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Allen, Joel, and Rosemary break down the Trump administration’s sudden halt of five major offshore wind projects, including Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind and parts of Vineyard Wind, over national security claims the hosts find questionable. They also cover the FCC’s ban on new DJI drone imports and what operators should do now, plus Fraunhofer’s latest wind research featured in PES Wind Magazine. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes’ YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast brought to you by Strike Tape, protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit strike tape.com. And now your hosts, Alan Hall, Rosemary Barnes, Joel Saxon, and Yolanda Padron. Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Allen Hall: Podcast. I’m your host, Alan Hall, and I’m here with. Rosemary Barnes in Australia and Joel Saxon is down in Austin, Texas. Yolanda Padron is on holiday, and well, there’s been a lot happening in the past 24 hours as we’re recording this today. If you thought the battle over offshore wind was over based on some recent court cases, well think again. The Trump administration just dropped the hammer on five major offshore wind projects. Exciting. National security concerns. The Secretary of the Interior, Doug Bergham announced. The immediate pause affecting projects from Ted Eor, CIP and Dominion Energy. So Coastal [00:01:00] Virginia, offshore wind down in Virginia, right? Which is the one we thought was never gonna be touched. Uh, the Department of War claims classified reports show these giant turbines create radar interference that could blind America’s defenses. Half of vineyard winds, turbines are already up and running, producing power, by the way. Uh, and. I guess they, it sounds like from what I can see in more recent news articles that they turn the power off. They just shut the turbines off even though those turbines are fully functioning and delivering power to shore. Uh, so now the question is what happens? Where does this go? And I know Osted is royally upset about it, and Eor obviously along with them, why not? But the whole Denmark us, uh, relationship is going nuclear right now. Joel Saxum: I think here’s a, here’s a technical thing that a lot of people might not know. If you’re in the wind industry in the United States, you may know this. There’s a a few sites in the northern corner of Colorado that are right next to Nebraska, [00:02:00] and that is where there is a strategic military installations of subsurface, basically rocket launches and. And in that entire area, there is heavy radar presence to be able to make sure that we’re watching over these things and there are turbines hundreds of meters away from these launch sites at like, I’ve driven past them. Right? So that is a te to me, the, the radar argument is a technical mute point. Um, Alan, you and I have been kind of back and forth in Slack. Uh, you and I and the team here, Rosemary’s been in it too, like just kind of talking through. Of course none of us were happy. Right. But talking through some of the points of, of some of these things and it’s just like basically you can debunk almost every one of them and you get down to the level where it is a, what is the real reasoning here? It’s a tit for tat. Like someone doesn’t like offshore wind turbines. Is it a political, uh, move towards being able to strengthen other interests and energy or what? I don’t know. ’cause I can’t, I’m not sitting in the Oval Office, but. [00:03:00] At the end of the day, we need these electrons. And what you’re doing is, is, is you’re hindering national security or because national security is energy security is national security, my opinion, and a lot of people’s opinions, you’re hindering that going forward. Allen Hall: Well, let’s look at the defense argument at the minute, which is it’s, it’s somehow deterring, reducing the effectiveness of ground radars, protecting the shoreline. That is a bogus argument. There’s all kinds of objects out on the water right now. There’s a ton of ships out there. They’re constantly moving around. To know where a fixed object is out in the water is easy, easy, and it has been talked about for more than 15 years. If you go back and pull the information that exists on the internet today from the Department of Defense at the time, plus Department of Interior and everybody else, they’ve been looking at this forever. The only way these turbines get placed where they are is with approval from the Department of Defense. So it isn’t like it didn’t go through a review. It totally did. They’ve known about this for a long, long time. So now to bring up this [00:04:00] specious argument, like, well, all of a sudden the radar is a problem. No, no. It’s not anybody’s telling you it’s a classified. Piece of information that is also gonna be a bogus argument because what is going along with that are these arguments as well, the Defense Department or Department of War says it’s gonna cause interference or, or some degradation of some sort of national defense. Then the words used after it have nothing to do with that. It is, the turbines are ugly, the turbines are too tall. It may interfere, interfere with the whales, it may interfere with fishing, and I don’t like it. Or a, a gas pipeline could produce more power than the turbines can. That that has nothing to do with the core argument. If the core argument is, is some sort of defense related. Security issue, then say it because it, it can’t be that complicated. Now, if you, if you knew anything about the defense department and how it operates, and also the defenses around the United States, of which I know a little bit about, [00:05:00] having been in aerospace for 30 freaking years, I can tell you that there are all kinds of ways to detect all kinds of threats that are approaching our shoreline. Putting a wind turbine out there is not Joel Saxum: gonna stop it. So the, at the end of the day, there is a bunch, there’s like, there’s single, I call them metric and intrinsic, right? Metric being like, I can put data to this. There’s a point here, there’s numbers, whatever it may be. And intrinsic being, I don’t like them, they don’t look that good. A pipeline can supply more energy. Those things are not necessarily set in stone. They’re not black and white. They’re, they’re getting this gray emotional area instead of practical. Right. So, okay. What, what’s the outcome here? You do this, you say that we have radar issues. Do we do, does, does the offshore substation have a radar station on it for the military or, or what does that, what does that look like? Allen Hall: Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t, but if the threat is what I think it is, none of this matters. None of this matters. It’s already been discussed a hundred times with the defense [00:06:00] department and everybody else is knowledgeable in this, in this space. There is no way that they started planted turbines and approve them two, three years ago. If it was a national security risk, there is no chance that that happened. So it really is frustrating when you, when you know some of the things that go on behind the scenes and you know what, the technical rationales could be about a problem. And that’s not what’s being talked about right now that I don’t like being lied to. Like, if you want to have a, a political argument, have a political argument, and the, if the political argument is America wants Greenland from Denmark, then just freaking say it. Just say it. Don’t tie Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, new J, all, all these states up until this nonsense, Virginia, what are we doing? What are we doing? Because all those states approved all those projects knowing full well what the costs were, knowing how tall the turbines were, knowing how long it was gonna take to get it done, and they all approved them. This [00:07:00] is not done in a vacuum. These states approve these projects and these states are going to buy that power. Let them, you wanna put in a a, a big gas pipeline. Great. How many years is that gonna take, Doug? How many years is that gonna take? Doug Bergham? Does anybody know? He, he doesn’t know anything about that. Joel Saxum: You’re not getting a gas pipeline into the east coast anytime soon whatsoever. Because the, the east, the east coast is a home of Nimbyism. Allen Hall: Sure, sir. Like Massachusetts. It’s pretty much prohibited new gas pipelines for a long time. Okay. That’s their choice. That is their choice. They made that choice. Let them live with it. Why are you then trying to, to double dip? I don’t get it. I don’t get it. And, but I do think, Joel, I think the reason. This is getting to the level it is. It has to do something to do with Greenland. It has something to do with the Danish, um, uh, ambassador or whoever it was running to talk to, to California and Newsom about offshore tournaments. Like that was not a smart move, my opinion, but [00:08:00] I don’t run international relations with for Denmark. But stop poking one another and somebody’s gotta cut this off. The, the thing I think that the Trump administration is at risk at is that. Or instead, Ecuador has plenty of cash. They’re gonna go to court, and they are most likely going to win, and they’re going to really handcuff the Trump administration to do anything because when you throw bull crap in front of a judge and they smell it, the the pushback gets really strong. Well, they’re gonna force all the discussion about anything to do with offshore to go through a judge, and they’re gonna decide, and I don’t think that’s what the Trump administration wants, but that’s where they’re headed. I’m not sure why Joel Saxum: you’d wanna do that. Like at the end of the day, that may be the solution that has to come, but I don’t think that that’s not the right path either. Right? Because a judge is not an SME. A judge doesn’t know all of the, does the, you know, like a, a judge is a judge based on laws. They don’t, they’re, they’re not an offshore wind energy expert, so they sh that’s hard for them to [00:09:00] decide on. However, that’s where it will go. But I think you’re correct. Like this, this is more, this is a larger play and, and this mor so this morning when this rolled out, my WhatsApp, uh, and text messages just blew up from all of my. Danish friends, what is going on over there? I’m like, I don’t know what you want me to say. I’m not in the hopeful office. I can’t tell you what’s going on. I’m not having coffee in DC right now. I said, you know, but going back to it, like you can see the frustration, like, what, why, why is this the thing? And I think you’re right though, Alan, it is a large, there’s a larger political play in, in movement here of this Greenland, Denmark, these kind of things. And it’s a, it’s. It’s sad to see it ’cause it just gets caught. We’re getting caught in the crossfire as a wind industry. Yeah. It’s Allen Hall: not helping anybody. And when you set precedents like this, the other side takes note, right? So Democrats, when they eventually get back into the White House again, which will happen at some point, are gonna swing the pendulum just as hard and harder. So what are you [00:10:00] doing? None of, none of this matters in, in my opinion, especially if you, if you read Twitter today, you’re like, what the hell? All the things that are happening right now. RFK Jr had a post a few hours ago talking about, oh, this is great. We’re gonna shut off this off shore wind thing because it kills the whales. Sorry, it doesn’t. Sorry. It doesn’t, if you want, if you wanna make an argument about it, you have to do better than that. A Twitter post doesn’t make it fact, and everybody who’s listened to this and paying attention, I don’t want you to do your own research, but just know that you got a couple of engineers here, that that’s what we do for a living. We source through information, making sure that it makes sense. Does it align? Is it right? Is it wrong? Is, is there something to back it up with? And the information that we have here says. It is. It’s not hurting anything out there. You may not like them, but you know what? You don’t want a coal factor in your backyard either. Delamination and bottomline failures and blades are difficult problems to detect [00:11:00] early. These hidden issues can cost you millions in repairs and lost energy production. C-I-C-N-D-T are specialists to detect these critical flaws before they become expensive burdens. Their non-destructive test technology penetrates deep to blade materials to find voids and cracks. Traditional inspections completely. Miss C-I-C-N-D-T Maps. Every critical defect delivers actionable reports and provides support to get your blades back in service. So visit cic ndt.com because catching blade problems early will save you millions. Joel Saxum: When it comes down to sorting through data, I think that’s a big problem. Right? And that’s what’s happening with a lot of the, I mean, generalizing, a lot of the things that are happening in the United States in the last 10 years give it. Um, but people just go, oh, this person said this. They must be an authority. Like, no, it’s not true. We’ve been following [00:12:00] a lot of these things with offshore wind. I mean, probably closer than most. Uh, besides the companies that are developing those wind farms, simply because it’s a part of our day job, it’s what we do. We’re, we’re, we’re looking at these things, right? So. Understanding the risks, uh, rewards, the political side of things. The commercial side. The technical side. That’s what we’re here to kind of feed, feed the information back to the masses. And a lot of this, or the majority of all of this is bs. It doesn’t really, it doesn’t, it doesn’t play. Um, and then you go a little bit deeper into things and. Like the, was it the new Bedford Light, Alan, that said like, now they’re seeing that the turbines have actually been turned off, not just to stop work for construction. They’ve turned the turbines off up in Massachusetts or up off of in the northeast area? No, that they have. Allen Hall: And why? I mean, the error on the side of caution, I think if you’re an attorney for any of the wind operations, they’re gonna tell you to shut it off for a couple of days and see what we can figure out. But the, the timing of the [00:13:00] shutdown I think is a little unique in that the US is pretty much closed at this point. You’re not gonna see anything start back up for another couple of weeks, although they were doing work on the water. So you can impose a couple hundred million. Do, well, not a hundred million dollars, but maybe a couple million dollars of, of overhead costs in some of these projects because you can’t respond quick enough. You gotta find a judge willing to put a stay in to hold things the same and, and hold off this, uh, this, uh, b order, but. To me, you know, it’s one of those things when you deal with the federal government, you think the federal government is erratic in just this one area? No, it’s erratic in a lot of areas. And the frustration comes with do you want America to be stronger or do you want nonsense to go on? You know? And if I thought, if that thought wind turbines were killing whales, I’d be the first one up to screaming. If I thought offshore wind was not gonna work out in term, in some long-term model, I would be the first one screaming about it. That’s not Joel Saxum: reality. [00:14:00] Caveat that though you said, you’re saying if I thought, I think the, the real word should be if I did the research, the math and understood that this is the way it was gonna be. Right? Because that’s, that’s what you need to do. And that’s what we’ve been doing, is looking at it and the, the, all the data points to we’re good here. If someone wanted to do harm Allen Hall: to the United States, and God forbid if that was ever the case. That wouldn’t be the way to do it. Okay. And we, and we’ve seen that through history, right. So it, it’s, it doesn’t even make any sense. The problem is, is that they can shield a judge from looking at it somewhat. If they classify well, the judge isn’t able to see what this classified information is. In today’s world, AI and everything on the internet, you don’t think somebody knows something about this? I do. And to think that you couldn’t make any sort of software patch to. Fix whatever 1965 radar system they have sitting on the shorelines of Massachusetts. They could, in today’s world, you can do that. So this whole thing, it [00:15:00] just sounds like a smoke screen and when you start poking around it, no one has an answer. That is the frustrating bit. If you’re gonna be seeing stuff, you better have backup data. But the Joel Saxum: crazy thing here, like look at the, the, the non wind side of this argument, like you’re hurting job growth. Everybody that goes into a, uh. Into office. One of the biggest things they run on all the time, it doesn’t matter, matter where you are in the world, is I’m gonna bring jobs and prosperity to the people. Okay. How many jobs have just been stopped? How many people have just been sent home? How much money’s being lost here? And who’s one of the biggest companies installing these turbines in the states? Fricking ge like so. You’re, you’re hurting your own local people. And not only is this, you stand there and say, we’re doing all this stuff. We’re getting all this wind energy. We’re gonna do all these things and we’re gonna win the AI race. To the point where you’ve passed legislation or you’ve written, uh, uh, executive order that says, Hey, individual states, if you pass legislation [00:16:00] that slows or halts AI development in your state, the federal government can sue you. But you’re doing the same thing. You’re halting and slowing down the ability for AI and data centers to power themselves at unprecedented growth. We’re at here, 2, 3, 4, 5% depending on what, what iso you ask of, of electron need, and we’re the fastest way you could put electrons to the grid. Right now in the United States, it’s. Either one of those offshore wind farms is being built today, or one of the other offs, onshore wind farms or onshore solar facilities that are being built right now today. Those are the fastest ways to help the United States win the AI race, which is something that Trump has loud, left and right and center, but you’re actively like just hitting people in the shins with a baseball bat to to slow down. Energy growth. I, I just, it, it doesn’t make any logical sense. Allen Hall: And Rosemary just chime in here. We’ve had enough from the Americans complaining about it. Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. I mean, it’s hard for me to comment in too much detail about all of the [00:17:00] American security stuff. I mean, defense isn’t, isn’t one of my special interests and especially not American defense, but. When I talk about this issue with other Australians, it’s just sovereign risk is the, the issue. I mean, it was, it’s similar with the tariffs. It’s just like how, and it’s not just for like foreign companies that might want to invest in America. American companies are affected just, uh, as equally, but like you might be anti wind and fine. Um, but I don’t know how any. Company of any technology can have confidence to embark on a multi-year, um, project. Now, because you don’t know, like this government hates wind energy, but the next one could hate ai or the next one could hate solar panels, electric cars, or you know, just, just anything. And so like you just can’t. You just can’t trust, um, that your plans are gonna be able to be fulfilled even if you’ve got contracts, even if you’ve got [00:18:00] approvals, even if you are most of the way through building something, it’s not enough to feel safe anymore. And it’s just absolutely wild. That’s, and yeah, I was actually discussing with someone yesterday. How, and bearing in mind I don’t really understand American politics that deeply, but I’m gonna assume that Republicans are generally associated with being business friendly. So there must be so many long-term Republican donors who have businesses that have been harmed by all of these kinds of changes. And I just don’t understand how everyone is still behind this type of behavior. That’s what, that’s what I struggle to understand. Joel Saxum: This is the problem at the higher levels in. In DC their businesses are, are oil and gas based though. That’s the thing, the high, the high power conservative party side of things in the United States politics. The, the lobby money and the real money and the like, like think like the Dick Cheney era. Right. That was all Weatherford, right? It’s all oil and gas. Rosemary Barnes: So it’s not like anybody [00:19:00] cares about the, you know, I don’t know, like there’d be steel fabricators who have been massively affected by this. Right? Like that’s a good, a good traditional American business. Right. But are you saying it’s not big enough business that anyone would care that, that they’ve been screwed over? Joel Saxum: Not anymore Allen Hall: because all that’s being outsourced. The, the other argument, which Rosemary you touched upon is, is the one I’m seeing more recently on all kinds of social medias. It’s a bunch of foreign companies putting in these wind turbines. Well, who the hell Joel Saxum: is drilling your oil baby? This is something that I’ve always said. When you go go to Houston, Texas, the energy capital of the world, every one of those big companies, none of ’em are run by a Texan. They are all run by someone from overseas. Every one of ’em. Allen Hall: You, you think that, uh, you know, the Saudis are all, you know, great moral people. What the hell are you talking about? Are you starting to compare countries now? Because you really don’t wanna do that. If you wanna do that into the traditional energy marketplace, you’re, you’re gonna have [00:20:00] a lot of problems sleeping at night. You will, I would much rather trust a dane to put in a wind turbine or a German to put in a wind turbine than some of the people that are in, involved in oil and gas. Straight up. Straight up. Right. And we’ve known that for years. And we, we, we just play along, look. The fact of the matter is if you want to have electrons delivered quickly to the United States, you’re gonna have to do something, and that will be wind and solar because it is the fastest, cheapest way to get this stuff done. If you wanna try to plant some sort of gas pipeline from Louisiana up to Massachusetts or whatever the hell you wanna do, good luck. You know how many years you’re talking about here. In the meantime, all those people you, you think you care about are gonna be sitting there. With really high electricity rates and gas, gas, uh, rates, it’s just not gonna end well. Speaker 5: Australia’s wind farms are growing fast, but are your operations keeping up? Join us February 17th and [00:21:00] 18th at Melbourne’s Poolman on the park for Wind energy o and M Australia 2026, where you’ll connect with the experts solving real problems in maintenance asset management. And OEM relations. Walk away with practical strategies to cut costs and boost uptime that you can use the moment you’re back on site. Register now at W OM a 2020 six.com. Wind Energy o and m Australia is created by wind professionals for wind professionals because this industry needs solutions. Not speeches if Allen Hall: you don’t have enough on your plate already. Uh, the FCC has panned the import and sale of all new drone models from Chinese manufacturers, including the most popular of all in America, DJI, uh, and they clo. They currently hold about 70% of the global marketplace, the ban as DGI and Autel Robotics to the quote unquote covered list of entities deemed [00:22:00] a national security risk. Now here’s the catch. Existing models that are already approved for sale can still be purchased. So you can walk down to your local, uh, drone store and buy A DJI drone. And the ones you already own are totally fine, but the next generation. Not happening. They’re not gonna let ’em into the United States. So the wind industry heavily relies on drones. And, and Joel, you and I have seen a number of DJI, sort of handheld drones that are used on sites as sort of a quick check of the health of a, or status of a blade. Uh, you, you, I guess you will still be able to do that if you have an older dj. I. But if you try to buy a new one, good luck. Not gonna happen. Joel Saxum: Yeah. I think the most popular drone right now in the field, of course two of ’em, I would, I would say this, it’s like the Mavic type, you know, the little tiny one that like a site supervisor or a technician may have, they have their part 1 0 7 license. They can fly up and look at stuff. Uh, and then the [00:23:00] other one is gonna be the more industrial side. That’s gonna be the DJ IM 300. And that’s the one where a lot of these platforms, the perceptual robotics and some of the others have. That’s their base because the M 300 has, if you’re not in the, the development world, it has what’s called a pretty accessible SDK, which software development kit. So they’re designed to be able to add your sensors, put your software, and they’re fly ’em the way you want to. So they’re kind of like purpose built to be industrial drones. So if you have an M 300 or you’re using them now, what this I understand is you’re gonna still be able to do that, but when it comes time for next gen stuff, you’re not gonna be able to go buy the M 400. And import that. Like once it’s you’re here, you’re done. So I guess the way I would look at it is if I was an operator and that was part of our mo, or I was using a drone inspection provider, that that’s what comes on site. I would give people a plan. I would say basic to hedge your risk. I would say [00:24:00]basically like, Hey, if you’re my drone operator and I’m giving you a year to find a new solution. Um, that integrates into your workflows to get this thing outta here simply because I can’t be at risk that one day you show up, this thing crashes and I can’t get another one. A lot of companies are already like, they’re set and ready to go. Like all the new Skys specs, the Skys specs, foresight, drone, it’s all compliant, right? It’s USA made USA approved. Good to go. I think the new Arons drone is USA compliant. Good to go. Like, no, no issues there. So. Um, I think that some of the major players in the inspection world have already made their moves, um, to be able to be good USA compliant. Um, so just make sure you ask. I guess that’s, that. Our advice to operators here. Make sure you ask, make sure you’re on top of this one so you just don’t get caught with your pants down. Allen Hall: Yeah, I know there’s a lot of little drones in the back of pickup trucks around wind farms and you probably ought to check, talk to the guys about what’s going on to make sure that they’re all compliant. [00:25:00] In this quarter’s, PES Win magazine, which you can download for free@pswin.com. There is an article by Fran Hoffer, and they’re in Germany. If you don’t know who Fran Hoffer is, they’re sort of a research institution that is heavily involved in wind and fixing some of the problems, tackling some of the more complex, uh, issues that exist in blade repair. Turbine Repair Turbine Lifetime. And the article has a number of the highlights that they’ve been working on for the last several years, and you should really check this out, but looking at the accomplishments, Joel, it’s like, wow, fraud offer has been doing a lot behind the scenes and some of these technologies are, are really gonna be helpful in the near future. Joel Saxum: Yeah. Think of Frown Hoffer of your our US com compadres listening. Think of frown Hoffer as and NRE L, but. Not as connected to the federal government. Right. So, but, but more connected to [00:26:00] industry, I would say. So they’re solving industry problems directly. Right. Some of the people that they get funding research from is the OEMs, it’s other trade organizations within the group. They’re also going, they’re getting some support from the German federal government and the state governments. But also competitive research grants, so some EU DPR type stuff, um, and then some funding from private foundations and donors. But when you look at Frow, offerer, it’s a different project every time you talk to ’em. But, and what I like to see is the fact that these projects that they’re doing. Are actually solving real world problems. I, I, I, Alan and I talk about this regularly on the podcast is we have an issue with government funding or supportive funding or even grant funding or competitive funding going to in universities, institutions, well, whoever it may be, to develop stuff that’s either like already developed, doesn’t really have a commercial use, like, doesn’t forward the industry. But Frow Hoffer’s projects are right. So like one of the, they, they have [00:27:00] like the large bearing laboratory, so they’re test, they’ve tested over 500 pitch bearings over in Hamburg. They’re developing a handheld cure monitoring device that can basically tell you when resin has cured it, send you an email like you said, Alan, in case you’re like taking a nap on the ropes or something. Um, but you know, and they’re working on problems that are plaguing the industry, like, uh, up working on up towel repairs for carbon fiber, spar caps. Huge issue in the industry. Wildly expensive issue. Normally RA blade’s being taken down to the ground to fix these now. So they’re working on some UPT tile repairs for that. So they’re doing stuff that really is forwarding the industry and I love to see that. Allen Hall: Yeah. It’s one of the resources that. We in the United States don’t really take advantage of all the time. And yeah, and there’s a lot of the issues that we see around the world that if you were able to call f Hoffer, you should think about calling them, uh, and get their opinion on it. They probably have a solution or have heard of the problem before and can direct you to, uh, uh, a reasonable outcome. [00:28:00] That’s what these organizations are for. There’s a couple of ’em around the world. DTU being another one, frow Hoffer, obviously, uh, being another powerhouse there. That’s how the industry moves forward. It, it doesn’t move forward when all of us are struggling to get through these things. We need to have a couple of focal points in the industry that can spend some research time on problems that matter. And, and Joel, I, I think that’s really the key here. Like you mentioned it, just focusing on problems that we are having today and get through them so we can make the industry. Just a little bit better. So you should check out PES WIN Magazine. You can read this article and a number of other great articles. Go to ps win.com and download your articles today. That wraps up another episode of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate all the feedback and support we receive from the wind industry. If today’s discussion sparked any question or ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Just reach out to us on LinkedIn and please don’t forget to subscribe so you [00:29:00] never miss an episode For Joel, Rosemary and Yolanda, I’m a hall. We’ll catch you next week on the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast.

December 22, 2025 has arrived and so has this sonic edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Many of the longer versions of stories are produced as if they are going to air on the radio, and for this edition two have already done so! The other two have not, but will be among the stories that may be chosen for the December 27 edition that will air on WTJU at 6 a.m. Between now and then the goal is to spend the holiday period combing through a backlog of potential topics. I'm Sean Tubbs, and I'm glad that this is what I do.In this edition:* Charlottesville Planning Commission seeks some changes to city's five year CIP (read the story)* Charlottesville ends use of Flock system (read the story)* Charlottesville transitions parking garages to AI-powered access management (read the story)* The Albemarle Planning Commission takes a look at a new tool to be used to measure how the county's growth area land is being used (read the story)Not quite in this edition but recently written all the same:* Board of Visitors names Darden Dean as next UVA president* Charlottesville City Council makes appointments (link to Substack)* Rezoning sought for between 22 and 110 more units in Hollymead in AlbemarleShout-out to Patreon-fueled shout-outs!Since the beginning of this newsletter, several organizations and one business have been supporters of Town Crier Productions with a $25 monthly contribution funded through Patreon or some other financial method! That system is slowly giving away to something different but I thought I would take this special Monday morning slot to thank the following for still sticking to it:* Alliance Francaise* Camp Albemarle* Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards* Charlottesville E-Bike Lending Library* Cville Jazz Society* Design Develop* Plant Virginia Natives* Re-Leaf* Rivanna Conservation Alliance* WTJUIf you have a moment, take a look at any of the ones that sound interesting to you. Learn something new!A new system of shout-outs will come into place in 2026 and if you are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please drop me a line. I'm a one-person information outlet and for that number to go up, I have to continue to grow revenue. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Allen, Joel, and Yolanda recap the UK Offshore Wind Supply Chain Spotlight in Edinburgh and Great British Energy’s £1 billion manufacturing push. Plus Ørsted’s European onshore wind sale, Xocean’s unmanned survey tech at Moray West, and why small suppliers must scale or risk being left behind. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes’ YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! You are listening to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast brought to you by build turbines.com. Learn, train, and be a part of the Clean Energy Revolution. Visit build turbines.com today. Now, here’s your host. Allen Hall, Joel Saxon, Phil Totaro, and Rosemary Barnes. Allen Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I’m your host Allen Hall in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Queen City. I have Yolanda Pone and Joel Saxon back in Austin, Texas. Rosemary Barnes is taking the week off. We just got back from Scotland, Joel and I did, and we had a really great experience at the UK offshore wind supply chain spotlight 2025 in Edinburgh, where we met with a number of wind energy suppliers and technology advocates. A Joel Saxum: lot going on there, Joel. Yeah. One of the really cool things I enjoyed about that, um, get together the innovation spotlight. [00:01:00] One, the way they had it set up kind of an exhibition space, but not really an exhibition. It was like just a place to gather and everybody kind of had their own stand, but it was more how can we facilitate this conversation And then in the same spot, kind of like we’ve seen in other conferences, the speaking slots. So you could be kind of one in ear, oh one in year here, listening to all the great things that they’re doing. But having those technical conversations. And I guess the second thing I wanted to share was. Thank you to all of the, the UK companies, right? So the, all the Scottish people that we met over there, all the people from, from England and, and around, uh, the whole island there, everybody was very, very open and wanting to have conversations and wanting to share their technology, their solutions. Um, how they’re helping the industry or, or what other people can do to collaborate with them to help the industry. That’s what a lot of this, uh, spotlight was about. So from our, our seat, um, that’s something that we, you know, of course with the podcast, we’re always trying to share collaboration, kind of breed success for everybody. So kudos to the ORE [00:02:00] Catapult for putting that event on. Allen Hall: Yeah, a big thing. So, or Catapult, it was a great event. I’ve met a lot of people that I’ve only known through LinkedIn, so it’s good to see them face to face and. Something that we’ve had on the podcast. So we did a number of podcast recordings while we’re there. They’ll be coming out over the next several weeks, so stay tuned for it. You know, one of the main topics at that event in Edinburg was the great British Energy announcement. This is huge, Joel. Uh, so, you know, you know, the United Kingdoms has been really pushing offshore wind ambitions for years, but they don’t have a lot of manufacturing in country. Well, that’s all about the change. Uh, great British energy. Which is a government backed energy company just unveiled a 1 billion pound program called Energy Engineered in the uk, and their mission is pretty straightforward. Build it in the uk, employ people in the uk, and keep the economic benefits of the clean energy transition on British soil. 300 million pounds of that is really [00:03:00] going to be focused on supply chain immediately. That can happen in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England. It’s a big promotion for the UK on the wind energy side. I see good things coming out of this. What were your thoughts when you heard that Joel Saxum: announcement, Joel? The offshore wind play. Right. It’s like something like this doesn’t happen to economies very often. Right. It’s not very often that we have like this just new industry that pops outta nowhere. Right. We’re, we’re not making, you know, it’s like when, when. Automotive industry popped up in the, you know, the early 19 hundreds. Like that was this crazy new thing. It’s an industrial revolution. It’s all this new opportunity. So offshore wind in, in my idea, same kind of play, right? It’s this new thing or newer thing. Um, and as a government, um, coming together to say, Hey, this is happening. We have the resources here. We’re gonna be deploying these things here. Why would we not take advantage of building this here? I mean. Any politician that says I’m bringing jobs or I’m bringing in, you [00:04:00] know, um, bringing in funds to be able to prop up an industry or to, uh, you know, start a manufacturing facility here or support an engineering department here, um, to be able to take advantage of something like this. Absolutely right. Why offshore this stuff when you can do it Here, you’ve got the people, you have the engineering expertise. It’s your coastline. You’ve operated offshore. You know how to build them, operate ’em, all of these different things. Keep as much of that in-house as you can. I, I mean, we’ve, we’ve watched it in the US over the last few years. Kind of try to prop up a supply chain here as well. But, you know, with regulations and everything changing, it’s too risky to invest. What the, it looks like what the UK has seen over there is, well, we might as well invest here. We’ll throw the money at it. Let’s, let’s make it happen on our shores. The Allen Hall: comparison’s obvious to the IRA Bill Yolanda and the IRA bill came out, what, A little over two years ago, three years ago, roughly. We didn’t see a lot of activity [00:05:00] on the manufacturing side of building new factories to do wind. In fact, there was a lot of talk about it initially and then it. It really died down within probably a year or so. Uh, you know, obviously it’s not a universal statement. There were some industries model piles and some steelworks and that kind of thing that would would happen. But sometimes these exercises are a little treacherous and hard to walk down. What’s your thoughts on the UK government stepping in and really. Putting their money where the mouth is. Yolanda Padron: I think it’s, I mean, it’s, it’s great, right? It’s great for the industry. It’ll, it’ll be a great case, I think, for us to look at just moving forward and to, like you said, government’s putting their money where their mouth is and what exactly that means. You know, not something where it’s a short term promise and then things get stalled, or corporations start looking [00:06:00] elsewhere. If every player works the way that they’re, it’s looking like they’re going to play right now, then it, it could be a really good thing for the industry. Allen Hall: Well, the, the United States always did it in a complicated way through tax policy, which means it runs through the IRS. So any bill that passes Congress and gets signed by the president, they like to run through the IRS, and then they make the tax regulations, which takes six months to 12 months, and then when they come out, need a tax attorney to tell you what is actually written and what it means. Joel, when we went through the IRA bill, we went through it a couple of times actually, and we were looking for those great investments in new technology companies. I just remember seeing it. That isn’t part of the issue, the complexity, and maybe that’s where GB Energy is trying to do something different where there’s trying to simplify the process. Joel Saxum: Yeah. The complexity of the problem over here is like that. With any. Business type stuff, right? Even when you get to the stage of, um, oh, this is a write off, this is this [00:07:00] for small businesses and those things, so it’s like a delayed benefit. You gotta plan for this thing. Or there’s a tax credit here, there. Even when we had the, um, the electric vehicle tax credits for, uh, individuals, right? That wasn’t not something you got right away. It was something you had to apply for and that was like later on and like could be. 15 months from now before you see anything of it. And so it’s all kind of like a difficult muddy water thing in the i a bill. You’re a hundred percent correct. Right. Then we passed that thing. We didn’t have the, the rules locked down for like two years. Right. And I remember we had, we had a couple experts on the podcast talking about that, and it was like, oh, the 45 x and the 45 y and the, the C this and the be that, and it was like. You needed to have a degree in this thing to figure it out, whereas the, what it sounds like to me, right, and I’m not on the inside of this policy, I dunno exactly how it’s getting executed. What it sounds like to me is this is more grant based or, and or loan program based. So it’s kinda like, hey, apply and we’ll give you the money, or we’ll fund a loan that supports some money of with low interest, zero [00:08:00] interest, whatever that may be. Um, that seems like a more direct way, one to measure ROI. Right, and or to get things done. Just just to get things done. Right. If someone said, Hey, hey, weather guard, lightning Tech. We have a grant here. We’d like to give you a hundred grand to do this. Or it was like, yeah, if you put this much effort in and then next year tax season you might see this and this and this. It’s like, I don’t have time to deal with that. Yolanda Padron: Yeah. We might also just change the rules on you a little bit, and then maybe down the line we’ll see where we go. Yeah. It does seem like they’re, they’re setting up the dominoes to fall in place a bit better. This way. Yeah, absolutely. Joel Saxum: That’s a, that’s a great way to put it, Yolanda. Let’s setting up the dominoes to fall in place. So it’s kinda like, Hey. These are the things we want to get done. This is what we wanna do as an industry. Here’s a pool of money for it, and here’s how you get access to it. Allen Hall: A lot’s gonna change. I remember, was it a couple of months ago, maybe, maybe a year ago, time flies guys. Uh, we were just talking about. That on the way home from [00:09:00]Scotland, like how many people have had in the podcast? It’s a lot over 60 have been on the podcast as guests. Uh, one of the people we want to have on is, uh, Dan McGrail, who’s the CEO of Great British Energy because, uh, we had talked about with Rosemary the possibility of building turbines all in. The uk, they have blade factories. All this stuff is doable, right? They have technology. This is not complicated work. It just needs to be set up and run. And maybe this is the goal is to just run, it may maybe not be OEM focused. I I, that’s what I’m trying to sort through right now as, is it vestas focused? Is it GE focused? Is it Siemens Keesa focused? Is there a focus or will these turbines have GB energy? Stamped on the side of them. I would Joel Saxum: see love to see support for sub-component suppliers. Yeah, I would too. Yeah. The reason being is, is like that’s, that’s more near and dear to my heart. That’s what [00:10:00] I’ve done in my career, is been a part of a lot of different, smaller businesses that are really making a difference by putting in, you know, great engineering comes from small businesses. That’s one of my, my things that I’ve always seen. It seems to be easier to get things done. In a different way with a small business than it does to engineering by committee with 50 people on a team faster, sometimes better. Uh, that’s just my experience, right? So I would like to see these smaller businesses propped up, because again, we need the OEMs. Yes, absolutely. But also spread it around, right? Spread the wealth a little bit. Uh, you know, a, a factory here, a factory there, a engineering facility here. The, uh, you know, an execution plant here. Some things like that. I would love to see more of these kind of, uh, spread around like the, like GB energy’s money spreads around, like fairy dust. Just kind of plant a little here, plant a little in this city, make a little here, instead of just lumping it to one or lumping it into one big, um, OEM. And that doesn’t necessarily [00:11:00] have to be an OEM, right? It could be a blade manufacturer that I’m talking about, or. Or a big, big gearbox thing or something like that. We need those things, and I, I’m all for support for them, but I just don’t think that all of its support should go to them. Speaker 7: Australia’s wind farms are growing fast, but are your operations keeping up? Join us February 17th and 18th at Melbourne’s Poolman on the park for Wind Energy o and M Australia 2026, where you’ll connect with the experts solving real problems in maintenance asset management. And OEM relations. Walk away with practical strategies to cut costs and boost uptime that you can use the moment you’re back on site. Register now at W OM a 2020 six.com. Wind Energy o and m Australia is created by Wind Professionals for wind professionals because this industry needs solutions, not speeches. Allen Hall: If you haven’t booked your tickets to Wind Energy o and m Australia 2026, you need to be doing [00:12:00] that. Today, uh, the event is on February 17th and 18th in Melbourne, Australia. Uh, we’ll have experts from around the world talking everything o and m, and there’s so many good people are gonna be on the agenda, Joel, and a lot of big companies sponsoring this Joel Saxum: year. Allen Hall: You want to give us a highlight? Joel Saxum: Yeah, so like you said, Alan, we have a ton of sponsors going to be there and, and I’d like to say the sponsors. Thank you ahead of time. Of course. Right. We’re, we’re, we’re super excited for them to get involved because as we’ve put this event together. We’re trying to do this no sales pitches, right? So we wanna do this, not pay to play. We want people here that are going to actually share and learn from each other. And the sponsors have been kind enough to get on board with that message and follow through with it. So, like our lead industry sponsor Tilt, uh, Brandon, the team over there, fantastic. Um, they have, they’re, they’re the, their key sponsor here and they’re supporting a lot of this. So the money’s going to applying in experts from all over the [00:13:00] world, putting this thing together. Uh, so we have an, uh. A forum to be able to talk at, uh, C-I-C-N-D-T. From here in the States, uh, we’ve got Palisades, who’s another operator in the, uh, Australian market, uh, rig com. ISP over there doing blade work and it just keeps rolling down. We’ve got squadron on board, squadron’s gonna do one of the coffee carts. Um, so I know that we’ve got a limited bit of tickets left. I think we are 250 in the venue and that’s what the plan is. I think we’re sitting at about half of that leftover. Allen Hall: Yeah, it’s getting close to running out. And I know in Australia everybody likes to purchase their tickets at the last minute. That’s great. And but you don’t wanna miss out because there is limited seating to this event. And you wanna go to WMA w om a 2020 six.com. Look at all the activities. Book some tickets. Plan to book your travel if you’re traveling from the United States or elsewhere. You need a couple of weeks [00:14:00]hopefully to do that ’cause that’s when the airline prices are lower. If you can book a a couple of weeks ahead of time. So now’s the time to go on Woma 2020 six.com. Check out the conference, get your tickets purchased, start buying your airline tickets, and get in your hotel arranged. Now’s the time to do that. Well, as you know, war has been selling off pieces of itself after setbacks in the America market. Uh, sounds like two heavyweight bidders are looking for one of those pieces. Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and ENG G are allegedly competing for Seds European. Onshore Wind business, a portfolio valued at roughly 1 billion euros. Supposedly the bids are gonna be due this week, although nothing is certain in a billion dollar deals. This is a little bit odd. I understand why Stead is doing it, because they’re, they’re trying to fundraise, but if they do this. They will be essentially European offshore wind only [00:15:00] with some American onshore and a little bit American offshore. Not much. Uh, that will be their future. Are they gonna stay with America one onshore or, and American offshore? Is that a thing? Or they just could, could be all European offshore wind. Is that where Osted is headed? It’s a complicated mix because, you know, they’re, they’re, they’ve negotiated a couple of other deals. Most recently to raise cash. They’re supposedly selling, uh, another set of wind farms. I dunno how official that is, but it’s, it seems like there’s some news stories percolating up out there trying to raise more cash by selling large percentages of offshore wind farms. Where does Joel Saxum: this all end? I don’t know. The interesting thing is like if you looked at Ted, uh, man, two years ago, like if you Googled anything or used a jet, GPT or whatever it was like, gimme the. Three largest wind operators in the world. They were the top three all the time. Right. And, and most valuable. At one point in time, they were worth like, [00:16:00] uh, I don’t wanna say the wrong number, but I, I thought, I thought 25 billion or something like that. They were worth. ATS at one point in time. Market share. Allen Hall: Yeah, Joel Saxum: I think that seems right. So like they, they were huge and it just seems like, yeah, they’re trying to survive, but in survival mode, they’ve just kind, they’re just dwindling themselves down to being just o just a small offshore company. And, or not small, but a small, just a, just a siloed offshore company. A large offshore company. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, like, even just, there was, there’s another article, um. Today we’re, we’re talking here, CIP and Engie looking to buy their European onshore business. They’ve also are putting up like, uh, was it greater Ang of four in Taiwan for, for sale as well. So, I mean, like you said, where does it stop? I don’t know. Um, CIP is an interesting play. Uh, an Eng, CIP and Engie kind of battling this one out ’cause the CIP management team is a bunch of ex or said people, so they know that play very well. Um, ENGIE of course, being a big French [00:17:00] utility. So that one will sell, right? They’re, their European offshore or onshore assets will be gone shortly. Uh, they’ll be sitting with a bunch of offshore assets that they own and partially own around the world. Uh, and of course their, their, I think their US onshore fleet is about a gigawatt, maybe a and a half. Um, that could be the next domino to fall. You don’t, I, sorry, Yolanda, I used your, your, your, uh, euphemism from before, but, um. That they’re actively parting ways with some stuff. I don’t know when it stops. Allen Hall: It is odd, right? EOR has basically stopped a lot of renewables. Stat Craft has pulled back quite a bit. Another Norwegian company. A lot of the nor Northern European companies are slowing down in wind altogether, trying to stick to onshore for the most part. Offshore will still be developed, but just not at the pace that it needed to be developed. There is a lot of money moving around. Billions [00:18:00] and billions of, of euros and dollars moving. And I guess my, my thought is, I’m not sure from a market standpoint where Orid is headed, or even Ecuador for that matter, besides maybe moving back into oil and gas. They never really left it. The direction of the company is a little unknown because these, uh, news articles about sales. Are not really prefaced, right? It’s just like, all right, Taiwan, we’re selling more than 50% of the projects in Taiwan. We’re out, we’re selling European onshore pow, which there’d been some rumors about that, that I had heard, but nothing was really locked in, obviously, until you really start seeing some reliable news sources. Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners is an interesting play just because it kind of keeps it. Up in Denmark and not in France with Engie. That’s what I’m, in my [00:19:00] head. I’m thinking Sted is not likely to sell it to Engie just because they’re French. This is a national, uh, security issue for Denmark Sted. Is it, I I how Engie is involved in this maybe to help set a, a baseline of what the valuation is so that CIP can then purchase it. Do you see CIP losing this, Joel? Joel Saxum: No, I don’t think so. I think, yeah, I think CCIP has to land with this one and, and CI P’s been building a portfolio quietly, building a, not, I guess not quietly, they’ve been building a portfolio for the last few years. It’s pretty stout, uh, pretty fairly sizable. Right? And it, it’s an interesting play watching this for me because you, you see all these people kind of rotating out. And it, and it has to do with the, the, in my opinion, it has to do with the macroeconomics of things, right? Once, when you develop something and you get through, like in, into the teething pain cycle and all that kind of stuff. [00:20:00] The asset is not designed to have a 50, 70%, you know, margin, right? That’s not how wind works. Wind, wind operates of small margins and a lot of times in the early, a early stages of a project, you end up running into issues that eat those margins away. So when you’re talking about small margins, they’re six to 10% is what you kind of see. Um, and it’s pretty easy to eat away a 6% or a 10% margin. If you have some kind of serial defect you have to deal with, uh, or that, that the OEM’s fighting you on and, and you know, whether or not they take responsibility for it or you have to pay for it. A lot of times those processes can drag out for 12, 24, 36 months until you get made whole. So the early state, the first, you know, five years of a lot of these projects, five to eight years, are very expensive. And then once you get through kind of those things and the thing starts just chugging. Then you actually are starting to make money, and that’s where CIP P’S buying these assets is in that years after it’s gone through its teething pains and the company that developed it is like, man, [00:21:00] we need to get outta this thing. We’ve just been burning through cash. Then CI P’s kinda swooping in and grabbing ’em. And I think that this is another one of those plays. Allen Hall: So they’re gonna live with a smaller margin or they’re gonna operate the assets differently. Joel Saxum: The assets may be being operated better now than they were when they started, just in that, in, they exist, the starting company simply because the, some of the issues have been solved. They’ve been sorted through the things where you have early, early failures of bearings or some stuff like the early fairings of gearboxes. Those things have been sorted out, so then CIP swoops in and grabs them after the, the teething issues that have been gone. Allen Hall: Does evaluation change greatly because of the way horse did, manages their assets? Up or down? Joel Saxum: I would say generally it would go up. Yeah. I don’t necessarily think it’s dependent on o and m right now. I think it’s just a, it’s a time to buy cheap assets, right? Like you see, you see over here in the States, you see a lot of acquisitions going on. People divesting, they’re not divesting because they’re like, oh, we’re gonna make a ton of money off this. They may need the cash. They’re [00:22:00] divesting in, in, um, what’s the term, like under duress? A lot of them, it may not look like it from the outside in a big way, but that’s kind of what’s happening. Yolanda Padron: Yeah, I think it’ll be really interesting to see, uh, you know, there were a lot of layoffs in Ted and Europe as well, so seeing if maybe some of the people who can make those assets perform better. Come back just with a different t-shirt on. Allen Hall: As wind energy professionals staying informed is crucial, and let’s face it difficult. That’s why the Uptime podcast recommends PES Wind Magazine. PES Wind offers a diverse range of in-depth articles and expert insights that dive into the most pressing issues facing our energy future. Whether you’re an industry veteran or new to wind, PES wind has the high quality content you need. Don’t miss out. Visit PES wind.com today in this quarter’s, PES Wind Magazine, which you can download a copy at PES [00:23:00] wind.com. There’s an article by Xan and they were, uh, contracted by Ocean Winds to evaluate the sea floor from. The sea floor at Moray West, which is way, way, way up north on the northern end of Scotland. A pretty rough area, Joel. And, but what ex Ocean did was they used unmanned survey equipment to monitor the ocean floor where the mono piles were gonna replace for the Moey West Wind Farm. That is a really difficult area to operate any sort of boat, but. Uh, the reason we’re doing this remotely unmanned was that it, it gave them sort of a, a less costly way to get high resolution images of the sea bottom. This is interesting because ocean wind was developing more a West apparently hadn’t used anything like this before, but the results, at [00:24:00] least from what I can see in PS win, look Joel Saxum: great. Yeah. This is a technology that’s been, um. Man, it’s been under development by a lot of companies in the last six, eight years. And now it’s starting to get to the point where it is, I mean, we’re, we’re TRL nine plus, right? There’s a lot of these solutions out there that are commercially ready. Xans been a top of this list since, man, since I was playing in that oil and gas world, to be honest with you. Like 20 18, 20 17, uh, really cool looking boats. That’s besides the point. Uh, but when they show up at trade shows and stuff with ’em, you’re like, ah, oh, that thing’s neat looking. Um, but it, it, it, it solves all kinds of problems, right? So when you go offshore and you’re just gonna do, say you’re just gonna go out there and do multibeam, so you’re just gonna do echo sound where you’re just looking to see depths and what’s on the sea floor. The minimum kind of vessel you need for that is 10 to 15 meters long. You need probably two to six people on that vessel. And that’s just, if you’re going out doing shift work, if you’re staying out there [00:25:00] and working 24 7, that vessel grows to. 30 meters instantly, right? So now you’re burning thousands and thousands of dollars in fuel. You’ve got food on board. You got all, it’s just a pain to put this vessel out there. You take all of those people out of harm’s way. You take all the costs away and they, and you put two of them, or one or two of them on shore in a facility, and then you put this three meter vessel out there that’s fully autonomous. No people, but collects the same style of data. I mean, it’s a no brainer, right? So you’re getting the same style of data and if, and the thing’s working 24 7, there is no need to have someone sleep. There’s a not a technician issue. There’s not, none of this is, is a problem anymore. Nobody’s getting seasick, right? So you’re sitting, you’re, you’re sitting back on shore, uh, going to work, uh, with no PPE on, um, having a, having a coffee from Starbucks down the street. And you’re running this thing 24 7, you’re collecting all [00:26:00] that fantastic data. Uh, it is just, like I said, it’s a no brainer. Now, now they’re getting to the stage where they’re putting ’em out as swarms, so you can cover whole fields. You’re doing live cable inspections. It’s, it’s pretty fantastic. So Exo ocean’s really making the next generation of robotics o offshore. Allen Hall: Yeah. And that’s gonna drive down the cost of energy. These kind of developments make huge strides in lowering costs, and this is why you need to read PES Win Magazine. So there’s a. Great articles all throughout the magazine. This quarter’s issue is, is Heavy with articles. Get your free copy@pswin.com today. As you know, in the wind industry, survival has always belonged to those who can keep up, uh, and Sorn freeze. Nuon knows better than most with his decades of experience at LM Wind Power and Uzon. He now chairs two Danish subcontractors, Polytech and Jupiter. Bach. Uh, his message to smaller suppliers in, in a recent article is. Pretty blunt. It [00:27:00]says the manufacturers, big OEMs want fewer partners and larger partners who can take on more responsibility. And if you cannot invest and grow with those manufacturers, you’ll be left behind the winners. It says it will be those who stay close to the turbine makers and adapt as the industry evolves. Joel, this is a really interesting discussion that, uh, Soren put out there. Obviously he’s invested in Polytech and Jupiter, Bach, uh, to great suppliers obviously, but small businesses are where a lot of the key technologies have been driven over the last five, six years. In wind, or more broadly the last 20 years in wind, a lot of great technology has come out of places that you wouldn’t have thought of. The OEMs have not been the bastion of innovation. I would say it [00:28:00] is necessary. You have both, wouldn’t you think? You have to have the small business innovation to prove out ideas and to show that they work, but you also have to have the large manufacturers to implement those ideas more broadly without either one of them, nobody wins. Joel Saxum: I fully agree and I think that one of the things that’s a little bit, uh, more of a granular comment there is. I think sometimes you need the OEMs and the other suppliers within the supply chain to open their doors a little bit, right? So this is, this is me wearing my, my small business, small innovative business, uh, in the wind industry cap. And that is, man, sometimes it is hard to get a conversation with a large subsupplier or with an OEM when you have something that can help them. And they just don’t want to communicate, don’t want to help. It’s just our way or the highway kind of thing. And if you watch, like we, so the podcast gives us an kind of, or not [00:29:00] gives us, it forces us to have kind of an op, an opportunity to look at, you know, what are the, what are the financial statements of some of these OEMs? What are the financial statements of some of their large sub-suppliers? You know? ’cause if they’re located in countries where that stuff is public knowledge, you can see how and what they’re doing. And if you, if you look at business in a general way where you rely on one customer or two customers to, for your whole business, you’re gonna be hurting. Um, especially in the way we look at things or what we’re seeing in the wind industry right now is if you’re, if you are a large company to say you do a hundred million in revenue and your customers are ge Vestas. Depending on what happens regulatory wise, in some random country somewhere your a hundred million dollars could shrink to 50 real quick. Um, so I don’t think that that’s a great way to do business. I think, you know, having a bit of diversification probably helps you a little bit. The OEMs Allen Hall: have a particular job to do. They need to deliver turbines onsite on time and create power for their customer. That’s our main [00:30:00] focus. They are a generator. Driven company, they make generators on steel towers with a propeller system basically. Right. Just simplify it way, way down. There’s not a lot of technology in that itself. Obviously there’s control systems, obviously there’s electronics involved, but the concept from this basic fundamentals is not difficult to to grasp. The difficulty is in execution. Showing that that product can last for 20 years, and that product can last in different environments. Australia, United States, up in Scandinavia, Canada, way down south and Brazil. There’s some really rough environments there and the OEMs are relying upon in industry, uh, guidance from like the IECs and then the dvs, uh, uls Tube. Nord. Uh. Bvs where they’re trying to make these turbines comply to a [00:31:00] set of essentially regulations, which just simplify it. You can do that. But as we have seen historically in the wind industry, if you make a turbine that just meets those requirements, you do not necessarily have a successful product. You have a product that is marginal, and as Yolanda has pointed out to me numerous times, there’s a lot of real issues in wind turbines. That probably could have been solved five years ago by small mobile companies with outside of the box ideas that could have given the OEMs a huge advantage, especially in blades. Yolanda Padron: Yeah, and I think a lot of these companies are, they’re looking at things from a different point of view, right? They’re smaller companies. You have people who could know the product, they know the real issue that’s going on on the ground. They know. Kind of what they need to do, what the next step is to move forward in their solution.[00:32:00] Right? But it’s not like it’s a, a company where you need 30 people to sign off before you can go onto the next stage, and then you need 30 more people to sign off before you can get funding to do something else. And so yes, the OEMs are doing a good job in their scope. If they’re meeting their scope, they are doing a good job. You know, if I, if I take like bread and cheese, then yes, I have a sandwich, right? Like, it might not be the best sandwich in the world, but I have a sandwich. So like, they’re making the sandwich and that’s great. But if you want something to, to actually work and to last and to, to give everybody else the, the idea that. You know, wind is profitable and we can all benefit from it. You have to get all those different layers in there, right? You have to make [00:33:00] sure that you know, if you have a big lightning issue, then you get the right people in the room to get that retrofit in there to solve your lightning issue. If you have a big leading edge erosion issue, then you get those right people in the room to solve everything, and it’s not always going to be a one size fits all. Right, but you do need those smaller companies to, to be in the room with you. Joel Saxum: I’m a hundred percent agreeing with you, Yolanda, and I think that this is the issue here is that at some level then an OEM, an OEM engineering head would have to admit that they’re not the end all be all, and that they may have got a couple of things wrong. And what, what I would love to see and who, and maybe maybe ask you this question, who of the major four Western OEMs. Do you think would be open to like an industry advisory board? Nordex, you think it’s Nordex? I think Yolanda Padron: that’s the closest one so far that we’ve seen. Right? Joel Saxum: Yeah. I, I, I agree with you, and I’m saying that because I don’t think any of the other ones would ever admit that they have an [00:34:00] issue, right? They have attorneys and they have problems, Allen Hall: so they really can’t, but I, I think internally they know that they haven’t optimized their production, they haven’t optimized their performance out in the field. They’re trying to improve availability, that’s for sure. Estes has spent a great deal of time over the last year or two improving availability so that the money is being spent. The question is, do they have all the right answers or the overspending to get to the availability that they want to deliver to their customers? That’s a great question because I do think that we we’re just in Scotland and there’s a number of technology companies in the UK that I think, wow, they should be implementing some of these. Ideas and these products that have been proven, especially the ones that have been out for a couple of years, they should be implemented tomorrow, but they’re not yet because they can’t get through the door of an OEM because the OEM doesn’t want to hear it. Joel Saxum: Yeah, agreed. Agreed. Right. Well, well, like I, the, the, the example that keeps popping into my mind is Pete Andrews and the team over [00:35:00] at Echo Bolt, simply because they have a solution that works. It’s simple. They’ve done the legwork to make sure that this thing can be optimized and utilized by technicians in the field around the world. But they, it just like, they haven’t gotten the buy-in from, from whoever, uh, that it seems to be, you know, there’s a hurdle here. Uh, and that hurdle may be the Atlantic Ocean. I don’t know. Uh, but I would love to see, I would love to see their, uh, solution for bolted connections, uh, and monitoring bolted connections kicked around the world because I think you could save. Uh, the wind industry a ton, a ton, a ton of money. And that is an example of a small business full of subject matter experts that made a solution that can solve a problem, whether you’re an OEM or you’re an operator or whatever. There’s there that’s there, utilize them, right? Those are the kind of things that we need in this industry. Yolanda Padron: And it’s also those smaller companies too that will look at your feedback and then they’ll say, oh. Okay, do I need to adjust here? [00:36:00] Did I not focus on this one parameter that your specific site has? Right. And you don’t see that from the OEMs ’cause they have so, uh, they have so many problems that they’re trying to tackle at once that it gets really difficult to, not just to hone in on one, but to, to tell everybody, oh, I, I have this perfect solution for everything. Here you go. Allen Hall: Right. I think there’s an internal conflict in the engineering departments and manufacturing departments of any OEM, regardless if it’s in wind or in any other industry, is that they have a system to make this product and they’re pretty confident in it, otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it. They don’t want to hear outside noise is I, I would describe it as noise. Like, uh, if you have a great solution that would help out their manufacturing process. But I work here, I know how, I know the ins and outs that that new idea by a small company won’t work here. Those [00:37:00] barriers have to be knocked down internally in the OEMs. The OEM management should be going through and saying, Hey, look, if I find me the manager of this operation, if I find a company that could help us and save us money, and you’re being a roadblock, guess what? See ya. Hit the road because there is no way you can let those opportunities pass you by. In today’s marketplace, you need to be grabbing hold of every opportunity to lower your cost, to improve your product availability, to improve your relationship with your customers. How do you do that? Quickly, you look at the companies that are providing solutions and you grab them, grab them, and hold on for your life and listen to what they have to say because they have probably done more research into your product than your people have. That wraps up another episode of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. If today’s discussion sparked any questions or ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us on LinkedIn and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. If you [00:38:00] found value in today’s discussion, please leave us a review. It really helps other wind energy professionals discover the show and we’ll catch you here next week on the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast.

Endrédy Gábor, színművész, a Slachta Margit Kollégium igazgatója. A színpad után most egy másik területen találta meg a hivatását: fiatal egyetemisták közösségét vezeti, akik a Magyar Vezetőképző Alapítvány égisze alatt működő Mórus Vezetőképző Akadémia programjaiból nőttek ki. A kezdeményezés célja, hogy a tehetséges, közösségért dolgozó fiatalokat értékalapú közösségbe hívja, és olyan környezetet teremtsen számukra, ahol a tudás mellett a szolgálat és a felelősség is mindennapi értékké válik. A Slachta Margit Kollégium két éve nyílt meg a XI. kerületben, az Aga utcában. Az intézmény 55 férőhelyes, könyvtárral, előadóteremmel, kápolnával és konditeremmel felszerelt, ahol a fiatalok nemcsak biztonságos lakhatást, hanem inspiráló közösséget is kapnak. A túljelentkezés háromszoros, ami egyértelműen mutatja, hogy egyre nagyobb az igény az ilyen értékközpontú közösségi terekre. Gábor szerint ez a munka másfajta színpad: itt a diákok szemében, a közös programokban és a bizalomban jelenik meg a siker. Azt mondja, a legnagyobb élménye, amikor a fiatalok nemcsak lakóként, hanem alkotóként vesznek részt a kollégium életében, ötleteikkel, kezdeményezéseikkel, közösségi aktivitásukkal. A beszélgetés során mesél a Cipősdoboz-akcióról is, amelyet a kollégisták kezdeményeztek egy budai gyermekotthon javára. A diákok saját ajándékokat gyűjtenek, személyre szabottan, életkor és nem szerint, hogy karácsony előtt valódi örömöt adhassanak. A közösség így nemcsak a tanulás, hanem az empátia és a szolidaritás tere is lett. Gábor ma már háromgyermekes édesapaként a családot helyezte előtérbe. A színházi világot nem hagyta maga mögött, hiszen rendszeresen moderál kulturális eseményeket, díjátadókat, de életének középpontjába most az a szolgálat került, amely mások életét formálja. Ahogy fogalmazott, „ez is színpad, csak most a közösség a nézőtér, és minden nap új előadás kezdődik.”A Sláger FM-en minden este 22 órakor a kultúráé a főszerep S. Miller András az egyik oldalon, a másikon pedig a térség kiemelkedő színházi kulturális, zenei szcena résztvevői Egy óra Budapest és Pest megye aktuális kult történeteivel. Sláger KULT – A természetes emberi hangok műsora.

A economia portuguesa parece melhor vista de fora do que de dentro? E por que razão a América de Donald Trump detesta tanto a União Europeia? Em dia de greve geral e em época de gripe, o Eixo do Mal teve Ângelo Correia e Cecília Meireles em substituição de Daniel Oliveira e Clara Ferreira Alves. Governo e CIP dizem que adesão à greve foi mínima (entre 0% a 10%) e que “a economia real” funcionou, mas os Sindicatos apontam mais de 80% de participação. CGTP fala em 3 milhões de trabalhadores; UGT ameaça nova paralisação nos próximos meses. A greve, que contesta o anteprojeto de revisão da legislação laboral em debate na Concertação Social, foi o tema de abertura de um Eixo de Mal gravado no dia da paralisação. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Saúde, Educação e Transportes devem sofrer as maiores perturbações. Ainda há espaço para o diálogo? CIP, CGTP, Fectrans, Fenprof e Administradores Hospitalares antecipam impacto do protesto.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Servicing Foxx Inc: Part 5 Reluctant Exhibitionist Training By PtmcPilot listen to the ►Podcast at Steamy Stories. As a brief recap, a couple of months ago I separated from the Navy after six years in submarines. Growing bored of lounging around my parents' house, I began a job search, and to my surprise I found myself in an interview a short time later. An interview, believe it or not, that ended with my having sex with my hiring manager. That was actually normal given that my new job was to sexually service the women of Foxx Inc. Excellent work if you can get it. After several weeks as Provider of Building Services at Foxx Inc, I was feeling pretty comfortable and secure. I hadn't had any more 'complaints' and my female coworkers seemed genuinely pleased with my, um, performance. At the time there was one potential problem I was keeping an eye on, and I'll have to recount that in another entry of its own. This journal entry is about a Friday to remember. It was noon on a Thursday, and I had yet to be visited by one of the Foxx women. That was odd, although not completely unheard of. I'd grabbed lunch early and was looking over proposals for the new janitorial services contract when my phone dinged. A text from Ms Olson, the lead HR rep, simply told me to check email. Any contact, even a text, from that woman had me well on my way to hard in moments. I woke my computer and read her message. "Mr. Jeffries, tomorrow the firm will be holding a 'Free Use Friday.' To be sure things go as well as desired, I have arranged some training this afternoon. Please study this email and commit the customs and rules of FuF to memory. Then, promptly at 13 0 5, come to my office for a practical exam; I will be the one available for free use. See you soon." Attached to the email was a document, and adjusting my now fully hard cock, I opened it to learn what she had in mind. "The concept of free use is as follows: one party, in this case women of the firm wearing blue or black dresses, skirts or slacks on Free Use Friday, gives prior consent for sex without further discussion. The other party, in this case the PBS, can, at any time, engage in sexual acts with the consenting party. None of the women present will acknowledge anything sexual is happening. For example, you may find a woman wearing a black skirt having a conversation with some coworkers in the breakroom, walk up, bend her over a table and commence fucking her, and no one in the room is to notice you are doing so. As you will be engaging the women at the time of your choosing, it is your responsibility to ensure the firm is not embarrassed or placed in jeopardy. For example, there are circumstances, say when someone is on a video call, that require discretion. Note, this does not mean you cannot or should not engage in sexual acts with them during a call; however, you must carefully consider what the other side will see or hear. During FuF you may find a woman you wish to engage, take any appropriate precautions regarding discretion, pose them as desired, undress them as needed, and get on with business. While they will not acknowledge you, they will participate. For example, if you put their hand around your cock they will stroke you. If you undress a woman you need not redress them when you depart. For your first FuF at the firm, we have decided to keep the rules simple. -Any woman wearing a black or blue dress, skirt or slacks is a consenting player -All woman so consenting give prior consent for: vaginal sex (to include internal ejaculation), oral sex (give/receive through to orgasm), undressing, all manner of breast fondling, facials, titty fucking, and handjobs." I pushed back from the desk and exhaled. Wowzers. I checked the time and found there were still forty-five minutes until my meeting with Ms Olson. Knowing I would not be able to focus on the proposals after that reading, I decided instead to double down on my hydration by knocking back a bottle of water and a pineapple juice. For no reason in particular on this day I was dressed as a custodial engineer, aka janitor. However, after reading over the email a few times I decided to change my attire and opted instead for office intern. Ditching the utility shirt and blue trousers, I donned black slacks, dress shoes, a white shirt and a tie. I left the underwear off as I figured they would just get in the way. Knowing precisely how long it took to get to Ms Olson's office, I left at 13 0 2 and arrived at her door at 13 0 5. Nearly hard before I even opened the door, my brain ran through a dozen scenarios in the brief moment between scanning my key card and opening the door. Ms Olson was behind her desk, engaged in a discussion with someone else that I did not immediately see. Closing the door behind me, I noted the presence of a smartly dressed woman perhaps mid-30s in age. She had black hair in a tight bun at the back of her head, a white blouse, blue blazer and a black skirt. While I recognized her as a recent hire, I did not so much as know her name. Her eyes darted to me for an instant, and a flush came over her otherwise rather pale complexion. It seemed she was ignoring me, which was very much in line with the fantasy angle I'd been told to expect. Of course, the flush was a slight giveaway. After a brief glance, I turned to Ms Olson, who was seated, cross-legged in her chair, one leg slightly swinging. "Ms Garland, Elise," the HR rep said, "You are going to have to make a better case than that if you want me to hire an assistant for you." "I, well, you see," the woman I assumed to be Ms Garland said with a slight stammer. I grinned and moved to stand next to Ms Olson as the new woman organized her thoughts. If she was distracted, I didn't do her any favors as I walked up next to Ms Olson, unzipped, withdrew my cock, and placed Ms Olson's hand on it. True to form, she didn't do anything to acknowledge the act as she started to stroke me. Ms Garland cleared her throat and made an effort to maintain eye contact with Ms Olson. "Yes," she said at last with some firmness, "as the new lead of the contracts division it is suboptimal for me to have legal discussions with clients without an assistant to take notes and help me with other necessary administrative tasks." Ms Olson stroked my cock, mindfully running her palm over the head and spreading the increasing pre-cum along my shaft as she considered her response. She said, "Suboptimal you say? I'm intrigued. Please explain how not having an assistant affects you. And be sure to be detailed as I want to be convinced." Suspecting this was a ploy to avoid saying anything, I took a hold of Ms Olson's ever convenient and present ponytail and guided her head down to my dick, where she quite pleasantly took me into her mouth and began to fellate me. I stole a glance at Ms Garland, and found her staring at the wall behind us, trying desperately not to observe the blowjob being performed right in front of her. Her flush was, if anything, even a deeper shade of crimson, her nostrils flared and her nipples now pointy enough to cut glass. She took a deep breath before talking very slowly. "There are, in fact, several reasons. I'll go over a few in detail, as you asked, and then maybe we can discuss them." Ms Olson, not pausing her cock sucking efforts in the slightest, gestured with her free hand to indicate the woman should, in fact, continue. "Very well. The most important reason for me to have an assistant is to have someone present for all meetings and phone calls. This allows me to engage in a dynamic and involved conversation, representing the firm with maximum efficiency because I know someone is accurately recording every word said. In my experience, most of the people I engage with will not have that luxury, and this puts them at a disadvantage when we recount terms and conditions from those discussions." Ms Olson pulled off my cock with an audible 'pop' and turned toward the other woman. "I gather you are saying that most of the people you engage in are not as quick as yourself, and when you read their words back to them they are surprised?" Without waiting for a response, she resumed the blowjob. Ms Garland's glance darted toward Ms Olson's head, though again only for an instant. She inhaled sharply, then exhaled slowly as she shook her head, a slight smile on her face. "Not to sound too full of myself, but yes, that is exactly what I am saying." Ms Olson managed to convey a nod with another hand gesture. Ms Garland nodded in response, and said, "My priorities are on the position and protection of Foxx Inc, and that means my time is best spent planning for and engaging with clients, not writing up my notes and preparing documents such as NDAs." Ms Olson again pulled off my cock with a 'pop' and continued to stroke me as she turned and replied, a smile appearing on her face, "Are you saying things such as notes and documents are not worth your time?" And again, she resumed her blowjob efforts. Ms Garland looked annoyed ever so briefly, but Ms Olson was not looking at her. Then, her gaze shifted to me, back to Ms Olson and what she was doing, and she wetted her lips almost obviously, before returning to look past Ms Olson. "Those tasks are certainly worth doing; however, you are not paying me a few hundred dollars an hour to do them." Ms Olson pulled off me, and now I was quite ready to continue my own, er, congress with the HR rep. "I believe we are in agreement on your points so far, Elise. Do continue." As she spoke, I lifted her from the chair and placed one hand between her shoulder blades. Pushing slightly as I had one hand on her hip, she compliantly bent forward over the desk. I tossed her skirt up onto her back as Ms Garland's eyes went wide for a moment as she realized what was about to happen. "My final point is more," and she was interrupted by a deep groan from Ms Olson as I sheathed myself fully inside her ever delectable, and wet, cunt. Ms Olson let out a long breath and our new lawyer continued, "well, it is a little more, ah, basic." I began fucking Ms Olson with solid strokes, slamming her hips against the desk as I did. She tried, and failed, to avoid a faint grunt with each thrust. "Please, ugh, Ms Garland, ugh, do, ugh, continue. I'm sure, ugh, that you wouldn't, ugh, ask if you didn't, ugh, need it." Subconsciously or not, she put a heavy emphasis on 'need.' Though we had not been at it long, I sensed she was getting as close as I was. Ms Garland was beet red at this point and breathing almost as hard as Ms Olson. "Yes, well, you see, our clients and competitors all know who does, and does not answer their own phones and make their own appointments. In addition to greatly helping me with my work, an assistant goes a long way toward conveying the firm's status to outsiders." At the moment she finished that statement, I had my fingers on Ms Olson's clit, and I squeezed it as I drove toward my rapidly approaching climax. As expected, she was not far behind me, and she gripped the edge of the desk as she let out a low quiet moan and clenched my cock. With that, I started to come myself. After a moment she let go of the desk with one hand and hit the desk twice, "Fuck," she said in a drawn out way. Then she blew her hair out of her face even as I continued to fill her cunt through our mutual climax. Ms Garland unabashedly gawked at me for a long moment, then looked away. Grinning like the Cheshire Cat, I withdrew from Ms Olson, pulled her skirt back down, and pulled up my trousers. As I did so, Ms Olson said, "Well, Elise, I have to say I was on the fence, but your arguments pushed me over the edge and I am fully behind your proposal." Not bothering to smooth her skirt, Ms Olson stood upright and extended her hand, the one she had been stroking me with by the way, to the other woman, "You do understand that your assistant needs to be a woman, and possesses shall we say, certain attitudes?" Ms Garland stood and shook the offered hand, "Thank you. And yes, I am quite clear on the necessary attitudes of Foxx Inc employees." Ms Olson nodded, "Good, then I expect to see the write up for the position this afternoon." The other woman returned the nod, then left the room. Ms Olson at once turned to me and kissed me hard. "God I've missed doing that!" Seeing my confused expression she added, "It's been quite a while since I've been able to arrange and participate in that kind of fantasy. I dare say we surprised Elise even though she knew this was, ah, coming." She sat down and looked up at me with a big grin, "I can't speak for her, but if I'd been sitting there, watching us, I'd be soaked." I returned the grin and she added, "Don't worry, she won't be frustrated for long. You are scheduled to stop by her office at 15 35, though she doesn't know that." Though I had just come a few minutes ago, I could feel myself stirring. "I'll try not to be late." I walked to the door, then realized something, "By the way, do I need to know what Ms Garland's regular tri-graphs are?" Ms Olson gave me a surprised look, "Oh my! How did I miss that you haven't been with her yet?" She snickered, then laughed, then waved a hand at me in dismissal, "Don't worry, I'm sure anything on the free use list I sent you will be fine with her." Then something seemed to occur to her, and she smirked, "Though maybe you should check her badge after all." Back in my office, I freshened up after my delightfully exhibitionist tryst with Ms Olson and sat down to have a look at Ms Garland's calendar. There was a 15 30 meeting with a subject line of "private meeting". I could not see the attendees, but a quick check of Ms Olson's calendar revealed a meeting on the same topic. '15 35', I thought to myself, and then a different idea popped into my head. I finished with the new services contract, sent a signed version on its way, and had another water. I switched to the blue HVAC tech uniform and arrived at Ms Garland's office a little after 15 20. Opening the door her eyes popped as she recognized me. Then she checked her watch and her hand shot to cover her mouth and she squeaked an, "Oh my!" She shook her head and went back to doing whatever it had been when I entered. Closing the door behind me I walked over to stand beside her. I reached down between her blouse covered boobs and picked up her key cards. Her tri-graphs held a surprise for me: REX, NIX, CIP. The last two were relatively common, indicating she preferred for me to ejaculate in her cunt, and she liked everything done with her breasts. The first one though, gave me a pause and it took a moment to remember it. Reluctant exhibitionism. I checked the time, 1525. Looking around the room I decided on a course of action. Standing behind her I put my hands under her arms and had her stand. She said nothing, and kept focused forward as her panties were lowered and removed. I gestured for her to sit, then moved under the desk and rolled her chair forward slightly. Moving her skirt up and out of the way, I moved her knees as far apart as possible before reaching out to stroke the junction of her thighs with both hands. Despite trying to remain 'in character', my strokes so near her cunt resulted in a heavy moan. With one hand I barely brushed her clit, while the other ran up and just between her folds. As I had hoped and expected, she was soaked. I waited for a cue. A couple of minutes later, the door latch clicked and I heard someone enter the room, and I thought it might actually be two people. "Gwen, Ashley, good afternoon," said Ms Garland. "Please take a seat." Ah, this meant that not only was Ms Olson present, but so was Ms Maddox, the Managing Partner whom I had met only twice before. "You're looking a bit flushed, are you alright?" said Ms Maddox. Ms Garland shifted in her seat slightly, and I did not pause my actions. "I'm fine, really just a little hot, er, warm I think." "Well then," said Ms Olson, "shall we, get to it then?" There was a pause and she continued, "Gwen, Elise has stated some concerns with the impregnation arrangements." "I see," said Ms Maddox, "please explain." "This is a field with surprisingly little case law," began Ms Garland. "Aside from paternity cases arising from sperm donor instances in California, there isn't much out there." I heard all of this clearly, but the context didn't register with me. I kept up my efforts on Ms Garland, who was starting to squirm. "So we're clear," said Ms Olson, "the person most likely to be concerned with the terms is the, ah, sperm donor." Ms Maddox said, "You mean Mr Jeffries." And on that note, not a little surprised at this news myself, I pushed two fingers as deep into Ms Garland as I could, and was rewarded with a faint, but noticeable "Ooh!" "Yes Elise? What was that?" Ms Olson said, a definite hint of mirth in her voice. Feeling the sponginess of her g-spot, I pressed on it rhythmically and she squirmed, grinding against my fingers. "Ahem, yes, most of the case law is concerned with donor rights and responsibilities after birth, primarily in regards to financial support and visitation." As she spoke I continued to work her cunt, trying to be careful and not to get her too close to coming. She groaned. "Are you quite sure you're okay?" asked Ms Maddox. I gathered Ms Garland nodded because a moment later she continued, "Do you think a solution is achievable? She's quite intent on having everything set so she can, well, not to put to fine a point on it, fuck with a purpose when she's ready." Now that we were talking clearly, II decided it was time to move on. I pushed the chair back from the desk while keeping my fingers moving inside her. Once there was space I crawled out from the chair and pulled Ms Garland to her feet. I looked at the two women on the couch, and found they were steadfastly looking right at Ms Garland, pointedly not looking at me. My hands went to the front of her blouse and I started to unbutton it. Her breathing got heavier. "I don't believe there is a way to completely prevent future legal action, but it does seem quite unlikely." Finished with her blouse, I was pleasantly surprised to find a front clasp bra, which was at once undone to release her b-cups to everyone present. Her nipples were like diamonds against my palms. Ms Olson smirked, "So we could say the exposure of the firm would not be a concern?" Before Ms Garland could reply, I dropped my trousers and sat in the chair, my hands moving to Ms Garland's hips. She let out a long breath, knowing what was coming. "Nope," she said quickly. Now, with one hand I pulled Ms Garland down to my lap, aiming my cock home with the other. I sighed as she sank down fully on me, sheathing me in her wet warmth. "I, Mmm, agree," said Ms Olson with a grin. "I don't believe Mr Jeffries will have an issue when everything is explained. He's a very reasonable person." Ms Maddox nodded and both women stood up from the couch. "Well then, I think this meeting accomplished its purpose, wouldn't you say Ashley?" Ms Olson grinned, "It's close enough to a conclusion, yes. We can leave Elise to finish on her own." The other woman nodded and the two of them turned to go. The moment the door shut Ms Garland jumped up from my lap and pulled me up out of the chair, kissing me very aggressively. "Sorry to break out of the fantasy," she said, then pushed me away and opened the valise next to her desk. Inside was some work out gear, and a pile of folded towels. She handed me two, and said, "Get naked and put those on the floor." She shrugged off her bra and blouse as she said this, then removed her skirt as she strode to the door and locked it. I pulled off my shirt, stepped out of my trousers and lay down on the towels in the center of the room. At once she straddled my hips and started sliding her clit along my length. I moved my head up and took one nipple in my mouth as I pinched the other. Her face next to my ear, she said heavily, "I've never been so turned on as I have been for the last two hours." I tugged on her nipple with my teeth and she moaned. "I don't want to surprise you, so I'll warn you that sometimes I squirt when I'm really excited. And right now I'm way past that. Oh, and if I come really hard, I can get really out of it. Don't let it stop you." I nodded, shifting nipples to suck on the other one. She pulled me away from her chest and kissed me hard, angling her hips as she did and taking me inside her on the next stroke. The next instant she started riding me faster than anyone ever had. Her breathing accelerated, and after maybe thirty seconds she held her breath and then nearly screamed into my mouth. Her cunt clenched around me, and then a veritable flood of hot liquid splashed out of her and all over my abdomen. Her lower body started shaking, then a bit later her breathing changed to a fast pant for just a bit before she collapsed on top of me, completely limp yet still quivering after her orgasm. Remembering what she said, I rolled her onto her back, held on to her knees and fucked her for a very short time before flooding her cunt. It was good, really good, and I sat back on my haunches waiting for her to come back to reality. It was maybe thirty seconds before her eyes fluttered open, she smiled at me, and with one hand she caressed her cunt, feeling me still inside her. She gave her clit a pinch, moaned, then said, "Is it always like this?" Since she hadn't done anything yet to signal I should leave, I gave her a couple strokes and she sighed. "What part exactly?" I asked. "Where to begin? I started working here three weeks ago with the understanding that once in a while I'd have the opportunity to visit you for some fooling around. Then yesterday, before I had that chance, Ashley came to my office and asked me if I could help with this free use idea. She said my profile, with 'REX', made me a natural for a first test." "I gather she wasn't wrong about that," I said, and she gestured for me to withdraw, so I did, and then we both stood and started dressing. "No, but having sex right in front of the boss? That's a whole other level of kink." "Well, as a matter of fact that's three firsts for me today." Ms Garland was redonning her blouse, no bra, and I continued, "Sex for an audience, twice, a real squirter, and coming inside a willing partner who was pretty much passed out." "Unconscious, to be precise. Oh, and that makes me glad I warned you and gave you the towels. I was so incredibly horny after watching you and Ashley that I really wanted to come back here and get myself off. But I knew you were going to have me somewhere with other people before the end of work, and that thought made me want to wait." I grinned, "That was fucking hot for sure." She pulled up her skirt and ran her fingers through her hair, "And this is a normal workday for you?" I shrugged, "Not really. Usually three or four women stop by my office one at a time over the course of a day. This was the first time outside my office." I snapped my fingers, "Except for the gym, oh and that time in the nurse's office." She looked at me quizzically, "And that isn't too much?" I gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Ms Garland, I eat three meals a day and never get tired of food. With variety and fun, it'll never be too much." "You can call me Elise, you know." I winked and went for the door, "I know Ms Garland, I know." Something occurred to me and I turned around, "Say, when do I hear more about this pregnancy thing?" "You remembered that?" She shook her head and then giggled, "As soon as the other party commits." She shrugged, "Though it might not even happen." I nodded and finished dressing before leaving her office. I did not have any other visits that afternoon, and I spent a quiet evening at home thinking about how I should approach the day tomorrow. The possibilities seemed endless. To be continued By PtmcPilot for Literotica

Servicing Foxx Inc: Part 2 First day of work at Foxx Inc.. By PtmcPilot listen to the ►Podcast at Steamy Stories. As a brief recap, I had separated from the Navy a few weeks ago after six years in submarines. Growing bored of lounging around my parents' house, I began a job search, and to my surprise I found myself in an interview a short time later. An interview, believe it or not, that ended with my having sex with my hiring manager. My job, should I choose to accept it, was to sexually service the women of Foxx Inc. Just based on the interview, good work if you can get it. We pick up my journal record where the Friday job interview was finishing.. I stood and removed my shirt. Through lidded eyes she watched as I pushed down my pants and underwear. She smiled when my slightly longer than average cock (as accurately reported on the questionnaire) came into view. "Would you please have intercourse with me now Thomas?" I said, "If you don't think it terribly rude, I would rather fuck you, Ms. Olson." "Um, that sounds fine to me," she said with a husky voice. Placing myself at her entrance, I pushed into her in one long, languid stroke, luxuriating in the snug, warm and wet feel of her cunt. Fully sheathed, she gave me a squeeze then placed my hands on her breasts. "Be rough with my nipples; I'll let you know if you go too far." I took her breasts in my hands, pressing them together even as I started to pinch her nipples. Her back arched as I did so, suggesting I was at least not going too far. I withdrew and started fucking her with long slow strokes. After a few minutes of simply enjoying the feel of her, I asked, "So, how many women are we talking about?" "My your cock feels good," she purred, "Um, what was that? Oh! Yes, we currently have forty five on staff." Damn her cunt felt great as she gripped me on the way out. I reseated myself with a sudden quick stroke and she gasped. "I do believe I have found a satisfactory replacement," she said as she smiled at me. My thrusting slowly became more and more forceful, and urgent. She stopped moaning briefly to say, "I may have forgotten to tell you something important." I heard her, and didn't process it. My thrusts were now getting frantic, and my partner knew quite clearly what that meant. "Mr. Jeffries, when you are servicing a woman in the Firm and she is wearing blue or black lipstick, you are to ejaculate in her mouth when you finish." As she said that I had that feeling you get when you know you are a few seconds from orgasm. And it finally registered she was wearing black lipstick. "Better get in position then, Ms. Olson!" I grunted through gritted teeth as I pulled out of her delectable cunt. She slid off the table and to her knees in front of me. Placing her hands on my ass, she took my cock in her mouth and began to bob her head as she attacked me with her tongue. Already past the point of no return I grabbed handfuls of her hair but did not pull her to me. As she sucked wildly on the head of my cock I grunted out that I was coming. Then, I teetered on the edge, that glorious edge of not quite there, and then I quite literally saw stars as I exploded in her mouth. I could not see how much I was coming, but it sure felt like a lot. I shot several strong bursts into her mouth before she gave me one last suck and I collapsed back onto the chair. I grinned stupidly at her as she appeared to swish my ejaculate around in her mouth before swallowing rather demonstrably. Grinning like the Cheshire cat, she leaned forward and gave me a peck on the lips. "Quite acceptable Mr. Jeffries, quite acceptable. You need to increase your water intake and consider adding some pineapple juice, but quite acceptable." "You mean, if I take the job," I said with some cheek. "Monday, 0 900," she said, apparently ignoring my statement. It had been frivolous after all. "Will you tell me what Tilly told you?" I asked. As she dressed she answered me very offhandedly. "I contacted her, had her sign and NDA, then paid her a large amount of cash to characterize you as a lover." I followed her lead and began dressing. "To be precise, I did not ask; what did you ask her, but rather what she told you." She kissed me, then smiled, "So very much the right choice," and she patted my cheek, "When you pay people upfront they may tell you nothing, but they never lie. She gushed on about you, which is something you should look into, before she paused, then said quite steadily, 'eager, pleasing, vigorous, energetic, trainable,'" she paused for effect, "and very good. Why, is he available?" Her look said, 'that's precisely the words she used. "And the last thing she said before I thanked her was, 'you snap him up.'" I didn't have anything to say to that except that I might have to look Tilly up soon. Ms. Olson adjusted her skirt and donned her top before picking up her jacket. "As you might expect, Mr. Jeffries, we have policies and procedures." She winked at me, then took a pamphlet from the desk and handed it to me as she sat on the desk in front of me again. "That contains everything you need to know. Please commit it to memory by Monday." I took the pamphlet and she said, "One other thing, you can play up the fantasy element." "Fantasy element?" I asked. She smiled, a brilliant expression on her face. "You are the hunk of a package delivery man. The building super who always has just.the.right. tool. You are the plumber showing up when the poor lady of the house doesn't have the money to pay." She pulled me in for a hug and whispered in my ear, "Dress the part and keep these women happy." She kissed me hard after that speech, a furious and inspired attack on my lips and tongue. I was almost ready to go again when she stopped and pushed me back. After I finished dressing as she watched me, she looped her arm through mine and escorted me out of the building. "I'll start you off at three. See you Monday at 0 900 for orientation." There was the twenty-four hour time again. "Three? Or nine?" I said, a bit confused. As she pushed me out the door she winked at me and said, "Servicing three of the staff per day, starting at oh-nine hundred." I don't remember the drive home as all I did was replay the afternoon in my mind and smile like an idiot. Well, a happy, grinning idiot. I was looking forward to some weekend reading and a little uniform shopping before starting work on Monday. Friday evening after the interview went by in a blur, or more of a daze I guess. After a couple of hours staring at the ceiling wondering if I was still in the same reality, I realized the truth: my reality had, in fact, changed. Picking up the booklet given to me by the HR Rep, Ms. Olson, I took a deep breath and started to read. Some of the material was plain, for example, requirements for my workout regimen, typically working hours, parking, security procedures, and general responsibilities akin to those of a building manager. However, as I expected, other parts were anything but plain. The Provider of Building Services, PBS, is responsible for meeting the sexual needs of the female staff of Foxx Inc according the rules, procedures, and customs identified herein. Every day a certain number (controlled by HR) of randomly selected women have access to the PBS spaces via key card. While more than one woman may be in the spaces at a time, the doors will only permit access to women on the services roster for that day. I wondered who, if anyone, checked up on this in practice. Limiting access helped with privacy to some extent, but someone had to know. Most likely security, but I supposed you have to trust someone. I read on. Unless expressly permitted by additional guidance (e.g., Special Circumstances), the PBS shall provide services described herein strictly within the confines of the PBS spaces. One particularly interesting section was about staff key cards. Usage of one card was something that probably should have been moved to my security indoc. A set of tri-graphs on the front of the badge indicated clearances, and these were to be matched with door mounted placards prior to attempting entry to a secure space. Attempting access to an unauthorized space was a security violation. A second key card had a completely different set of tri-graphs. As there are situations in which the PBS may find himself engaging in an act with a staff member without prior discussion, tri-graphs on the reverse indicate acceptable acts without prior agreement. Wow, I stopped reading and mused about how that situation might, er, arise. I flipped to the back of the booklet and read over some of the codes. They were numerous, and included "VSX", "ASX", "OSX", "FOX". These stood for, as you might have guessed, vaginal sex, anal, oral and fellatrix (sort of). There were a couple dozen of these, catering to most sexual acts I'd either done or thought of. I supposed I had better keep the 'decoder ring' nearby for the first few weeks to be sure I didn't misstep. Then there were some modifiers, such as: When servicing staff members wearing blue or black lipstick, ejaculation, should it take place, is to be inside the woman's mouth. What a place to go to work! The PBS shall shower after each encounter and log in his work calendar when complete. This is so the next woman desiring to take advantage of the service has a good idea of when to show up after a sufficient rest period. I wondered how the duration of my rest period was to be determined, then I shrugged. Something to worry about later. Special circumstances. From time to time there may be modifications to these rules put forward for specific periods of time. The terms and conditions of these events will be published ahead of time so as to prevent confusion. As an example, quarterly a "Free Use" day event is held. On such days, subject to the specific terms of the day, the PBS may make sexual use of any staff member wearing a blue or black dress or skirt without prior agreement. This may occur at any time, in any part of the building. The PBS alone is responsible for ensuring no embarrassment befalls Foxx Inc. as a result. For example, it would not be appropriate to engage a staff member in intercourse or have her perform fellatio, while visible on a conference call with persons outside of the firm. As if things could not get any stranger, here I was reading about how my new place of work had days with sex on demand for myself as well! Once again, wow. Weekends. In the unusual event that staff are scheduled to work hours in the office on a weekend or holiday, the PBS will be paid on an exponential scale according to how many staff are serviced during the time. There are no access limits during these times. In general the PBS should expect from three to six visits per day. If the PBS is unable to provide service on request, this will be logged and the staff member provided a 'rain check.' Repeated inability to provide service may be grounds for termination. Based on past history, the PBS is discouraged from personal sexual relationships as well as masturbation on days prior to work (aka, school nights). Having finished most of the reading, the thought of rubbing one out did cross my mind. However, I decided to take a pause and look forward to Monday. Besides, there were things I needed to take care of. For one, I needed a place to live now that I had a job. I scoured some real estate sites and made some appointments for weekend viewings. It was time to leave my parents, though at least I'd still be living nearby. For another, I needed appropriate attire for work as described by Ms. Olson. I searched for uniform retailers and identified several in town. I also still had my submarine coveralls, which had the advantages of comfort and ease of access. I figured my underwear selection needed a boost as well, so some department stores got added to the list. After night's sleep punctuated by reliving my encounter with Ms. Olson, my Saturday was filled with visits to apartments (I didn't have enough stuff to warrant a whole house) and stops at uniform suppliers. On the second try I found exactly what I was looking for: a wide variety of uniforms, and custom made at that. The staff took my measurements before having me page through their on-line catalog of uniforms. Auto repair shops, custodial staff, HVAC companies, plumbing companies, and even a couple security companies. If they thought it strange I was ordering all kinds of different clothes, they didn't say anything about it. And though I was eager to tell someone of my good fortune, I did not. I did, however, tell them of my need to have at least one available on Monday, one on Tuesday, and the rest soon after. And with appropriate name badges, which were just random male names instead of mine alone. Although it would cost 50% more, they said they could deliver. It wasn't until Sunday afternoon that the perfect apartment crossed my path. The building was a new mixed development, with reasonably spacious apartments in the floors over retail stores and restaurants. Best of all it was located only a couple miles from Foxx Inc. There were a couple of furnished units and I could move in at once. I called my Dad and told him I'd stop by in a couple of days, but that I was moving to an apartment across town. My parents were out of town on vacation, and I didn't want to surprise them when they came home and found me gone. I drove my small amount of belongings across town, signed the paperwork, provided my deposits, received my keys and moved in. My first uniform, that of an HVAC tech from a local company, arrived Sunday in the late afternoon. It fit perfectly and sported the name "Joe" on the tag. Early Monday morning I went for a run and had some breakfast before heading to Foxx Inc. There was no way I was going to be late, let alone on my first day, and I arrived a good thirty minutes early. Unlike late Friday afternoon, the parking complex was quite full. Upon entering I noticed the assigned spots, only there was a new sign. It read "T Jeffries, PBS". I parked there, and rather than sit in the car until 0 900, and I went on into the building. Again, unlike Friday afternoon, the reception desk was manned. Well, that's not actually correct. A young woman, who could not have been more than nineteen, sat attentively behind the desk. She was looking right at me when I came through the doors. She stood at once and came around the desk, hand extended. "Hello," she paused and looked at my name badge with some confusion, "Are you the new PBS, Joe?" I shook her hand and nodded, my blue-gray uniform appearing to be on point. I said, "In the flesh." To my surprise, she blushed, but did not say anything else. I continued, "I'm afraid I don't know the first thing I'm supposed to do. Do you have any ideas? Or maybe, Ms. Olson?" She shook her head and smiled, "Forgive me. I'm Allie. And yes, I do have the plan for your first day. If you will follow me?" She then turned and took me down the same path I had taken on Friday. Entering what I figured was now my office, she said, "Please take a seat and I'll let security know you are here." I nodded, then did as she asked. Sitting down I opened up the small fridge behind the desk and found several bottles of water, Coke Zero, Diet Mountain Dew and pineapple juice. I was once again impressed at their knowledge of things that would not be documented anywhere, namely my choice of low calorie drinks. Then I smiled when I thought back to Ms. Olson's comment about pineapple juice. I took one and opened it. No sooner had I done that when the door opened and a woman, guessing in her late twenties, entered the room. She was average height, somewhere less than five and a half feet, slim build, with dark brown hair and eyes. She was wearing a black shirt and slacks and the badge around her neck identified her as Susan Moss, site security. Her face was angular and sharp, maybe indicating some Native American heritage. She was quite good looking. The look in her eyes was, well, hungry. I stood and extended a hand. She read my name tag and said, "Joe? I didn't think that was your name." She shook my hand with a firm grip, then shrugged. "I'll need a photo ID before generating your badge." I nodded and pulled out my wallet, handing her my very new Florida driver's license. She then sat her backpack on the table and withdrew a device which she plugged into one of the computer's USB ports. Then she surprised me, though she shouldn't have. "If you don't mind taking a seat?" she said. I nodded and sat down, still not having said a word since the receptionist. And then she surprised me by sitting down on my lap as she logged into the system and started work. Thinking it was a good idea, I put my hands on her hips. I was sure it was only going to be seconds before she felt me start to harden against her ass. As she scanned my ID and continued to work through pages she wiggled her ass against my growing erection and said, "One of the best things about security is that I'm always the first stop for the new guy." "First stop?" I said. "He speaks!" she said. "Yes. There's some forty of us here, and that could mean two to three weeks before everyone gets to, well, try you out." She wiggled again, and now I was at full mast. "But not security, got to get you badged straightaway." Her fingers typed at a furious pace and then there was a pause. She handed me her badges over her shoulder. "I assume you read the book?" "I was a nuclear trained operator, so when I'm told to read a book you can bet I did." She laughed. "Then I'll just say, your choice, though I do need to keep an eye on this process for the next 10 to 15 minutes." She looked over her shoulder, then stood and bent over the desk. Looking at the badge I read a number of tri-graphs. Fortunately, the meaning of a few of them came to quickly: BST (breast squeezing and kneading), CIP (come in cunt), and OSX (my providing oral sex). However, given her current position, I decided straight up sex was what she was most likely interested in. Standing up, I reached around and started to unbutton her shirt as I ground my hips into her ass. I was sure she could feel my hardness as I did so. A few moments later her shirt was open and I unhooked her bra, freeing her nicely sized breasts for my grasp. I spent some time fondling her before nuzzling her neck and sucking on an earlobe. She purred, though she kept her arms on the table, striking a key every now and then as the status bar very slowly worked its way up from 0%. Reluctantly leaving her very taut nipples, I unbuckled her belt, then unfastened and unzipped her slacks before pushing them and her underwear down to her knees. One of my hands returned to her lovely breasts as the other reached down between her legs. Her hair felt groomed but not shaved, and her cunt was wet. I groaned in her ear, "Ready for me already?" "I've been ready since I got here at eight this morning." As she finished that sentence my fingers spread her apart and I pushed myself into her fully in a slow, pleasurable stroke. Leaving her breast again I turned her face toward me. "Sorry, I didn't remember if you were wearing lipstick." She smiled, then turned back to the computer. "I'm not, Joe, because I really enjoy it when a man starts to lose control inside me. Gets me off every time." By this point I had started to fuck her quite soundly. From her words I figured she wasn't so much into a slow tryst as much as a galloping fuck. I did my best to oblige her. The whole while I was pounding her warm, wet and pliant cunt, she continued to monitor the status of the computer, even typing every now and then even as I repeatedly sheathed myself inside her. Though not talking to me, she was moaning and her breathing was quickening. My hands full of her breasts, I held myself within her completely and paused my hips. She brushed her hair out of her face and looked at me over her shoulder. "I'm ready to finish whenever you are ready to cum in my cunt, Joe," said hoarsely. Still looking at me I reached up and held her chin so I could kiss her even as I pulled back and gave her another deep stroke. She moaned heavily into my mouth, and I did it again. Breaking the kiss she said in a husky voice, "Fuck me, please." Not having any intention of making her wait, I placed both hands on her hips and adjusted my position for the final stretch. As I did, and kept fucking her, she said, "The badge is printing." Holding her in place I quickly accelerated my pace and knew that I would come soon. My pace picked up and I was sure she could tell. "Damn you feel good! I'm going to come soon," I grunted as I fucked her, quickly losing control of my movements. She could tell. "Fuck me Joe!" she barked, "let go and come inside me!" As my hips got a bit more frantic she moaned loudly, "Um, I'm coming!" As her breath caught and she clenched around me, I felt myself peak as well, "Coming!" I grunted, and then bucked into her uncontrollably as I started to fill her cunt. The wonderful feeling went on for a good while, and the whole time she rewarded my efforts with a wonderful moan and "yes" sounds. I sat down, holding her to me such that I was still deep inside as I started to soften. She typed in a few more things to the machine, then pulled her card and turned her head to me, kissing me firmly and thoroughly. "I'll be back with your badge in a few minutes or so," she said, then gave me another satisfied lover's kiss before she stood and I slipped out of her. I watched as she dressed and strode out of the room before I duck-walked to the door that led to my own restroom and shower. After refreshing myself I sat down and waited for Susan to return. To my surprise, Ms. Olson came through the door. It was not lost on me that once again she was wearing dark blue lipstick. She licked those lips and gave me an appraising look. "Very nice, Joe. Where did you get the uniform?" I told her the story of the uniform shop and she smiled. "Well done, but you'll need to expense that to the firm of course. Have Cindy show you how when she sets up your account later." As I nodded, Susan came through the door, twirling a badge around a finger. She stopped when she saw Ms. Olson. "Just stopping by to deliver his badge," the security lady said. Ms. Olson raised an eyebrow, then smirked. "And security's appraisal of our new building services provider?" Susan handed me my badge and turned to the somewhat officious acting HR rep, "Happy to report fulfilled and filled," she winked at me, "and in that order." Ms. Olson nodded, and Susan flashed me a smile on her way out the door. Ms. Olson sat on my desk and smiled at me. "Off to a good start. Very nice," she said. Then she unbuttoned her jacket, parted it, and lifted her once again sheer blouse to bare her breasts to me. "I wish I could enjoy you now, but the doctor has you next." I took her breasts in my hands firmly squeezing them and quickly latching on to a nipple and lightly biting down. She moaned in approval and after a few moments I switched to the other while continuing to pinch the first. She stroked the back of my head, holding me to her breast as I repeated the move again. Then she pushed me back and kissed me hard, her firm nipples pressing into me. She reached down and felt my stiffening cock through my trousers. "Mr. Jeffries, although I have you started at three, would you be opposed to my visiting you when you are finished with it?" I pulled her to me and gave her another kiss, my hands still pinching her nipples and squeezing her wonderful tits. "It does seem appropriate to check in with my hiring manager at the end of my first day," I said. She nudged me away and then straightened her clothes, also checking her makeup in the mirror and wiping a bit of lipstick off my lips. "Very good Mr. Jeffries. I'll check back at the end of the day." She turned to go, then said over her shoulder, "By the way, Ms. Jenkins is quite particular." "Ms. Jenkins?" I asked. "Our on-site physician," she winked at me, "She is here several days a month, and when she is she is considered a member of the Firm." I smiled, "Of course she is." "We offer comprehensive medical insurance, and quality medical care starts with full knowledge of a patient's history." She put her hand on the door handle, "And a complete physical, of course." "Of course," I said quietly. As she put her hand on the door handle she looked back at me, "By the way, I suppose Shaggy and Velma were before your time?" "Excuse me?" I said. "Spend a little time on google so you'll know what I'm talking about," she said, then winked and left the room. "Sure," I said to no one in particular. In the next twenty minutes I downed a bottle of water and another bottle of pineapple juice. There were some binders on the shelves and I removed one named 'Overview' and sat down to browse through it. The binder contained a table of contents and what looked like dozens of plastic sleeved schematics and pages of text. I leafed through descriptions of electrical and plumbing systems, reports on past contractor performance, information on current custodial staff, specifications of the food preparation equipment and all of the building safety systems. The Byzantine floor layouts were also included, complete with labeled diagrams of the various security systems and door access points. Power supplies for these were indicated, along with failsafe conditions and emergency criteria. Searching for something that could be a physicians office or a nurse's station, there was an office located on this very floor labeled "Medical." Examining the map I was able to figure out how I could get there from my current location; provided of course my key card worked. It was at this time that I noticed there were a number of tri graphs on the reverse of my badge. Some of them were familiar, others I would need to consult the book to decipher. At 10 30 my office door opened and a woman leaned in and looked at me. "Mr. Jeffries?" I nodded and stood. She strode over to me and extended a hand and said, "Angela Jenkins, nurse practitioner." I shook her hand, "Tom Jeffries." She looked at my quizzically, "I know. Please follow me." I was a bit taken aback by her actions, but said nothing. I followed her out the door, past the receptionist and through another door. This led to a very small room with two chairs and a small table. On the table was a clipboard with what looked to be several pieces of paper. She gestured to one of the chairs and said, "Please take a seat." She waited for me to do so, and then she added, "I want to be very clear and honest with you, Mr. Jeffries. This exam will include some rather blatantly sexual portions. While I don't believe that is a surprise, I am willing to let you know ahead of time in each case." To my surprise, I found that aspect particularly exciting. I replied using a tone I hoped was similar to her somewhat formal one, "I would appreciate it if you did so." She smiled broadly, "Very good then. I'll be sure to. Now, please review the materials as they describe the procedures we will cover today, and then complete the medical history questionnaire as best you can. Please knock on the door when you are ready." This odd introduction ended, she walked out of the room. It was only then that I reflected on what she looked like. Dark brown hair, a curvy figure, just a bit shorter than myself, with a brilliant smile, aquiline features, and perhaps the most intense eyes I had ever encountered. Her hair was in a tight bun, her light pink dress one that buttoned down the front. I picked up the clipboard, shaking my head at the rather insane working conditions I found myself in. A path to something even more odd wasn't possible, or so I thought until I started to read the medical exam description. It was only a bulleted list. The first several things were obvious and expected: vital signs, blood samples, urine samples, review of medical history, immunization status, and more things I expected. And then came the rest of the list: 100% visual survey of skin for unusual moles, lesions, etc., testicular cancer examination, prostate exam, sexual function test and sperm sample. Yes, I was a bit surprised, but mostly by this time the surprise was limited to 'how does she plan to do this?' The medical history was typical and required little more than a lot of short answers and box checking. I knocked on the door fifteen minutes later. To be continued By PtmcPilot for Literotica

I discuss all of the 40 caliber SAAMI standardized rifle cartridges (plus one other noteworthy CIP round) in this episode. As always, I'll talk about their history, design characteristics, performance specs, their strengths and weaknesses, and their recommended uses in detail. Where appropriate, I'll also share some personal anecdotes involving these rounds as well as some observations involving various cartridges by noteworthy gun writers as well. Cartridges covered: 44-40 WCF, 45-70 Government, 577/450 Martini-Henry, 405 Winchester, 44 Remington Magnum, 444 Marlin, 450 Marlin, 450 Bushmaster, 400 Legend Sponsor: I'm honored to be nominated for Podcast of the Year in the 2026 Gundies Awards! Voting is open from December 1–15. Cast your vote daily and help me take home the win at TheGundies.com Go to BigGameHuntingPodcast.com/ebook and sign up for my free e-book on the best hunting calibers at to receive the entertaining and informative emails I send out about hunting, firearms, and ballistics every weekday. Join the Big Game Hunting Podcast tribe for the potential opportunity to suggest future episode topics and also obtain access to all my bonus material at www.patreon.com/biggamehunter  Resources 44-40 Profile | Winchester 1873 44-40 Gel Test .577/450 Martini-Henry Rifle & Cartridge: History, Ballistics, Hunting & Gel Test Results African Rifles & Cartridges by John Taylor African Game Trails by Theodore Roosevelt To Ride, Shoot Straight, And Speak The Truth by Jeff Cooper Episode 286: 30 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 291: 270 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 297: 9.3mm and 375 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 300: 40 Caliber Safari Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 328: 25 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 329: 50, 60, & 70 Caliber Safari Cartridges With Kevin Robertson Episode 338: 338 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 345: 7mm Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 345: The "Other" 30 Caliber Cartridges: 303 British, 7.x62x54R, etc. Episode 358: 35 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 398: 6.5mm Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 399: 8mm/32 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up

Joseph Blackman introduced Kristina Ramirez, the City Engineer at Harker Heights, Texas, to discuss her diverse responsibilities, which include managing capital improvement projects (CIP), ensuring compliance for development plans, and prioritizing public communication and transparency. Kristina highlighted that a city engineer's essential skill sets are communication, active listening, and bridging technical knowledge with field realities, sharing that public interaction is vital for their small public works department. The discussion also covered Kristinas non-traditional career path, her transition from the private to the public sector, the use of multiple resources for tracking federal and state regulations, and the value of professional organizations like APWA for networking and professional development, with a focus on encouraging attendance at the PWX conference. Give the episode a listen and remember to thank your local Public Works Professionals.

St. Vincent & the Grenadines just elected a new government that's promised to launch the Caribbean's 6th citizenship by investment program. And it could reshape the entire CBI market. Find out what Prime Minister Godwin Friday's landslide victory means for investors and why experts say SVG's new CIP may outperform its rivals.Follow the breaking news here.

Philippe May says “SVG will set a new standard,” predicting its new CIP will outperform those of its more established Caribbean counterparts.View the full article here.Subscribe to the IMI Daily newsletter here. 

Armindo Monteiro, presidente da CIP relembra António Mota, antigo presidente da Mota-Engil, por demostrar que a engenharia portuguesa tem qualidade para competir em qualquer parte do mundo.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

¡Episodio especial de IMAGO!Por motivo del Día del Consultor en Imagen Pública, IMAGO se llena de netas y risas con Ricardo y Slobo de La Cotorrisa. ¿Qué hay detrás de su imagen, qué les pesa de su reputación, cómo lidian con la cultura de cancelación, y cuáles son sus principales consejos para hacerla en el mundo digital? Aunado a la presentación oficial del libro IMAGOLOGÍA y mucho orgullo por formar parte del CIP. ¡Disfrútalo!

Watch The X22 Report On Video No videos found (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:17532056201798502,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-9437-3289"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");pt> Major UBI study finds the more cash you give to the poor, it just makes them quit and not want to work. The debt is out of control 24 cents of every dollar goes to interest. The [CB] is collapsing. The [CB] mission is to destroy their old system and bring the people to a new system. Trump is helping them destroy their old system. The [DS] is desperate, Trump is ushering in peace and they know if this happens they will lose even more leverage to start a war. The [DS] is trying to divide the people this country and the movement that elected Trump. The know that arrests are coming and they are trying to break the counterinsurgency so the people are not behind Trump. This is already failing, nothing can stop what is coming, nothing. Economy https://twitter.com/profstonge/status/1993658495468728570?s=20 (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:18510697282300316,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-8599-9832"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs"); https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1993526341665542237?s=20 https://twitter.com/ultrapepemqtter/status/1990938476666048584?s=20 https://twitter.com/JoeLang51440671/status/1993692907115524320?s=20 Political/Rights Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Takes Victory Lap Over ‘First Rebuilt House' in Pacific Palisades After Fires – There's Just One Little Problem Los Angles Mayor Karen Bass recently did a little victory dance about the ‘first rebuild' of a house in the Pacific Palisades after the wildfires. Hey, it has only been almost a year, right? There is one little problem with the house that Bass is celebrating, however. It was a developer project that was in the works before the fires even happened. That's right, this house wasn't even one of the average homes destroyed by fires and her incompetence. What a surprise. The New York Post reports: https://twitter.com/austinbeutner/status/1992983832640073862?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1992983832640073862%7Ctwgr%5E1948d10752ca8b2e751627587116d657aa7f9737%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2025%2F11%2Flos-angeles-mayor-karen-bass-takes-victory-lap%2F. Source: thegatewaypundit.com https://twitter.com/ElectionWiz/status/1993619585392853496?s=20 https://twitter.com/FBISanAntonio/status/1993324194008875091?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1993324194008875091%7Ctwgr%5E6ff9acc0b508c58b2c0e326d3b42fe771bbb42d2%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fwardclark%2F2025%2F11%2F25%2Fnew-san-antonio-sweep-nets-51-confirmed-tda-criminals-n2196559 https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1993341609824731480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1993341609824731480%7Ctwgr%5Ea663c448b933df11eb2c62c9f899610bb785a839%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2025%2F11%2Fag-bondi-gives-update-memphis-safe-streets-task%2F https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1993419780108550293?s=20 DOGE https://twitter.com/epaleezeldin/status/1993404838596792723?s=20 ZILCH! If Ed Malarkey wants the EPA to release any more funding to Massachusetts for lead pipe replacement, he will have to tell his state to submit a plan to us ASAP on how it is going to spend what it has received previously and is still sitting on. The Trump EPA isn't messing around when it comes to TOTAL ACCOUNTABILITY of precious U.S. taxpayer dollars. Geopolitical https://twitter.com/AAGDhillon/status/1993535086462152800?s=20 The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is establishing a new office within its Civil Rights Division specifically dedicated to enforcing and protecting Second Amendment rights, which guarantee the right to keep and bear arms under the U.S. Constitution. Named the Second Amendment Rights Section, this office is set to open on December 4, 2025, and will focus on investigating and challenging local or state laws, policies, or practices that the DOJ deems as infringing on gun rights.  This move is part of a broader shift in priorities under the Trump administration, reallocating resources to emphasize conservative-leaning civil rights issues, such as gun ownership, over traditional areas like racial discrimination or police misconduct oversight. The initiative stems from a February 2025 executive order by President Donald Trump, which instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to review and address any federal, state, or local infringements on Second Amendment rights.  The office will operate using existing DOJ funding and personnel, without needing new congressional approval, though Congress was notified of the plans.   former DOJ officials, argue that this emphasis on gun rights dilutes the division’s core mission of safeguarding the rights of marginalized groups, especially amid ongoing gun violence issues in the U.S. (with 378 mass shootings reported as of November 25, 2025).  https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1993654295263350864?s=20 SHAME: Brazil Descends Into Tyranny, as Supreme Court Justice Moraes Orders Bolsonaro To Start Serving His Unjust 27-Year Prison Sentence for Fake ‘Coup' Bolsonaro, man of the people. The fakest coup ever. Liberty-loving people in Brazil and around the world are saddened, as a major injustice has taken place. Out-of-control Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a sanctioned human rights abuser, has ordered that former President Jair Bolsonaro begin serving his 27-year prison sentence for plotting an ‘attempted coup'. Under socialist Lula da Silva, the rogue Judiciary is persecuting right-wingers – and no target was more valuable than Bolsonaro. Sanctioned Justice Moraes is still running the country unopposed. CNN reported:   Source: thegatewaypundit.com War/Peace https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1993435854480539753?s=20   despite Trump's January directive to restore all troops forced out under Biden's Covid shot mandate. Officials blame Stephanie Miller, the DoW undersecretary controlling personnel systems, who designed and enforced the original mandate and previously served as the Pentagon's DEI chief. Her husband's work as a defense and pharmaceutical lobbyist adds further conflict concerns. Hegseth and senior Trump deputies have spent months fighting internal resistance to comply with the order. https://twitter.com/ColonelTowner/status/1993459007978172629?s=20   schools/homes repeatedly Russia decides to protect the Ukrainians in the Donbas and therefore according to the CIA: it’s Putin’s war. Trump Says No Firm Deadline for Ukraine, Russia to Reach Peace Deal Trump, speaking to reporters on board Air Force One as he flew to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday, said U.S. negotiators were making progress in discussions with Russia and Ukraine, and Moscow had agreed to some concessions. He did not detail them. A U.S.-based framework for ending the war, first reported last week, prompted fresh concerns that the Trump administration might be willing to push Ukraine to sign a peace deal heavily tilted toward Moscow. Trump said his envoy Steve Witkoff would be traveling to Moscow soon to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who helped negotiate the Gaza deal that brought about an uneasy ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, was also involved. Trump in recent days had set the Thanksgiving holiday as the day when he wanted to see Ukraine agree to a deal to bring about an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. But he and his aides have backed away from a firm deadline and now say they would like an agreement as soon as possible. Trump said it appeared that Russia had the upper hand in the war and that it would be in Ukraine’s best interests to reach an agreement. Source: newsmax.com https://twitter.com/kadmitriev/status/1993424275592954337?s=20 https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/1993448542397251701?s=20   President Putin in Moscow and, at the same time, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll will be meeting with the Ukrainians. I will be briefed on all progress made, along with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. I look forward to hopefully meeting with President Zelenskyy and President Putin soon, but ONLY when the deal to end this War is FINAL or, in its final stages. Thank you for your attention to this very important matter, and let's all hope that PEACE can be accomplished AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!   DONALD J. TRUMP PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Medical/False Flags BREAKING: Government Accountability Office Director Reveals Covert Effort Inside GAO to Defy RFK Jr., Preserve Vaccine Data Deleted by HHS (VIDEO)  A Government Accountability Office Director was caught on undercover video revealing a covert effort to defy RFK Jr. and preserve vaccine data deleted by the HHS. The O'Keefe Media Group posted video of GAO director Steven Putansu admitting to possible violations of federal records and theft laws. Per OMG: Putansu admitted on hidden camera GAO staff “stole and backed up” federal data to keep it outside RFK Jr. led HHS control – a potential violation of several federal statutes, including: – Unauthorized Removal or Destruction of Public Records (18 U.S.C. § 2071) – Theft or Conversion of Government Property (18 U.S.C. § 641) – Computer Fraud & Abuse Act – CFAA (18 U.S.C. § 1030) for accessing or copying government data without authorization. “We've stolen and backed those things up so that someday they can come back to government,” he said to the undercover OMG journalist. Putansu trashed the ‘vaccine deniers' in the HHS. “I'd watch out for the vaccine denying HHS who's going to ruin health care in this country even more than it already is,” he said. “It limits the amount of permanent damage… research he's trying to delete is stored outside his control,” he said. WATCH: The GAO released a statement in response to OMG's undercover video operation: “Regarding your inquiry, GAO collects & retains data for requested audits & engagements in accordance with GAO's statutes & agency protocols. GAO is committed to meeting the highest level of independence, nonpartisanship, & professional standards while conducting audits, evaluations, & investigations & we take seriously any suggestion otherwise.” Source: thegatewaypundit.com https://twitter.com/AwakenedOutlaw/status/1993477109831119259?s=20  prohibited from removing, copying, or concealing official records without authorization, especially to interfere with executive branch operations or policy implementation.’ ~ Grok All told, because sentencing would run concurrently those involved could easily get a 10-year sentence. However, if the DOJ and judge decide to make an example of him/them, they could get more—along with an 8 to 9 figure for restitution + multi-million-dollars fines, effectively bankrupting them and taking everything they owned. Enjoy, shitbirds!  https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1993372507043242297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1993372507043242297%7Ctwgr%5Ea7086b8f00b98d794a84ab5935e8ccda69f80d81%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fkatie-jerkovich%2F2025%2F11%2F25%2Fone-guess-why-worlds-strongest-female-winner-was-stripped-of-title-n2196553 https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1993374918315319533?s=20 https://twitter.com/SecScottBessent/status/1993411604520505719?s=20   for contributions to qualifying Scholarship Granting Organizations, marking the first time a federal tax credit directly supports private donations for K-12 education. Treasury is working with states now to ensure readiness for implementation. Education is the first step to financial freedom, and the Trump Administration is committed to providing pathways to support students nationwide. [DS] Agenda Democrat Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick Surrenders to Authorities After Allegedly Laundering $5 Million in FEMA Funds — Allegedly Bought 3.14-Carat Yellow Diamond Ring A sitting Democratic member of Congress from Broward County, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, surrendered to federal authorities Tuesday in Miami amid explosive allegations that she orchestrated a scheme to steal and launder $5 million in FEMA COVID-19 disaster relief funds, and used a portion to bankroll her 2021 congressional campaign and purchase a luxury yellow diamond ring. “The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to steal that $5 million and routed it through multiple accounts to disguise its source. Prosecutors allege that a substantial portion of the misappropriated funds was used as candidate contributions to Cherfilus-McCormick's 2021 congressional campaign and for the personal benefit of the defendants. According to the Miami Herald, the money trail reveals a stunning web of alleged financial abuse and deception: $2.4 million transferred into the bank account of Cherfilus-McCormick's consulting company. $1.2 million routed to relatives. $830,000 moved into an account where the congresswoman was an authorized signer. $334,000 sent to a co-defendant, Nadege Leblanc, to orchestrate straw donor contributions. $190,000 transferred to a company associated with her brother, Edwin Cherfilus. $109,000 allegedly used to purchase the now-infamous 3.14-carat Fancy Yellow Diamond ring. The indictment alleges that more than $1.14 million was then funneled into her campaign account in September and October 2021, just in time for her congressional race, funds prosecutors say were “illegally sourced and misrepresented” on campaign reports and tax returns. Source: thegatewaypundit.com https://twitter.com/ZohranKMamdani/status/1993107017100304653?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1993107017100304653%7Ctwgr%5E271a9bb4777a48bf3973b6303388944477019e08%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailysignal.com%2F2025%2F11%2F25%2Fmamdani-names-radical-cop-hating-professor-to-community-safety-post%2F https://twitter.com/thestustustudio/status/1993111704629395961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1993111704629395961%7Ctwgr%5E271a9bb4777a48bf3973b6303388944477019e08%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailysignal.com%2F2025%2F11%2F25%2Fmamdani-names-radical-cop-hating-professor-to-community-safety-post%2F   humanity. This is the worldview Mamdani is bringing into city government. https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1993689427940426054?s=20 https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1993491221902418137?s=20 https://twitter.com/CynicalPublius/status/1993497362451296263?s=20  context, as people need to understand certain precedents that illustrate the following points: 1. What the Sedition 6 have done is unprecedented since the Civil War. 2. Historic U.S. military success in some cases may never have happened had the Sedition 6 had a say at the time. 3. The exercise of lethal force we are seeing again the invading drug boats is both legal and consistent with past US actions by some of our greatest Presidents, and is consistent with the Monroe Doctrine. 4. The act of undermining a nation's military through perfidious information ops is a classic behavior of fascists and communists. History speaks, and should be our guide. Links: THREAD President Trump's Plan https://twitter.com/DataRepublican/status/1993590807002333358?s=20  n Without War to advertise seditious-adjacent behavior on billboards. And Win Without War has multiple Congressional liaisons on their “About” page. National Lawyers Guild is an infamous supporter of antifa per @MrAndyNgo , which of course is now a foreign terrorist organization. cc: @CynicalPublius https://twitter.com/DataRepublican/status/1993668483125576071?s=20   Lawyers Guild (NIPNLG) is a fiscally sponsored project of the Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ), and the NLG as a whole is widely recommended as the primary legal contact and support provider for participants in pro-Palestine and immigration protests. Win Without War is a fiscally sponsored project of the Center for International Policy (CIP), as disclosed on CIP's 2019 IRS Form 990. The Center for International Policy (CIP) is a progressive think tank advocating for a non-militaristic U.S. foreign policy centered on diplomacy, transparency, human rights, and solutions to war, corruption, inequality, and climate change.  CIP's major funders include Open Society Foundations (George Soros), Carnegie Corporation of New York, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Charles Koch Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation and McKnight Foundation, among others (per Cause IQ and public 990 filings). https://twitter.com/mrddmia/status/1993720894020063590?s=20  presidential election, which is allowed by the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and the First Amendment. That's why Democrats didn't face charges for objecting to Republican presidential wins in 1968, 2000, 2004, and 2016. Fani Willis took our country https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2/status/1993418873127805086?s=20   allegations that she had placed the explosive devices outside Democratic and Republican party offices. ODNI officials said the agency received a tip from a person affiliated with a media organization about potential criminal wrongdoing by an individual believed to be working at an intelligence agency and set about documenting it in a memo. A short time after the unfinished memo began to circulate, the conservative news outlet, Blaze News, published details similar to those in the draft, including the woman’s full name. CBS News was not shown the memo, but sources said McNamara had accessed confidential files to obtain details about the woman for the draft memo, including her place of work and Social Security number. The federal security officer cooperated with the FBI, sources close to the matter said. Her lawyer said publicly she had done nothing wrong. Both the woman and her lawyer declined to comment. She returned to work after being placed on a brief leave, one of the sources said.” Another “Seven Ways from Sunday” Effort Against DNI Tulsi Gabbard – The J6 Pipe Bomber Was Wrongly Identified  CBS is writing a narrative through the background story of how the wrong identity was originated, and that tracks back to Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.  In essence, a hit against Tulsi Gabbard emerges, and the details end up showing a transparent intelligence operation for those who have paid close attention. According to CBS an anonymous “whistleblower” originally contacted the ODNI, Tulsi Gabbard's office, with information about who the J6 pipe bomber was.  Subsequently, “a unit overseen by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard drafted a memo identifying the woman and describing allegations.” As the article is written, “Several sources told CBS News that the classified draft memo, which was on ODNI letterhead, was written by Paul McNamara, who is in charge of Gabbard's Director's Initiatives Group, which is tasked with providing “transparency and accountability” and executing President Trump's intelligence-related executive orders.” Shortly thereafter, Steve Baker at Blaze News then wrote an article naming the accused pipe bomber, using information that directly paralleled the report within the DNI's office. The accused woman was cleared during an FBI investigation that stemmed from the memo and The Blaze report.   The woman provided an alibi and recordings of her activity timestamped during the time when she was accused of walking through the streets of Washington DC.  CBS narrative doesn't focus on The Blaze or the reporting of Steve Baker, instead the media hit shifts responsibility to Tulsi Gabbard who is operating outside her intelligence oversight lane and conducting independent investigations which includes information from “outside sources.” Having followed the operations of these embed “intel officials” the motive for this operation against the office of the DNI is clear.  You, me, all of us can see with clear non-pretending eyes, the intent of this op was to change the way Tulsi Gabbard is receiving information and to block the delivery of external sunlight. Source: theconservativetreehosue.com https://twitter.com/SenRonJohnson/status/1993418804794474815?s=20   eliminating political opposition. These records are only the tip of the iceberg. https://twitter.com/DC_Draino/status/1993425046849692155?s=20   totally false. Come on Kash, let's take a picture to show them you're doing a great job!” Do not believe the Fake News! https://twitter.com/TheChiefNerd/status/1993489608034693365?s=20 TAKE A LISTEN https://twitter.com/drawandstrike/status/1993455727718060348?s=20  (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:13499335648425062,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-7164-1323"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.customads.co/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");

I discuss all of the 8mm and 32 caliber SAAMI standardized cartridges (plus a couple of other noteworthy CIP rounds) in this episode. As always, I'll talk about their history, design characteristics, performance specs, their strengths and weaknesses, and their recommended uses in detail. Where appropriate, I'll also share some personal anecdotes involving these rounds as well as some observations involving various cartridges by noteworthy gun writers as well. Cartridges covered: 8x57mmI, 8x57mmIS, 8x57mmIR, 8x57mmIRS, 8x60mm S, 8x64mm S, 8x68mm S, 8mm-06, 7.92x33mm, 32 Winchester Self Loading, 32 Winchester Special, 32 Remington, 8mm Remington Magnum, 325 WSM Sponsor: I'm honored to be nominated for Podcast of the Year in the 2026 Gundies Awards! Voting is open from December 1–15. Cast your vote daily and help me take home the win at TheGundies.com Go to BigGameHuntingPodcast.com/ebook and sign up for my free e-book on the best hunting calibers at to receive the entertaining and informative emails I send out about hunting, firearms, and ballistics every weekday. Join the Big Game Hunting Podcast tribe for the potential opportunity to suggest future episode topics and also obtain access to all my bonus material at www.patreon.com/biggamehunter  Resources Episode 286: 30 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 291: 270 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 297: 9.3mm and 375 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 300: 40 Caliber Safari Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 328: 25 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 329: 50, 60, & 70 Caliber Safari Cartridges With Kevin Robertson Episode 338: 338 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 345: 7mm Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 345: The "Other" 30 Caliber Cartridges: 303 British, 7.x62x54R, etc. Episode 358: 35 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 398: 6.5mm Cartridge Roll-Up

Fatou Coulibaly est CIP, conseillère en insertion profesionnelle, avec son expérience elle s'est rendu compte du besoin qu'avait les travailleurs sociaux de se retrouver. Échanges, conseils, rencontres, prise de confiance en soi, rythment les évènements du Carré CIP.Dans cette interview, réalisée par Margot : Fatou parle entre autre de la genèse du Carré CIP, de ce qu'on y retrouve et de l'importance de ces moments d'échanges. Écoutez aussi le témoignage de 4 CIP présentes ce soir là.Suivez Fatou Coulibaly sur Linkedin pour avoir toutes les informations sur les prochains rendez-vous organisés.

I discuss all of the 6.5mm SAAMI standardized cartridges (plus a couple of other noteworthy CIP rounds) in this episode. As always, I'll talk about their history, design characteristics, performance specs, their strengths and weaknesses, and their recommended uses in detail. Where appropriate, I'll also share some personal anecdotes involving these rounds as well as some observations involving various cartridges by noteworthy gun writers as well. Cartridges covered: 6.5x52mm Carcano, 6.5×55 Swede, 6.5x57mm, 6.5x50mm Japanese, 6.5x54MS, 6.5-06, 264 Winchester Magnum, 6.5mm Remington Magnum, 260 Remington, 6.5-284 Norma, 6.5 Grendel, 6.5 Creedmoor, 26 Nosler, 6.5-300 Weatherby, 6.5 PRC, 6.5 Weatherby RPM Sponsor: Support me on Patreon to see the terminal ballistics analysis of the Kennedy assassination (which involved one of these rounds discussed in this episode) conducted by an experienced trauma surgeon. Supporters also receive access to my other bonus material. The Third Bullet by Stephen Hunter Rifle Cartridges For The Hunter by Richard Mann Resources Episode 172: 6.5 Creedmoor vs 300 Win Mag For Elk Hunting Episode 282: 6.5 Creedmoor For Grizzly Bear?! Episode 366: Modern Cartridge Design With John Snow Episode 286: 30 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 291: 270 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 297: 9.3mm and 375 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 300: 40 Caliber Safari Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 328: 25 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 329: 50, 60, & 70 Caliber Safari Cartridges With Kevin Robertson Episode 338: 338 Caliber Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 345: 7mm Cartridge Roll-Up Episode 345: The "Other" 30 Caliber Cartridges: 303 British, 7.x62x54R, etc. Episode 358: 35 Caliber Cartridge Roll Up

Annemieke de Wit (Senior Adviseur Informatiebeveiliging bij CIP) vertelt je meer over de campagne rondom de implementatiebegeleiding. Ze legt uit waar je alle informatie over de BIO2 kunt vinden. Ze blikt terug en bespreekt een aantal punten uit aflevering 1 t/m 3. Ze kijkt vooruit naar de toekomst van de BIO2, wat zijn de plannen?  

In deze aflevering bespreken “de Kezen” met elkaar deel 2 van de BIO2, namelijk de overheidsmaatregelen. Kees van der Maarel (RE RO, Coördinerend beleidsmedewerker informatieveiligheid bij BZK) en Kees Hintzbergen (Adviseur Informatiebeveiliging bij de Informatiebeveiligingsdienst (IBD) en secretaris Werkgroep-BIO bij CIP). Welke maatregelen zijn er zoal? Hoe kun je starten met de implementatie van de BIO2? Wat zijn belangrijke eerste stappen? Hoe kijken zij naar risicomanagement? 

Henseler says it took 18 months of hard work, market insight, and “a little bit of luck” to bring São Tomé's CIP to life.View the full article here.Subscribe to the IMI Daily newsletter here. 

Jeffrey Henseler, Chairman of Passport Legacy and IMI Person of the Year 2025, reveals how he built São Tomé and Príncipe's citizenship by investment program in just 18 months. Discover the untold story of the program's lofty year 1 goals, the strict agent requirements, and what made this launch different from every other CIP in the market.Learn more about the São Tomé & Príncipe citizenship by investment program.

Relatório mostra que fome em Angola "não é relativa". Centro de Integridade Pública (CIP) alerta para falta de transparência no setor extrativo em Moçambique. Cada vez mais os menores que arriscam as suas vidas na travessia do Mediterrâneo.

In this episode of The Pediatric Lounge, hosts Dr. Bravo and George discuss various topics ranging from significant healthcare events to internal policy challenges. They highlight important conferences such as the 8th Symposium on General Population Screening for Type 1 Diabetes at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes and the PMI conference in New Orleans. The central discussion focuses on recent changes in A CIP decisions, especially those related to vaccine recommendations and public health policies. The episode features guest experts like Dr. John Caine and Kristen Struble, who provide their insights on the implications of these policies for pediatric practice. The dialogue touches on the challenges of maintaining public trust, shared decision-making in vaccinations, and the impact of political interference in medical guidelines.00:00 Introduction to The Pediatric Lounge Podcast00:39 Upcoming Events and Symposiums02:38 Discussion on ACIP Decisions and Impact03:29 COVID-19 Vaccine Policies and Controversies09:13 Critique of Public Health Administration13:53 Debate on Vaccine Recommendations and Practices30:08 The Role of Big Pharma in Medicine40:39 Thimerosal in Vaccines: A Historical Perspective43:52 Debating the Opposition to Multi-Dose Vials45:03 Concerns Over Hepatitis B Vaccination at Birth49:29 The Role of Politics in Vaccine Recommendations56:48 Challenges in Communicating Vaccine Information59:20 Shared Decision Making in COVID-19 Vaccination01:07:02 The Impact of Anti-Vaccine Movements01:12:44 The Importance of Trust in Medical Practice01:21:46 Concluding Thoughts and ReflectionsSupport the show

Isabela Lapa fala sobre o projeto Rotas do Cipó, um conjunto de mais de 30 roteiros turísticos sustentáveis na Serra do Cipó, em Minas Gerais, que integram experiências de natureza, aventura e cultura local.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the Dover Download podcast, Deputy City Manager Christopher Parker chats with Planning Director Donna Benton about Dover's Capital Improvements Program (CIP). Benton explains that the CIP is a long-range planning document for purchasing or constructing capital assets. The process begins in early summer when departments submit project requests, which are then reviewed by a committee including the finance director, planning director, and city manager.The CIP encompasses diverse projects ranging from water and sewer line work to facilities improvements, recreation projects, and technology upgrades like network improvements. Each project must align with Dover's master plan and meet the city's financial policies. Benton notes that while there's no shortage of desired projects, capacity constraints in both staffing and funding require careful prioritization.Notable projects in the current CIP include the Broadway neighborhood improvements, which have been long-awaited since 2017, recreation court reconstruction, street tree and lighting improvements, and the Pointe Place roundabout. The fire department has also freed up approximately $1 million through strategic equipment purchases, allowing for reallocation to other projects.The CIP undergoes public review through the Planning Board and City Council, with public hearings scheduled in October and November. The Planning Board ensures alignment with the master plan while the City Council handles the financial approval. Projects with debt financing can begin before July 1st, though actual construction timing depends on whether design work has been completed.In This Week in Dover History, we learn about the devastating 1956 fire that destroyed Meyer Siegel's Central Avenue store, occurring just as he returned from court defending his right to open on Sundays.

The UK's decision to strip Botswana of its ETA privileges coincides with the African country announcing a CIP, but officials say asylum claims are the motive.View the full article here.Subscribe to the IMI Daily newsletter here. 

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with Matt Duss, Executive Vice-President at the Center for International Policy and former foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders. They discuss the Israeli genocide in Gaza and the new ceasefire; changes in public assessments of Israel's standing in the U.S. and political relationships with Israel, including changing relationships with Israel among prominent Trump supporters as well as Bernie Sanders's late recognition of genocide; and what accountability looks like for the genocide, including for members of the Biden administration. Matthew Duss is Executive Vice-President at the Center for International Policy. Before joining CIP, Duss was a visiting scholar in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From 2017-22, Duss was foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt). From 2014-17, Duss was the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. From 2008-14 Duss was a National Security and International Policy analyst at the Center for American Progress. Ahmed Moor is a Palestinian-American writer born in Gaza and a 2025 Fellow at FMEP. He is an advisory board member of the US Campaign for Palestinian rights, co-editor of After Zionism (Saqi Books) and is currently writing a book about Palestine. He also currently serves on the board of the Independence Media Foundation. His work has been published in The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The Nation, and elsewhere. He earned a BA at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPP at Harvard University. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

Após decisão judicial que autorizou a retomada das atividades da Comissão de Investigação e Processante (CIP) da Câmara de Vereadores de Urussanga, o presidente da comissão, vereador Zé Carlos José, o Zé Bis (PP), determinou o retorno dos trabalhos e convocou uma nova reunião para esta sexta-feira (10), às 13h30. O encontro reunirá também o relator Jailson Vieira (MDB) e o vereador Ivan Vieira (PL). Na pauta, estão a retificação do voto de Ivan e a definição das próximas etapas administrativas para o prosseguimento do processo, incluindo a possibilidade de já estabelecer uma data para a sessão de julgamento. A necessidade de correção surgiu após o voto divergente de Ivan, que defendia a cassação do vereador Luan Francisco Varnier, mas utilizou dispositivos legais aplicáveis a prefeitos, e não a vereadores. O equívoco levou à suspensão temporária dos trabalhos da comissão, determinada por liminar concedida em 11 de setembro. Com a nova decisão do juiz Roque Lopedote, da 2ª Vara da Comarca de Urussanga, o entendimento é de que o erro foi apenas formal e pode ser corrigido, o que permitiu a retomada das atividades da CIP. A reunião desta sexta-feira marca, portanto, o reinício efetivo dos trabalhos da comissão, que investiga o vereador Luan Varnier por suposto favorecimento no sistema de saúde enquanto ocupava o cargo de secretário municipal. Em entrevista ao programa Cruz de Malta Notícias nesta sexta-feira (10), o assessor jurídico da Câmara, Dr. Filippe Possamai, explicou os próximos encaminhamentos do processo no Legislativo urussanguense e reforçou que a decisão judicial devolve à comissão a prerrogativa de concluir seus trabalhos conforme o rito legal.

Botswana signed an MoU with Arton Capital to help build and launch the CIP, and development has “already started.”View the full article here.Subscribe to the IMI Daily newsletter here. 

In this podcast professional brewer Adam Mills takes all of your beer and brewing questions live with a special focus on CIP!#probrewer #professionalbrewer #howtobrew #brewery #homebrew #waterchemistry #ipa #dryhop #neipa If you are interested in my consultation & marketing services, or just want to know more, please check out the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QuXzi8IaBIzlIchBbiWvnX4h6QcTcMBQ/view?usp=sharingAdam Makes Beer Podcast: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Si7TqiEY7ZeTq3D7CwqMUApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adam-makes-beer/id1695229502Instagram: @adammakesbeer Equipment Sponsor: Blichmann Engineering Pro BrewingWebsite: https://www.blichmannengineering.com/pro-brewingEmail: Probrewing@Blichmannengineering.comSponsor: Brewed Fiscally - For all of your brewery financial needs! https://brewedfiscally.com/#howtobrew #probrewer #brewerylife #howtobrewbeer #howtomakebeer #craftbeerbrewing ---Hello, I am Adam! I am professional brewer and educator outside of Cincinnati, OH. I am a former high school and university educator, and I have been making beer for a living for over a decade. My goal here is to give a behind-the-scenes look into the craft brewing industry, and to share any knowledge I have. I am not the perfect brewer, but I am always pushing myself to get better and to learn more. Our goal in the brewhouse is to always aim for the bullseye, knowing we will never hit it. That mantra keeps us focused on continual growth, and helps us appreciate the journey of improving as brewers.If you have questions like: How to keg beer in a brewery - How to make beer in a commercial brewery - How to harvest yeast in a brewery - How to dry hop in a brewery - How to can beer in a brewery - How to clean a fermenter in a brewery - How to transfer beer in a brewery - How to purge a tank in a brewery - How to add fruit to a beer in a brewery - How to brew beer in a microbrewery - How to add coffee to a beer in a brewery - How to become a professional brewer, you have come to the right place!

There are few names that stir up as much debate in wrestling right now as Logan Paul. This week, Kevin Nash and Sean Oliver dig deep into the rise of the social media star turned WWE United States Champion, and what it really means for the business when someone from the outside not only steps in, but thrives. Kevin isn't shy about calling out what works, what doesn't, and why the energy drink logo on Logan's gear may be just as important as the moves he hits in the ring. From the spectacle of PRIME-sponsored entrances to the reality of locker room politics, Kevin breaks down what Logan's presence does to the culture behind the curtain. Sean presses on whether Logan has earned his place or if the company is simply cashing in on the spectacle. The conversation pulls no punches, balancing respect for athleticism with the veteran's instinct to protect what wrestling is supposed to stand for. But the show doesn't stay locked on Logan. Kevin shares wild road stories about working alongside celebrities of the past, the way crossover stars were handled in the 90s, and why some were embraced while others never made it past novelty status. The guys use those memories to draw sharper lines around what's happening today, and why Logan's case might be different from all the rest. From there, the conversation stretches wider. Sean brings up recent headlines in WWE, from Becky Lynch's latest promo firestorm to shifts in how the company markets its biggest stars. Kevin offers blunt, unfiltered takes that connect the dots between hype, respect, and the thin line between building heat and losing credibility. As always, the discussion doesn't stay predictable. Faith, family, and the lessons Kevin keeps pulling from his years in and out of the spotlight come into play. The show ends up moving from PRIME bottles to prime years of the NBA, from the chaos of influencer culture to the quiet reflection that comes with perspective. It's another Monday morning with Big Sexy, and once again, his honesty cuts through all the noise. Get Blitzed-Save 15% at Get-Blitzed.com by entering the code KLIQ at checkout. Mando-Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get 20% off + free shipping with promo code KLIQ at shopmando.com! #mandopod Magic Spoon-Get $5 off your next order at MagicSpoon.com/KLIQ StopBox-Get firearm security redesigned and save 15% off @StopBoxUSA with code NASH at https://stopboxusa.com/NASH #stopboxpod DripDrop- DripDrop is doctor-developed, proven fast hydration.Right now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order. Go to dripdrop.com and use promo code KLIQ. 00:00 Kliq This #166 Logan Paul in his PRIME 17:14 Bron Breakker calling Kev 18:37 Clash in Paris using Van Gogh 19:33 BREAK DRIPDROP 22:40 WWF running Europe 24:01 CIP Opening 25:08 Weird pacing of CIP 30:34 Becky Lynch 31:22 Why couldn't LA Knight have won? 32:26 Why are Referees so stupid? 40:04 Becky Lynch slapping CM Punk 53:49 Becky Lynch as a heel 55:12 John Cena's Babyface run 56:13 Kevin Nash Praises Logan Paul 01:00:23 BREAK MANDO 01:04:17 BACK TO LA KNIGHT 01:08:18 Becky Lynch is cringe 01:12:18 "Becky wasn't talking bad about Ozzy" 01:12:47 Epstein List 01:16:23 WHEN was America Great? 01:21:07 America wanted a dictatorship 01:22:23 Florida Vaccines 01:26:40 GAZA 01:31:38 When does Nash Watch Wrestling? 01:32:56 BREAK MAGIC SPOON 01:36:00 No Marks in the Locker Room 01:36:15 Outsiders vs Nasty Boys 01:43:36 www.KliqThisTV.com 01:44:07 NO FL vs NJ? 01:44:59 BREAK GET BLITZED 01:46:44 BREAK STOPBOX 01:49:14 Matt Riddle 01:49:52 Vanilla Midget Wrestler 01:50:31 “Funerals are for the living” 01:52:27 Sydney Sweeney 01:53:33 OUTRO

Ela continua a maior Maratona da América Latina, escuta, agora tá na moda mostrar que está de pipoca em prova? Organizadora do Ironman Brasil ajustou o regulamento de acordo o Iron gringo, mãe do atropelador de corredor de salvador propõe indterdição do transito para corredores, a medalha da MAratona de Buenos Aires e documentário do Cipó#corrida #corridaderua #corridaderuabrasil #criadorporesporte #cnanews

This episode covers a stormy week for offshore wind in the US, contrasts it with South Korea's public led auction wins and the UK's late approval for the 1.5 GW Morgan project, then turns to France's push to drill for natural gold hydrogen. We assess Shell's decision to drop its Dutch biofuels plant and highlight CIP's move on Finland's largest biogas facility, before asking if Europe can repurpose ageing coal and gas sites as data centre campuses to meet fast growing AI demand.00:02:04 | Offshore wind battles: US turmoil, Asian growth, and UK progress00:24:58 | Clean fuels in flux: breakthroughs, exits, and new investments00:41:00 | AI demand meets ageing energy infrastructureInterested in tickets for our Milan event or the awards show? Email conferences@inspiratia.com or buy them directly on our website.Reach out to us at: podcasts@inspiratia.comFind all of our latest news and analysis by subscribing to inspiratiaListen to all our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other providers. Music credit: NDA/Show You instrumental/Tribe of Noise©2025 inspiratia. All rights reserved.This content is protected by copyright. Please respect the author's rights and do not copy or reproduce it without permission.

España está siendo quemada y hundida en la miseria y no lo digo como un eufemismo si no con el profundo dolor de ver que es real. Hemos vivido una terrible inundación en Valencia a la que denominaron como Dana el 29 de octubre de 2024, seis meses exactos pasaron y tuvimos un apagón en toda España el 28 de abril de 2025 y posiblemente tengamos otro evento terrible para el 27 de octubre de este año, un evento que tenga que ver con el aire, exactamente otros seis meses después del ultimo. Nos hundimos como pais con una deuda extraoficial del 170% del PIB. Roberto Centeno, junto con otros economistas independientes como Juan Carlos Barba, Juan Laborda y Juan Carlos Bermejo, ha argumentado en diversos análisis que la deuda pública real de España supera ampliamente el 170% del PIB, una cifra que contrasta drásticamente con las estimaciones oficiales que sitúan la ratio en torno al 101-103% en 2025. Llegando ellos a estimar un PIB real un 18-20% inferior al oficial debido a manipulación contable desde 2008. Producto interior bruto que esta dopado gracias a la introducción de mas de medio millón de inmigrantes entre legales e ilegales al año, cifra que se va incrementando exponencialmente y que muy pronto creara graves problemas de convivencia. Nuestro pais sigue colocando deuda al por mayor dado que aunque recientemente las principales agencias de calificación crediticia la han bajado de la nota A+ a simplemente A, este tipo de deuda sigue siendo reclamada en los mercados y se sigue comprando. Nuestro pais se mantiene gracias a las subvenciones encubiertas de la UE y a la emisión de deuda, deuda que jamas podremos pagar. ¿Cuánto necesita el Estado para mantenerse en pie? Para 2025, considerando el crecimiento sostenido, el gasto total anual en pensiones (incluyendo las de Clases Pasivas) podría rondar los 214.000 millones de euros que sumado a los 55.000-65.000 millones de euros que gastamos en los sueldos de los funcionarios y el gasto en otros apartados, excluyendo sanidad e infraestructuras, de unos 130.000-180.000 millones de euros hace un total de unos 460.000 millones de euros al año. Hay que sumar a esta cantidad los mas de 32.000 millones de euros del pago de los intereses de la deuda, no de la deuda propiamente dicha. Nuestra deuda oficial con ese PIB inflado es de aproximadamente 1.646.000 millones de euros en febrero de 2025, o sea casi 1,7 billones, con un crecimiento interanual del 2,6%. La proyección del Ministerio de Economía para finales de 2025 sitúa la deuda en un 101,4% del PIB, con una emisión neta de 60.000 millones de euros y una emisión bruta de 278.000 millones, o sea, vamos a pedir casi otros 300.000 millones de euros lo que implica que el stock total de deuda podría rondar los 1.8 a 1.9 billones de euros, dependiendo del PIB nominal, estimado en torno a 1.773.000 millones de euros para 2025 según el plan fiscal. Nuestro pais quebró en 2008 pero nadie nos lo ha contado. Somos un yonki que necesita cada vez una dosis mayor de deuda. Literalmente nadamos en un mar de papelitos de deuda que hace que hayamos perdido la soberanía y que el mejor postor se lo lleve todo. Los carroñeros como BlackRock, Vanguard y BlackStone, las tres grandes, manejan decenas de veces nuestro PIB y el 85% del IBEX35. El BCE sigue siendo un actor significativo, manteniendo aproximadamente el 25,7% de la deuda pública, el resto, cerca del 73,7%, recae en otros inversores, incluyendo instituciones financieras internacionales como las citadas antes y posiblemente países como USA y China, y digo posiblemente porque a ciencia cierta nadie lo sabe. Lo úrico cierto es que viendo en que sectores se invierte en este pais podemos aventurar quienes están detrás. Por ejemplo, sabemos que el 90% del comercio de tierras raras está en manos chinas y que estas son necesarias para construir molinos eólicos y placas solares. El lado oeste de nuestro pais es rico en esta clase de minerales y creo que alguien ha decidido que ya era hora de “meterles mano”. También tenemos minerales estratégicos como el wolframio, el uranio o el litio que serán extraídos masivamente en breve. España reduce a la mitad su inversión en prevención de incendios mientras 2025 se convierte en el año más devastador del siglo, veamos porque. En los últimos años, los incendios forestales han devastado regiones específicas de España, dejando tras de sí un paisaje de cenizas y promesas rotas. Precisamente desde la semana 33 del 2025, en pleno agosto y durante el periodo mas caliente de este año hemos tenido unos terribles incendios en la parte oeste de nuestro pais. Parece que el archifamoso “cambio climático” solo afecta a la parte del pais supuestamente mas húmeda, ¿raro, no? Pero, ¿y si estos desastres no fueran simples tragedias naturales o descuidos humanos? ¿Y si, en las sombras, intereses económicos y políticos estuvieran orquestando un juego donde el fuego es solo el primer acto de un plan mucho más ambicioso? En una región concreta del país, donde los montes arden con sospechosa recurrencia, se teje una narrativa especulativa que apunta a un beneficiario inesperado: el propio gobierno, o al menos ciertos sectores con acceso privilegiado a sus políticas y recursos. A través de una combinación de reforestación, bonos de carbono, y la instalación de placas solares, molinos eólicos y explotaciones mineras, los terrenos quemados se convierten en un negocio redondo, disfrazado de sostenibilidad. Con el terreno aún humeante, la Junta de Castilla y León ha otorgado la Declaración de Impacto ambiental para la futura mina "Mesa de Reis" en el Bierzo, una mina de cuarcita cuyos tramites llevaban parados desde 2023 precisamente por el rico bosque de la zona. Una vez que ya no hay bosque ya no hay impacto ambiental negativo y se pueden extraer las casi 10.000 toneladas de cuarcita al año. El cuarzo o la cuarcita no es una tierra rara ni tiene presencia de minerales como torio, lantano o cerio, que son más comúnmente asociados con rocas alcalinas o carbonatitas, no con cuarcitas, que son rocas metamórficas de cuarzo. España tiene la mayor cantidad de tierras raras de Europa después de Finlandia. Las reservas de España se estiman en 70.000 toneladas, según el Instituto Geológico y Minero de España. Se consideran interesantes tres yacimientos de tierras raras: uno en Monte Galineiro, en Galicia, otro en la provincia de Ciudad Real el sitio de Matamulas y el ultimo en una amplia zona de la región de Castilla y León. Los tres sitios han sufrido incendios. Por ejemplo en El Payo o Cipérez (Salamanca), zonas que han sufrido graves incendios hay previsto un proyecto llamado “Salvaleón”, que abarca investigaciones minerales de litio, estaño y wolframio. Este yacimiento abarca tanto El Payo como Navasfrías, también en Salamanca, así como municipios colindantes en Cáceres. Otro punto de interés es el yacimiento de Barruecopardo, también en Salamanca, que produce wolframio (tungsteno) y se considera la única mina activa de este mineral crítico en Europa, con reservas de 8,69 millones de toneladas. Sufrio un incendio el 9 de julio de 2025, que afectó 1,4 hectáreas de pasto, curiosamente una zona que posiblemente será una ampliación de la explotación minera. La Ley 21/2015 de Montes, en su artículo 50, establece una aparente salvaguarda: los terrenos forestales incendiados no pueden cambiar su uso, como convertirse en suelo urbanizable, durante al menos 30 años. Este precepto, presentado como una medida para proteger la naturaleza y frenar la especulación urbanística, parece noble en la superficie. Sin embargo, un análisis más profundo revela fisuras que podrían ser explotadas. La ley no prohíbe explícitamente otros usos "compatibles" con la naturaleza forestal, siempre que se obtengan autorizaciones y se cumplan requisitos ambientales. Aquí comienza el primer hilo de la madeja conspirativa: ¿qué tan estrictos son estos requisitos cuando el terreno ya ha sido reducido a cenizas? Un monte quemado, desprovisto de su biodiversidad original, se convierte en un lienzo en blanco, fácil de moldear para proyectos que, bajo el paraguas de la "sostenibilidad", generan jugosos beneficios económicos. La instalación de molinos eólicos y placas solares en estos terrenos quemados es no solo posible, sino sospechosamente conveniente. Clasificados como usos "excepcionales" o "complementarios", estos proyectos se benefician de la etiqueta de "interés público" que les otorga la Ley 7/2021 de Cambio Climático y Transición Energética y decretos como el RD 1183/2020. Estos instrumentos legales han simplificado los trámites administrativos, agilizando la aprobación de proyectos renovables incluso en suelos forestales sensibles. Lo que podría parecer un avance hacia la descarbonización adquiere un matiz más oscuro cuando se considera la facilidad con la que una empresa puede cumplir los requisitos ambientales tras un incendio. Si, además, esa misma empresa se encarga de reforestar una porción del terreno circundante, el proyecto gana una pátina de legitimidad ecológica que silencia las críticas. Pero, ¿quién verifica la calidad de estas reforestaciones? ¿Y qué impide que estas iniciativas sean meros gestos cosméticos para justificar la ocupación de los terrenos? Los fondos NextGenerationEU, presentados como el gran salvavidas de la economía postpandémica, añaden otra capa a esta trama. Estos fondos, canalizados a través del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia (PRTR), pueden cubrir hasta el 70% de los costos de proyectos de reforestación y hasta el 50% o más para instalaciones de energías renovables, como autoconsumo colectivo, agrivoltaica o almacenamiento a gran escala. La primera fase de estas subvenciones se agotó rápidamente en 2023, pero una Adenda al PRTR aprobada por el Consejo de Ministros ha abierto una segunda fase de financiación (2024-2026), con una dotación de 70.000 millones de euros. Este flujo de dinero, que debe gastarse antes de 2026, crea una ventana de oportunidad inquietante: los veranos de 2025 y 2026 se convierten en el momento perfecto para que un terreno forestal arda "accidentalmente", dejando el camino libre para proyectos rentables. Imagina el escenario: un incendio arrasa un monte en una región estratégica, como ciertas áreas de Galicia, Castilla y León o Zamora, conocidas por su riqueza forestal y, casualmente, por su potencial para proyectos renovables y mineros. Una vez quemado, el terreno se reforesta parcialmente con especies autóctonas, generando bonos de carbono que se venden en mercados voluntarios a precios de 5 a 25 euros por tonelada (o 70 euros o más en mercados regulados). Al mismo tiempo, se instalan placas solares o molinos eólicos, financiados en gran parte por los fondos europeos, y se aprovechan bonificaciones fiscales como reducciones del IBI (hasta 50%), el ICIO (hasta 95%) o deducciones en el IRPF (20-60%). Pero la trama no termina ahí. En algunos casos, estos terrenos quemados abren la puerta a explotaciones mineras, especialmente en áreas ricas en minerales como las tierras raras o el litio, crucial para baterías de almacenamiento energético. La combinación de reforestación, renovables y minería crea un cóctel económico irresistible, donde el incendio inicial parece menos un accidente y más un catalizador planificado. El mecanismo de los bonos de carbono es la joya de esta corona especulativa. Un bosque sano y antiguo, con su capacidad de absorción de CO2 ya estabilizada, no genera nuevos créditos de carbono. Sin embargo, un terreno quemado, despojado de su vegetación, es un candidato ideal para la reforestación estratégica. Según el Registro de Huella de Carbono del Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico (MITECO), un proyecto de reforestación debe cumplir requisitos estrictos: permanencia mínima de 30 años, uso de especies autóctonas y exclusión de cultivos de ciclo corto, como olivos hiperintensivos o árboles ornamentales. Pero aquí radica el truco: la reforestación no necesita abarcar todo el terreno. Una empresa puede plantar árboles en una fracción del área quemada, obtener los certificados de captura de CO2 (cada bono equivale a 1 tonelada métrica de CO2 equivalente) y destinar el resto del terreno a placas solares, molinos o incluso minería, maximizando los ingresos. Los árboles absorben CO2 de la atmósfera a través de la fotosíntesis, almacenándolo en su biomasa (troncos, ramas, hojas y raíces) y en el suelo. La cantidad de CO2 capturado depende del tipo de especie, la densidad de la plantación y las condiciones del terreno. La cuantificación de la captura de CO2 es un proceso técnico, basado en metodologías de estándares como Verra, Gold Standard o el MITECO. En promedio, se necesitan entre 30 y 80 árboles para capturar una tonelada de CO2, un proceso que puede tomar años, pero que asegura un flujo constante de bonos. Una vez verificados por auditores independientes, estos bonos se registran y se venden en mercados voluntarios, donde empresas con grandes emisiones los compran para cumplir objetivos de neutralidad de carbono. La ironía es devastadora: un incendio, lejos de ser una pérdida, se transforma en una inversión a largo plazo. Y si el gobierno, o ciertos actores cercanos a él, tienen conocimiento previo de estas oportunidades, ¿qué les impediría mirar hacia otro lado mientras el fuego consume los montes? Curiosamente la ley de montes del 2015 surge tras la implementación de estos créditos del carbono en el año 2010 y ampara a los incendios desde el año 2012. El hilo conspirativo se refuerza al considerar el contexto político y económico. El gobierno español, comprometido con los objetivos climáticos de la Unión Europea y el Acuerdo de París, enfrenta presiones para acelerar la transición energética y reducir emisiones. Los incendios, aunque públicamente lamentados, podrían ser un mal menor para ciertas élites si abren la puerta a proyectos que generan empleo, atraen inversión extranjera y cumplen metas internacionales. En una región concreta del país —digamos, una zona con alta incidencia de incendios y recursos naturales estratégicos—, los beneficios económicos de esta triple jugada (reforestación, renovables y minería) podrían superar con creces el costo político de un desastre ambiental. Más aún cuando los fondos NextGenerationEU, con su urgencia de ejecución antes de 2026, actúan como un incentivo para acelerar proyectos en terrenos "convenientemente" disponibles. La narrativa oficial habla de sostenibilidad, de lucha contra el cambio climático, de restauración ecológica. Pero bajo esta fachada, se susurra una verdad más incómoda: los incendios podrían no ser solo tragedias, sino oportunidades orquestadas. ¿Es casualidad que ciertas áreas ardan año tras año, mientras empresas con conexiones políticas obtienen autorizaciones rápidas para instalar infraestructuras? ¿O que los mismos actores que financian la reforestación sean los que instalan placas solares y explotan minas, todo bajo el paraguas de los fondos europeos? La Ley de Montes, con su aparente rigidez, podría ser un telón de fondo perfecto para un juego donde el fuego no destruye, sino que construye un nuevo orden económico, con el beneplácito —o la complicidad— de quienes deberían proteger los bosques. ¿Quién se beneficia realmente cuando un monte arde? ¿Por qué las autorizaciones para proyectos renovables y mineros en terrenos quemados parecen fluir con tanta facilidad? Y, sobre todo, ¿hasta qué punto el gobierno, o ciertos sectores privilegiados, están dispuestos a sacrificar la naturaleza en nombre de una "transición verde" que huele más a beneficios económicos que a compromiso ambiental? Mientras los montes arden, las respuestas se desvanecen en el humo, dejando tras de sí un paisaje de cenizas, turbinas y promesas de un futuro sostenible que, tal vez, nunca fue el objetivo real. ………………………………………………………………………………………. Datos sobre inmigración y emigración de españoles desde los años 80. España pasa de ser un país de emigración a un receptor de inmigrantes tras su integración en la Comunidad Económica Europea en 1986. La mejora económica y las oportunidades laborales comienzan a atraer flujos migratorios. En 1981, la población extranjera en España era de aproximadamente 198,042 personas (0.5% de la población total). Hacia 1998, esta cifra creció a 637,085 extranjeros (1.6% de la población total). Los inmigrantes provenían principalmente del entorno mediterráneo (Marruecos), Europa (Reino Unido, Alemania) y, en menor medida, América Latina. En los 90 el flujo migratorio creció lentamente. Hacia el año 2000, esta cifra aumentó a 895,720 personas (2.2%). Hablaríamos de casi 100.000 inmigrantes al año mientras que se estima que entre 50,000 y 100,000 españoles emigraron anualmente, muchos por motivos laborales o familiares. Las gallinas que entran por las que salen que decía aquel. En 1998 éramos 39.8 millones. Entre el 2000 y 2008 tuvimos un crecimiento espectacular de la inmigración debido al auge económico, especialmente en construcción y turismo creado por la burbuja inmobiliaria. En 2008, la población extranjera alcanzó 5,268,762 personas (11.41% de la población total). En 2010, llegó al 12.2% (5.7 millones de extranjeros). Pasamos de los 100.000 inmigrantes por año a los mas de 250.000. La inmigración latinoamericana, colombianos y ecuatorianos, se disparo, mientras que la emigración de españoles siguió a buen ritmo. Por ejemplo, en 2015, 94,645 españoles emigraron al exterior, muchos de ellos jóvenes cualificados en busca de empleo en países como Reino Unido, Alemania y Estados Unidos. Ya entraban muchos mas inmigrantes que españoles se marchaban. Cambiábamos gente joven universitaria por trabajadores con baja o nula cualificación. Para 2010 ya éramos 46 millones de personas. Hablo siempre de personas registradas en el censo legalmente, por supuesto siempre hay mas. Desde 2015, la inmigración repuntó con la supuesta recuperación económica. En 2023, la población extranjera alcanzó 8,257,260 personas (16.8% de la población total). Para enero de 2025 teníamos 9,379,972 nacidos en el extranjero (19.1%) de la población total del pais. Los principales países de origen en 2023 fueron Colombia (170,722 llegadas), Marruecos (123,468) y Venezuela (88,361). También hubo un aumento notable de ucranianos (+45.8%), peruanos (+20.1%) y colombianos (+19.1%) en 2022. La población latinoamericana representaba casi el 60% de los inmigrantes en la Comunidad de Madrid en 2022. Nuestros jóvenes siguen marchándose del pais al ritmo de unos 100.000 al año. Sin embargo y con una de las tasas de reproducción mas bajas de todo el mundo, por debajo de 1,2 hijos por mujer hemos llegado a 49,315,949 habitantes según los datos más recientes del Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), a 1 de julio de 2025. A continuación voy a proporcionar los datos sobre población extranjera en España según países salvo ingleses y franceses que son unos 500.000 para que veamos su origen. Hablamos de inmigrantes con residencia legal en España, obviamente habrá una gran cantidad de ilegales también. Marruecos 1.092.892, Colombia 856.616, Venezuela 599.769, Rumanía 532.456, Ecuador 448.643, Argentina 415.987, Perú 378.924, Cuba 223.532, Ucrania 215.700, Honduras 201.319 y Rep. Dominicana 201.162. Estos datos provienen del Informe sobre Población de Origen Inmigrado en España 2023 del Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes y el Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE). Solo de esos 9 países teníamos 5,161,000 personas en España. Muy posiblemente si los sumamos a la inmigración ilegal pasemos fácilmente de los 10 millones en la actualidad. Hemos importado 10 millones de personas pobres para aumentar nuestro PIB artificialmente y solo de manera momentánea ya que dichas personas generan mucha menos riqueza en el largo plazo de lo que aportan con su entrada. ………………………………………………………………………………………. Desde los años 80, la clase media en España ha experimentado un progresivo deterioro que ha transformado su capacidad adquisitiva y su calidad de vida, marcado por el estancamiento de los sueldos y el encarecimiento de bienes y servicios esenciales como la comida, el combustible, la electricidad y, especialmente, la vivienda. En las décadas de 1980 y 1990, España vivió un periodo de crecimiento económico tras su entrada en la Comunidad Económica Europea (1986), lo que permitió a muchas familias de clase media acceder a un nivel de vida más elevado, con mejoras en el empleo y el consumo. Sin embargo, los sueldos, aunque crecieron en términos nominales, comenzaron a perder poder adquisitivo frente al aumento de los costes de vida, un problema que se agudizó en las décadas posteriores. Por ejemplo, en los años 80, el salario medio mensual rondaba las 100,000 pesetas (unos 600 euros), mientras que en 2023, según el INE, el salario bruto medio era de 2,128 euros, pero ajustado a la inflación, el crecimiento real ha sido mínimo o incluso negativo en muchos casos. El encarecimiento de los bienes esenciales ha sido un factor clave en el hundimiento de la clase media. La comida, aunque más accesible en términos de variedad gracias a la globalización, ha visto incrementos constantes en su precio. Entre 2000 y 2023, los precios de los alimentos básicos subieron un 30-40% más que la inflación general, según datos del INE. El combustible, por su parte, ha experimentado alzas significativas, especialmente tras la liberalización del mercado energético y las crisis internacionales (como la de 2022 por la guerra en Ucrania), con precios que pasaron de 0.80 euros/litro en los años 90 a picos de 2 euros/litro en 2022-2023. La electricidad, uno de los gastos más gravosos para los hogares, se disparó tras la liberalización del sector eléctrico en los 2000, con incrementos de hasta el 100% en la factura media entre 2008 y 2023, según la Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios (OCU). Estos aumentos han superado con creces el crecimiento salarial, erosionando el poder adquisitivo de la clase media. El precio de la vivienda ha sido, sin duda, el factor más devastador para la clase media. Durante el boom inmobiliario (1997-2007), los precios de la vivienda en España se triplicaron, pasando de un promedio de 1,000 euros/m² en los años 90 a 3,000 euros/m² en 2007. Aunque la crisis de 2008 redujo temporalmente los precios, desde 2015 se han recuperado, alcanzando en 2023 un promedio de 2,100 euros/m², según Idealista. En grandes ciudades como Madrid o Barcelona, los precios superan los 4,000 euros/m², mientras que los alquileres se han disparado un 50% desde 2015. Esto ha hecho que el acceso a la vivienda, ya sea en propiedad o alquiler, sea prácticamente inalcanzable para muchos hogares de clase media, especialmente para los jóvenes, que destinan más del 40% de sus ingresos al alquiler, frente al 20% que se consideraba sostenible en los años 80. Mientras tanto, los sueldos no han acompañado este ritmo: el salario mínimo interprofesional (SMI) pasó de 424 euros en 1990 a 1,134 euros en 2023, pero sigue siendo insuficiente para hacer frente a estos costes. La combinación de sueldos estancados y el aumento desproporcionado de los costes de vida ha generado una precarización de la clase media, que se ve obligada a destinar una proporción cada vez mayor de sus ingresos a necesidades básicas, dejando poco margen para el ahorro o el consumo discrecional. La crisis económica de 2008-2014 agravó esta situación, con un aumento del desempleo (que llegó al 26% en 2013) y la proliferación de contratos temporales y mal remunerados. Incluso en la recuperación posterior a 2015, la calidad del empleo no ha mejorado significativamente, con un 15% de trabajadores en riesgo de pobreza en 2023, según Eurostat. Este escenario ha llevado a un sentimiento generalizado de inseguridad económica, donde la clase media, que antes era el pilar de la estabilidad social en España, se encuentra cada vez más vulnerable, atrapada entre unos ingresos insuficientes y un coste de vida que no deja de crecer. ………………………………………………………………………………………. Desde los años 80, los incendios forestales en España han causado la pérdida de millones de hectáreas de bosques, con un impacto significativo en el medio ambiente, la economía y la biodiversidad. Según datos del Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico (MITECO) y el Sistema de Información Europeo de Incendios Forestales (EFFIS), entre 1980 y 2025 se han quemado aproximadamente 4,5 millones de hectáreas en España, con una media anual de unas 100,000 hectáreas afectadas. La década de los 80 fue especialmente devastadora, con un promedio de 200,000 hectáreas quemadas anualmente, debido a la falta de políticas efectivas de prevención y al uso tradicional del fuego en actividades agrícolas. Los años 90 y 2000 mostraron una ligera disminución en la superficie quemada (alrededor de 120,000 hectáreas/año), gracias a mejoras en la gestión forestal y la concienciación ciudadana. Sin embargo, curiosamente ha aumentado significativamente en las últimas dos décadas, con picos como el de 2022, cuando se quemaron 306,000 hectáreas, y 2025, que batió récords con 382,607 hectáreas calcinadas hasta agosto, según Copernicus. Galicia, Castilla y León y Andalucía han sido las regiones más afectadas, con incendios como el de Molezuelas de la Carballeda (2025, 50,000 hectáreas) o el de A Rúa o Larouco (2025, 44,424 hectáreas) destacando por su magnitud. Estos incendios no solo han destruido ecosistemas, sino que también han liberado cantidades masivas de CO2, con un promedio anual de 1,4 millones de toneladas en la última década y un pico de 5 millones de toneladas en 2022, según el Global Wildfire Information System. Este aumento significativo coincide con la introducción de los créditos de carbono como incentivo para la reforestación de superficies quemadas en España que comenzó a tomar relevancia a partir de la década de 2010, con el establecimiento del Registro de Huella de Carbono, Compensación y Proyectos de Absorción de Dióxido de Carbono por parte del MITECO en 2014. Este registro permite inscribir proyectos de reforestación que generen créditos de carbono, siempre que cumplan con requisitos como una permanencia mínima de 30 años y que las plantaciones se realicen en áreas afectadas por incendios posteriores a la campaña 2012-2013. Los créditos de carbono representan una tonelada equivalente de CO2 (tCO2e) absorbida o evitada, y su mercado voluntario ha crecido significativamente en España, impulsado por empresas que buscan compensar su huella de carbono. Parece que somos muy verdes, pero podría estar detrás de todo esto el vil metal. Calcular el dinero generado por los créditos de carbono en España desde 2014 es complejo debido a la variabilidad de los precios y la falta de datos agregados precisos, pero se puede estimar con base en la información disponible. Según fuentes como la Asociación Forestal de Galicia y estudios internacionales, el precio medio de un crédito de carbono en el mercado voluntario en España ha oscilado entre 15 y 25 euros por tonelada de CO2 en los últimos años, con un promedio de 20 euros/tCO2e en 2023. Se estima que los proyectos de reforestación en España, especialmente en áreas quemadas, pueden capturar entre 70 y 150 toneladas de carbono por hectárea a lo largo de su vida útil (30-50 años), dependiendo de la gestión forestal. No hay una cifra agregada que indique cuántas hectáreas han sido reforestadas específicamente tras incendios entre 2014 y 2023 pero podrían rondar entre 100.000 y 300.000 hectáreas en España. Según datos de MITECO y organizaciones como ClimateTrade, que reportan 133,000 toneladas de CO2 compensadas en más de 40 proyectos forestales hasta 2024. Asumiendo que estas hectáreas generan un promedio de 100 toneladas de carbono por hectárea (un estimado conservador), esto equivale a 10 millones de toneladas de CO2 absorbidas. A un precio medio de 20 euros/tCO2e, el valor económico generado sería de aproximadamente 200 millones de euros desde 2014. Sin embargo, esta cifra es una estimación, ya que no todos los proyectos están registrados en el mercado de carbono, y los precios varían según la demanda y la calidad del proyecto. Si estimamos que son 300.000 las hectáreas reforestadas a un precio medio de 50 euros estaríamos hablando de varios miles de millones de euros. El precio medio de un crédito de carbono en 2025 varía según el tipo de mercado (regulado o voluntario) y el tipo de proyecto. En el mercado regulado de la Unión Europea (EU ETS), el precio medio de un crédito de carbono (una tonelada de CO2 equivalente) es de aproximadamente 73,68 euros por tonelada, según datos de marzo de 2025. Por lo tanto podríamos estar hablando de miles de millones de euros generados tras quemar los bosques. ¿Creen que no serian capaces de quemar el bosque para generar miles de millones de euros? ………………………………………………………………………………………. Bueno, y me despido por hoy recordando que el próximo martes 2 de septiembre no se pueden perder una tremenda presentación que haré en el canal de Youtube El hilo Rojo sobre el régimen del 78. Van a conocer los entresijos de la partitocracia, los pelos y las señales…muy, muy interesante. No deben perderse el video. Publicare el audio en Ivoox. Y nos vamos ya con unas frases UTP, la primera es de JM Goig: "Cuanto más usen los politicuchos el 'delito de odio' para censurar, más grande será el odio contra ellos.” Esta desconozco al autor: “La capacidad creadora de su cerebro es infinita, usted es quién pone los limites.” Y la ultima es mia: “El despertar de la consciencia no es un camino, sino un reencuentro con tu esencia más profunda. No se trata de avanzar sin rumbo, sino de desandar el olvido para recordar quién eres.” ………………………………………………………………………………………. Conductor del programa UTP Ramón Valero @tecn_preocupado Canal en Telegram @UnTecnicoPreocupado Un técnico Preocupado un FP2 IVOOX UTP http://cutt.ly/dzhhGrf BLOG http://cutt.ly/dzhh2LX Ayúdame desde mi Crowfunding aquí https://cutt.ly/W0DsPVq Invitados Ira @Genes72 ………………………………………………………………………………………. Enlaces citados en el podcast: AYUDA A TRAVÉS DE LA COMPRA DE MIS LIBROS https://tecnicopreocupado.com/2024/11/16/ayuda-a-traves-de-la-compra-de-mis-libros/ Calificación crediticia deuda España https://www.tesoro.es/deuda-publica/calificacion-crediticia Siete de cada diez euros de gasto público se destinan a pensiones y sueldos de los funcionarios https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/economia/2024/02/04/siete-diez-euros-gasto-publico-destinan-pensiones-sueldos-funcionarios/0003_202402G4P30992.htm España - Gasto público https://datosmacro.expansion.com/estado/gasto/espana Insostenible: PIB 18% menor; deuda 24% mayor https://blogs.elconfidencial.com/economia/el-disparate-economico/2016-07-04/insostenible-pib-18-menor-deuda-24-mayor_1227235/ ESTADÍSTICA GENERAL DE INCENDIOS FORESTALES (EGIF) https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/biodiversidad/temas/incendios-forestales/estadisticas-datos.html Tierras raras. REE mineralisation in Spain and Portugal https://www.eurare.org/countries/spainAndPortugal.html La Junta autoriza la explotación de la cantera de cuarcita 'Mesa de Reis' en Oencia con un estricto plan de restauración ambiental https://www.infobierzo.com/bierzo-noticias/junta-autoriza-explotacion-ambiental-cantera-cuarcita-mesa-reis-oencia_1027309_102.html Spain's rare earths pit greens against tech security—and profit https://phys.org/news/2021-10-spain-rare-earths-pit-greens.html ¿Cuánto vale el CO2? Los créditos de carbono de la UE https://blog.co2mpensamos.com/post/cuanto-vale-el-co2-los-creditos-de-carbono-de-la-ue Futuros emisiones de carbono - Dic 2025 (CFI2Z5) https://es.investing.com/commodities/carbon-emissions La fijación del precio del carbono a nivel mundial moviliza más de USD 100 000 millones para presupuesto público https://www.bancomundial.org/es/news/press-release/2025/06/10/global-carbon-pricing-mobilizes-over-100-billion-for-public-budgets España reduce a la mitad su inversión en prevención de incendios mientras 2025 se convierte en el año más devastador del siglo https://www.eldiariodemadrid.es/articulo/medio-ambiente/espana-reduce-mitad-inversion-prevencion-incendios-mientras-2025-convierte-ano-mas-devastador-siglo/20250820150706107781.html Población en España hoy: inmigrantes, emigrantes y otros datos sobre los habitantes de España https://www.epdata.es/datos/poblacion-espana-hoy-inmigrantes-emigrantes-otros-datos-habitantes-espana/1/espana/106 Movimientos migratorios https://atlasnacional.ign.es/wane/Movimientos_migratorios Población extranjera de España en 2024, por país de nacimiento https://es.statista.com/estadisticas/472512/poblacion-extranjera-de-espana-por-nacionalidad/ ………………………………………………………………………………………. Música utilizada en este podcast: Tema inicial Heros Epílogo Fuerza que no se apaga - Siete Melódico https://youtu.be/FEn7XdRVuJs?feature=shared

Em Moçambique, concurso público de 1,7 milhões de euros gera polémica no setor agrícola. Sociedade civil exige transparência e legalidade. Em Angola, juiz presidente do Supremo renuncia por motivos de saúde. O magistrado está a ser investigado por alegações de corrupção. Ataques russos matam 19 na Ucrânia. UE promete sanções. Três países europeus ativam sanções ao Irão por incumprimento nuclear.

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, former FMEP President Matt Duss speaks with professor & author Brian Barber, who recently published No Way But Forward: Life Stories of Three Families in the Gaza Strip. The book tells the stories of day-t0-day life under decades of military occupation, building on the close relationships Brian built there through many years of academic research. Brian maintains close contact with the families and finishes the book with a section on each family's harrowing efforts to survive the current genocide in Gaza. Brian and Matt discuss the book -- how Brian came to write it, the contents of it, and the challenge of publishing it -- as well as Brian's experience of encountering Palestinian communities, overcoming unconscious biases, and withstanding direct challenges to the legitimacy of Palestinian voices in order to fulfill a promise and share Palestinian stories.  Brian K. Barber is Professor Emeritus, University of Tennessee and the author of No Way But Forward: Life Stories of Three Families in the Gaza Strip. He currently lives in Washington, DC. His work has addressed how context—from parenting to political systems—impact individual and social development. Among other books, he is editor of Intrusive Parenting: How Psychological Control Affects Children and Adolescents (2002, American Psychological Association), and Adolescents and War: How Youth Deal with Political Conflict (2008, Oxford University Press). Matthew Duss is Executive Vice-President at the Center for International Policy. Before joining CIP, Duss was a visiting scholar in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From 2017-22, Duss was foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt). From 2014-17, Duss was the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. From 2008-14 Duss was a National Security and International Policy analyst at the Center for American Progress. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.

How can we take digitally-empowered democracy straight out of science fiction into reality? This week, Reid and Aria are joined by two digital democracy pioneers, Audrey Tang and Divya Siddarth. Audrey Tang is a cyber ambassador-at-large and former inaugural Minister of Digital Affairs for Taiwan. Their pioneering initiatives like the Sunflower Movement, g0v, and vTaiwan have fought misinformation and influenced policy decisions. Audrey is also a senior research fellow for the Collective Intelligence Project, co-founded and directed by Divya Siddarth. Divya leads projects worldwide that give voice to the public in building better AI.  Audrey and Divya have spent years investigating how people converge on uncommon ground and how to beat polarization. They discuss the power of collective input and collaboration to create a cycle of collective intelligence. Plus, how AI tools—informed by public input—can enhance governance, digital life, and bring out the best in all of us.  For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/  Topics: 3:07 - Hellos and intros 3:38 - Audrey and Divya's partnership backstory 7:06 - Challenges and surprises with AI in governance 10:19 - What problems do CIP's projects aim to solve? 13:04 - Breakthroughs in collective intelligence 15:08 - Fighting polarization in the age of social media 16:50 - Capitalizing on innate collective intelligence 18:51 - The difference between collective intelligence and democracy 20:33 - Design principles for democracy-forward AI 23:30 - Involving the public in AI model building 26:18 - Midroll  28:32 - Bringing Taiwan's civic wins worldwide 30:41 - Radical transparency in digital tools 35:18 - Why aren't Taiwan's initiatives landing in the U.S. 38:09 - Creating digital twins 39:52 - Reid and Aria's outlook on AI and democracy relations 42:04 - Who would Reid delegate AI centralization to? 45:05 - Rapid-fire Select mentions:  Plurality by  E. Glen Weyl, Audrey Tang, and Community Global Dialogues — The Collective Intelligence Project  Alignment Assemblies — The Collective Intelligence Project  “Anthem” by Leonard Cohen A Half Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia by Ursula K. Le Guin Terra Ignota series by Ada Palmer Taiwan's Digital Minister Knows How to Crush Covid-19: Trust | WIRED  What Could BG Be? Engaged California How the Sunflower movement birthed a generation determined to protect Taiwan Possible is an award-winning podcast that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Most of all, it asks: what if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Tune in for grounded and speculative takes on how technology—and, in particular, AI—is inspiring change and transforming the future. Hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger, each episode features an interview with an ambitious builder or deep thinker on a topic, from art to geopolitics and from healthcare to education. These conversations also showcase another kind of guest: AI. Each episode seeks to enhance and advance our discussion about what humanity could possibly get right if we leverage technology—and our collective effort—effectively.

In this session, we'll start with the basics of CIP (cleaning in place) and explore how the Sinner Cycle can help you fine-tune your cleaning and sanitation process. You'll learn how temperature, chemical concentration, time, and mechanical action all work together, and how understanding their balance can help you build a CIP program that fits your brewery's specific needs.Next, we'll walk through practical tips for evaluating the effectiveness of your CIP cycles and spotting issues before they become bigger problems. From tracking performance to troubleshooting inefficiencies, you'll leave with actionable insights you can use right away. We'll cover what causes fouling and scale buildup, how cleaning agents actually work, and how to solve common CIP challenges.Oliver Meinhold is the Technical Director of the Brewing Division and consultant for Zee Loeffler. He studied at the University of Munich, graduating with a Dipl.-Ing. degree in Brewing Science at the Berlin Institute of Technology where he received his second Master's Degree in Industrial Engineering. He spent 7 years at the VLB (Research and Teaching Institute for Brewing in Berlin) as a Project Manager followed by 7 years at the Berlin Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor. He is in his current position for 13 years. He is a current member of the MBAA Higher Education Committee and the Vice-President of the MBAA-District Mid-SouthStay up to date with CBP: http://update.craftbeerprofessionals.org

Armindo Monteiro, presidente da CIP, sublinha a falta de trabalhadores e considera que concentrar atenções no capítulo dos despedimentos é "pouco inteligente".See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malta ditches CIP for expanded citizenship by merit system targeting philanthropists, tech innovators, and job creators.View the full article here.Subscribe to the IMI Daily newsletter here. 

Successful TX legislative Initiatives! CIP project disputes! Moving public comment meetings? All this and more!My name is Emily Hynds and I am a small business owner, Producer of the monthly storytelling series, Grown-up Storytime, and lifelong Houstonian. I am not a journalist or government official, I am a local government enthusiast who believes meaningful change starts at home. These notes are presented from my point of view and with my framing, your notes will certainly be different and I would love to read them if you attend.For sources and further reading:www.emilytakesnotes.comI watched this City Council meeting via HTV: https://www.houstontx.gov/htv/my IG: https://www.instagram.com/embaleez - for todays notes and Houston City Council GuideYou can find your City Council person and their contact info at: https://www.houstontx.gov/council/

In this episode of This Week in AML, Elliot Berman is joined by Joe McNamara to unpack efforts across North America to combat fentanyl trafficking—including Treasury's designation of Mexican financial institutions and Canada's new FinTRAC intelligence unit, FATF's latest update on virtual assets and VASPs, he OCC's report on key risks in the federal banking system, FinCEN's change on TIN collection under the CIP rule, and other issues affecting the financial crime prevention community.

What's your optimal flow rate during CIP and what happens if you don't hit it? Special Guest: Travis Audet.

Join AIM On Air as host Tori Miller Liu, CIP sits down with distinguished AIIM Fellow Amitabh Srivastav, CIP for an illuminating discussion on the future of information governance in the age of AI. This thought-provoking episode explores the intricate relationship between artificial intelligence and digital transformation, delving into essential topics including the building blocks of successful AI implementation, the paramount importance of data quality, and the delicate balance between innovation and privacy protection. Through practical examples from recent projects and insights on emerging trends like blockchain integration, Srivastav offers valuable guidance for information leaders navigating the complexities of technology adoption while maintaining robust data protection standards in today's rapidly evolving digital ecosystem.

Em Moçambique, Centro de Integridade Pública (CIP) denuncia corrupção e irregularidades no sistema judicial. PODEMOS rejeita existência de crise interna no partido. Na Líbia, novos episódios de violência reacendem o medo de uma nova guerra civil.

00:00:00 - Témák egymás között00:02:06 - Visszakérdezni00:06:19 - Pest vs vidék háború?00:07:47 - Tanulás és matematika00:10:11 - Mitől ing az ing? (lehet cipzáros is?)00:14:42 - Cipő és zokni hordás00:18:51 - Érdekes cipzáros ruhák00:25:03 - Boohoo00:30:40 - Ránk való ruhák és méretek00:34:48 - Öltönyös és egyenruhás emberek kisugárzása00:41:27 - Magánséfek00:57:13 - Befejezés

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