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$GME Governance Board - Why are they Silent?

There are some heavy hitters on GME's Board and in the C-Suite. IMHO, the company should have spoken out about what's happening regarding their stock. They should also have a plan to address changes in the marketplace re Covid19, the push for digital and cryptocurrency, etc. Positive statements from them would improve the stability of the stock.
Why have they been silent throughout this entire event? Wouldn't they speak out against the disparaging remarks from various HF reps in recent weeks which have negatively impacted the value of the stock? Or, do they agree with the HFs that the stock is worthless, which would suggest that GME is behind a pump and dump which has enriched them and left us holding the bag? This is the kind of letter we need to send, en mass, to the Chairman of the Board: Kathy Vrabeck, and to the media.

GME Governance

Management

Board of Directors

submitted by Timelord1000 to GME [link] [comments]

Skyrefuge. The CEO we never asked for that showed up one day to reorganize the company, made us all prove "what we bring to the organization." He is also our editor in chief, micromanager, tax expert, social media manager, psychologist, lead researcher, recording engineer and proofreader

He showed up 30 days ago. There are so many posts. This is a TINY subset of his responses, I'm not going to comment on them all. This person literally posts all day every day and night. I am so sorry you guys have been subjected to somebody so completely removed from how to properly socially interact with people. The level of narcissism is something I have never seen on reddit before. I will never cheat on you guys with /wallstreetbets again! I'm so sorry you had to deal with this.
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"I'm just unusually good at Internet-based digging (I've been doing it for 25 years). I'm the one friends come to when they're dating someone new, etc." - yeah, we nipped that in the bud earlier. have several seats.
"I figured people here would value the amount of unique info I dig up, but I guess if I accidentally discover any info that would force them to adjust the model of Hilaria that's already solidified inside their brains, they'd prefer to not hear anything new at all." - value you lmao
"Here's one where I dug up some first-person comments from people who knew her as Hillary, that had never been reported before." - nope, we had all that on DCUM.
"Yes, Alec donating $1M does reduce his wealth by less than $1M. But it reduces his wealth by more than not donating anything would. If wealth-maximization was his only goal, he'd donate $0." -- thank god we have you to explain the complicated math that is tax brackets and writeoffs.
"Alec donates millions to non-profits (via the foundation) every year, since long before Hilaria (it was just "the ABF" until recently). I've looked at their IRS filings, and it seems to be a legitimate, well-operated foundation, not doing anything shady for tax purposes." - We know how much he donates. It's online. We didn't need the IRS filings, clearly.
"I gave *you* the link to the clearinghouse, I have the link to the clearinghouse, and neither of us (nor anyone else on this site) checked it! So we both have first-hand experience showing that "giving someone the link to something" doesn't mean a damn thing. Anyone can send an email about anything to the NYT requesting a correction, the fact that they did so is not indicative of anything."
"I somewhat believe Flat_Slide_5680 did actually speak to someone at the registrar's office, but given the sloppiness with details and repeated mistakes in their posts, I agree with you that the likely scenario is that they just never gave the correct name to the registrar to look up, and so "we couldn't find a person who doesn't exist" isn't positive proof of anything." - WHAT THE FUCK?! You do NOT get to come in my subreddit and act like you are the editor of the damn Wall Street Journal berating an intern.
"In your original post, you say she was under "Hilaria Lynn Thomas". Here you say it was "Hilaria Haywood-Thomas". And the latter is definitely not, nor has it ever been, her last name! Not improving my confidence in your credibility here." - See above.
"Forgive me if I still have more trust in the New York Times over an anonymous Reddit user, but we're going to need better receipts from you than that." -We? Who is we?? Are we turning something in? When is it due?
"Since you don't believe me, let's see what the Linguistic Society has to say on the matter:" -my god you are insufferable
"You should have been following all my comments more closely. ;-)". - No shit, you would have been banned a month ago.
"Making a charitable donation reduces the amount of your income subject to tax, it doesn't stand in as an alternative to paying tax. And it doesn't carry over. In order to "not owe taxes", you would need to donate 100% of your income, and keep $0 for yourself. Even then, there's nothing that would carry over to the next year." - here we go again.
"See my comment here for more details on how a tax-deduction actually works." - bye felicia
"No, nothing is weird about that at all. Your lack-of-understanding is making you see conspiracy where it doesn't exist." - No wonder you aren't a member of any other subbreddit.
"But I do appreciate that you recognize (unlike so many others here) that her social-media influencer antics are not at all unusual for that field, and not the reason why Hilaria is a story." -I appreciate that you recognize you will never see the inside of this subreddit ever again.
"The Tax Map Parcel ID is 0300150000100001014 and the unofficial address is 361 Town Ln, Amagansett, NY, in case anyone can search a more-private MLS database or something like that. Where are my real-estate wonks?" - My god, what do you need the real estate listing for. Do you want me to do a title search too? How about a notarized copy of the deed?
"Before the sub devolved into a den filled with simple-minded dehumanizing Hilaria-haters, we used to get great info like this from people who knew the human Hilaria. Unfortunately that's mostly dried up, probably at least in part because people find this place too gross to associate themselves with it." - BITCH YOU GOT HERE 4 WEEKS AGO
When asked about how recording a podcast works we are treated to this:
"My experience was ~20 years ago, so hopefully enough knowledge would have trickled out by now, especially as recording techniques have continued to evolve and become democratized, that nothing that was surprising then would be particularly surprising anymore. But back then (especially in the rock/metal world I was in), everyone liked to envision the whole band rocking out together, and the engineer would just hit "record". No, in most cases, each guy sits alone and records his instrument all by himself (or maybe even one guy records both guitar and bass, but two guys get credited; especially the the "bass player" has great hair for the band photo, but kinda sucks at playing bass). Similarly, if the guitar part for a verse gets recorded, no need to play the whole song through, just copy and paste that part for the next verse. And then of course run auto-tune to correct the pitches of everything. So all stuff that was hardly "secret", even back then, but things people generally avoided learning about.
Once upon a time I was peripherally involved in the music industry, so that's what really opened my eyes to "things are not as they seem". Sitting in a recording studio while an album is being recorded makes you realize "the fans have NO idea what really goes on in here". And more than that, I learned that most fans don't want to know the truth about their favorite band, because if they did, it really doesn't take much effort to see the various subterfuges going on behind the curtain.
Unfortunately I was out of that biz before the explosion of the Influencer Economy, so like you, I wish I had more direct insight into that particular domain. I've always tried to pick up whatever factual information people would publicly reveal, but while I've read endorsement deals and recording contracts in the music biz, I've never seen one in this domain." - Sorry your shitty 80's hair band didn't get signed. Sounds like that autotune was working pretty hard. And once again, check yourself. Butch walker is a good friend of mine, he bought my friend's recording studio in atlanta. He has a book called Drinking With Strangers. You can learn from that. In the meantime, the question was about a podcast.
"Beware, checaco3 claims all sorts of things that we have no evidence for. They claimed 5 days ago to have a screenshot of a website where Hilaria's parents said they "were able to move to Spain AND start their business with a Generous Donation From HABF Foundation", but thus far have failed to produce said screenshot. I don't think it's malicious, it seems to just be a mis-remembering/mis-interpretation of different things that they saw." -FAILED TO PRODUCE A SCREENSHOT? is there some reason they are required to give you one?? malicious? dude, you have serious issues. and a lot of nerve
"We are on the same team! That's why I'm giving you the links to archive.org, to help you figure out how to find the evidence that Hilaria's parents were able to move to Spain AND start their business with a Generous Donation From HABF Foundation. And I really want to see the screenshot you have, because that would be some really good evidence of shadiness that hasn't been exposed yet! Is there anything I can do to help you find it? Do you need help searching your computer's drive?"-Nobody is required to give you dick so stop asking.
"But you had a screenshot, so them changing their website wouldn't matter. Did your computer die or something?" -what is your problem?
"Their website has changed formats over the years, but the content appears to have largely remained the same. You can use archive.org to find the evidence you're looking for in the old versions." -When did we hire a project manager in this sub??
"Here's an August 2020 version that looks just like the current website, but you can go back all the way to 2014 if you need to. https://web.archive.org/web/20200803124231/https://internationalintegrators.org/". -is there some reason you are assigning work to my redditors?
"Since you research charities to gauge their quality, you surely must be familiar with IRS 990 forms?" -Is this how you talk to people in real life? No wonder you work in computer hardware. Nobody wants to deal with listening to you.
"BTW, have you found that screenshot yet showing Hilaria's parents were able to move to Spain AND start their business with a Generous Donation From HABF Foundation? I'll help you shout that news from the rooftops if you can find it again." -Bring this up one more time. I dare you.
"For this theory to have any legs, I think you need to show evidence of a school transfer at some point. I don't believe we have that?" -I am so sorry you guys, I will never leave this sub alone again.
"It's all explained here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2350777/Twitter-time-bug-Alec-Baldwins-wifes-funeral-tweets-led-actor-unleashing-homophobic-rant.html"
"I'm not blaming you for getting it wrong or anything; being aware of the original (wrong) story and but not the later correction is a totally normal thing, I was just taking your post as an opportunity to make people more aware of the correction." - I'm going to make you aware of what a dick you are by getting you banned from DCUM too.
"Where in the article does it say that the horse rescue charges $1500 a month. It explicitly says the opposite, that the $1500/month is for horses that are NOT part of the horse rescue"
"Horse owners who pay to keep their animals at the barn make their checks out to “Alexander Baldwin III,” not to the incorporated, non-profit Amagansett Horse Rescue."
"There may very well be something untoward happening here! But misunderstanding the facts uncovered so far will only make that more difficult to uncover, not easier!" - STOP SPEAKING TO MY REDDITORS LIKE THEY ARE FIVE.
"Your understanding is incorrect. Non-profit schools charge tuition to students. Non-profit hospitals charge bills to patients. A non-profit stable charging rent for horse stalls would be completely legal and within the scope of a non-profit." - here we go again.
"But on top of that, it's not even clear that the non-profit is charging rent for horse stalls! The article makes it clear that there is both a non-profit, AHR, and a for-profit business, both being run at the same facility. The only evidence they offered of money being paid was to the for-profit side of the operation (the $1500 checks to Alexander Baldwin). The didn't have any record of money being paid to the non-profit (which, again, even if it was, that would be ok!)". - Dear God, where did I go wrong? What sin did I commit in my past life that of all the redditors in the world, I'm stuck with THIS one.
"But simply assuming "any foundation is suspect" is far more lazy and incorrect than assuming "anyone with a Spanish accent is Spanish". It's really not hard to look at individual cases and determine what the truth is, there's no value added by being broadly cynical." - Well, you are the expert when it comes to not adding any value to something.
"The implication the Post is trying to make is that the year's-rent was not a good-faith request from the landlord, but rather, a request that he knew would be impossible for Jan to meet; a way to terminate her lease while giving the landlord plausible deniability: "no, I didn't terminate the lease, she could have renewed for as long as she liked!" - We don't need you explaining a Post article to us. And besides that was reported everywhere.
"But yes, that in itself is a story that doesn't really make sense, because generally, it would be the landlord's job to do the property maintenance, not the tenant (Jan), so simply swapping tenants wouldn't necessarily improve anything at the property." - WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?
"If someone half-interested comes to this subreddit to learn about Hilaria, they'll see it dominated by these meme-posts, and rightly say "huh, yeah, those ladies on The View and Hilaria and Alec were right, this *is* just a big pile-on; I doubt she actually did anything bad..." -She became a meme. That was the point. That went right over your 50 year old bald head.
"Diluting the sub dilutes the message of the unique bad thing Hilaria actually did." -Go start your own damn sub then.
"Without more detail, I don't yet see anything absolutely damning in regard to the non-profit relationships, though certainly the lack of transparency is concerning. It's interesting that the Post apparently saw an IRS 990 form for AHR, but don't provide it for the reader, and I can't find a public version." -Why on EARTH would the Post publish an IRS form.
"That's where critical-thinking skills come in, which should be active for all media consumption. Caveat emptor and all that. "This thing that's being presented to me, how could its presentation diverge from reality, and what could be the motivations behind that divergence?" -After I deleted your post for containing politics, you actually said because what you said about Trump was true that didn't count as political. Then insulted me by saying "now I know why the post was removed. You didn't understand that
"And for social media influencers in particular, it barely takes any critical-thinking at all! All you have to ask is "how do I, as a random nobody, use social media? Do I post an accidental, uncurated view of my life?" I think the answer is "hell no" for almost everybody, so it's insane to even use that as a starting assumption for people with huge followings."
"I think the thing is that people don't want to know that it's not real. Every single time I point out that Hilaria's photos are intentionally ridiculous because she wants to make money, I get downvoted to hell. I don't remember if I saw this reference here somewhere, but it's like professional wrestling: it's more entertaining to people (both in a want-to-be-the-face, and a hate-the-heel way) if they can maintain the illusion that it's all real."
"There is no evidence that Sarma was friends with Hilaria." - Except for the PICTURES I HAVE OF THEM TOGETHER.
"It looks like II was started ~2013, after the move to Spain. It's a super-small "business", I would guess that the parents are the only employees, and that it's just a structured way for them to "keep busy" in their retirement. It probably makes very little money (their "retreats" are very infrequent, and small), but it lets them putter around as much or little as they like, and feel like they're making a difference in the world."
"Where have you seen her say December 2010? Everything I recall seeing, they've both been consistent and specific, it was February 18, 2011 (they say it was an unusually warm day, and I've fact-checked that, and it's true!)". - How long have you been unemployed for?
"Ah, a link to a set of links...how it makes my heart sing".
"I should have searched to find that thread myself, but Reddit's search is such shit it discourages me from even trying"-
"I'm pretty sure from all my research that she was never technically an "owner" of Yoga Vida, that was one of her lies, but for the purposes of self-certifying, I think that's irrelevant. She was enough of a player in YV despite not being an "owner"- Sign that information up for kindergarten, because it's 5 years old. Lmao how much time did you waste on that?
"You're sure going to have to show where you came up with that "she was his yoga teacher first" thing, because that just ain't true as far as what anyone has uncovered until now. It was also more like sometime in 2009 (maybe as late as the beginning of 2010, when Yoga Vida launched) that "Hilaria" was born." -Nobody has to show you anything, GTFO.
"I'd say just edit your original post to add the El Mundo article (or replace the OE). Then newcomers will see the original source without having to dig into the comments, and there won't be two separate discussion threads." - Well, you wont have to worry about that anymore now, will you?
"In a better-run sub, we'd have a stickied post with a constantly updated list of references, but..." I DO. OKAY BYE.
"First day on the Internet? Here's how you make a link: https://www.yourtango.com/2020339461/who-sarma-melngailis"
"The entirety of evidence that Sarma and Hilaria knew each other comes from a single, anonymous post on DCUM, and it's just repeated on yourtango.com. That DCUM post also says "the article mentions the people who ponied up money to get Sarma out of trouble. Alec kicked in $100k on Hilaria's request", but the referenced NYPost article mentions no such thing."
"In other words, that's really not a credible source."
"I mostly agree the vision of The Birth Of Hilaria that you lay out here, I just think that using the word "con" to describe all that renders the word meaningless. I mean, women discover they get extra attention and affirmation when wearing low-cut tops and a push-up bra. Is that a "con" too? And I strongly disagree that a "long con" doesn't require a specific end goal. Look at the Wikipedia entry for "con" (which includes a section on "long con"). None of the language in that whole entry is remotely close to describing Hilaria's life or actions."
:And the "restauranteur fraudster-friend offered to set her up with Alec Baldwin" is one of the most non-sensical unsupported bits of wisdom that gets thrown around here. The only way involving Melngailis in Hilaria's story makes any sense is if Hilaria diverts a bunch of Alec's money to Melngailis, which if that happened, then I would definitely agree at least that part of it (but still not the Spanish part) was a long con!"
"Believe what you like, but just keep in mind that all successful detectives, from Sherlock Holmes on down, keep their emotions out of the way, because they make it harder to determine what is truth. No human in history was ever 100% anything (good, evil, liar, truthful), so reducing Alec (or anyone) to such a simple, one-dimensional caricature takes us further from truth rather than closer to it." -Sir, this is a Wendy's.
"No idea, she hasn't responded to my query yet. Official reason was "No Politics", but there weren't any politics in the post or happening in the comments. She was of the "Alec gave money to Hilaria's parents" camp, so I don't know if she just didn't like having that view challenged? Aw, shucks, you're making me blush. But I really appreciate it, especially since McNasty420 took down my deeply-researched RANA post today for no discernible reason, so that was making me feel like my work was a big waste of time. But maybe it's better that way, because yes, I'm sure my employer would appreciate me spending more of my skills on them rather than on this!" -Employer lol. So check this out. I removed it because it said Trump steals money from his foundation and this guy didn't consider that political because: "My statement about Trump's foundation wasn't a "theory", and more importantly, not any sort of value-judgement. I now understand that you weren't aware of how non-controversial my mention of Trump was". You are such a DICK. Where do you get the nerve to talk to people like that?
"Oh, yeah, I wasn't arguing your point or anything! I'd just had more time to look into his ancestry and wanted to write down some actual numbers."
That theory isn't possible, because she invented the Spanish persona long before she met Alec. That's a key fact to know for anyone trying to figure out the 'why' of it. It had zero to do with Alec, and was almost surely her own creation with no particular goal in mind (which the OP seems to understand)."
Oh, ok, awesome! Where's your screenshot? -What are you doing? Why do you need this?
How? You can't just say stuff like that without backing it up! "Hilaria is definitely connected to Spain" is a lie that you created this whole subreddit to expose, so let's not just take her place as people who claim untrue things!
And I'm saying none of what you're saying is true. You might have read something like that here, but that was from people who didn't know what they were talking about. There was no "generous donation to the parents in 2012" from ABF.
No, I'm saying that people here misinterpreted the RANA donation to be a donation to International Integrators (and then repeated it 'til it became conventional wisdom), but it's really not at all. Unless there was some *other* donation to II that has been found somewhere? -RANA is a side project under the umbrella of International Integrators now please STFU about it
OMG, and then did you hear where she said she lies to her kids that the wheels on the bus are broken, because she's sick of singing "The Wheels on the Bus"? Or that she hides the fact that she's going to be gone for a day or two from them? Oh wait, those were lies other moms reported telling their kids. It's all part of a regular segment called "Momfessions"! The whole point is to show that it's a fairly normal thing for parents to do. Pretending Hilaria is the only one who lies to her kids is weird, and completely ignores all the other parents who nod along and laugh in the audience. -Thank you, 50 year old guy with no kids.
Erm, his donations were definitely NOT funneled to family members; where did you get that from? Perhaps actually read my post!
Also, yes, he gets a tax deduction for charitable donations, but so does every US taxpayer. -WE KNOW. JESUS.
I'd like to say it's something about living the last four years in the US, when "the truth" seemed to matter less than it ever has before. Creating even awareness of the oft-repeated lies, much less consequences for them, felt like trying to push a pile of air up a hill. So when this opportunity came along at the end of 2020 to expose lies and establish truths, at a sweet-spot big enough where a significant number of people were paying attention, but small enough that I could play a personal role, where that pile of air transformed into something solid that I could definitively poke holes through, it felt like something I had to participate in. -FULL STOP. WHEN THIS OPPORTUNITY CAME ALONG? ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT MY SUBREDDIT?? PLAYING A PERSONAL ROLE? YOU ACT LIKE I HIRED YOU TO BLESS US WITH YOUR PRECIOUS GOOGLE SEARCHING ABILITIES. THE OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO EXPOSE LIES? AT THE END OF 2020? DUDE, THE LIES WERE ALREADY UNCOVERED. HENCE THE MEDIA FIRESTORM.
But that can only be at most a part of the answer, since I felt exactly the same obsession in 2016, when doing crowd-sourced investigation of the real-time cheating of Rob Young / MarathonManUK), a man who had claimed to run 365 marathons in a year, with 0 training, and then was caught (accidentally, by a fan) in the middle of the night riding on/in his support RV while he was claiming a world-record pace for a run across the US.
So for me, there's definitely a Sherlock Holmes factor. Just something about the investigatory process of discovering facts and organizing them to reveal lies, particularly when the lie is so bold, unusual, and created for mystifying reasons. -WE HAD ALREADY BROKEN THE STORY DIPSHIT.
n contrast to many here, the small lies that are pedestrian, banal, and created for obvious reasons (the presentation of herself as someone more-accomplished / put-together / knowledgeable than she actually is, in order to make money) hold no interest for me, since there is nothing unique to her there. Everyone who has ever attempted to make money from their personal brand has presented an embellished version of themselves, but almost no one has trapped themselves 24/7 for a decade walking through their life on such a high-wire of a lie as Hilaria has, while leaving the truth so discoverable far below the entire time.
Thank you! Finally an NYU post, that, while still lacking-in-receipts, at least comes from someone with a posting history that provides significant credibility, and written with a level of detail that provides trustworthiness on its own, but also matches all known facts from independent sources. -STOP. JUST STOP.
Didn't we go through this already? Yes, charitable donations lessen your tax burden. But they also lessen your wealth! Here is the itemized list of $1.4M in donations the ABF made in 2014. If he had *not* made those donations, yes, his tax bill would have been higher, but he would have had more money left in his bank account to spend on a yacht or whatever for himself. So lessening his tax burden cannot be his "entire goal". -for the 50th time, we know how taxes work.
It *has* made donations to the RANA foundation (approx. $70k total, I believe), which Hilaria's parents advertised on their website, but that's not "money to Hilaria's parents" (as people here often say), and I don't even see an obvious connection between the RANA foundation and the Hayward/Thomases. -IT'S LISTED AS A PROJECT ON THEIR WEBSITE DIPSHIT
It looks like it's this, a $369 dedicated paella grill. -this adds that "value" you provide to this sub you were talking about.
Ha. Yep, I'm of a similar age/era, and while I still have a FB account, I've never followed a single celebrity, brand, or even a business, and am rather baffled by people who do. -YET I'M 100% STALKING ALEC BALDWIN'S LIFE
Did you click my links on the bottom? By what rationale do you make the claim that she "brought things to an entirely different level"?
I linked to a picture of a naked mom taking a piss with her baby on her lap, showing off her toenails, and taking a selfie all at the same time! And it took me 2 minutes to find that.
In your original post, you say she was under "Hilaria Lynn Thomas". Here you say it was "Hilaria Haywood-Thomas". And the latter is definitely not, nor has it ever been, her last name! Not improving my confidence in your credibility here. -REMINDER. YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO SKIN IN THIS GAME. YOU SHOWED UP HERE ONE DAY AFTER THE STORY FINALLY STOPPED TRENDING AND TRIED TO REGULATE SHIT. NOBODY NEEDS TO HAVE "CREDIBILITY" WITH YOU. YOU ARE A BYSTANDER.
"As much as I'd like solid confirmation either way, this is most definitely not it. It's the first post from a brand-new account, and the details given make no sense."
"There is absolutely nothing unique about Alec and Hilaria here. Here's a random list I found in 2 seconds"
If I had kids
If you know nothing about language immersion, see what the Linguistic Society has to say on the matter.
The hard part is making sure they have enough natural exposure to both languages. Most of the time, one of the two languages you want them to learn will be "more important" somehow, and the trick is to provide enough opportunities for them to use the "less important" one in a way that isn't forced or artificial. The best way, if you can manage it, is to put children in situations where only the "less important" language is used so that there is no temptation to mix languages or revert to the "more important" language.
It doesn't say that he was also working in that period. Do you have that from another source?
"I graduated from a prestigious university (in my field), but don't have any cap-and-gown photos because I had no interest in attending the graduation ceremony." -PLEASE, I'M DYING. I CAN'T WAIT TO FIND OUT WHAT SCHOOL THIS WAS THAT PREPARED YOU FOR YOUR ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER IN COMPUTER HARDWARE.
" Have you attempted to try the online version I suggested to perhaps get something in writing? https://secure.studentclearinghouse.org/vslandingui/mosiac-landing-page"
"But if you spoke with NYU, and they told you straight up they have no record of her being a student, why are you even considering far-more-tenuous absence-of-evidence evidence like this?"
Your lack-of-understanding is making you see conspiracy where it doesn't exist. "Notability" is a requirement for a Wikipedia page to continue existing, and it's decided by other Wikipedia editors.
But I do appreciate that you recognize (unlike so many others here) that her social-media influencer antics are not at all unusual for that field, and not the reason why Hilaria is a story.
Um, those requirements are from St. Patrick Cathedral in Fort Worth, Texas.
Ugh, not very pleasant to see all those grouped together in an easily digestible list, but thank you!
First, this definitely isn't evidence that she's a hypocrite. That would require her to be a major player in the operation at Yoga Vida, which, just like extensive time in Spain, seems to be something she wanted people to believe, rather than something that's actually true.
Then, the plaintiffs allege that the instructors conspired to export YV's client database, which they were not authorized to do, and sent a mass email to that list of clients. I have no idea how meritorious such a lawsuit is
There have been a lot of people in this sub over the last couple weeks questioning "how did she get away with this for so long?? People on the Internet have been talking about it for at least 5 years! Why wasn't it a story until now?!" The non-answer answer is "because the right series of events hadn't happened until now". Essentially, the story hadn't bubbled up to enough influential and listened-to people until now, so it had very little spread. Part of the process for a story to bubble up to the next level of influence is for that level to have trust in the lower-level source. - YES, PLEASE EXPLAIN MY OWN STORY BACK TO ME THAT IS AT THE TOP OF THIS SUBREDDIT.
"Yeah, obviously even if I *had* the power to make this Reddit sub a repository of impeccably-sourced content, I know it wouldn't actually make a damn difference. But, I had to give it a shot anyway." -COME AGAIN?? YOU MEAN PEOPLE DIDN'T APPRECIATE YOU SHOWING UP OUT OF THE BLUE WAY AFTER THE STORY HAD RAN, ACTING LIKE AN OVERBEARING MANAGER WHO BERATES THEM FOR NOT DOCUMENTING THEIR "WORK" THE WAY YOU WANT IT DONE? THEY DIDN'T LIKE BEING GIVEN ASSIGNMENTS WITH DEADLINES? I'M SHOCKED THAT DIDN'T WORK OUT FOR YOU. This is Reddit, douchebag, not Time Magazine. And the story had already run. Everywhere. You showed up afterward, barked a bunch of demands at people, and are now complaining that my subreddit is unorganized and you "tried" to fix it but couldn't?
"Really it's just a nostalgic rant missing the "good old days" of this sub (like 5 days ago) when it was genuinely producing a high density of quality, original information that uncovered a lot of truth." --THEN LEAVE FINALLY
"Yeah, now this is the kind of quality-content I came here for!" -Reddit?
"I actually have Google Doc filled with links, mostly organized as a timeline of Hilaria's whole life. I've been trying to decide whether I should open it to crowd-sourced contributions, but it still feels a bit messy/incomplete for me to do that just yet." - AND IT'S SAFE TO SAY AFTER TONIGHT, YOU NEVER WILL.
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, HE APPARENTLY INVENTED NAPSTER!!
"I was one of the first people in the world to host downloadable audio files on a website (from a dorm-room server), so I was long familiar with the music side of it. Once Spotify et al finally came along and revealed that "hey, if you make it easy, most people don't actually want to steal stuff" that really changed a lot in that world, a bit similar to what the changing business models have done for the software world."
​
Here is his "Manifesto":
https://www.reddit.com/HilariaBaldwin/comments/kp71jo/this_sub_has_begun_playing_right_into_hilarias/
submitted by McNasty420 to HilariaBaldwin [link] [comments]

Spring College Football Season - Week 1

Introduction

Hey everybody, this is the first of a weekly segment I'd like to start covering this year's Spring college football season. If you're interested in helping coordinate this, please contact me at [email protected], or if you have any updates or changes to my list, please give me an update via this Google form. This post will be a bit longer than the future ones will be while I introduce things, so bear with me a bit.
If there's one silver lining to Covid-19, it's that we get more college football. Just over two-and-a-half-weeks after the close of the 2020 Fall Football season, the colleges and conferences who elected to defer their season to the Spring of 2021 are kicking off their games, with DIII's American Southwest Conference (ASC), Southern Athletic Association (SAA), and Northwest Conference (NWC) planning to play a total of eight games.
I recently finished going through the posted schedule of every single NCAA football team and creating a document which organizes those schedules into a single source and organized two different ways: You can see the entire schedule broken up day by day or you can look at the schedule of each individual program playing an NCAA team. I could have also looked through the NAIA and NCFA, but the NCAA schedules proved volatile enough that I decided not to in the end. I think the format of the sheet is fairly self-explanatory, but just in case it's not, here's a basic guide:
The sheet also has a few other useful tabs: first is a list of teams who played last Fall who are also planning on playing this Spring, or at the least have not officially ruled out playing this Spring. Colleges who played (or attempted to play) in the Fall are listed alphabetically, along with a simple display of their schedule. If it's not currently clear whether the team plans to play or not, their name is highlighted yellow and there's a note indicating as much beside them. There are currently 28 teams who played in the fall and either plan to play this spring or have not formally ruled out playing in the Spring. Most of them played 3-or-fewer games against either Fall opt-ins who needed to round out their schedule, or schools who attempted to start competition in the Fall before postponing to the Spring.
The fourth tab is a list of teams who are confirmed to not be playing this Spring. This list does not include teams who obviously played a full Fall slate of games unless the team played independently of their conference whose other members are playing this Spring. I tried to be pretty conservative with inclusions on this list.
The fifth tab is a list of schools who are officially unannounced on the topic of whether they will play this Spring or not. Many of them may be assumed to be not playing, however several conferences have put out statements to the effect that they are still evaluating current options and that a Spring schedule is not out of the question.
Finally, the sixth tab is a sortable "standings" list of each school who has played so far. It's nothing super fancy and only includes cumulative records, but is a good visual aid.

Notes of Interest

While none of the teams are playing yet, look forward to next week when we get our first Division I level games.
New Mexico State is the only D-I FBS team playing this Spring; several FCS teams are also playing.
Though all members of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC, D-II) are allowed to independently schedule games, currently the only member who has chosen to publicly do so is Saginaw Valley State, who plans to play one game on March 6th.
Despite most conferences being conference only and home/away only, there are a few neutral site games, most of which will be played by HBCUs. The first will be Grambling State vs Prairie View A&M on February 27th in the Cotton Bowl, and the second between Mt. Union and Muskingum on March 12th (I believe the schedules both count this as a home game for Muskingum but I chose not to since it's played in Zanesville and not a town either team is based in). The third game will be Savannah State vs West Alabama in Mobile, AL, and the fourth in Shreveport's Independence Stadium will be played by Grambling State and Southern on April 17th. The final scheduled neutral site game of the season will be the Magic City Classic between Alabama A&M and Alabama State. Scheduled to also be played on the 17th, this game will be played in Birmingham's Legion Field (home of the former Birmingham Iron -- Forge On!).
There are a few games which are tentatively scheduled, but probably the most interesting is the 4/17 matchup between Erskine and Limestone, which will only be played if Limestone fails to make the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) championship.

Week 1 in Spring CFB

Here, I'll give a quick introduction to the currently-planned slate of games for each coming week. A week runs from Thursday to Wednesday, much like the NFL, so this week starts today (2/4) and ends 2/10; this isn't really an issue this week but will be in later weeks. Later I'll try to make a table of the previous week's games, but since this is the first week we don't have any of those yet. I'll also try to include (legal) links to where you can stream the games online, if the team offers such a service.
Times are not guaranteed to be accurate; as a general rule they should follow the time-zone of the home state, but I didn't always check. Also, sometimes, two schedules would list two different times for the same game. I'd generally just stick with whichever one I saw first.
Week 1
DATE TIME HOME AWAY LOCATION CONFERENCE DIVISION WATCH
2/6 12:00 PM Belhaven Mary Hardin-Baylor Jackson, MS ASC DIII link
2/6 12:00 PM Millsaps (MS) Hendrix Jackson, MS SAA DIII link
2/6 12:00 PM Puget Sound Pacific Lutheran Tacoma, WA NWC DIII link
2/6 12:00 PM Trinity (TX) Austin (TX) San Antonio, TX SAA DIII link
2/6 1:00 PM Howard Payne Texas Lutheran Brownwood, TX ASC DIII link
2/6 1:00 PM McMurry Sul Ross State Abilene, TX ASC DIII link
2/6 1:00 PM Southwestern (TX) East Texas Baptist Georgetown, TX ASC DIII N/A
2/6 6:00 PM Rhodes (TN) Birmingham-Southern Memphis, TN SAA DIII N/A

STANDINGS

For a while I wrestled over whether I wanted to include the records of teams who competed in the Fall in this section. What I think I've decided to do is present them here by record and include their Spring and Overall record later on but rate teams by Spring record only, but I'll still present the overall record just for edification. This won't ever be anything super scientific, just a look at each team's winning percentage ordered by whoever's played the most games to help remove the noise of a new week of conference play as each conference starts up.
For this pre-season ranking, I'll only be looking at teams who are currently confirmed to be playing this Spring.
1. Trine (IN) (2-0) - 1
2. Bluffton (1-0) - 1
3. North Dakota State (1-0) - 1
4. Southern Illinois (1-0) - 1
5. Jacksonville State (3-1) - 0.75
T-6. UT Chattanooga & Southeast Missouri (0-1) - 0
8. Manchester (IN) (0-2) - 0
T-9. Mercer, Missouri State, & Western Carolina (0-3) - 0
12. The Citadel (0-4) - 0
13. University of the Incarnate Word (0-0)

Closing

I hope y'all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Like I mentioned in the introduction, any and all help is appreciated! Looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks or is looking forward to for this Spring's football season!
submitted by rayef3rw to CFB [link] [comments]

Couple Invites College Students to Play Pathfinder at Their House, Then Threatens Them

So, my last two posts have been fairly light-hearted (Duck Island / Biff), but here's one that's exceedingly less so. This one's a relatively short story.
I've played both online and in person throughout my gaming career. In this case I was in rural Texas at the time, playing an in-person game my friend was running. We were starting at level 1 in Pathfinder, and we were going to have some fun in the city of Absalom. And since my friend and I were still living with our parents, two of the players volunteered us to play at their house. It seemed like a good idea at the time!
As usual, any listed names are not real names.
The People at the Table
Now, we had been playing with Bob and Lisa at the local game store off and on for a time. (That whole game store was kind of cursed, actually.) We played some board games, some card games, some party games - that sort of thing. They were quirky, I guess? Bob was a big soldier dude with some bravado, and Lisa had quite a bit of bravado herself. I distinctly remember the two of them giving a long speech about how women can absolutely pee standing up in the context of some board game, and I remember they were loud and proud of it, but... That's nothing to be worried about by itself. Kind'a weird in their own ways, but they just seemed full of enthusiasm.
Anyway, we needed a place to play. Bob offered his house, said he had a great, big table that would fit a group of 6 people just fine, and we were considering getting a sixth player eventually. My house wasn't an option; DM's house wasn't an option; and Dan's apartment was at least an hour's drive from our town. So, Bob and Lisa's house seemed like a good place to play at.
It was not, in fact, a good place to play. For the next part, I will create a Concern Counter, which currently rests at 0.
The Story
DM and I drove down to the place together. If I recall correctly, I was the one driving, and my friend DM was on the phone getting directions. The directions were a bit vague, and he commented off-handedly when we finished something along the lines of: "Oh, hey, Bob said he doesn't want us to tell anyone about where he lives."
"Why?" I asked naturally.
"Something about legal trouble, I don't know." Concern: 1.
Well, whatever. I figured the guy was joking or something. Anyway, we drive into the place after we finally find it (the directions were weird and vague), but we find the drive way and start pulling in. That's when these Alaskan huskies start barking at us. We decide to stay in the car because those are big dogs, and Bob walks out after we call him, shushes them, and leads us in.
We settle on into the house. The dogs come up during the conversation. We tell him they're beautiful dogs. He laughs and says something about how they could kill a guy. Then he reiterates this in a more serious tone, saying they're trained, and they absolutely COULD kill a guy. Concern: 2.
The house, at least, is nice. We quickly are asked by Bob and Lisa to make sure we weren't followed, and they reiterate that it's really important we not tell the police about them. They won't say why, they just say so. Concern: 3.
Look, at that point I should've just left, but I got the distinct sense that if I tried to leave then I'd have been asking for a crazy couple to do something to me. I also don't think my cell phone was charged. Oops.
Anyway, we're there for the long haul, and we settle in. Again, the house is nice; the table is as big as it was suggested. I learn the guy has guns in his house... Concern: 4.
We keep going. DM and Dan don't seem that concerned about anything yet. We finally start playing the game, introducing characters, etc. Then it's time to adventure!
At some point during said adventure, there's a rules argument between DM and Bob. DM says he's the DM. Bob says it's his house. ...Alright. Concern: 5.
Okay, fine. At this point I just want the game to be over, and the DM and Dan are starting to be concerned. Even trips to the bathroom make me feel tense. But eventually we're adventuring, I ALMOST forget the weirdness happening... We're fighting some sort of weird fish people, perhaps sahuagin or something else, I forget. But while we're playing, we find some treasure.
Now, among the various items in the treasure, there was a magic scroll. I brightened up. Hey, a magic scroll! My witch could totally use that. I suggest as much, and everyone agrees - except the half-elf rogue. The half-elf rogue responds with "I have UMD." I respond with "But I can learn the spell from the scroll."
Now, at most tables we might have negotiated a little over what one of us might give up from the treasure in return for the scroll. But instead, I got an answer along the lines of: "Firstly, it's my house. Secondly, my character can kick your character's ass. Thirdly? You are in MY HOUSE." And the way she spoke was that of someone who was threatening someone else. I remember her husband posturing at his seat like he was ready to whoop someone's ass, the presence of those big dogs nearby, the knowledge there were firearms in the house, and the simple fact these people were actively telling us not to tell the cops about them all coming to my mind at once.
As a reminder: Bob was a military man with combat experience. I had gotten into ONE physical altercation in my entire life at that point, and I was tubby. DM was tubby. Dan was a good, skinny little Christian lad who wouldn't hurt a fly if it crapped on his eye. We were being threatened by 30-somethings who were taking the game to "And I will hurt you if I don't get what I want" points.
Concern: 9000+
I let her take the scroll. We finished the game. DM and I drove home. As we did, I told him very plainly, "We are not associating with those people ever again, and if we see them at the game store we leave immediately."
We never did speak with them again except MAYBE once. We just cut off contact completely, told them DM couldn't run the game anymore, and that was that.
Nowadays, I refuse to go to anyone's house unless I know them dang well.
submitted by LiterallySomeGuy to rpghorrorstories [link] [comments]

TEKK - Tekkorp Digital Acquisition Corp: Who's Who of Gaming Mgmt Teams!

Team has been involved in a substantial number of the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming industries’ most significant merger and acquisition transactions, holding key positions at, and transacting with Scientific Games Corp, Inspired Gaming Group, FOX Bets, Ocean Casino Resort, Resorts International Holdings, PokerStars, DraftKings, Mohegan Sun, Caesars Entertainment Corporation, Harrah’s Entertainment, Tropicana Entertainment, Inc., TSG/Sky Betting & Gaming, Facebook, Inc, Wynn Resorts, Dubai World/MGM Resorts
Here's all the Bios. These guys are stellar! TEKK closed at $10.30 today. Still cheap!
If you don't like to read... you don't like to make money!!!!
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Matthew Davey — Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Davey has over 25 years of experience within the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming ecosystems, as well as experience in the public sector. He is an experienced public company executive officer and board member. He has served in executive management positions across the gaming technology arena. Over the course of Mr. Davey’s career, he oversaw more than ten mergers and acquisitions and over $1.2 billion in debt and equity capital raised to support the companies he has led.
Most recently, Mr. Davey was Chief Executive Officer of SG Digital, the Digital Division of Scientific Games Corp. (“Scientific Games”) (Nasdaq: SGMS). SG Digital was established following the purchase by Scientific Games of NYX Gaming Group Limited (“NYX”) (formerly TSXV: NYX), where Mr. Davey served as Chief Executive Officer and Director. The NYX acquisition provided Scientific Games with a vehicle to significantly accelerate the scale and breadth of its existing digital gaming business, including the strategic expansion into sports betting. In his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of NYX, Mr. Davey developed and implemented a corporate strategy that generated strong revenue growth. Mr. Davey shaped company strategy to focus on digital gaming supplier platforms and content that provided various gaming operators with the underlying gaming and sports betting systems for their online gaming business. In 2014, Mr. Davey oversaw the initial public offering of NYX, and his experience in the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming industries helped NYX recognize momentum as a public company. After the public offering, from 2014 to 2018, Mr. Davey oversaw seven acquisitions which helped establish NYX as one of the fastest growing global B2B real-money digital gaming and sports betting platforms. These acquisitions included:
• OpenBet: In 2016, NYX completed the $385 million acquisition of OpenBet. This was one of the more complex and transformative acquisitions that Mr. Davey oversaw at NYX. Through securing co-investments from William Hill (LSE: WMH), Sky Betting & Gaming and The Stars Group (formerly Nasdaq: TSG, TSX: TSGI), Mr. Davey was able to get the acquisition from Vitruvian Partners completed successfully, winning the deal against much larger and well capitalized competitors. By combining two established and proven B2B betting and gaming suppliers, NYX was well positioned to provide customers with exciting player-driven solutions across all major product verticals and distribution channels. This allowed NYX to become the leading B2B omni-channel sportsbook platform in the market and the supplier to over 300 gaming operators globally with an extensive library of desktop and mobile game titles, including more than 700 on NYX platforms and more than 2,000 on the OpenBet platform.
• Cryptologic/Chartwell: In 2015, NYX completed the $119 million acquisition of Cryptologic and Chartwell. The acquisition provided NYX with more than 400 titles of additional leading gaming content, a broader customer base, and direct exposure to PokerStars and Intercasino, part of the Gamesys Group (LSE: GYS) — two of the world’s largest online casino offerings.
• OnGame: In 2014, NYX completed the distressed acquisition of OnGame, a premier poker content, platform and service provider. This acquisition provided NYX with one of the best poker products in the industry, access to several regulated jurisdictions, and a valuable talent pool that was instrumental in the growth of NYX. The addition of OnGame further established a path for NYX to continue its growth in both European and U.S. markets.
These acquisitions, together with meaningful organic growth, increased NYX’s revenue from $24 million in 2014 to $184 million annualized in 2017. During that time, Mr. Davey helped build NYX to have over 200 customers in the global gaming industry and a team of 1,000 employees. Mr. Davey’s success at NYX ultimately led to its sale to Scientific Games for $631 million in 2018.
Mr. Davey joined Next Gen Gaming, the predecessor to NYX, in 2000 as the Vice President of Technology, was appointed as Executive Director in 2003 and named Chief Executive Officer in 2005. Prior to that, he was the Senior Consultant for Access Systems, a company that specializes in the provision of back-end software for licensed online casinos. Prior to joining Access, Mr. Davey worked for the Northern Territory Government specializing in matters pertaining to the internet and e-commerce along with roles in the Department of Racing and Gaming. Mr. Davey received a Bachelor of Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Northern Territory University, Australia (also known as Charles Darwin University).
Robin Chhabra — President
Mr. Chhabra has been at the forefront of corporate acquisition activity within the digital gaming landscape for over a decade. His prior experience includes leading corporate strategy, M&A, and business development at two of the global leaders in the digital gaming industry, The Stars Group (“TSG”) and William Hill, and a leading supplier, Inspired Gaming Group (Nasdaq: INSE). Mr. Chhabra served on the Group Executive Committees of each of these companies. From 2017 to May 2020, Mr. Chhabra served as Chief Corporate Development Officer at TSG and, from 2019 to August 2020, he also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Fox Bet, a leading U.S. online gaming business which is the product of a landmark partnership between TSG and FOX Sports, a transaction which he led. During that period, Mr. Chhabra led several transactions which transformed TSG into the largest publicly listed online gambling operator in the world by both revenue and market capitalization and one of the most diversified from a product and geographic perspective with revenues of over $2.5 billion. Mr. Chhabra’s M&A experience is extensive and covers multiple global geographies across the digital gaming value chain and includes the following:
• TSG/Flutter Entertainment Merger: In 2019, Mr. Chhabra led the TSG M&A team that was responsible for TSG’s $12.2 billion merger with Flutter Entertainment (LSE: FLTR). The merger between TSG and Flutter Entertainment is the largest transaction in the digital gaming industry to date. The combination created the largest publicly listed online gaming company with approximately 13 million active customers and leading product offerings, which include sports betting, online casino, fantasy sports and poker. The combined entity includes some of the world’s most iconic digital gaming brands such as Fanduel, Fox Bet, Sky Bet, PaddyPower, Betfair, PokerStars and SportsBet. TSG/Flutter Entertainment is one of the most geographically diverse digital gaming and media companies with leading positions in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Germany and Georgia.
• TSG/Sky Betting and Gaming (“SBG”): In 2018, Mr. Chhabra led the acquisition of SBG from CVC Capital Partners and Sky plc, Europe’s largest media company, in a transaction valued at $4.7 billion. At the time of the acquisition SBG was the largest mobile gambling operator in the United Kingdom and one of the fastest growing of the major operators having doubled its online market share in three years. The acquisition of SBG provided TSG with (a) greater revenue diversification, significantly enhanced expertise and exposure to sports betting just ahead of the judicial overturn of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) by the U.S. Supreme Court, (b) a leading position within the United Kingdom, the world’s largest regulated online gaming market, (c) improved products and technology as a result of the addition of SBG’s innovative casino and sports book offerings and a portfolio of popular mobile apps, and (d) expertise in deeply integrating sports betting with leading sports media companies, positioning TSG to create more engaging content, deliver faster growth and decrease customer acquisition costs.
• William Hill (LSE: WMH): At William Hill, from 2010 to 2017, Mr. Chhabra served as Group Director of Strategy and Corporate Development where he led several transactions which contributed to William Hill’s transformation from a land-based gambling operator in the United Kingdom to a leading online-led international business. Mr. Chhabra led William Hill’s entry into the U.S. sports betting and online lottery markets with the acquisition of four businesses, including the simultaneous acquisitions of three U.S. sportsbooks, Cal Neva, American Wagering and Brandywine Bookmaking, in 2011 for an aggregate purchase price of $55 million. These businesses ultimately led William Hill to achieve a leading position in the U.S. sports betting market with a market share of 24% in 2019. Additionally, Mr. Chhabra played a key role in structuring William Hill’s successful joint venture with PlayTech Plc (LSE: PTEC) in 2008. The combined entity created one of the largest online gambling businesses in Europe at the time of its formation and led to William Hill’s buyout of Playtech’s interest for $637 million in 2013. Prior to the transaction, William Hill had struggled in its attempt to establish a strong online gaming platform and a meaningful presence outside the United Kingdom.
Mr. Chhabra has also successfully completed four transactions worth over $1.2 billion in Australia, the world’s second largest regulated online gambling market, and various partnerships in Asia. Additionally, he completed several technology and media related transactions, including William Hill’s investment in NYX, where he worked with Mr. Davey on NYX’s transformational acquisition of OpenBet.
Prior to working in the gaming sector, Mr. Chhabra was an equities analyst and a management consultant. Mr. Chhabra received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Eric Matejevich — Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Matejevich is a seasoned gaming executive with extensive experience in both the online gaming and traditional casino industries. From February to August 2019, he served as Trustee and Interim-Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Casino Resort (“Ocean”) (formerly Revel Casino, which had a construction cost of $2.4 billion) in Atlantic City, where he successfully led the management team through an ownership change and operational turnaround effort. Over the course of seven months, Mr. Matejevich managed to reduce the property’s weekly cash burn of $1.5 million to an annualized cash flow run rate in excess of $20 million.
Prior to Ocean, from 2016 to 2018, Mr. Matejevich served as the Chief Financial Officer of NYX. At NYX, he focused his efforts on integrating the company’s many acquisitions and multiple debt refinancings to simplify its capital structure and provided liquidity for growth initiatives. Additionally, Mr. Matejevich was instrumental to the executive team that sold NYX to Scientific Games for $631 million.
Prior to NYX, from 2004 to 2014, Mr. Matejevich was the Chief Financial Officer of Resorts International Holdings and later, from 2011, also the Chief Operating Officer of the Atlantic Club Casino, a property under the Resorts International Holdings umbrella — a Colony Capital (NYSE: CLNY) entity. As Chief Financial Officer, he provided managerial oversight for all finance functions for a six-property casino company with annual gaming revenue exceeding $1.3 billion, 10,000 gaming positions, 7,000 hotel rooms and over 11,000 staff members during his tenure. Mr. Matejevich led the transition effort to integrate a four-casino, $1.3 billion acquisition from Harrah’s Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment (Nasdaq: CZR). As Chief Operating Officer of Atlantic Club, he lobbied for and was successful in obtaining the first internet gaming legislation passed in the United States. The Atlantic Club was the sole New Jersey casino proponent of the legislation.
Prior to serving in various gaming positions, Mr. Matejevich was a Vice President of High Yield Research for Merrill Lynch, where he managed the corporate bond research effort for the gaming and leisure sectors and marketed high yield and other debt transactions totaling $4.8 billion. Mr. Matejevich received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.
Our Board of Directors
Morris Bailey — Chairman
Over the past 10 years, Mr. Bailey has been a leader in turning around Atlantic City, as well as being among the first gaming executives to embrace online gaming and sports betting in the United States. In his efforts, Mr. Bailey partnered with two of the largest digital gaming companies in the world, PokerStars, part of the Stars Group, and DraftKings (Nasdaq: DKNG). In 2010, Mr. Bailey bought Resorts Atlantic City (“Resorts”) and initiated a comprehensive renovation which allowed for the property to be rebranded and repositioned. In 2012, Mr. Bailey signed an agreement with Mohegan Sun to manage the day-to-day operations of the casino. In addition to Mohegan Sun’s operational expertise and ability to reduce costs via economies of scale, Resorts gained access to their robust customer database. Soon thereafter, Mr. Bailey and his team focused on bringing online gaming to the property. In 2015, Resorts established a platform to engage in online gaming by partnering with PokerStars, now part of the $24 billion Flutter Entertainment, PLC (LSE: FLTR), to operate an online poker room in Atlantic City. In 2018, Resorts announced deals with DraftKings and SBTech to open a sportsbook on-property and online. For 2020 year-to-date, Resorts has performed in the top quartile in internet gross gaming revenue in New Jersey. Mr. Bailey’s efforts in New Jersey helped set the framework for expansion of online sports and gaming throughout the United States.
In addition to his gaming interests, Mr. Bailey has over 50 years of experience in all facets of real estate development, asset M&A, capital markets and operations and is the founder, Chief Executive Officer and Principal of JEMB Realty, a leading real estate development, investment and management organization. Mr. Bailey has notable investment experience within the energy, finance and telecommunications sectors through investments in the Astoria Energy Plant, Basis Investment Group and Xentris Wireless.
Tony Rodio — Director Nominee
Mr. Rodio has nearly four decades of experience in the gaming industry. Most recently, Mr. Rodio served as the Chief Executive Officer and director of Caesars Entertainment Corporation (“Caesars”) (Nasdaq: CZR), one of the world’s most diversified casino-entertainment providers and the most geographically diverse U.S. casino-entertainment company, from April 2019 until its acquisition by Eldorado Resorts, Inc. in July 2020. Mr. Rodio led Caesars through its $17.3 billion merger with Eldorado Resorts, one of the largest transactions in the gaming industry to date. Additionally, Mr. Rodio was instrumental to Caesars’ expansion into the digital gaming industry and oversaw the implementation of new digital segments such as its Scientific Games powered retail sportsbook solution that now operates in various states throughout the U.S. From October 2018 to May 2019, Mr. Rodio served as Chief Executive Officer of Affinity Gaming. Prior to Affinity Gaming, he served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Tropicana Entertainment, Inc. (“Tropicana”) for over seven years, where he was responsible for the operation of eight casino properties in seven different jurisdictions. During his time at Tropicana, Mr. Rodio oversaw a period of unprecedented growth at the company, improving overall financial results with net revenue that increased more than 50% driven by both operational improvements and expansion across regional markets. Mr. Rodio led major capital projects, including the complete renovation of Tropicana Atlantic City and Tropicana’s move to land-based operations in Evansville, Indiana. Each of these initiatives, among others, generated substantial value for Tropicana. Ultimately, Mr. Rodio’s efforts at Tropicana led to its sale to Eldorado Resorts in 2018 for $1.85 billion. Prior to Tropicana, Mr. Rodio held a succession of executive positions in Atlantic City for casino brands, including Trump Marina Hotel Casino, Harrah’s Entertainment (predecessor to Caesars), the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort and Penn National Gaming. He has also served as a director of several professional and charitable organizations, including Atlantic City Alliance, United Way of Atlantic County, the Casino Associations of New Jersey and Indiana, AtlantiCare Charitable Foundation and the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming Hospitality & Tourism. Mr. Rodio brings extensive knowledge of and experience in the gaming industry, operational expertise, and a demonstrated ability to effectively design and implement company strategy. Mr. Rodio received a Bachelor of Science from Rider University and a Master of Business Administration from Monmouth University.
Marlon Goldstein — Director Nominee
Mr. Goldstein is a licensed attorney with nearly 20 years of experience in the gaming space. He joined The Stars Group (Nasdaq: TSG)(TSX: TSGI) in January 2014 as its Executive Vice-President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary until his retirement from the company in July 2020 following the merger of TSG with Flutter Entertainment, PLC (LSE: FLTR). Mr. Goldstein also previously served as the Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development and General Counsel of TSG. Mr. Goldstein was also the senior TSG executive based in the United States and was one of the primary architects of TSG’s strategic vision for its U.S.-facing business. During his tenure, TSG grew from an approximately $500 million market-cap company to an approximately $7 billion market-cap company through a combination of organic growth and strategic mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Goldstein participated in numerous M&A transactions and capital markets offerings at TSG, including several transformational transactions in the digital gaming industry. Notable transactions in which Mr. Goldstein was involved include:
• TSG/Flutter Merger: In 2019, TSG merged with Flutter for a $12.2 billion transaction value, the largest transaction in the digital gaming industry to date.
• TSG/Fox Bet Partnership: In 2019, TSG entered into a partnership with FOX Sports to create FOX Bet in the U.S., a leading U.S. online gaming business. Wall Street Research estimates an approximate $1.1 billion valuation for Fox Bet post-partnership with The Stars Group.
• TSG/Sky Betting & Gaming: In 2018, TSG acquired Sky Betting & Gaming, the largest mobile gambling operator in the United Kingdom at the time, for $4.7 billion.
• TSG/CrownBet and William Hill: In 2018, TSG simultaneously acquired CrownBet and William Hill, two Australian operators, for a total of $621 million in a multi-part transaction.
• TSG/PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker: In 2014, TSG acquired The Rational Group, which operated PokerStars and Full Tilt and was the world’s largest poker business, for $4.9 billion.
Through his ability to legally structure large and complex transactions, Mr. Goldstein was integral to TSG’s vision of becoming a full-service online gaming company. Additionally, he assisted in structuring TSG’s capital markets activity, which generated liquidity for acquisitions and strengthened its balance sheet.
Prior to joining TSG, Mr. Goldstein was a principal shareholder in the corporate and securities practice at the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig P.A., where he practiced for almost 13 years. Mr. Goldstein’s practice focused on corporate and securities matters, including mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, and financing transactions. Additionally, Mr. Goldstein was the founder and co-chair of the firm’s Gaming Practice, a multi-disciplinary team of attorneys representing owners, operators and developers of gaming facilities, manufacturers and suppliers of gaming devices, investment banks and lenders in financing transactions, and Indian tribes in the development and financing of gaming facilities.
Mr. Goldstein brings experience and insight that we believe will be valuable to a potential initial business combination target business. Mr. Goldstein received a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from Emory University and a Juris Doctorate with highest honors from the University of Florida, College of Law.
Sean Ryan — Director Nominee
Mr. Ryan is a digital media and technology operator with extensive global experience in online payments, e-commerce, marketplaces, mobile ad networks, digital games, enterprise collaboration platforms, blockchain, real money gaming and online music. Since 2014, Mr. Ryan has been serving as Vice President of Business Platform Partnerships at Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) (Nasdaq: FB), where he leads a more than 500 person global organization that manages the Payments, Commerce, Novi/Blockhain, Workplace and Audience Network businesses. Prior to his current role, Mr. Ryan was hired in 2011 as the Director of Games Partnerships to lead and grow the global Games business at Facebook. While the Director of Games Partnerships, Mr. Ryan focused on re-shaping Facebook’s games and monetization strategies to derive more value for Facebook, its users and its partners, including the addition of a Real Money Gaming offering in regulated markets. Mr. Ryan’s team helped accelerate a major trend in engagement through cross-platform games and therefore the opportunity to increase users through establishing games on multiple platforms. Prior to joining Facebook, Mr. Ryan created the new social and mobile games division at News Corp, an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by Rupert Murdoch. While at News Corp, Mr. Ryan led the acquisition of Making Fun, a San Francisco social-game start-up, that created News Corp’s games publishing division.
Before joining News Corp., Mr. Ryan founded multiple digital businesses such as Twofish, Meez, Open Wager and SingShot Media. Mr. Ryan co-founded Twofish in 2009, a virtual goods and services platform that provided developers with data analytics and insights for individual application’s digital economies. Twofish was later sold to online payments provider Live Gamer, where Mr. Ryan served on the board of directors. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Ryan founded and led Meez.com, a social entertainment service combining avatars, web games and virtual worlds. The white label social casino gaming company Open Wager was spun out of Meez and was later sold to VGW Holdings, Mr. Ryan also co-founded SingShot Media, an online karaoke community, which was sold to Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: EA) and merged into its Sims division.
We believe Mr. Ryan’s experience will be valuable to a potential initial business combination target and would provide an expanded perspective on the digital gaming landscape. Mr. Ryan received a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Tom Roche — Director Nominee
Mr. Roche has more than 40 years of experience in the gaming industry as a regulator, advisor and independent auditor. Mr. Roche joined Ernst & Young (“EY”) as a partner in 2003 and opened its Las Vegas office. He was subsequently appointed as the Office Managing Partner and Global Gaming Industry Market Leader. In 2016, Mr. Roche relocated to the EY Hong Kong office to supervise the expansion of the EY Global Gaming Industry practice in the Asia Pacific region. Mr. Roche has been integral to numerous transactions that have shaped the current gaming landscape, including:
• Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) initial public offering: Mr. Roche was the lead partner on Wynn Resort’s initial public offering, which raised $450 million in 2002.
• Harrah’s Entertainment/Apollo Management Group & Texas Pacific Group: Mr. Roche headed the regulatory advisory services on the buyout of Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s largest casino company at the time, for $17.1 billion.
• Dubai World/MGM Resorts: Mr. Roche headed the regulatory and due diligence advisory services to Dubai World in its approximately $5.1 billion investment in MGM. Dubai World bought 28.4 million MGM shares, or 9.5 percent of the casino operator, for $2.4 billion. It then invested $2.7 billion to acquire a 50% stake in MGM’s CityCenter Project, a $7.4 billion 76-acre Las Vegas development of hotels, condos and retail outlets.
• MGM Growth Properties (NYSE: MGP) initial public offering: Mr. Roche provided tax and structural transaction services to MGM Resorts in the creation of MGM Growth Properties, a publicly traded REIT engaged in the acquisition, ownership and leasing of large-scale destination entertainment and leisure resorts. MGM Growth Properties raised $1.05 billion in its 2016 initial public offering.
Mr. Roche also directed EY advisory services to boards and management teams for profit improvement and technology related initiatives. In addition, Mr. Roche provided advisory support to the American Gaming Association on several research projects, including those specifically related to sports betting, the revocation of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) and anti-money laundering best practices in the gaming industry. Equally, he has assisted government agencies in numerous international locations with enhancing their regulatory approach to governing the industry especially in the online gambling sector.
Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Mr. Roche served as Deloitte’s National Gaming Industry Leader and as the co-head of Andersen’s Gaming Industry Practice in Las Vegas. In 1989, Mr. Roche was appointed by then Governor of the State of Nevada, Robert Miller, to serve as one of three members of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board for a four-year term, where he was directly responsible for the Audit and New Games Lab Divisions. As a board member, he spent a substantial amount of time assisting global jurisdiction regulators enact gaming legislation in the design of their regulatory structure. During his career, Roche has been involved in numerous public and private offerings of equity and debt securities. His background includes providing casino regulatory consulting services to casino licensees and to federal and state agencies including the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Nevada State Gaming Control Board, and industry associations such as the Nevada Resort Association and the American Gaming Association.
We believe Mr. Roche’s highly regarded reputation as a gaming auditor and advisor in the gaming industry will be valuable for us and a potential business combination target. Mr. Roche is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is licensed by the Nevada State Board of Accountancy and Mississippi State Board of Public Accountancy. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Southern California.
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McClain's Mailbag: Can Texans, Deshaun Watson work it out?

Just about all of you are weighing in on the Deshaun Watson controversy and the hiring of the new head coach. I expect Watson, or his people, to make an official trade demand soon, and we’ll see where it goes from there. They can trade him or let him sit out, if it comes to that. I hope it doesn’t get James Harden ugly.
If you’re venting and don’t ask for an answer, I’ll just run your comment.
The Watson controversy could drag on for a long time. Meanwhile, general manager Nick Caserio is getting closer to recommending a new coach to Cal McNair, who’ll sign off on it.
There’s a good chance the next head could be a coordinator in the AFC Championship Game — Buffalo defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier or Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. I think Indianapolis defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus is a strong candidate, too.
Q: Does anybody really know what’s going on with Watson? No doubt he is a tremendous talent and I have always gotten the impression a stand-up guy. All the news/ESPN hype aside why hasn’t he stated his position. What the news is reporting is second- or third-hand information. I don’t believe in Twitter, etc., to communicate in a situation like this. The owner, GM and Watson needs to sit down and talk. If there is a problem or issue, lay it out on the table. They all need to man up. If Watson doesn’t want to be a Texan after they gave him the contract and money, Watson needs to move on. McNair owns the club, you may not agree with how everything is done but he is the owneboss. I hope Watson decides he wants to be a Texan, but that is his call. If not he is a distraction and remember there is no I in team. — Bill B.
A: Sitting down and talking makes too much sense, Bill. So far, Watson hasn’t said what he wants. It’s all come from unnamed sources close to Watson.
Q: The rhetoric around Deshaun displeasure seems to be escalating. My personal opinion is that Deshaun shows a lot of audacity demanding that the owner of the company he works for must consult with him on who he hires to be his boss. Any other industry and he would be in the parking lot with a pink slip in his hand. But then I'm an old guy and not in tune with today’s youth. My question is in regard to his contract. If he stays mad and won't play and demands a trade are the Texans obligated to trade him, or can they not pay him for showing up for work and hold him accountable for the length of the contract? — Eric R.
A: Times have changed, Eric. Some agents and players in the NFL want it to be like the NBA, where the agents and players control so much, like who goes where. If Watson sits, he doesn’t get paid. If he sits out the season, he loses credit for the season and has to start over in 2022. He can do like James Harden and make it so ugly they have to trade him, but I can’t imagine Watson doing what Harden did. That’s not the Deshaun I’ve covered since the day he was drafted.
Q: Does McNair’s decision to keep Easterby send the message to Deshaun (and the others in the locker room that consider Jack toxic) that Easterby is more valuable to the Texans organization than Deshaun. Cal called the Easterby criticism “unjustified.” I get it — it’s unjustified, to Cal. But isn’t it totally justified to 85 to 90 of the locker room (if the Sports Illustrated article and interviews are accurate). — David M.
A: I don’t know what the other players think. Charles Omenihu said at a charity event this week he didn’t have a problem with Easterby. Brandin Cooks, who met Easterby at New England, has praised him, too. What McNair is saying is that nobody is going to tell him to hire or fire, like the owner of most businesses I know.
Q: I know you keep reassuring everyone Watson isn’t going anywhere, but the situation seems to be escalating. The Texans are finding more and interesting ways to keep the fans churned up. It is like a tempest in a teapot. One issue you touched on is will the Texans be able to attract the right candidate if they don’t get this Watson situation fixed. McNair seems to be willing to win the battle at the cost of the war. I am so disgusted with that organization for being so out of touch. One question about Easterby. Is it his ties to OB or is he doing things in the organization to create divisiveness? I can’t understand how somebody can be this polarizing to so many people within the organization and so popular with management. None of this makes sense! — Randy S.
A: You’re right about it not making sense, Randy. I think players and fans believe every bad decision OB made was also made by Easterby. I know many don’t like that Easterby has his fingerprints on so many parts of the organization rather than staying in his lane like he did with the Patriots. But McNair has given him that authority, and Easterby answers to only one person.
Q: I don’t really understand what Easterby did that was so offensive to Watson and Andre Johnson. It’s like the teacher going to the superintendent and telling him to fire the principal. But in this case, Easterby doesn’t directly work with Watson. You’ve been at the Chronicle a long time and are highly respected, but you don’t tell the publisher what to do or you wouldn't be there much longer. — Joe T.
A: You’ve got that right, Joe, but times are different today. Players and agents want control. The Texans negotiated a contract in good faith for $156 million, and they don’t want to trade Watson. They’ve done nothing but praise him to the high heavens. But if Watson is determined to get traded, it’s going to deteriorate. McNair apologized to Watson for the miscommunications on the Caserio hire. McNair and Caserio assured everyone they’d keep Watson updated on the coaching search. ESPN reported Sunday that Watson won’t return their calls. If that’s the case, how does he keep up with their coaching search?
Q: Why do people not like Easterby? Evidently McNair is one of the few who support him. Watson deserves to have some input. We wasted too many years with O’Brien. — Carole R.
A: I’m not exactly sure why they don’t like him, Carole, other than his close association with OB, being part of a total collapse in a disastrous season, having Watson and Andre Johnson taking public shots at him. Nobody has detailed what they don’t like.
Q: Watson's feud. Another employee that wants to be boss. And a rich one at that. Really never heard about Easterby until lately. Let's not forget that Cal McNair let O'Brien take over. O'Brien along with McNair, will never be forgiven here in Houston for giving Hopkins away. Hiring a coach means more to your readers/fans than anything a guy like Caserio could. You've been here. You know as much as anyone, maybe more. Can anyone point McNair in the right direction? Let's see. Caserio has been here a week! Please continue to keep us aware. — Lyn B.
A: Caserio has been in personnel for 19 of his 21 years in the NFL, Lyn. There was no personnel director more deserving of getting a chance to become personnel director than Caserio. It’s going to take a lot of work, starting with the new coach and his staff.
Q: Once again I enjoyed your Mailbag this week. Under one of the Chronicle pictures of Deshaun Watson in said he was unhappy with his lack of involvement in searches for GM and coach. How can he be unhappy when his paycheck hits the bank each week. Someone should remind him that he was hired to be the QB, not the GM or coach. And I do mean sit him down for a little owner-to-QB session and remind him who signs those paychecks since he wants to talk to McNair so badly. Sounds like another entitlement issue to me. Quite frankly, I think he gets too much credit and week after week he makes his share of mistakes that contribute to losses. Not sure why the masses are willing to look beyond that. How could the Texans give him any more than they have already? As far as his no-trade clause, the backup quarterback position might just show him a bit of humility or appreciation for where he is and what he has. Time for someone to put these prima donnas in their place. With a good GM and a good coach in place the Texans can do better without him as the starting QB. Let him watch a few Texan wins from the bench for awhile and let’s see how much input he thinks he should have in GM and head coach hires. — Will W.
A: Will, Watson won’t be sitting on the bench. If he’s here, he’s starting. If he’s not, he’s starting somewhere else.
Q: I am a Chronicle subscriber, have read your column for years. I read how the Texans re-did Andre's contract. Then he was an assistant (or similar) in recent years. I understand Andre taking up for Deshaun but I do not understand such sharpness being tweeted out. That seems completely unlike the Andre that the public knows. How was Andre so wronged? — Ed K.
A: He wasn’t wronged, Ed. I think when he suggested that Watson stand his ground and then ripped Easterby, he was telling us what he thinks.
Q: Watson not happy? Let's kiss his butt to make him happy. Last time I checked he was an employee, not a part owner. Many employees are not happy with certain things in their workplace, but they get over it. Show him the door. — Gene C.
Q: OK, it’s crunch time. My opinion, hiring Bieniemy or possibly Frazier is the only thing that keeps Watson. — Scott M.
A: I’m guessing it’s got to be more than that, Scott.
Q: I think I’ve finally reached my tipping point. That is saying a lot after a year like 2020. The Harden situation was surprisingly easier. I’m a die-hard Rockets and basketball fan. I’ve had season tickets or have been buying tickets since 1991. And yet when it comes to Harden, good riddance. Take it somewhere else. Watson is a whole different deal. While the old-school part of me laughs a little at the Gen Y and Gen X demands and attitudes, that train has left the station. When you give a “kid” $100-200 million it’s hard to expect the maturity or experience of someone in their more developed years. That said, how could McNair let this get so bad? Not sure what to believe in this world of blogger news, but where there is smoke, there is fire. I guess as long as Cal believes we will keep buying tickets and watching on TV then he too can do what he wants. I will say if Watson goes, I will be remorsefully selling my PSLs at first opportunity. Even if our new GM pulled of a Herschel Walker-like trade. I believe in loyalty. It’s important in life. But there is nothing Easterby can be providing that outweighs the damage that seems well documented in and out of the organization. It’s just unbelievable to me and frankly bums me out. I handled the Astros. I’m OK with the Rockets. I’ve accepted the mask. I’ve accepted the election. I just can’t get my head around the situation with Watson. — Keith C.
A: I imagine many of us feel like you do, Keith.
Q: By the way, I’m tired of the sophomoric name-calling in many of your e-mails. You should be able to make your point without stooping to name-calling, right? Thank you. — Mike A.
A: The e-mails have been better this week, Mike. Thank everyone for ditching the name-calling. I’ve deleted several e-mails because I don’t want to take the time to edit out the name-calling.
Q: Congratulations on the Cal McNair interview about Easterby. National media giving you credit for it as well. The news about McNair being so entrenched was nauseating at best but at least it provides certainty. Let's hope the players can convince Caserio to wall him off from them so he isn't a distraction. I sincerely hope fans are allowed in the stadium next year so they can provide direct feedback to McNair and his boss. I can think of no other situation in American business when a subordinate has withstood this much hostility and venom. Maybe in a cult, but not a business. How terribly unfortunate. Thanks for being the messenger. — Ray M.
A: Thanks very much, Ray.
Q: I read your articles and watch your videos. Cal McNair apologized for his actions or communications that created mistrust. Few hours after that Deshaun Watson puts another cryptic tweet about 2 and 10. Why does such a smart player and good person put out such tweets that hurt the reputation of the team and ownership? Is he misguided? Wish tweets could be used to spread positivity, awareness on social issues instead of riling public opinion against team ownership. Why is it hard for players to sort out differences directly as grown-up adults instead of washing dirty linen in public? I want Deshaun to stay in Houston but these cryptic tweets and media leaks (anonymous sources) are beginning to damage his reputation as well. — Jeevan R.
A: It’s a new era, Jeevan. That’s just the way a lot of people operate today. One-on-one communication seems to be a thing of the past.
Q: If Easterby was such a help to the organization here are some suggested comments McNair might have made:
  1. You know we could not have pulled off the trading of Hopkins without his help, this was a really successful moment for our franchise, he advised O'Brian perfectly on this trade.
  2. Why would people question the decision to keep Easterby, after all who would listen to Andre or Watson, they were just players and you can never get enough advice for someone who has been in New England
  3. Our new GM needed to have friends around to support his decision making and Easterby is that guy
  4. Why should I listen to a quarterback or a retired wideout when choosing a GM, after all I have Easterly to advise me, let Watson vacation in Cabo
  5. Andre simply has not gotten to know "Jackie" like I have.
  6. You will see when our team advised by my close buddy Jack Easterby chooses our head coach. No I do not think a quarterback of a losing team should have any say, why would I think of that? After all he is not Elway or Manning or even Blanda. You will see Easterby's worth when we choose the new coach.
Sorry David Barron is retiring, you now have to be the old wise owl. — Don H.
A: We’re all sorry Barron is retiring, Don. He leaves a huge hole in our sports coverage and will be missed by so many of us.
Q: On the coaching search by Texans, this year it seems the new slogan for teams looking for the HC is a leader of men. In a football world of Alphas, not all coaches and players are Alphas. Bill O'Brien wasn't necessarily an Alpha. Mike Vrabel was an Alpha, as evidenced by the many complimentary comments from Texan players during Vrabel's time here. It's been no surprise to me that the Titans have excelled under Vrabel's stewardship. He's supported by a good GM who has had some recently productive drafts. I won't be surprised when the Titans go Super Bowling. How does an NFL owner or GM identify that Alpha quality in a HC candidate? — Roy S.
A: It’s pretty easy to identify, Roy, if you know what you're doing, have a lot of experience in the NFL and have a lot of contacts to investigate candidates’ strengths and weaknesses.
Q: It seems like almost everybody has agreed that Watson will be traded. I don’t think Caserio will do that, but what do you think it takes for Watson and the Texans to get their relationship back on track? And do you think this has hurt the search for a new HC? Med venlig hilsen. — Kristian S.
A: I don’t think it’s hurt the search, Kristian. There are only 32 of these jobs in the world, and they’re coveted by so many. Not to mention the new coach will probably get about $5 mil a year — lots more than an assistant coach. Med venlig hilsen to you, too.
Q: If Watson does not trust Easterby, and Caserio has said that they have a long-term relationship, don't you think it's just better for them to part ways? Get someone who wants to be here and can buy in to what Caserio is building, otherwise there will always be some kind of drama. Watson seems to be a great guy, but he wants to be at a place where he feels like he's respected, clearly he feels that he has not been, right or wrong! I don't care how much money you make, nobody wants to go to work looking over their shoulder every day. Sounds like a clean break is needed. I'd hate to see him go, but hey they traded Olajuwon! — Robert T.
A: Why would Watson have to look over his shoulder every day, Robert? Perhaps they will make a clean break. Perhaps it’ll get real ugly like Harden. Or maybe they can work it out if Watson wants to work it out.
Q: With Cal "running” things, Texans deserve what they get. But the fans don’t deserve this crap. Jack Easterby is now a known problem — nationwide — but Cal can’t see it. Respected SI writers go on for pages about his crap. Cal: unjustified and we own it in the building. It's beyond reproach that the building is an abject disaster. Did Cal say why he is retaining JE? Did he say why, when it's jeopardizing the team, Deshaun, the fans, etc; was he asked to address and respond to the litany of the events outlined in the SI article? Was he asked if 20 percent of that is true, all is probably true, Why is JE being retained? Did he answer why he is being retained when, according to O’Brien, he was intimately involved in all the horrendous decisions since he arrived? If he wasn’t asked these things, then why not?? These are the questions that 90 plus percent of Texans fans deserve answers to. And last, was he asked why, in view of all of the press and backlash, locally and nationwide, he hasn’t had a press conference so that he can field questions from a variety, not just insiders? Cal is damn lucky he’s here in Houston, and not another city where the media and fans demand performance and are exacting in their review. See Philly! Firing a pretty damn good coach who Texans ought to consider, but JE won’t approve, so no chance. Not to mention not even interviewing Saleh and asking for Bieniemy 2 weeks late. The ticket holders should boycott! Once Cal’s cash train comes to a grinding halt, maybe things will change. — Steve C.
A: Steve, I guess you missed McNair answering every question the media had about Easterby on the Zoom call with the media. I guess you missed what’s been reported over and over: It’s Caserio’s search and hire. As soon as he got here for his first day on the job, he notified the league he wanted to interview five coaches, including Bieniemy. And I guess you’ve missed all those times it’s been written, broadcast and tweeted: McNair says Easterby is here because the owner thinks he does a good job. No other explanation is necessary.
Q: Shades of the Houston Oilers. Reminds me of the yesterdays when Bud Adams didn't know what he was doing. McNair standing up for a man that was totally bamboozled and steamrolled by Bill O'Brien is a joke. It just tells me that the owner doesn't have a clue about football management. Mr. McNair seems to be a good man, and a man that knows how to make money. But his personnel skills are lacking. By standing up for Easterby, he has endorsed the failures of the past 5 years under O'Brien. The man that dismantled the Texans and left them non-competitive. But Deshaun knows Easterby is zero help. Why didn't Deshaun say something before or after he signed his huge contract? Why did J.J. Watt wait so long to speak out? Easterby was there to listen to them. I predict the Texans will continue to lose for the next 5 years. New coach? Who wants this job? Texans will have to beg to get a coach. Interviews mostly with retreads Jim Caldwell, Marvin Lewis? Are you kidding me? Losers. Watt will be gone to a potential championship team like Green Bay. The Texans will not beat the Jaguars again. You will see what real coaching does. Watson will remain unhappy and frustrated fans will still buy tickets, based on a sales pitch. Easterby will get it done. Seen it all before. Thank God I don't have season tickets with a seat license. — Kelley J.
A: I disagree about failure for the last five years with OB. Winning four division titles in five years and two playoff games isn’t failure. Let’s be fair. The Texans have interviewed eight candidates, including five who’ve never been a head coach. By the way, some other retreads who’d been fired: Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, Tony Dungy, Marty Schottenheimer, Dan Reeves, Andy Reid, Jon Gruden and Gary Kubiak, just to name a few.
Q: I'm from Boston and subscribe to Texas Sports Nation to read your stuff. We had a sportscaster named Bob Lobel who would show highlights of former players and say, "why can't we get guys like that." I hope Nick and Easterby (who reminds me of Rasputin and I'm glad he's Houston's problem) ship him (Watson) to New England. Stranger things have happened. More likely the Jets for Darnold and great picks. — Vic L.
A: Vic, what do you have to offer for Watson to go to the Patriots to work with Belichick and Josh McDaniels.
Q: I’m sure I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, but in my view, regardless of how his role evolved, a critical part of Easterby’s position was to maintain a good relationship with players. Most of all, the team leaders such as Deshaun Watson. If he has not done this, he has failed at a significant part of his job. Just like with any other job, I don’t really think it matters what the reasons are. He has obviously failed at it. Personally I try to form my opinions from the information I have available to me. There is a lot of information out there regarding Deshaun Watson, from his childhood, to college, to NFL. He does not appear to be someone to me that is unreasonable or difficult to deal with. If he was, then maybe this breakdown with Easterby would be excusable. I think where there is smoke, there is fire. And there is just too much smoke around players having problems with Easterby. So, in my opinion, McNair keeping him around may not be the easy way out, but it also may not be the right decision. I just don’t think it should have been that hard for Easterby to maintain those relationships. Sometimes in life if situations degrade then it just needs to be changed, regardless of the perspectives of those involved. — David G.
A: David, Easterby’s job has nothing to do with his relationship with players. That was at New England. He’s the executive vice president of football operations who works closely with the GM who has final say on all football decisions.
Q: McNair’s every word, action and decision show he is simply not intelligent enough to be an NFL owner. The smartest thing Cal McNair could do is find someone smart enough to operate the Texans football franchise and step out of the way. Maybe that person is Nick Caserio? Maybe that is the new real question? — Deanne N.
A: The idea, Deanne, is for Caserio to hire the coach to be the face of the franchise, and McNair and Easterby slip into the background.
Q: Texans fans badly need to understand the what and why the Texans have completely fallen apart since the playoff game last year against Kansas City. While Bill O’Brien had not won a Super Bowl, he had considerable success and seemed on the brink of winning the big one. The crazy trades, the demise of any defense, all this attention of Jack Easterby, etc. What does he do that is good or bad? It appears that with the passing of Bob McNair, things have deteriorated greatly. The Chronicle needs some in-depth reporting on the matter to the benefit of those paying the tab. No diatribe from the two columnists, please. — Charles M.
A: Charles, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve written about the demise of the Texans dating back to the second quarter of the Kansas City playoff game I could buy out Cal McNair.
Q: I take it you watched the Bills vs Baltimore playoff game. The Bills beat Lamar Jackson badly. That drops the stock of Balt's OC. They couldn't do that against Watson. That game only made Watson more priceless. There's not another QB in the NFL capable of the DW4 heroic plays. But what does Houston gain by declaring him untradeable? If the D can't improve substantially during his contract, he's going to leave Houston when it expires. Doesn't it make more sense to ask for a king’s ransom now? Hypothetically speaking, if Houston were to trade him, where does Chicago rank as a trade partner? All things considered, can Houston rebound defensively and compete for the AFC crown next year? — Juan B.
A: Watson has a no-trade clause. I doubt seriously he’d agree to be traded to the Bears. I don’t think the Texans can compete for the AFC crown next season, Juan. If they trade Watson, they’ll compete for the first pick in the draft.
Q: What would happen if J.J. Watt and Deshaun Watson both say they don’t want to play for the Texans as long as Easterby is in the building? What would happen if the Texans hire a coach that Deshaun Watson isn’t happy with? Easterby knows that he is toxic amongst the best players on the team and Cal knows that. What if Watson says I’m not coming unless Easterby is gone or if J.J. Watt says I’m not coming back to camp unless Easterby is gone? I feel bad for Caserio. — Glen K.
A: I feel bad for Caserio, too, Glen. He’s waited 20 years for a chance to become a GM and he starts with this mess.
Q: Hard to imagine the hold Easterby has on McNair. His background purportedly was as a character coach when he was brought in. Instead he has apparently done only one thing right — ingratiating himself with McNair and Caserio. It’s hard to imagine we may lose an unbelievable talent like Watson because of a character like Easterby. His skill set was supposed to be building team chemistry. He has done a tremendous job of doing the exact opposite. It sounds like players see him for what he is, a poser. Amazing! Casserio could salvage everything by calling Bieniemy and offering him the job immediately. Watching KC’s offense and the higher level creativity is just too good to pass on. Or we can take the safe route, dawdle and get stuck with whomever is left and have that as an excuse. Fortunately, it will probably be a defensive coach and we will need a great D without Deshaun here. — Mike D.
Q: I am a daily reader. I just got through reading the Sports Illustrated article online about Easterby. I'm trying to figure out other than the fact that he prays, what is the specific issue. Maybe everybody's avoiding coming right out and saying it due to a legal liability, but I have been unable to find anything other than vague references to the fact that Easterby's being here has somehow caused the Texans to play terribly. I also have not seen anything in the media that says a billionaire has to run his business according to public opinion which may not even represent the majority. I'm not a defender of either person, it just seems that there's a lot of smoke and not the whole lot of specific fire. No one wants to lose so maybe that's the biggest thing. Why Deshaun Watson at 25 thinks he should be able to dictate to the people who pay him a hundred and fifty million dollars is still a puzzle to me. According to SI online when asked why Caserio wasn't on their list, Korn Ferry said they knew that he was already on the Texans list so they did not add his name. I have not seen this detail in any local media, which seems to make the issue of Caserio not being on Korn Ferry list something that we should think about. — Charles W.
A: Charles, I don’t give a damn about Korn Ferry. Jed Hughes recommended they hire Brian Schottenheimer as their head coach, and he was fired by Seattle. A search firm is paid to compile information and make recommendations. This was the third time the Texans tried to interview Caserio dating back to 2017 when they had to replace Rick Smith. Caserio is one of the most respected personnel men in the NFL. That’s not debatable. Who gives a hoot if he was on the Korn Ferry list?
Q: I have no insight into the operation of a football organization. My Ph.D. is in management and have a very good understanding of organizations outside of football. I don't understand the upset QB and I am guessing many of his supporters. Let me frame my question. The CEO runs the company. His/her direct reports are probably VP's, then there are managers and report to them are various staff. I was once a college president. If a hot shot staff member had demanded that he/she be part of the selection of a VP or their direct boss I would tell them they have no business selecting senior members of my staff and I would guess that other CEO's would tell the staff member the same thing or would no longer have a job. Here is my question. Why does Watson think he should be in or hiring Caserio or the next head coach? — Rudy S.
A: That’s the way it is in just about every business, Rudy, but not the business of sports.
Q: I have not written to a newspaper writer in my 71 years on this earth, but I am highly disappointed in what is going on with the Texans. I have been a season ticket holder since 2003 and have stood by the team each year be it good or bad. Deshaun Watson has lost my respect as a player and a person. He has lowered himself to acting like a spoiled NBA player. He is paid to play football not manage the team. People are down on Jack Easterby but no reasons have been put forth for their dissatisfaction. So what is the story? The McNair family owns the franchise and funds it so that makes them the boss. I would like to see Deshaun play for the Texans but what he is doing right now is destructive and stirring up trouble for the team, fans and ticket holders. This kind of behavior is going to drive away ticket holders. A sad season ticket holder. — Jo Ann C.
A: Many feel as you do, Jo Ann. Unfortunately, times are different. Agents and players have a lot more power than they used to.
Q: It’s sad that a premier QB is now executive management. He should do his job and improve like not throw 1 interception ever again. So now we’ve established no one’s perfect, lets address coaching. Texans hired great GM, let him do his job. — Stephen G.
A: I agree, Stephen, to let Caserio do what he was hired to do.
Q: I'm heartened by last week's Mailbag participants whose concerns I shared about religion and hiring within the Texans organization. And thank you for your enlightening information in that regard. Should Deshaun Watson (or anyone) have been angered that Bieniemy wasn't interviewed before Caserio was hired to search for a coach? That confusion seems like an easy thing to smooth over. If not and Watson leaves, the organization would no longer be qualified to represent the great city of Houston. Especially after the excellent season Watson had. I'm not sure which he needed less, the support of a running game or Bill O'Brien calling plays. Am I wrong in thinking if Jamey Rootes resigns, as he was rumored to want to after all the reported GM hiring chaos, it means all that reported chaos is true? In which case, aside from Watson leaving, Rootes departing would also be a strong indictment of Cal McNair's management. If the Texans hire a defensive coordinator as head coach, does that mean Tim Kelly has a chance to stay on? — Tim K.
A: I should point out, Tim, that you’re not the Tim Kelly. I’ve said all along I thought it was a waste of time to interview a candidate before the GM was hired. Caserio is running the search, and McNair will sign off on his recommendation. I think Kelly has a chance to stay no matter who they hire. Watson wants him, and he helped Watson have his best season.
Q: What value does Jack Easterby bring to the Texans organization? How much value does this man hold if keeping him around could cost the team the one thing an NFL team needs to succeed - a transcendent quarterback. With the SI articles, it's clear there's something rotten in NRG. You keep saying Watson won't be traded, but every day that goes by is a day that the possibility increases. Firing Easterby would be the beginning of mending fences. I don't think McNair and Caserio are willing to do it. Houston seems to have got lucky to be able to interview Eric Bieniemy due to the bad press about the lack of Black coaches being hired this offseason. Although there's a limited number of these jobs, it seems to be less desirable with Easterby in the building. Can you just explain, what does that man do? If it's to provide comfort, it ain't working. It would be better the Texans bring in rescue puppies and kittens in to pet once a week. — Louis E.
A: His job isn’t to provide comfort, Louis. He’s the executive vice president of football operations. He does things on the football side to help the GM, who has final say. Easterby’s involved in everything on the football side and some things on the business side.
Q: Instead of being a reporter, how about being the GM of the Texans for a day. Granted you aren’t able to interview the coaching prospects or D4, but if you had the chance to pull the strings what would you do for coach, QB and other positions you feel need to be addressed. — Mike P.
A: I’d bring in the two or three finalists for in-person interviews. Then, I’d make my recommendation to McNair. After he signs off on it, the coach would be hired. The coach and I would sit down and figure out a way to get Watson to communicate with us. We’d offer to fly to where he is for some one-on-one communication. I might even bring my OC, Tim Kelly, along since Watson was adamant he wanted to keep Kelly as the play-caller.
Q: You have certainly added logs on them. Marketing fire to help Caserio maintain the less than stellar historical glow of the burdened mid market Texans! Honestly, in my 35 years living my life in Texas, which I continue to celebrate; for the life of my I still wonder how we get mid market and Houston disproved as in the same sentence! Stay strong John! — Bob B.
Q: The history of the Texans success is directly related to their players injuries each season. Recognition of this should be the team’s primary goal for its future. Miami coach Don Shula installed a program to prevent player injuries, and that likely played significantly in their success. If ever a team needed such a program, it's the Houston Texans. — Don S.
submitted by techn0crat to Texans [link] [comments]

Where can I find texas hold'em???

I have been having fun playing this game on mtultiple free to play casino sites including poker stars but I've been looking to put in some real stakes for some real rewards online. Online gambling is legal where I live but no casinos near me so I'm looking for some texas hold'em games with real money stakes.
Update: Thanks guys Bovada is happily working for me! New past time activated.
submitted by dark_ninjuh to onlinegambling [link] [comments]

Everything you've ever wanted to know about Blockbuster in 2021 but were afraid to ask.

Blockbuster, in 2021?? What gives?
I know, right??
As best we know, there exists ONE store in the world. It’s in Bend, Oregon. This is the one you keep hearing about as “The Last Blockbuster.”
The only other official Blockbuster service offering movies is an on-demand service in Denmark. They also have a YouTube Channel.
But didn’t Blockbuster close all of its stores years ago?
Kind of. The short version is that Dish Networks (the US satellite TV provider) bought Blockbuster in 2011 and there were just over 3,000 stores at the time. At the end of 2013, they announced they were shutting down all of their corporate owned stores. The last ever rental was “This is the End” in a Hawaii store on November 9, 2013 before the stores went into liquidation. The liquidation lasted until January 2014, and the stores closed their doors.
But that wasn’t the end of Blockbuster?
Nope! This left 50 or so franchised (ie, independently owned) stores still operating. As long as they could pay Dish for the name, they could stay a Blockbuster. Many of these were in Alaska, Texas, and other parts of the US that less-than-ideal internet connections where streaming wasn’t a great option.
One by one, these stores closed.
What about outside the US?
The Wikipedia page for international Blockbuster operations is a little spotty in terms of complete updates on each territory. The short version is that the name “Blockbuster” was licensed, sub-licensed, and co-owned in different territories around on the world. Most ceased operations in the late 1990’s up until the early 2010’s, and by the end of 2020, all of the stores are gone.
Some notable examples:
  • Australia had one store in Morely (a suburb of Perth), They announced their closure at the end of March 2019. They stopped renting videos as of March 7th and held a liquidation sale on March 31st, 2019. This store was often thought of as the “sister” store to the one in Bend, Oregon.
  • Blockbusters in Mexico ceased operations in 2015.
  • The UK stores started rapidly shutting down stores beginning in 2013, and closed in December of that year.
  • In Brazil, Blockbuster was attached to the chain store "Lojas Americanas," but they appear to have quietly disappeared around July or August of 2018.
  • There were a number of stores operating in New Zealand. Many started to close around 2007, but up until their closure in January 2020, an independent video store proudly displayed the Blockbuster signage (most likely not legally).
  • Then there’s the Italy stores. There were two stores in Florence. They were operating as of January 2020 and closed sometime between that and August 2020. Their presence was pretty much a mystery. They weren’t paying Dish for the name, but they may have legitimately had the right to use the name from other ownership deals in the territory. The truth is, we’ll probably never know. I did a deep dive here, and discovered the stores were closed this past December.
Haven’t some Blockbusters re-opened temporarily?
There have been some pop-up shops in recent years, offering a taste of nostalgia for promotional purposes, but they weren’t full Blockbuster stores:
I’m seeing Blockbuster products on store shelves lately. What’s up with that?
Dish is trying to make some money on nostalgia because, hey, why not?
So what killed Blockbuster? It was Netflix, right? I bet it was Netflix!
Netflix had a big part, but there were a ton of other reasons:
  • On-Demand was becoming a big thing in the late 2000’s. People who had analog cable were being forced by cable companies to switch to digital boxes where they could order a movie at home pretty easily. Also around this time, the pay-per-view windows were shrinking dramatically. At this point, why go to Blockbuster to maybe get the movie you want, go back to return it, when on-demand offered it for the same price?
  • Redbox also helped kill Blockbuster by A LOT. By strategically placing themselves in everyday locations like Walmart, 7-Elevens, grocery stores, etc, they offered essentially the same service with much less overhead. They also purchased Blockbuster’s own DVD kiosks in 2012, which had been operated by 3rd party.
  • Blockbuster didn’t exactly lie down when Netflix started to rise, either. They formed their own mail-in service in the mid-2000’s, offering the added value of being able to return the discs to a retail location. Franchise owners at the time were NOT happy about this. There was also an on-demand app that lasted from 2013 to 2015. It had spotty support on devices and was too little, too late.
  • There’s the famous story of how Blockbuster turned down the chance to buy Netflix for $50 million in 2000, but keep in mind that at the time Netflix was a struggling venture that failed to make any money, and there was big dot-com bust at the time.
  • There were also plans to make Blockbuster locations much more “retail” in terms of selling products, including electronics, that never got executed. Someone here linked the concept art of these stores at one point, but for the life of me I can’t find them. If you can find it, let me know!
  • There are some deep dives on Youtube that go into all of the various factors. This is one is pretty good.
I’ve seen some Blockbuster social media accounts. What’s the story with those?
  • Likely you’ve seen @LoneBlockbuster. That’s a parody account and it’s pretty funny. Some people think this is the Bend store’s account, but it’s not.
  • There was a troll account, @BlockbusterHQ that confused a few people into think the company was re-launching.
  • The official Blockbuster Twitter account is still a thing, presumably being controlled by Dish. They popped up in August 2020 for two tweets, basically as a promotion for the Bend store's AirBnB deal. Prior to that, they hadn't tweeted since 2014 promoting their liquidation.
  • There’s also various troll accounts for Blockbuster Uganda. I won’t link to any of them since they’re mostly just racist and/or not funny posts.
Now I want to rent a video at a physical store. Where do I go?
You might be screwed. In the US, Hollywood Video closed in 2010, and Family Video announced their closure in January 2021 with 549 stores remaining. There are a handful a mom-and-pop stores still in operation across the country, feel free to do you own search.
If you’re in Italy, there’s Blockbuster Village, a knock-off store. (https://blockbustervillage.it/). These are unrelated to the aforementioned Blockbusters found in Florence, Italy.
There were a couple more around the world, but the list has shrunk every year. These are the only two I’m aware of.
You seem to know more about Blockbuster than any sane person should. What gives?
I was a former employee who started this sub in 2016 as kind of a joke. I’ve since used it to kill time and have gone down a rabbit hole of no return. Please send help.
submitted by hotdoug1 to blockbustervideo [link] [comments]

Hoeing Dirt - GBCJ Year In Shitposting

What do you remember about the year of our lord 2020? Was it the isolation? Friends and family getting sick? Losing jobs because the economy crashed? Getting a positive COVID test becoming the new best excuse to ghost? The leader of the "free world" toying with overturning yet another liberal democracy?
Nah, you don't remember any of that. Your year was spent on lockdowns, "working" from home, remote "learning," or unemployment. With so much time on your hands, you tried jerking off, but then they took away P*rnHub. Instead, you wasted your life away on GBCJ, reading troll posts with a morbid fascination.
At first, you tried to rationalize reddit with a heavy dose of skepticism and some critical thinking. How could anyone spend so much time typing out questions on an open forum, than spending five second on Google? Why would they repeatedly upvote blatant lies? Or creating an environment that is so toxic? Slowly, you came to realize there is no hope. With the world on rolling lockdowns, hysterical bottoms had nowhere to spend their excess horny energy, but online.
There is only one path if we want to return to normalcy. More than ever, we need to take PrEP believe in science, and hope the upcoming vaccine will make it safe enough for holes to go out and find their poles. Reddit will still be reddit, but hopefully with fewer bad takes, horrible trolls, and massive sexual frustration.
Until then, a sample of some of the best OC and link posts of GBCJ in 2020. Comment below if we missed your fav.

Dad4Son

Hey gaybros! Is pederasty ok if you’re the bottom? - 2020/02/07

How do I teach my adolescent son to bottom? - 2020/04/08

i nearly murdered my son but i sad now pls upvote (str8 btw) - 2020/05/20

Hey gaybros I think my son might be a...(whispers)...bottom. - 2020/01/19

Bottom Culture

The Naperville Top - 2020/04/17

  • "Damn Naperville, why you gotta make them so irresistible?" - GBCJ

The Naperville Top, Part II - 2020/05/24

  • Shout out to u/Atetia for alerting me toa horrendous instance of identity theft! - GBCJ

Charles Dickins presents: A Tale of Two Bottoms - 2020/07/05

  • My boyfriend snapped at my flatmate because he called him 'gurl'. - AGB
  • "So I just moved in with a flatmate who's also gay. He is quite feminine and does drag. A few days ago, my boyfriend was helping me move in my stuffs in the flat. My flatmate was there, and the first thing he said to him was, 'Hey gurl, what's up?' My boyfriend replied, 'I'm not gurl you fucking queen.'"

we belike - 2020/06/07

🎶 WAP by AGB - 2020/09/02

  • "Wet-ass bussy, Make that gaycel game weak" - GBCJ

I just saw proof that there is a God. - 2020/02/06

  • "And it comes in an episode of Catfish where a femme twink catfishes another femme twink and they sass each other out. I feel whole again." - GBCJ

If corporations can suck my dick during Pride, I'll pay them good money to get myself fucked the other 11 months of the year - 2020/06/02

  • "Like a lot of the corporations who show support for pride month spread awareness, normalize it, and donate... I just honestly don’t see the problem in companies supporting lgbt for profit, as long as they’re doing the right thing." - AGB

If Pornhub doesn’t reinstate all its prior content, I am going to KILL MYSELF. - 2020/12/15

  • "Now, Pornhub has deleted all my favorite videos, including but not limited to; 'Servicing the HVAC Guy', 'Servicing the HVAC Guy Again' and 'video of the HVAC guy's Wife Outside Bedroom Window Part 6'H." - GBCJ

Culture Wars (Race, Religion and Politics)

If only nazis were hot so they could hate fuck me - 2020/10/09

  • Why does the alt-right never have hot people in their ranks? - AGB
  • "Maybe for the men, but some of the women are admittedly decent."

Hey gurls? Who's your Kutest Klan Kewtie? - 2020/02/06

  • Out of all the awful people you've found attractive, who do you feel most guilty about? - AGB
  • AGB worships alt-right racist Richamasterouecerd Spencer

Last June I made a new Pride flag that honored the struggles of the most persecuted LGBT group: white gays. This year I decided to include another widely oppressed group: murderous cops. Sisters, I ask that you fly this new flag instead in solidarity with the oppressed ✊🏼 - 2020/06/17

  • Created gay "Blue Lives Matter" flag to the fanfare of RWLGBT users. - GBCJ

In which u/atetia goes undercover as a bootlicker and discovers a potentially lucrative career as a right wing sellout shill - 2020/06/17

  • Same as above. - GBCJ

I'm so proud to be a Gay member of the conservative community that I can't even show my face to you all! - 2020/11/06

  • Voted for the first time in my life as a Gay conservative-libertarian today! Thank you everyone from this sub for being so supportive!

Fake roommate stories get thousands of upvotes. A trans man telling people to be respectful? Reported post alert. - 2020/08/28

  • In response to the trending post on this sub about Transphobia. - AGB
  • AGB becomes highly transphobic since the banning of alt-right, nominally queer sub.

which non-white would you allow to touch you? - 2020/12/16

  • Which POC ethnicity would you rather hookup with? - AGB
  • A poll consisting "Black, Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern"

Which one of you bitches did this? This literally reads like something you'd find on gbcj - 2020/01/30

  • Does Islam have the answer to the top and bottom problem in the gay community? - AGB
  • "implement shakira law and give 4 bottoms to each top"

The gays are fighting 🔥 - 2020/06/24

  • Unpopular opinion: I shouldn’t be (and won’t ever be) guilt tripped into being sexually attracted to someone, whether they’re a minority or they’re trans or some other whack fake gender bs - AGB
  • "Whiny SJW activists shitting on anyone who states they’re not attracted to trans people or PoC. It is your right to not be forced or guilt tripped into being attracted to someone / a group of people you wouldn’t normally be attracted to. You’re not racist or transphobic."

Why can't I openly let ethnics know they're ugly? - 2020/06/06

  • Does my preference make me a racist? - AGB
  • "will I be considered racist if I have a preference for guys with light skin tone and vice versa? Sometimes, I feel like everything I do is already racist even though I did not intend to be racist."

Masculinity and Snowflakes

(actual title) How can you stop projecting your bottom mentality into your life? - 2020/09/03

  • How can you stop projecting your bottom mentality into your life? - AGB
  • "Like, how can you want to act assertive in your real life when you get treated like a cumdump in bed? How can you separate your sex life from your personal life?"

Bottom wants to "talk" after sex - 2020/02/13

  • "He wished the two of us could 'talk...' I usually just want to sleep or smoke. Billy’s a right convenient piece of ass since he’s just down the road, but this talkin’ stuff . . . I dunno. Sounds kinda queer to me." - GBCJ

"No one could ever suspect that I'm not a str8 bro, not even my gym buddy that I regularly fondle unprovoked. How could they? I don't listen to Britney Spears??!!" - 2020/03/29

  • Very Masculine Active Duty Marine Sexually Frustrated - GB
  • Troll spammed AGB, GB with no takers. Finally bibros took the bait.

My dad thought I was gay since I was in the 3rd grade. - 2020/07/20

  • "[H]e had suspicions since I was a kid. I’m like “WTF?!?!!” I’m a MASC BRO👑💪🧜‍♀️! You thought I was gay? Fuck no." - GBCJ

I am a gay man. I am a vers top. I am masc. I am just one of the Bros. This is my story. - 2020/08/04

  • "I grew up in a Northwest metro area, as you know, they tend to be rife with homophobia." - GBCJ

Am I the only one that doesn’t like super hot guys?!? - 2020/04/26

  • "Like, guys who are 5’11” rather than 6’, guys with muscles and NO six pack over guys with muscles AND a six pack." - GBCJ

I’m a straight guy who likes pop music and - 2020/05/12

  • "Having to constantly tell everyone around me every day all day long that I’m not gay for listening to straight women artists whose imagery is often intentionally created to appeal specifically to my straight cis male gaze is just so hard." - GBCJ

Granny's attempt at a gaybro starterpack - 2020/08/12

  • A gaybro starterpack with rainbow wristband and chicken wings. - GBCJ

I was once masc top and now I’m a femme bottom. All because I went to one drag show. This is my story. - 2020/01/27

  • After going to a drag show, "I woke up the next morning. I had glitter fingernail polish on my fingers, all my sneakers have been replaced with high heels, my room was covered with Britney posters, and there was a big black butt plug in my ass. I screamed and femme EEEEEEEEE shriek came out." - GBCJ

gaybrosgonemild 10 years challenge: I was a fragile fem, now I am a gaybro, aka fragile fem wearing my brother's outfit and a beard to hide how my fragility and feminity have actually increased. By the way I love to fart and eat chicken wings - 2020/01/03

  • "I watch 'insert manly sport here].'" - GBCJ

Bookclub

Her 🦋💦💦💦TEARS💦💦💦🦋 of JOY - 2020/05/09

  • I bottomed first the first time. I cried tears of joy. - AGB
  • "...as he fucked me. I was crying tears of joy by the end". "...I told him I love him. But I was nervous saying that out loud..."

👏🏻GLOBAL👏🏻WARMING👏🏻IS👏🏻A👏🏻MYTH👏🏻 The oceans🌊 are rising⬆ from gaybros bussy🍑 juice🧃 streaming into your local creeks from stories like this. Serving you Sylvia Day's newest erotic novel 📖🍆✊🏻💦 - Just wait ladies!!! They're both "Str8" - 2020/08/13

  • Me (m18) and buddy (m19) have started jacking together at night without acknowledging it. Should I escalate! - AGB
  • "We say goodnight, lay next to each other, put our hands in our underwear and jack it til we cum."

This week in Family Dick on AGB - 2020/06/27

  • "Since there have been so many Family Dick stories on AGB this week, I thought it would be best to combine them all in digest form... TL/DR: Hot mess." - GBCJ

College kid stayed on campus during quarantine just to suck professor's 8-inch cock - 2020/05/31

  • Secretly sucked my first dick, it was from a professor and It was so delicious and I'm happy. - AGB
  • "I always had a fetish for teachers. I'm 20 and I'm in college dorm. He is the kind of teacher that is chill, not strict and friendly so many liked him so much and finally, yesterday, he let me suck him. It was fun, seeing the pleasure in his eyes and the taste, wow."

I found the courage to share my experience with a straight man 👨 - 2020/12/19

  • "Is it possible that he likes me? Perhaps love transcends beyond biological sex. After a few too many, I let it slip that i was gay. He leaned in close to me, and I foolishly tried to kiss him. I know I should have asked first." - GBCJ

GayBros Sex Education And Relationship Advice

DAE have a self-servicing bussy? - 2020/04/15

  • Bowel movements make me ejaculate... anybody else? - AGB
  • "I ejaculate almost every time I have a bowel movement."

This will definitely be one of TheGirlz™️ who does a bleach suppository to cure Ms Rona - 2020/04/25

  • ice + ass (please read) - GB
  • "i saw the ice cube challenge (girls putting ice in their cooch) and i decided to try that but with my ass."

Roses are red, bareback is delectable - 2020/10/21

  • Would you rather be a virgin or undetectable? - AGB
  • A poll of three options: Virgin/Undetectable/Show results

DAE hate when bottoms ask for things other than bro juice and spit to the face? Who gave them sentience?! - 2020/07/15

  • Why do some bottoms want to be treated as girlfriends? - AGB
  • "they want to be courted like women with romantic dinners, presents... I hate heteronormative relationships."

BREAKING: Naive bottom can't comprehend that mommy and DADDY'S 😤🥵💦 marriage isn't perfect - 2020/07/24

  • Someone on Grindr is “7 feet away” from me??? - AGB
  • "This person is fluctuating between 21 feet, 13 feet and now it says 7 feet away from me! What the hell???"

Mommy is sick and tired of washing my cum socks 🍆💦🧦 - 2020/09/21

  • My mom bought me a fleshlight gay pack for my birthday? - AGB
  • "I haven’t told her I’m gay, but she told me she saw gay stuff in my room I forgot to hide"

A career in public service that should be an example and inspiration to us all. - 2020/11/09

  • I had a glory hole in a populated city, that men of all sorts came to frequent. AMA - AGB
  • anyone want to hear how I took granny's apartment and made it into a sex den in an expensive neighborhood of san francisco?

Does anyone else fantasize about your bottom dying so you can upgrade to the new model? - 2020/12/08

  • Morbid fantasy of sex partner dying - AGB
  • "Anyone else has fantasies of their sex partner dying during intercourse and you telling their family 'your son died taking my dick' or an I the only one here?"

AGB: “Do slutty bottoms ever accidentally slip their hands inside themselves when they’re wiping?” - 2020/10/16

  • "Drink your Metamucil, hunties!" - GBCJ

The HONEST advice for dating gaybros 💅🏿 - 2020/11/24

  • "They will always be gayels blaming society for everything, so you have to be their prince charming and deal with it" - GBCJ

I just —— can’t keep up with these gurls any more. - 2020/10/27

  • When I told my ex his natural body odor turned me on he called me weird. Now my current boyfriend doesn't wear deodorant when he is around me and lends me his underwear and shirts - GB
  • #basic musk 4 musk

Why won't hot fitness models date me even though we share no common interests and I can't be bothered to take care of my body 😭 - 2020/06/12

  • It sucks being out of shape and mostly attracted to fit guys and realize you have to get in shape so you can attract them, but I guess that’s the right way to do it - AGB
  • Advice: "You can also find other out of shape guys to be with." OP: "But I don’t wanna 😫"

Sisters, we really need to embrace the Gaycel community. Or the ex- gay community. Same thing really. - 2020/08/19

  • We need more advocation for gay men who choose not to act on their attractions - AGB
  • "I’m happy living as a celibate man. When I made the choice to foresake men, I felt this inner confirmation that I was doing the right thing, as if it was a message from God telling me I should not act on my same sex attraction."

Decrepit Elder-Gurl of AGB Fears The Encroachment Of Her Gay Death So Deeply She Attempts To Change Her Fate By Arguing The Age Of Gay Death Is Older Than What The Natural Order Has Defined. - 2020/01/25

  • 30 year olds are not considered "older guys" - AGB
  • "Most of those posts are from people wondering why "older guys" won'troses fuck them. Probably because they are embarrassed to be in the presence of retarded people."

When is the appropriate time to introduce meth into the relationship? - 2020/07/31

  • "So I’m an insatiable horny bottom... My boyfriend, a blouse top, can’t keep up with me. I think some Tina would do the job, however, I’m afraid he’s too much of a prude to try it. How should I go about it? I have needs!" - GBCJ

Decided to stalk my str8 masc coworker and all I got was this lousy sexual assault charge after shooting my shot - 2020/11/24

  • I thought my coworker was gay and kissed him, now I’m in trouble for sexual harassment? - GB
  • "I fantasized daily about dating him, it was so severe that I ruined a friendship with someone who was a mutual friend just so I could snoop through her phone to get his Snapchat info (she refused to give it me so I had no choice because I was too shy to ask him). At work once we were having a great time hanging out in his car for our break, and I suddenly made my move and kissed him. Turns out he’s straight I apologized but he still told everyone at work about it, and the store director said I’ll be reprimanded for sexual harassment."

COVID

140 deaths and over 10,000 infected. But all I care about is - 2020/03/19

  • Anyone else worried about losing all their gains because of the gyms closing down? - AGB
  • "What if gyms are closed all summer? 😱😱"

Doublejerk©: I've been missing my winter party anons in lockdown so painted this today - 2020/06/01

After hooking up with a man who had grey hair, I’ve been having trouble breathing. Maybe GRIDS? - 2020/07/12

  • "[I]t’s Saturday and I think I’m having early symptoms of GRIDS. I woke up with a throbbing headache and I’m having trouble breathing. I’ve also lost my sense of smell, and I’m coughing uncontrollably." - GBCJ

Is anyone else STRUGGLING to keep their HOT ASS and BIG DICK in their PANTS for the good of HUMANITY during Covid? - 2020/11/21

  • "It’s fine, I’m on PrEP" - GBCJ

Receipts

"Mommy, can I meet the angel who saved me?" "Eat your lunch, Timmy." - 2020/05/03

Tea Time: User who creates a highly popular post calling gay men hoes for having OnlyFans is advertising his new OnlyFans content - 2020/05/22

  • I'm tired of this hoe culture. The onlyfans accounts, the hookups only, the demand for nudes when youre flirting. It's honestly really unattractive and I have no idea why so many take part in it.
  • After slut-shaming fellow gays for posting nudes and having OnlyFans in front of the straights, OP is back with new thirst traps to advertise her own smut.

Extremely specific

Hey, I'm an emotionally stunted 46-year old who can't relate to guys my own age. How do I strike up a completely platonic, not-creepy-at-all friendship with this 17-year old intern at my office? He's really nice and I think I might finally make a friend! - 2020/01/15

  • "I'm thinking about asking him if he wants to hang out at my house and watch a DVD of one my favorite movies (Jeffrey from 1996)" - GBCJ

SEAL team masterpiece - 2020/04/23

You see him from across the room as you get your peanut butter shot: a salty E-2 whose six weeks of working in a restricted line like the supply corps while sitting in an air-conditioned office in Qatar have made him into a grizzled veteran. You bond over your mutual PTSD: he is traumatised by his platoon leader's PT obsession, you are traumatised by finding out that your str8 top football player dl boyfriend from your Texas high school isn't so straight after all and is now in a healthy relationship with another boy at the University of Texas. "Why not me?!" you wail, as his protective instincts kick in and he takes you, with an aneros deep inside his asshole, in your six-to-a-man rack.
Right after boot, you marry him in order to obtain permission to move out of enlisted bachelor's quarters. Although you have known each other for eight weeks, you determine that this is as good as a lifetime of dating experience until, one night, he asks if you want to flip fuck. You realize he is vers, and therefore not the str8 top you deserve. You cry for a time. You then become the base cum dump and, in this way, find your true love: A real str8 SEAL top with a wife and kids that has murdered at least 6 green beans à la Logan Melgar. As a dependa, Navy wife and active service member, you demand that your husband’s platoon leader hold a mast on your contrived charges of spousal abuse, the marks of which are actually just from your str8 SEAL top’s insistence upon rough sex that leaves you with bruises.
You discreetly marry your str8 SEAL top while deployed in Iraq. You wear your best drag costume to the wedding, which is presided over by an imam of the religion of peace. Your husband’s platoon leader shrugs and accepts the status-quo in case it harms his Fox News contract after he gets ETS’d in a year, and also because he doesn’t feel like dealing with argumentative JAGs whose entire legal careers are subject to the whims of various knee-jerk administrations. After the wedding, the local Terries whisk you up the stairs of a five-story building. You are momentarily frightened. “Don’t they push local homosexuals off of these?” you discreetly ask yourself. As you slowly follow a chain of Chinese lanterns and rose petals, you realize that you are the actual bigot and that all of the travel blogs maintained by upper middle class blonde women from Ohio are right: the Middle East is perfectly safe for gays and naïve college-aged women. To your delight, the Terries have thrown you a party on the rooftop of their local mosque. Your husband shoots another Green Beret in celebration of your love. You then have a spontaneous orgy with OPFOR tops.
After you return from deployment with four new medals, you realize that something is still wrong. As your husband carries you through the threshold of your San Diego ranch house while dressed in your finest burqa in order to introduce you to his first wife, you encounter your greatest enemy yet: homophobia. “Jesus Christ,” she yells, “do either of you realize how offensive this situation is?” Acknowledging her indoctrination by the evil and violent Methodist Church – why else would she be screaming “Jesus!” and “Lord help me!” – your str8 SEAL top husband rushes to your defense by screaming “TALAQ TALAQ TALAQ”, thereby immediately divorcing her. The Navy JAG accepts this as a valid form of divorce in order to avoid yet another lawsuit over religious beliefs. She packs up her things and moves out. You see her three weeks later working as a local bar wench in Daisy Duke’s.
As you explore your new home, you realize that your husband’s closet is composed of nothing but a single pair of dress blues, cryes and t-shirts from OAF Nation. That bitch ex-wife of his has left so many of her clothes. “How odd, I didn’t realize she had such big feet for being a 5’5” woman,” you think to yourself. It then hits you. These size 13 powder pink heels aren’t for her, they’re for your husband. He is secretly trans, but cannot come out of the closet because of the president’s ban on trans service members.
“He lied to me!” you wail. “He said he loved me and that he was a str8 top and now this?!”
It is at this moment that you realize you must be the strong, powerful bottom you are and make a moral stand. You report all of his murders to the JAG, who subsequently arrests him before President Trump grants him a pardon because of “muh SEALs”. At the end of his contract, he is ETS'd because guys in his unit are totally freaked out by how often he wants to piss with them and you then, as a brave and powerful bottom, turn him in for his crimes and are rewarded with a blue-to-gold contract. He then transitions into the woman you always knew he was on the inside.
You end your days standing on the bow wrapped in nothing but your dress blues and a shawl, staring out into the wine blue sea, mourning for his mythical top penis before you throw yourself off your ship after concluding that your life was over at the elderly age of 25 and that you would never find such love again.
Everyone claps.
Xtina gives the eulogy at your funeral.
  • GBCJ

Look At Meeeee

I'm working on myself for myself, by myself..... which is why I post my pictures on overpopulated gay forums hoping that thirsty anon men will tell me that I matter. Thank god y'all upvoted or I would have killed myself 😅 While you're here, I'm also homeless. So either top me or buy me a top thanks - 2020/12/09

  • Posting thirst trap expected to be roasted but took a surprising turn to be wholesome. - GBCJ

Be your own sugar daddy, ladies. - 2020/09/09

  • User unironically posts thirsts trap to 212 upvotes becasue she is white and masc. - GBCJ

Men.com's porn scripts are getting out of hand - 2020/10/25

  • The boyfriend and I went to an abandoned campground to take some photos in our Halloween costumes - GB
  • Would you do it for a Scooby snack?

Celebrating 12 years together! 2008 to now. - 2020/11/17

  • Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. - GBCJ

GBCJ Drama/Holesome

They hated her cuz she spoke the truth - 2020/01/23

  • Is Gaybros suppose to be something substantial or am I missing something? - AGB
  • "They say they are a community of unconventional gay guys who don’t confirm to the media stereotype but all the top posts are unfunny memes taken from basic gay insta pages and the only sports related posts turn into a discussion of which athletes they’d like to top them. At least on this sub there is on occasion an interesting discussion, gaybros just seems like a bunch of a bottoms who just want to get fucked by a masc guy."

They're really talking about this sub a lot lately - 2020/12/11

  • Are subs like gaybroscirclejerk just dedicated to mocking people in general? - AGB
  • The second, and the most upvoted post from the AGB feud of 2020 (first post) that kicked off because a few disgruntle AGB users complained at AGB to underwhelming effect.

Uh oh, again - 2020/12/13

  • A reminder that the posts on gaybroscirclejerk violates reddit's bully and harassment policy - AGB
  • AGB comment:"Of all the things to care about, you chose this."

u/wokewasp doxxed and EXPOSED!!! - 2020/06/25

  • Top 1% mod exposed as British boomer in striped shirt. - GBCJ

u/thnfalm attacks me yet again in another brutal poll - 2020/06/27

  • Vegan mod overplayed her hand and getting shitted on by resident top 1% mod. - GBCJ

Another round of 🍵to be served to the triggered gaybros. - 2020/10/21

  • How was I supposed to know there'd be consequences for my posts? - GBCJ

The GayBros® Agenda™ - 2020/10/27

  • Capitalism with a gay face. - GBCJ

you bitches be HORNY. HORNEEEYYY. - 2020/11/11

  • Uninitiated user tries to organize group handjobs on GBCJ. For safety, they prepared PPEs. - GBCJ

I found THE man. Trample on me daddy! - 2020/11/25

  • Clueless user harasses GBCJ; got wig snatched. - GBCJ

RightwingLGBT is gone. You ladies better be on your best behavior. - 2020/06/29

  • "Conservative gays truly are the most oppressed minority 😢" - GBCJ
submitted by elblues to gaybroscirclejerk [link] [comments]

is online gaming legal in texas video

Texas doesn’t address internet gambling in their criminal code. Furthermore, they don’t mention the words “computer,” “internet,” or “online.”. But this doesn’t mean that internet gambling is legal here. In fact, the state’s broad laws make it illegal for offshore gaming sites to operate within their borders. While Texas has restrictive gambling laws like most southern states, individual online bettors are not fined or prosecuted. Many Texas gamblers play at offshore online casinos, poker rooms, and sportsbooks. Launching your own online betting site would be illegal, but Texas players have many safe and legal play options. Thus, even though Texas has not yet taken any legal actions against anyone playing at an online casino, the state cannot guarantee the safety of players gambling at off-shore casinos sites. If you want more information on the subject, make sure to check our guide for casinos in Texas. Online Poker in Texas. Online poker is currently illegal in Texas. Legal Online Gambling in the United States 2021. Although the federal government has its own set of laws governing the legality of gambling activities, most states have their own legislation for age limits to whether having a friendly neighborhood poker game is allowed. Online and mobile sports betting in Texas will be legal. A maximum of five licenses will be sold. Each license will permit two online betting site skins. Gamblers will pay a 6.25% tax, similar to a sales tax, on all money wagered. If the bill and resolution to amend the constitution both pass, sports betting will be legal in Texas on January 1, 2020. Texas law does not allow for casinos. The gambling law specifically prohibits "keeping a gambling place." However, Native American lands are not subject to the same state gambling laws, and there is at least one legal casino in Texas on native lands. Social Gambling in Texas. One big exception in Texas gambling laws is social gambling. Similarly, online gambling in Texas is illegal. Social casino sites do exist for those residents who want to play online poker in Texas or slots just for fun. The only recent expansion of gambling in the state has been the proliferation of private poker clubs.

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