I would blow Dane Cook posted:

https://twitter.com/ashleyrcarman/status/1692259611196149996

Deformed Church posted:

Either that or ads served to unpaid spotify users are more lucrative for them against "music" - maybe they can charge a higher rate, or play them more frequently.

MrMojok posted:

By “white noise podcasts” do they mean like… static?

Or the sound of rain or ocean waves or something?

Amphigory posted:

How is that controversial

Amphigory posted:

Like, these people are putting "sound" on Spotify and millions of people are listening to it, so they're getting paid

How is that controversial

VictualSquid posted:

They accidentally paid the creators too well. That is the actual message of the Article and Spotify's press statement.
More specifically they accidentally pushed viewers towards better paid creators instead of pushing them towards normally shittily paid creators.

The MSJ posted:

Looking forward to musicians launching podcasts where they just play their songs.

The Lone Badger posted:

Bringing back the concept of 'albums'. Time is a flat circle.

Paper Tiger posted:

Albums used to be flat circles too

Phlegmish posted:

Dick Bigger of Biggsville

quote:

Wiseguys Rejoice at Seeing NYC Mafia Buster Rudy Giuliani Indicted on Trump RICO Charge


Rudy Giuliani's indictment on a racketeering charge has New York City mafiosos gleeful at the prospect that, if convicted, the former federal prosecutor could be brought down by the same law he wielded against La Cosa Nostra.

Veteran mob lawyer Murray Richman told The Messenger that he's "spoken to several of my clients" since Giuliani, former President Donald Trump and 17 co-defendants were charged with violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

"You can quote me to say, 'They're f------ thrilled,'" Richman said Wednesday.

"I don’t want to say the language, but they really ripped Rudy a new a------."

Richman noted that "half of these guys love Trump. They freaking love Trump."

"But all of them are almost unified in their position of hating f------ Rudy," he said.

Richman's mob clients have included the late Lucchese family boss Carmine "Mr. Gribbs" Tramunti and Dominick "Big Trin" Trinchera, a Bonnano family capo who was killed with two others during a 1981 power struggle.

Meanwhile, defense lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman, who scored a 2005 hung jury for Gambino crime family scion John "Junior" Gotti, told The Messenger, "All of my clients who had the misfortune of being prosecuted by him are laughing now. As am I."

“I’m thrilled that Rudy will now experience what it feels like to be on the wrong end of a RICO prosecution — with a mandatory five years in prison facing him," Lichtman said.

"It’s not just an ironic result but it’s a just result. He was a horribly dishonest prosecutor and the wheel of karma is about to crush him," Lichtman opined.

Civil rights lawyer Ron Kuby, who represented reputed Gambino associate Stephen "Sigmund the Sea Monster" Sergio during the 1990s, said he hadn't spoken with any "alleged members of organized crime" since Giuliani was indicted.

"I have noted the reactions from some family members of alleged organized crime people, and they are thrilled and delighted," he said.

Kuby also said he wanted to call Monday's indictment, which alleges a sprawling conspiracy to illegally overturn Trump's 2020 election loss in Georgia, "a sad day in America" but couldn't keep himself from laughing.

"I will spare you the fake sanctimony," he said.

"It is just delightful to watch the guy who expanded RICO prosecutions well beyond their original intent, and did so grasping for the biggest headlines, to watch him be indicted by the very law that he championed."

Giuliani political adviser Ted Goodman told The Messenger by email, "Rudy Giuliani fearlessly took down the once-untouchable Mafia, cleaned up the streets of New York City and comforted the nation following 9/11, while the career criminals that attorney Murray Richman and Jeffrey Lichtman say are now celebrating his indictment, represent some of the worst members of society, having earned their living at the expense of honest, hardworking people through extortion, intimidation, violence and murder."

On Tuesday, Giuliani, 79, called the case against him "a ridiculous application of the racketeering statute."

"There’s probably no one that knows it better than I do," he told Newsmax.

As Manhattan's crusading U.S. attorney during the 1980s, Giuliani rose to prominence by using the federal RICO statute to prosecute the so-called Mafia Commission case, which led to 100-year sentences against three mob bosses and four associates.

Giuliani also pioneered the use of RICO against white-collar defendants, bringing the first such case against Wall Street "junk bond king" Michael Milken, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges in 1990.

Milken served 22 months in prison, became a leading philanthropist and was pardoned by Trump in 2020 with Giuliani's support.

Giuliani's crime-fighting prowess as U.S. attorney helped make him New York City's mayor in 1994 and become the first Republican to win the job since John Linsday was elected in 1965.

Giuliani later earned the nickname "America's mayor" for his response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks that destroyed Manhattan's Twin Towers, killing 2,753 people.

This story has been updated to include a comment from Giuliani's political adviser.

quote:

The count concerns the activities of Stephen Sergio, a reputed Gotti associate who will be better remembered by mob historians for his nickname, Sigmund the Sea Monster, than for his criminal exploits: ''Stephen Sergio testified that he did not receive proceeds from the coat room at Scores, whereas, as he then and there well knew and believed, he did receive proceeds from that coat room, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, section 1503.'' In other words, the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District, whose prosecutors are leading the worldwide fight against Islamic terror, is also fighting to make sure that strip-club coat rooms are run free of mob taint. (The Justice Department won the battle against Sigmund the Sea Monster, who pleaded guilty to racketeering charges related to the coat room.)

Of course, you might ask yourself: Are strip-club coat rooms all that's left for the mob to control?

quote:

Grand Theft Auto 6 was announced way back in February 2022—though there's been precious little information since then, bar a series of leaks later in the year. Rockstar Games itself has been hush-hush on the details, only really promising that it 'needs to be something you've never seen before'.

One fan has searched for the truth in an, uh—unconventional way, by walking onto the set of a completely unrelated TV show and begging the German public to please give him some information on GTA6, as posted to Twitter/X by user MichaelSchachel.

The superfan, sporting nothing but a beanie and raw determination, strode onto the set of Doppelpass to petition its hosts for insider info. Doppelpass is a German TV show that covers the Bundesliga football league—not exactly where you'd go for insider information about a yet-unreleased video game. The set invader, who postures like he's about to give a TED talk, is quickly derailed by a bystander who dumps a bottle of water on him, dousing the burning fire of his enthusiasm with 500ml of H2O.

This isn't even the first time he's done this. Back in 2021, this man strode onto the set of Germany's Beat the Star (Schlag den Raab) to ask "Where the hell is GTA6?" The host handled it a little more graciously, simply responding "I don't need that, I haven't beaten 5 yet" before the interloper was escorted off-stage.

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

https://twitter.com/MichaelSchachel/status/1693190300527714614

https://www.pcgamer.com/desperate-gta-fan-erupts-onto-unrelated-tv-show-in-quest-for-gta-6-info-gets-doused-by-a-water-bottle/

Lobok posted:

"The superfan, sporting nothing but a beanie and raw determination,"

He had way more clothing on than just a beanie.

Master Twig posted:

That man made me realize.

It's been a combined 22 years since we had a new mainline game in the GTA and Elder Scrolls series.

Humbug Scoolbus posted:

And nothing of value was lost.

Master Twig posted:

That man made me realize.

It's been a combined 22 years since we had a new mainline game in the GTA and Elder Scrolls series.

Antigravitas posted:

Barry Bluejeans posted:

Oh sure, when I take four minutes it's called being a selfish lover

freeedr posted:

I said it was fine