I know the article above could appear outside the scope of "democracy", but images such as statues of Victory (Nike) are made to give us a sense of the nonsensical life by glorifying bits of our civilisations. And of course, the appropriation of symbols by commercial enterprises is piggybacking on our subconscious...

 

A pair of 1972 running shoes, one of the first pairs made by Nike, have sold for $US437,500 ($A624,859), shattering the record for a pair of sneakers at public auction.

The so-called Nike Moon Shoe, designed by Nike co-founder and track coach Bill Bowerman for runners at the 1972 Olympics trials, was the top lot in the first-ever auction dedicated to sneakers at Sotheby’s auction house in New York.

Sotheby’s said the price was a world auction record for a pair of sneakers.

 

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2019/07/24/nike-shoes-record-aucti...

Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American whistle-blower who copied and leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency(NSA) in 2013 when he was a Central Intelligence Agency(CIA) employee and subcontractor. His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments, and prompted a cultural discussion about national securityand individual privacy.

In 2013, Snowden was hired by an NSA contractor, Booz Allen Hamilton, after previous employment with Dell and the CIA.[1]Snowden says he gradually became disillusioned with the programs with which he was involved and that he tried to raise his ethical concerns through internal channels but was ignored. On May 20, 2013, Snowden flew to Hong Kong after leaving his job at an NSA facility in Hawaii, and in early June he revealed thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Ewen MacAskill. Snowden came to international attention after stories based on the material appeared in The Guardian and The Washington Post. Further disclosures were made by other publications including Der Spiegel and The New York Times.

On June 21, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed charges against Snowden of two counts of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and theft of government property,[2]following which the Department of State revoked his passport.[3] Two days later, he flew into Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, where Russian authorities noted that his U.S. passport had been cancelled, and he was restricted to the airport terminal for over one month. Russia later granted Snowden the right of asylum with an initial visa for residence for one year, and repeated extensions have permitted him to stay at least until 2020. In early 2016, he became the president of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a San Francisco-based organization that states its purpose is to protect journalists from hacking and government surveillance.[4] As of 2017, he was living in an undisclosed location in Moscow.

 

Read more:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden

 

 

Read at top, I mentioned the Will Smith character in "Enemy of the State" buying some lingerie for his wife... And Hell broke loose with the NSA...

 

"NSA official Thomas Bryan Reynolds meets with U.S. Congressman Phil Hammersley in a public park to discuss support for a new piece of counterterrorism legislation the U.S. Congress is pushing that dramatically expands the surveillance powers of intelligence agencies over individuals and groups. Hammersley remains committed to blocking its passage, since he believes it would almost totally destroy the privacy of U.S. citizens. Reynolds, determined to have the bill pass so as to gain a long-delayed and anticipated promotion within the NSA, has his team murder Hammersley, spread heart pills over his car, place his body in the car and push it in a lake to simulate the cause of death as a heart attack. In the aftermath, they discover that wildlife researcher Daniel Zavitz had a camera aimed in the woods at their location. Zavitz inspects the footage and, realizing he has captured the congressman's murder, calls a journalist he knows. The call is monitored by Reynolds's team who attempt to break into Zavitz's apartment to retrieve the tape. Realizing he is in danger, Zavitz transfers the video to a disc before fleeing the apartment ahead of Reynolds's men.

Zavitz bumps into an old college friend, labor lawyer Robert Clayton Dean, and slips the disc into his shopping bag [THE LINGERIE SHOPPING BAG, while Zavitz streams through the lingerie store] without his knowledge. Shortly after, Zavitz is killed when he collides with a fire truck on a stolen bicycle; Reynolds' men later kill the journalist he'd called previously. When Reynolds and his team discover that Dean might have the video [DEAN'S KIDS ACTUALLY FOUND THE PLAYSTATION WITH THE RECORDING ON A DISC, IN THE SHOPPING BAG, WHITOUT KNOWING THAT THE PLAYSTATION HAD THE DISC] and after failing to convince him (under the guise of police officers) to allow them to search his shopping purchases, they, believing that Dean and Zavitz were in collusion together, raid his house and plant surveillance devices. They then disseminate false evidence to implicate Dean of working with the family of mafia kingpin Paulie Pintero and having an affair with ex-girlfriend Rachel Banks. The subterfuge destroys Dean's life: he is dismissed from his job, his bank accounts are frozen, and his wife Carla throws him out of the house.

Dean believes Pintero is behind the smear campaign as revenge for a prior case, with help from Banks' secretive contact Brill. Dean sets up a meet with Brill, to which the NSA sends an impostor, but the real Brill rescues Dean. Brill explains that his pursuers are NSA agents and rids him of tracking devices hidden in his clothing. With Dean and Brill in hiding, the NSA agents kill Banks and frame Dean for the murder.

Dean obtains the disc and Brill identifies Reynolds in the recovered video, but the disc is destroyed during an escape from an NSA raid. Brill, whose real name is Edward Lyle, tells Dean of his past as a communications expert; he was stationed in Iran during the Iranian Revolution; his partner, Rachel's father, was killed, but Lyle made it out and has been in hiding since. Lyle tries to urge Dean to run away, but Dean is determined to clear his name.

Dean and Lyle trail another supporter of the surveillance bill, U.S. Congressman Sam Albert, videotaping him having an affair with his aide. Dean and Lyle "hide" one of the NSA's bugs in Albert's room so Albert will find it and have the NSA start an investigation into Albert's tapping. Lyle also deposits money into Reynolds's bank account to make it appear that he is taking bribes, putting pressure on Reynolds.

Lyle contacts Reynolds to set up a meeting to exchange the video and get Reynolds to incriminate himself. Reynolds' men instead ambush the meeting and hold Lyle and Dean at gunpoint, demanding the tape. Dean tells them that the Hammersley murder footage is in the hands of Pintero, understanding Pintero's restaurant is under FBI surveillance. Dean, Reynolds, and the NSA team enter Pintero's restaurant. With the use of ambiguous language, Dean convinces Pintero that Reynolds is after the incriminating video Dean blackmailed him with and the encounter turns into a massive gunfight that kills the mobsters, Reynolds, and several members of his NSA team. During this ordeal, Lyle uses subterfuge and acting to goad FBI surveillance that Pintero is kidnapping cops, prompting a raid. Lyle escapes while the FBI rescues Dean and uncovers the entire conspiracy.

The U.S. Congress is forced to abandon the bill to avoid a national scandal, although they cover up the NSA's involvement to preserve the agency's reputation. Dean is cleared of all the charges and is reunited with his wife. Lyle leaves Dean a "goodbye" message via his TV as he is watching, showing himself relaxing in a tropical location."

The surveillance from the NSA is done through various means including satellite images, internet, spy traces and radiowave communications. Lyle knows a few tricks or two, including how to foil radio communications inside a Faraday cage (also used by major firms in Germny to prevent spying on tehcnology and economic decisions). Was this movie an inspiration for Snowden?

 

Read more:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_State_(film)

 

 

Sounds familiar?... at least, unlike Dean, Snowden knew what he was doing...

Billionaire Accuses Epstein of Misappropriating ‘Vast Sums of Money’

• Leslie Wexner, the mogul behind Victoria’s Secret, detailed in a letter how his life became intertwined with Jeffrey Epstein, who faces sex-trafficking charges.

• Mr. Wexner used the letter to cast himself as an unwitting victim of his former adviser’s financial impropriety.

Read more at the NYT

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Six-time Olympic gold medallist Allyson Felix says female athletes will "no longer be financially penalised for having a child" after Nike changed its contracts for pregnant athletes.

In a letter shared by Felix on social media, Nike says it will "not apply any performance-related reduction" for 18 months if an athlete becomes pregnant.

Felix's daughter Camryn was born prematurely in November.

In May, she said Nike wanted to pay her 70% less after she became a mother.

Writing in the New York Times at the time, Felix, 33, said: "I asked Nike to contractually guarantee that I wouldn't be punished if I didn't perform at my best in the months surrounding childbirth. 

"I wanted to set a new standard. If I, one of Nike's most widely marketed athletes, couldn't secure these protections, who could? Nike declined."

Felix returned to racing for the first time in 13 months in July at the US National Championships. After the meet, she decided to not renew her Nike contact and joined women's athletic wear company Athleta.

On social media on Friday, Felix posted a picture of the letter from Nike executive vice president of global sports marketing John Slusher. She wrote: "Our voices have power. 

"Nike has joined in officially and contractually providing maternal protection to the female athletes they sponsor. This means that female athletes will no longer be financially penalised for having a child."

 

Read more:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/49380550

 

 

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Four Victoria’s Secret Angels — Josephine Skriver, Elsa Hosk, Jasmine Tookes and Romee Strijd – might soon see their careers ending, sources told Page Six following the models’ latest campaign.

Industry insiders suggested that Victoria’s Secret Angels’ latest walk for Boohoo, a down-market online fast-fashion retailer, might be a sign that everything is going not-so-well for the angelic models.

“A year ago, there is no way that would have happened,” a modelling industry source told Page Six. “Victoria Secret Angels were so unattainable and wouldn’t have been aligned with a brand like [Boohoo].”

It is hardly an ordinary year for the lingerie giant. For the first time since 1995, VS won’t be staging its annual fashion show — known as the Super Bowl of modelling. Televised since 2001, it’s been an international showcase for the elite group of contracted models known as the Angels. Such models as Gisele Bündchen, Karlie Kloss, Heidi Klum, Miranda Kerr, Tyra Banks and Stephanie Seymour have all been Angels.

The group has had a rough time in recent years: declining lingerie sales, falling TV ratings, a seeming resistance to keep up with cultural trends and even an uncomfortablyclose connection to the late Jeffrey Epstein might have led to a decline in popularity. 

“It used to be that you did VS and you became this superstar,” a Victoria’s Secret insider told The New York Post. “The industry has just changed overall. I could see the Angels going away.”

Among other things that VS might need to change are the working conditions of their models. The Angels are reportedly under contract conditions which are quite strict — demanding a certain number of hours from the models and also restricting the other work they can do. According to the insider, Angels are forbidden from working with other beauty, swim or fragrance brands.

Now, as the VS show goes dark, Angels might be in need of other gigs – with or without the company. The VS insider said that the brand has brought back the company’s swim collection after a three-year hiatus and that some of the Angels — including Josephine Skriver, who this week was announced as the face of a new beauty line for the company — are being spun off for specific products.

 

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/viral/201911171077328831-victorias-secret-angels...

 

 

Read from top.

 

One day you might understand why and how men (and women) democratically vote according to Victoria's underwear. 

Victoria's Secret has cancelled its annual TV special — known for its jewel-encrusted bras and strutting supermodels sporting angel wings — in the face of slumping audiences.

Key points:

• TV audiences for the show in the US have fallen, from 12 million in 2001 to 3.3 million in 2018
• Controversy and competition has hit the brand in recent years
• The company has still forecast an upbeat holiday season for sales

 

In May, the lingerie retailer said the Christmas TV special would not be aired on American network TV, saying it was evaluating its marketing strategy.

The brand has been hit by controversy in recent years, including after marketing director Ed Razek told Vogue Victoria's Secret didn't have to be "politically correct" because it was based on fantasy.

 

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-22/victorias-secret-cancels-2019-fas...

 

 

Read from top.

In his article "Why Is It OK to Be Mean to the Ugly?” David Brooks starts well, firing on all cylinders, but ends up with :

 

A society that celebrates beauty this obsessively is going to be a social context in which the less beautiful will be slighted. The only solution is to shift the norms and practices. One positive example comes, oddly, from Victoria’s Secret, which replaced its “Angels” with seven women of more diverse body types. When Victoria’s Secret is on the cutting edge of the fight against lookism, the rest of us have some catching up to do.

 

 

Hello? Bringing in Victoria’s Secret in this discussion is completely fake-wokism. And Ugly? Boy! He has not looked closely at the demoiselles posing for the VS’s enlarged underpants and brassières… They may be a bit on the plump side but they are far from ugly. May be I’m going deaf like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in my old age, preferring curvy thingies rather that flat-boards, like his comment on Madame d'Épinay…:

 

“"she was very thin, very pale, and had a bosom that resembled the back of her hand”

 

 

And VS would have been loosing business by appealing exclusively to the thin and beautiful dwindling crowd that populate Hollywood… The “angels” had served their purpose… Now it’s time to make a buck with the majority of Americans women whose flab has to be covered one way or another… 

 

Unfortunately, there will be controversies such as one of the Kardashians being shown on Twitter in full sunny regalia with bumps and cellulite… while her cultivated images used flat lighting and coloured filters, with delicately studied make-up...

 

Read from top.

 

NOTE: These "angel" wings are those of Nike (Victory) — not angels...

 

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The lingerie retailer hired administrators in June 2020 due to the negative effects of the coronavirus lockdown. However, the move didn't save the company branch, as sales continued plummeting.

Victoria's Secret (VS) UK has gone into liquidation on Saturday, as it was unable to survive the pandemic. Court Judge Sally Barber has approved a move into liquidation, which means that hundreds of jobs at 25 Victoria's Secret stores across the UK are now in jeopardy.

However, the liquidation will allow the company to pay dividends to creditors, the spokesman added.

Online sales of the brand, however, will proceed, as they are not linked to Victoria's Secret UK

 

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/uk/202107311083498215-victorias-secret-uk-goes-into-liquidation-amid-pandemic-induced-sales-drop/

 

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