually seizing the behemoth boats could prove challenging. Russian billionaires have had decades to shield their money and assets in the West from governments that might try to tax or seize them”, which is fair enough. I am still in the mindset that SOME oligarchs should pay, not sure if all should, but I do admit I really do not know any of them and the media cannot be trusted, they are all on the populist track. OK, not all, but way to many of them are. We can consider that Roman Abramovich was either good or bad, I do not know. Too be honest, I never cared for football (read: soccer) so I am a little out of touch there. But as far as I can tell, everything Roman Abramovich did was to ensure the stage of Chelsea and it’s continuation. We can boast that giving the sale of Chelsea to Ukraine is a political push (the man is a politician after all) and a few other sides as well, and there perhaps his deception worked. Because I personally believe that the man is a soccer nut trying to preserve Chelsea. Does that make him evil? I personally do not think so. I also understand that some policies will hurt the good and the bad, but there is an increased feeling that the US is doing it for other reasons and as the media have no given us a really good stage of where all these funds go, we should wonder what is going on. 

I am not stating that what is done is wrong, but I am wondering why certain things were done and WHERE these funds are going to. Is that wrong? So I might be on the wrong track, but it is mainly because no one is properly illuminating the right track and the media are all about ‘the quote’ but are less about the clear explanation. I merely looked at two people, the US has a list of 96 oligarchs. I reckon there are clearly a few super pro-Putin people there, and we get it, it will rain on the good and the bad alike, but it seems that the media has a lot to make up for, especially when it comes to properly informing us, because that lack set me on the track I am on now.

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March 6, 2022 · 12:15

More to a script

In the previous article ‘Lights, Camera, Action!’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/03/05/lights-camera-action/) I discussed a new movie idea, and now I want to add to this. You see, a concept starts nice, but we need to follow it through, drive the dagger home as it is called at times. So in the image below I added a few tracks to the movie story.

Fictive example

As you see in the charts, it is a straight line, and it needs to be. No matter how the movie is made, these tracks tend to have a ‘clear’ path. So we have two tracks added to the real path, now if we merely go through the steps, it becomes a dull exercise and one that relies on all kinds of action sequences. But what happens when we consider the green dots? These are the dots that overlap other tracks and other options, perhaps the two interact, but I try to avoid that, as I feel it becomes rather messy at that point, but I did make references in the first article. I mentioned the Youm7 News Agency, the Mobica store, and they are relatively together. All options to make the change interesting and set the starting point in a different way. As for the export license, it has been done before to implement weapons in cars, but who took the time to see how you fit an M60  (taken apart) in the spare-parts of cars the firing pins UNDER the tools of a trolley chest tool chest? There are all options and there are more and when we interact one with the other we see opportunities arise. So doe the enemy (the opposition of the movie). What if we are aware and we ignore their part and let the work FOR us? Leave them holding the bag so to speak, all whilst the RFID sticker on the potted plants now holds 512GB and the plant is the export tally for the stolen data? (see below) 

200% of real size

The sticker obfuscates view and whilst some inspect the content, the sticker with an RFID stamp is overlooked. 

There are so many more options and that is where the movie would optionally be a new unique setting, bad boys working for governments. It is not unique, but for the longest time we have not seen that kind of movie. Do not get me wrong, I loved True Lies, I love the MI series and many more, but the stage where the hero is not clean and white is ignored, it seems that Hollywood needs pure polarisation in characters, whilst the story should provide that. That is merely my view on the matter. And I did get a few more stages done. And when you think of the Russian war, consider that my articles have a nice bonus hidden, I will let you figure that one out. I need a sandwich!

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March 6, 2022 · 03:13

The intelligence nightmare

Yes, that is how I see it. You think that you have seen it all? It is about to get worse and the BBC actually is showing us the start of it. With ‘Thousands of pro-Russia Serbs march in Belgrade’ we are merely scratching the surface. The article (at https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-60630351) does not give much, but it gives us “Friday’s march was a show of support for Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine. Serbia has religious, ethnic and political ties with Russia that have existed for centuries” You see it is a lot worse, Serbian arms dealers are all over Europe. Paces like Rotterdam, London and Paris come to mind, but there are more and now as we see all the pro Russian events starting, we see a stage where Serbs could destabilise most of western Europe. They can fuel lone wolves tying hands all over the place and they sit back and watch the chaos unfold. A setting Moscow really likes. So how speculative is this? Well the issues with arm dealers in these three places alone are worrisome and they have been for the longest of times seeing a lot more visibility in 2020. Now with this BBC article it is still speculative to connect the two, but I am not sure that it is merely speculation. There have been issues for the longest of times and it is merely brought to the surface and a more visible pedestal now. 

The problem is that a lot was not monitored for the longest of time and now the intelligence organisations are lacking information on too many sides. Some sources (unconfirmed ones) give rise to activities in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Luxembourg, USA, Norway, Montenegro and Austria. Do you really think it is all speculation? They have been busy under nearly everyones noses for over a decade and now that Russia is pushing the buttons, some are claiming allegiance, some are waking up and some are set to set Western Europe on fire. Which is which? I cannot tell, but there are connections on all kinds of levels. Did no one consider why Russian weaponry was relatively easy to get in Amsterdam and Rotterdam? In 2020 the Times gave us “While Serbia had a glut of Cold War-era stockpiles and a robust but underused defence industry, the Iraqi government was ill-equipped to battle an insurgency. So in late 2007 the two countries struck a £190 million deal to bring Serbian assault rifles, machine guns, anti-tank weapons, ammunition, explosives and other ordnance to Iraq”, I personally believe that these pipelines were there to also get Russian weapons into Iraq, and not merely the ones they have, to a larger degree the Russians provided hardware and that sets a new station, the station of storage. The Netherlands has been (for the longest time), a transitional port of arms, but there is also the speculation (never proven) that at times a container was ‘misplaced’ and ended on Dutch soil, a container filled with arms. So, how much of this is speculation? There is a fair amount of it, but I worked in the harbours of Rotterdam, when I was young and gullible, so anything is possible. Yet in this day and age, when serbs are ‘proclaiming loyalty’ do you want to take that chance? I will let you figure it out.

And whilst you do the Intelligence organisations of Europe will have to take a harsh look at what they have on the Serbs in their domain, because they really do not get to have a choice in that matter, not anymore.

And me? I have found a few more cogs to add to the previous story, I like to remain creative.

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March 5, 2022 · 15:22

Lights, Camera, Action!

Well, this Saturday is getting weird in a number of ways. In the first the Dutch politician Geert Wilders is making a fuss, which works out well for me. You see the more waves that person makes, the easier my initial movie idea can be sold. Especially in the Middle East. You see he is the main event in ‘How to assassinate a politician’. I came up with the setting around the same time Charlie Hedbo got killed. I was all up about that and it was THEN that I learned that it is blasphemy to have an image of the prophet Mohammad. I reckon that a lot of people never knew that and as such the actions of Geert Wilders and his drawing event suddenly makes sense. So I designed a movie that takes care of people like him. And as I was contemplating that I came up with a new kind of secret agent movie. With in the lead the rapper 50 Cents (in Russia he is known as 4,000,000 ruble) and Tom Cruise. 

The setting is a weird one. You see 50 cents has the lead and in the movie he is not the ‘good saint’. He plays a rapper who is also a dealer of chemical delights. Coke, H, MDMA. He has it all and in that setting he travels the world. In this case a concert in Egypt. It is in the day before the concert we start seeing his other side. He is a high tech thief and data robber for the US government. In this case it is his job to get the data from a server in the Chinese Embassy in Cairo. Tom Cruise is his backup and also plays his manager, he is also not snowy white, he dabbles in black market military hardware but the combination makes them welcome in all kinds of places. So we get the story that has three circles, the drug circle, the weapons circle and the two are played so that they get access to the Chinese Embassy, where they will unload a few TB of data. 

You see, a movie like this has not been made before. The hero’s are always squeaky clean, the opposition is always so dark that black seems like a snowflake white, yet the grey mix is not usually see. Life in this world is expensive and you need an alternative income to pay for the bills at The Smokery Heliopolis and the Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at Nile Plaza. The US government allows for it because as data thieves they are unsurpassed and as they have no affiliation the government (CIA) has deniability. 

The nice part is that the VFS China visa center is in actuality right next to Youm7 News Agency, so there are all kinds of options opening up.

There are still a few (read several) issues to deal with. I want to avoid that it is all action and shooting. There should be a chase (optionally from Mobica) but they need to remain ‘invisible’ to the outside world. It is about the suspense of the data theft and that would also allow for a twist or two (doesn’t it always?) And the funny part is that this all took me less than an hour. I know more needs to be done, but it seems that I have put more ideas and scripts online in my blog than most writers for Netflix have ever cleared, so I feel pretty good now. I reckon I earned my bowl of orange jello (with whipped cream). 

And for tonight? Cheese baguettes with Irish stew. Perhaps another idea, depends whether my brain will allow me to get some sleep and recharge the figments of delusional imagination.

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March 5, 2022 · 05:46

Where are we heading?

That is the stage we comment on and most comment on events in Europe, most would and that is not bad. But something happened in Lebanon that got my attention (something is always happening there). You see, many might have noticed ‘UAE set to be put on money laundering watchdog’s ‘grey list,’ report says’ (source: CNBC), we are given quotes like “The Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to combatting money laundering and illicit cash flows, is set to put the United Arab Emirates on its “grey list” over concerns that the Gulf country isn’t sufficiently stemming illegal financial activities”, now I am not debating it, it might be true, it might not. I cannot lay claims to events I have no data on. But whilst we see that, Reuters also gives us (at https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/lebanese-bank-closes-over-30-british-held-accounts-after-uk-ruling-depositors-2022-03-04/) ‘Lebanese bank closes over 30 British-held accounts after UK ruling-depositors’ group’. There we see “A Bank Audi official told Reuters the bank was “asking that the UK residents apply the terms applicable to anyone opening a new account: no international transfers, no cash withdrawals””, so just to help me out. You create a bank account and you are not allowed to withdraw cash? How does that make the bank a bank? And we also get “More than $100 billion remains stuck in a banking system paralysed since 2019, when the economy collapsed due to decades of unsustainable state spending, corruption and waste”, as such my question becomes what on earth is the Financial Action Task Force doing monitoring banks? First Credit Suisse, through state sponsored hacking and now we see Bank Audi. Two elements showing a massive cash stage running into the hundreds of billions. So what the hell is the Financial Action Task Force doing? Why are they not investigating banks? We see the mention of Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the mention of nations, not banks. Banks are seemingly flying below the radar and we see an alleged flaccid response from action groups. Oh and it would be nice to see specifics. Not some journo’s BS approach towards emotional garbage. I discussed this in ‘The presumption is mine’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/02/21/the-presumption-is-mine/) where I wrote “so all that space on what amounts to 0.03% of the entire amount. Just like the ICIJ, shortsighted and a waste of time. So we get repeated invitations to explain 0.03% of what is such a massive leak? Is anyone waking up yet?”, now if the FATF did its job and also gives us why the UAE needs to be on a grey list and NOT the bank it becomes a different story, optionally an acceptable one. That same setting applies to Switzerland, home to 242 banks and Credit Suisse. Oh, and before I forget the data leak never explained (it never will) why such harsh methods needs to be applied to the other 242 banks. No one ever asked that question, not other authorities, not the wannabe journalists either. Is that not weird too?

We need to see where we are going and what games certain parties are playing. I saw the Credit Suisse for nothing but a simple fishing expedition. A chumming exercise by the NSA (most likely culprit) to get some of the fish out there. And no one saw that? I am clever, but I am not that clever (compared to self proclaimed clever people), which (as I personally see it) implies orchestration. 

Am I right, am I wrong? I also ask that question from myself. The Switzerland setting alerted me to weirdness of it all, the UAE draws the setting to the surface. The UAE and its 20 local and 30 foreign banks. Yes that is also the case, so the FATF better come with a very good and very large folder with evidence on a whole range of banks. And before you think the UAE does nothing, we saw a week ago “The government confiscated assets worth $625m last year.” As such I hope that the FATF can prove its setting of “concerns that the Gulf country isn’t sufficiently stemming illegal financial activities” it seems that the UAE has proven activities, so is the FATF merely blowing its own horn? Perhaps it needs to look into the Audi bank and a few other banks too and several of them are not in Switzerland or the UAE. When we see quotes like “About $227.8 million money laundering in USA in 2020 according to our calculation that based 2020 Money Laundering Offense Report”, so how much did the US confiscate? Just asking.

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March 4, 2022 · 18:50

Time to press subtotal

Yes, that is what one article brought out in me. The need for a tally, the need to check what the subtotal is about at present. The article that did this was (at https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-crown-prince-plays-oil-card-quest-us-recognition-2022-03-03/) ‘Saudi crown prince plays the oil card in quest for U.S. recognition’. We might think that this is a simple list, but it is not. There is a much larger play in motion and it is time to call out the jesters of the game, when we play bridge they are not allowed to play anyway.

  1. ‘U.S. wants action from suppliers to tame oil prices’. My first response would be, how can you be this fucking stupid? Prices come from demand, or at least that is one side of it. Others do not need to open the valve because you need more. You have had DECADES to do something and you did nothing, now that your credit card is about to be cancelled, you can throw a tantrum, but you YOU did this to yourself. Perhaps you remember the COP26, the call to do something about fossil fuels. At present “United States deforestation has caused the destruction of virgin forests by 75% percent since 1600”, so how much forests were grown or started to grow since COP26? How much stoppage was achieved to fossil fuels? We know it takes time, but it is not up to the US to set pricing, you do not set pricing of something you are a mere consumer of. We all have these issues and yet, you let pharmaceuticals set the price, you set consumerism to price X plus Y% annual whilst it should be cheaper over time. All settings for consumerism all whilst you want cheap oil? That does not add up.
  2. ‘OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia has spare oil capacity’, yes that is true, but is there a law where they HAVE to increase production? You seem to forget that fossil fuels are finite, when it is gone, it s gone forever and consumption is going through the roof since 1950. 
  3. ‘Saudi wants more U.S. support in Yemen war’ yes that is the interesting part is it not? The west remains driven to not report on Iranian actions and that is now starting to hurt. Saudi Arabia has the oil card and that is now cause for exchange for services. The US will have to pay one way or another way. Perhaps the US needs a reminder from November 2021. ‘U.S. senators move to block $650 mln arms sale to Saudi Arabia’ which was their right, but when you sit at the fuel pump paying $3.5 per gallon more, be sure to thank the senators Rand Paul, Bernie Sanders and Mike Lee for the extra price. Also the US treasure cannot tax on revenue missed, so that $650,000,000 had more than one side. In addition, the overall slashing of $3,900,000,000 (and more) could come at a much higher price. So the National People’s Congress, as such the tenants of Renda Huitang West Road gracefully thank the United States for handing them this forthcoming revenue.

We can call it anyway we would like, but we are dependent of a substance only few have and for decades many voices have been screaming to lessen the dependability on fossil fuel. Inactions and overspending has now set the stage that we see here. And it is “ended U.S. support for offensive operations in Riyadh’s costly war against Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen” where we see the larger folly. We are given “Iran-aligned Houthis” all whilst Iran has had a much larger active role for 3-5 years. Perhaps the Abqaiq–Khurais attack of 14 September 2019, the basic stage of Houthis being unable to attack Aramco that precise needs to be revisited. In addition the failures we saw in 2 subsequent years could be seen as evidence that Houthi forces could not have completed that attack. 

There is a lot set in this stage and the US is now seeing the impact of choices made. And even as the media keeps on pushing on “implicating Prince Mohammed in the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi”, a report that I read and it refers to ‘highly likely’ which does not constitute evidence, in addition to this the acts of the Iranian puppet (Turkey) gives us more questions and in three years I have seen over a dozen media step over the one forensic fact that the report hides by not reporting on it. No one has tested the FULL tape forensically to test whether the voice was indeed Jamal Khashoggi. There was never a proper test. Not by the CIA, not by the NSA and not by the United Nations. You thought I overlooked that, but I did not and a such I have known all these years that the report was a farce, it was a work of fiction by drowning it in loosely related facts. Just like that book ‘Blood and Oil’, and now that the other side comes up, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sees no reason to offer a helping hand. Now I can understand “Biden has refused to speak to Prince Mohammed directly, saying 86-year-old King Salman is his counterpart” technically this is true, but it also shows that the Biden Administration has not made one step towards the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as such, why should that very same kingdom make a step towards a nation that has nothing left to spend? Because that is what Americans always stated in boardrooms all over the world “Money talks, bullshit walks”, as such the US now sees the ‘keep on walking’ signs in more and more places and after too many pushed stages they see that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is telling them the same, the people need cheap oil and none is coming. Well President Biden could always ask President Putin for a helping hand, but I do not think that this will happen. So as the United States can supply itself the 79% of oil needed. It has two options, make sure that the American economy lowers usage by one fifth, or find another solution (like pay more) for oil. The other options were tailored to be non options by (what I personally see) as short sighted and stupid ways to ‘create’ option after option and now that that list is empty the US is in a bad place, it played itself right there.

In this I really like the analyses that James Dorsey, senior fellow at National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute gives us “Saudi Arabia … has sought not to be seen acting against Russian interests. In doing so, the kingdom could kill two birds with one stone: keep the door open to Moscow and give President Joe Biden some payback for his refusal to engage with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,” yes, that sounds about right, but it is more than that. It is my personal view that more is needed for Neom 2030 and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not want to be dependent on one additional player, US tactics made that clear. I reckon that Saudi Arabia wants a larger commitment by China to get involved. Huawei gave them a true 5G network, but it will not be enough for Neom, there are a few sides that are needed and China could offer it, lowering US investment and options even more and I reckon that Chinese congress is willing for two reasons. In the first income is good, in the second it puts UN options in the Middle East over a barrel, a new setting that the US is not ready for. By the way that is not necessarily an oil barrel, a barrel of sand (or grain) will do just as nicely. You see, some still believe in the stage of President George W. Bush’s post 9/11 maxim: “You’re either with us or against us.” It was a fair setting then, with a debt of $30,000,000,000,000 that setting is fading, more quickly as the US decided to play a few games that did not sit well with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, or as some might say “You made your bed, now lie in it and try to get sleep”, a setting the US is not ready for. Yet in the overall play and with the Ukrainian tensions we see the sounds from Syria and Yemen come wondering why they NEVER got those considerations and that sets the statement “You’re either with us or against us” on a shifty foundation, so it is not strange that more and more people will call for that bluff only for them to learn that the US has very little options to move left.

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March 4, 2022 · 07:47

Call of the brain

Weird, I am not done with one idea and another one pops to mind. I started this in the article ‘The setting of what might be’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/02/27/the-setting-of-what-might-be/) which I wrote on the 27th of February 2022. I had an idea for a torpedo that incapacitates submarines. Yet for some reason the stage of the why eluded me. So in comes a simple marine biologist, a simple devoted husband who gets into the middle of a crossfire with his wife and you guessed it, the lady does not make it and she was pregnant too (for dramatic moments). So out goes the timid loveable husband and future father and in comes Mr Hyde, a man with no sense of normal. As the officials (one side of the equation) are in all kinds of denials and the need to classify so that they can continue being dicks is thrown at him, he man loses it completely and decides to get even. It is later (not stated why) and we see the peaceful village of Saint-Jérôme in Quebec Canada. We see the same man and he has grown a beard. He seems driven and weirdly enough he has stacks of pucks and as we see him working on a torpedo we see he has something planned, but not what is planned. We see more moments of him, practicing shooting (with a silencer), knives and a blackjack. An older man (his father) is training him, day after day whilst he spends several evening hours each day tinkering on his torpedo. 

We then get a moment shot in some hospital, one of the people in the shootout is there. Guarded by what seems to be federal officers. It is clear the man is not happy, he is not a guest. Then on one side of the hospital our ‘hero’ comes back into play. Now with a goatee, his hair coloured grey walking careful with a cane. He walks into the elevator and his demure changes to active. He takes the elevator to the third floor, walks through the corridors to the part he needs to be. He is one floor too high and that was planned for. He leaves a plastic bag and takes the stairs down and carefully scans for what he needs to see, then he sees what he was waiting for. A team is getting on the elevator. He keeps his distance and sees that only the agents, five of them go on board. He takes out one of the pucks presses hard in the centre and rolls the puck into the elevator just as the doors close. He walks away, there is no seemingly no sound. He then goes to the room where the man is, there are two agents, he quickly shoots them and walks in. He looks upon the man who is clearly scared aims and pulls the trigger, the man is dead and he goes back exactly the way he came in, picks up the plastic bag and goes to the other end now revealing the flowers he is carrying. He stops short to get into a bathroom and washes out the grey, he is almost his self again.

This is merely the start, you see we need to get to the story, but how to go about it? There is a need to get the action in the beginning and the crossfire is that, yet from there we need a different stage, a memento stage if I was to give it a name. It is a similar stage that the movie Anna uses and it makes sense to do so. It is not to ‘reveal’ the twist, it is because if the movie plays chronological the sizzle falls flat, a soufflé without the captured air and the air would be part of the story. So how to continue. You see, the ‘simple’ solution is to set the story to some ‘corrupt’ official, but I think it is too easy and it has been done too often. There could be connected issues with industrials (the expected way), yet the larger stage is not any of them. Sometimes shit happens, it is merely that simple. They were merely ‘in the way’ and to set that stage we can use it as an explanation, or we can see it as a twist. That part I am still working on, but I got most of this in less than 12 hours. I wonder if I can get that same range of $130,000-$600,000. We can all dream and so can I. Anyway, with all the shit in the world, I thought I remain creative for a little while. We can always write the gunk of spunk that goes to the junk after all the hostilities are gone. In that setting (just sidestepping it all), has anyone figured out why EA removed all the Russian teams from FIFA? I reckon it is to save their loot-boxes and microtransactions. I reckon that America is pushing towards a new McCarthy era and in that stage an American paying money to get a Denis Cheryshev card will get rather upset. I reckon EA is scared their cash cow needs an overhaul. It is merely speculation, but I might be on the money there. What do you think?

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March 4, 2022 · 04:43

Recap plus

I thought it was time for something of a recap. More thoughts invaded me in the last 6 hours and I had to recollect a few things. The stories are spread over these articles, and I am forgetting two of them, but that is for another day. For now the story is stacked here, yet I think two parts are missing, so feel free to search the 2250 articles I have written here. 

‘Netflix Prime’ yesterday (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/03/03/netflix-prime/)
‘When figments take over’ on December 31st 2021 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/12/31/when-figments-take-over/)
‘After a fact to begin a fact’ on December 16th 2021 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/12/16/after-a-fact-to-begin-a-fact/)
‘When one is no longer valid’ on August 16th 2021 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/08/16/when-one-is-no-longer-valid/)
‘When death and Chicken taste alike’ on August 14th 2021 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/08/14/when-death-and-chicken-taste-alike/)
‘Death as a resource’ on August 13th 2021 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/08/13/death-as-a-resource/)

The story needs a beginning, all stories need a beginning, but where is the beginning of THAT story? It is not always clear and the storyteller is not the best source. The storyteller is the person who creates flow, creates streams and creates waves. It requires someone behind everything, behind what had happened from before it started to after it finishes. That has always been the case and Eternity is not that point, eternity merely consumes, it always consumes. When the world was young, really, really young. Mot and his brothers and sisters were adults, not old adults, yet they were old enough to set the stage, to set the story and mot was clever, he always thought long term. And as the new supreme lives were added to this world Mot set a stage of fealty, but only from those like him and iMot set it to one soul per 600. In a stage that was seemingly laughable the connections were made. It was the age of sexagesimalism, the promise was set and they all kept their promise, like a toddler makes a promise to a parent and that toddler knows that breaking a promise has dire consequences. 

So as we distance the promise of death
we seek to avoid to become the food of wealth
So as we prefer not to become beheld
And through that his hunger quelled

A telling ages old and never stopped being true, but in the stage we enter, the setting of life, we start a new adventure, not an adventure of life, but one of ending it and there we become the larger players, life is not a stage, it is a weapon and it is in that stage where life becomes more, just as life can be sweet, sour or bitter, life has the ability to stage something more, almost like it was designed to be there, it was the need of balance. For balance sets the stage and counter stage alike, so as life and death are opposites, they do have something in common. They rely on the same energy to propel ones self. So here we have a new cog in the story that remains evolving for now and it gives me the option, the idea to set two additional cogs, one of deception and one of control. Control is seen and watched from a distance, because the controlling player tends to have tunnel vision through focus. And as we see and witness that focus we see the opportunity and that is where the new cogs come from. And I have brooding to do, because I figured out the mortal stage, the immortal stage and now we need to find a way to create a seesaw that allows for balance, but what if the seesaw could rotate as well? You do not see those seesaws a lot, but they are out there and that is when we consider the cogs to be in balance and not rotting, but at the mercy of another force. It cannot be eternity, eternity needs an opposing force. Yet as we are (mortals) we could never comprehend either one or the other. Well, perhaps Chuck Norris can, he counted to infinity twice or so I’m told. And as we feed the machine, as we feed it the cogs that make the machine work I better work on a writers name. Simon Square  perhaps? (Le Carre was taken)

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March 3, 2022 · 15:40

From pot to bowl

The old lady was sitting next to her cart. It was not yet time to make the changes. She had done this for so long, that it was well beyond anyone’s consideration of a career. She started with the heating of the water, when the water war beyond warm, the meats were added and the water was left alone for hours. After that the chopped vegetables were added, carrots, White Radish, cabbage, and egg plant. The last stage was adding the herbs, spices and Soybean Sprouts and her own mix of specialities in a paste, only the old lady knew what was in there. Yet now one more element was added, she was clearly told, no more than 5 drops for one pot. And she adhered to that. She knew what was at stake and she knew the extra time was essential to finding the reincarnation of her husband, it was so important to relay the message she had held onto for a lifetime. It was important, perhaps the most important thing she had ever done, as such she made the soup and she handed a bowl to all who passed, even if they forgot, she never could and the spirit she sought could never remain hidden in front of her. And as the years passed she never wavered in her convictions and now it seemed that the new soup would give her more time, for as it is with one, it is with all, we all have a date the pass on and that time for Lady Jiang was slowly approaching and she still needed time to find the man who she had a message for. 

And as the pot was ready she saw the faces of the people, she saw the good, the bad and the undetermined, she saw the fading of souls and she kindle nodded to the fading ones and offered them a free bowl of soup. Most accepted, some did not and she always courteously bowed as she had done for decades. Those who got the bowl nodded kindly and sipped the soup. In this stage she handed at least a 100 cups a day. The people never wondered, it was really nice soup, it was free and some would come back, but the next day she would be somewhere else. 

There was a man, he was sitting at the Sacred Grinds Coffee House enjoying an espresso. He liked sitting here, even as it was not his favourite place, but the coffee was good. He liked being close to the St. Patrick Cemetery. The area had significance for him, over time things changed, yet he always saw what was behind the change, the more things changed, the more they all stayed the same and here, he was truly a ruler of the graveyards and ruler of those who were about to pass and those who had passed. It was his sight that allowed him to see what was coming, even if the people were unaware. It was more than patterns. When sight and smell united there was a whole range of visible elements that people could still not comprehend, perhaps they never would. Yet here he was, one of the loa, looking at the mistakes that people made again and again and it gave him powers, more then ever before, because when he was young, the world was young, the world was still young, but now the people did not add to the thousands, the added to the millions and they all died, they always did and it was a good time for him, his family and several others. Yet he also saw what was in the future and it worried him, it worried him that there was a limit to the time he could enjoy an espresso, or a Café Caribbean. In all this he knew there was finality, as there was finality to all, no exceptions. Even now, no matter how strong and powerful he was, there is always someone stronger. Those before him learned that, he knew that lesson would come to him and those who followed would also learn that very same lesson. In eternity time was a set of chains binding all and everyone, no exceptions.

It was then that he saw a sight he had not seen for so very long, a shape, a man that was not from here, not of here, but he looked like anyone else and there was the problem, this man was not one who would respect his monarchy, a person who would take whatever he considers his and there was no stopping him. He had known this for a very long time. Yet he never came here, he once saw him on Haiti, but that was the only time and he almost lost his existence that day. He remembered it well, so he kept quiet and watched the person approach, there was no hiding from this man, so he did not try. There was no need to make matters worse from the start. The man approached and spoke slowly. He asked for one of his potions, it was not a problem, but then the man told him that payment would be swift, it would be long term and it would make him stronger, stronger then he had been in a very long time and it caught his attention, he nodded and gave the man a small vial. This contains three doses, I can get more in 12 days, the moon must be out for this one. The man spoke make more, a lot more all you can make and it will be worth it for you, even for you. The man walked away, he did not need to wait for confirmation, there was just the stage to accept, or to be trapped forever. The man never offered alternatives. That was the lesson he once learned in Haiti, so he finished his espresso and walked away, he needed herbs and he needed a lot of them, he also needed bones from a powerful Serviteur, he knew where one was, but he wanted to make sure he had the freshest bones, those with a hint of life attached to them, power fades in all things, in bones they merely lasted the longest. Yet this man does not like to be disappointed, so he was making every effort to create the best and a lot was expected, time to bring greetings to maman.

And thus ends another small slice of Residuam vitam.

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March 3, 2022 · 11:40

Netflix Prime

Yup, that is it and it is not a conundrum. This setting applies to both Amazon Prime and Netflix (other layers too). You see, their valuation is set to a larger stage of WHAT and HOW MUCH they can bring. And in a stage where we are on the brink of active militant debates, having an alternative is never a bad idea. You see, for some unknown reason I have been thinking of the Dutch movie ‘De Prooi’ (1985). 

I remember how stunningly beautiful the leading lady played by Maayke Bouten was. But there is more (there always is), the story was quite good, it was done as it always was in those days. Like a race to the destination with several scenes in the middle. Yet the foundation of a decently good movie was there and it could be remade, the story needs a little adaptation, and if it is set to a different location (San Francisco, Vancouver, Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans) a little extra work might need to be done. A script ready for collecting (whomever has the rights) and it is not a small setting. There are hundreds of scripts out there where the rights are no longer active, where the rights to a movie are nickels and dimes away from ownership (instead of tens of thousands or more). A setting that all streamers need at present and they are all over Europe, all over the commonwealth too. We forgot about the younger watchers, did we not? So what happened to the dozens of movies that were part of the Enid Blyton collection, the hardy boys, and there was a female version too. Sweden has its treasures (beyond Pippi Longstocking that is) and so forth. Even the Netherlands has its share of treasures. All forgotten, all in some drawer catching dust, all whilst everyone is chasing the next mediocre version that comes from one of these great stories. 

As such I wonder how long these stream chasers keep on chasing a reinvented wheel, whilst there is a place where you can find a good collection of second hand wheels at 10% of the price. You will spend op to 5% rewriting it, but is one in 5 is a decent success, you will have an interesting track record as well as a decently fast growing library of works. If we look back to the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s we see movies all with a gimmick, but as long as the story is good, it can be rewritten with the gimmick of today and tomorrow. So where are these writers? What will Netflix (Amazon Prime too) do when the budgets are trimmed down? I did not forget about Apple and Disney, but it seems that they have a different approach to where they want to go, or how they want to get somewhere. I might be wrong, but that is how they feel to me. It is up to them and it is up to Netflix and Amazon, they might to get ahead of the curve before the are chasing it in some uphill battle against that very same curve, because that is what falling behind the curve tend to be. A never ending uphill battle. 

And I reckon that this is a race where the number two has no reward, they merely chased the other one too late. Who will it be? I have no idea, I am not buddies with either on that level, I need not be (not entirely true), I have my own stories to write and for now I reckon that I might have a new chapter coming up in the mini series ‘Residuam vitam’, I think it had a different name earlier. For some reason the others have titles set in stone, this one does not. I cannot figure that part out, even as the story was pretty much set, but now there is a new stage, but I need to write it differently, because the party involved are not like us and that changes the stage. I should say that Meng Po alerted me to that part, but I cannot, because every time she serves me soup I forget what I was doing, but the soup is so delicious.

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