Only revealed publicly last week, X rival Bluesky has confirmed it raised a $100m Series B round in April last year under Jay Graber, led by Bain Capital Crypto.
The April 2025 funding round was led by Bain Capital Crypto, with participation from Alumni Ventures, Anthos Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Knight Foundation and True Ventures.
“In the months since, we’ve focused on scaling our team to meet the rapid growth of both the AT Protocol (atproto) and Bluesky app,” Bluesky said in a statement revealing the funding. “We’re excited to share more as we move into a new era of leadership and further growth.”
Bluesky confirmed the raise was led by Jay Graber, who recently announced she was stepping aside as CEO to become chief innovation officer and to focus on “building the future of open social infrastructure”.
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It said the funding has given the social media platform “the foundation upon which to build the future of the open social web without compromising our mission and values”.
Bluesky raised its Series A round in October 2024, and has since grown from 13m users to more than 43m. Bluesky says the “Atmosphere” – the ecosystem of builders, apps and users on atproto – has also been expanding.
“Every week, people use over a thousand apps built on atproto,” the statement said. “Every month, we see over 400,000 SDK downloads. The Atmosphere currently contains about 20bn public records – the posts, likes, comments and other interactions that bring the ecosystem to life.”
Bluesky was first announced in 2019 as a Twitter-funded project that aimed to create an “open and decentralised standard for social media”. It began as an invite-only app and had more than 3m sign-ups before it went open access.
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Graber had led the decentralised social media platform since 2021, having worked on it when it was a research project.
On March 9 she said Bluesky needed “a seasoned operator focused on scaling and execution”, while she returns to what she does best – “building new things”.
“As part of this transition, Toni Schneider, former CEO of Automattic [the company behind WordPress] and partner at True Ventures, will join our team as interim CEO, while our board runs a search for a permanent chief executive,” said Graber.
When Elon Musk’s ownership of X led to the removal of moderators and previously banned extreme voices were allowed back onto the platform, many flocked to Bluesky as a more palatable social network, and it saw rapid growth in users. However, in recent times its growth has slowed somewhat, although it has a considerable user base of 43m.
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Walking on grass, it’s easy, no matter the shoe. How about an inclined trail? Some hiking shoes or nice tennis shoes will do the trick. How about climbing a mountain? Now we are gonna need something special. [Magnus Midtbø] is a professional climber with an acute awareness of this fact and has used shoes of all kinds; however, today is something special.
Imagine if you could use the technology of MotoGP to give you the same grip as a 1-liter bike. That is exactly what he tried out. RAToM is a company that has started to market a unique product, recycled MotoGP tires. Viral vids of this rubber being used have been going around with shoes even being able to stick to themselves. He decided to put it to the test by requesting some of this special rubber stock and applying it to his own shoes.
After extensive, though simple, testing along the bouldering wall he admitted to the effectiveness of the special soled shoes. This shouldn’t be too surprising with MotoGP’s intensive material science innovations involving their tire material. These tires include a variety of additives, from silicone dioxide to the traditional carbon black. What has not been able to be tested to its required extent is the durability of the material over long periods of bouldering.
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Even though most of this specialized rubber material is primarily supplied by one company, the source material is recycled from any used MotoGP tire. This could mean DIY alternatives better than the current leading shoes could be possible with sufficient care if you get a hold of a tire or two… While this would not be an easy process, don’t be too scared to try! Maybe you could learn a thing or two from this case study on homebrewing a running shoe!
Alienware has launched a tempting OLED gaming monitor, and here are all the details.
The new AW2726DM is available now, and at £369, it undercuts most QD-OLED displays by a pretty significant margin.
That price is the headline here. QD-OLED panels have typically sat much higher up the price ladder. But Alienware is clearly trying to bring that tech to a wider audience, especially gamers still stuck on LCD. This may convince those who’ve been waiting for a more realistic upgrade path.
Specs and features
Despite the lower cost, the core specs have not taken a hit. The AW2726DM pairs a 27-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) panel with a 240Hz refresh rate and an ultra-fast 0.03ms response time. This should translate to seriously smooth gameplay with minimal motion blur. Additionally, support for AMD FreeSync Premium and VESA AdaptiveSync is also included. As a result, this helps keep screen tearing in check.
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Furthermore, where QD-OLED still stands out is image quality. The panel delivers 99% DCI-P3 colour coverage alongside an infinite contrast ratio. This means true blacks and more punchy colours than you’d typically get from standard LCDs. It’s the kind of upgrade that’s immediately noticeable, whether you’re gaming or just watching content. The visuals have the kind of depth and vibrancy that make games and media feel more immersive without needing to tweak settings out of the box.
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Alienware has not ignored usability either. The stand supports height, tilt, swivel and pivot adjustments, making it easier to dial in a comfortable setup. Meanwhile, a TÜV Rheinland 3-star eye comfort certification aims to reduce strain during longer sessions.
At this price, the AW2726DM feels like a clear play to push OLED further into the mainstream. It’s not trying to be the most premium option out there. Instead, it is making a strong case as an entry point for anyone ready to make the jump.
Amazon announced an agreement Tuesday to acquire Globalstar, adding the satellite operator’s fleet, spectrum, and Apple partnership to its growing Amazon Leo network. (Amazon Image)
The Seattle-based company’s agreement to acquire the satellite operator behind Apple’s iPhone Emergency SOS feature promises to give it a new constellation of operating satellites, a key slice of mobile spectrum, and Apple as a flagship partner.
The cash-and-stock deal, announced Tuesday, will help the Amazon Leo satellite broadband business press fast-forward in its attempt to catch up with Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Amazon told GeekWire the transaction was valued at approximately $10.8 billion as of April 9, when the exchange ratio was fixed. This differs from the slightly higher figure reported by multiple news outlets Tuesday. The value will fluctuate with Amazon’s share price until closing, capped at $90 worth of Amazon stock per Globalstar share.
Apple is already Globalstar’s biggest customer. In 2024, it committed about $1.5 billion to the company — a combination of prepayments for satellite services and a 20% equity stake in a Globalstar subsidiary — in exchange for the right to most of its network capacity.
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Under a separate long-term agreement announced along with the deal, Amazon Leo will power satellite features on future iPhone and Apple Watch models, including Emergency SOS, messaging, Find My location sharing, and roadside assistance. Amazon will also continue supporting the Apple devices that already rely on Globalstar’s existing network.
Amazon renamed its satellite venture from Project Kuiper to Amazon Leo in November, a move the company framed at the time as a key step toward commercial service.
On Monday, a day before the Globalstar announcement, Amazon Leo unveiled a new aviation antenna capable of delivering gigabit download speeds to aircraft, part of the build-out for its Delta and JetBlue in-flight Wi-Fi deals.
The acquisition agreement values Globalstar at $90 per share in cash or stock and is expected to close in 2027, pending regulatory approval. Thermo Funding, which controls 57.6% of Globalstar, has already agreed to the deal, according to an SEC filing, meaning no shareholder vote is required.
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Globalstar, based in Covington, La., currently operates about two dozen satellites in low Earth orbit. It is in the middle of a major expansion, backed by Apple, that will grow the fleet to 54 satellites. It also holds licensed mobile-satellite spectrum — a scarce and tightly regulated asset that is difficult for newer entrants like Amazon to acquire.
Starlink operates about 10,000 satellites and serves more than 9 million subscribers. Amazon has launched about 200 satellites and has yet to begin consumer service.
Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition includes some fun categories. There’s a certain Olympic sport that pops up in the purple category, and if you just watched the Winter Games, you may do well. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.
Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.
Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Baseball abbreviations.
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Green group hint: Not lions.
Blue group hint: Hollywood hoops.
Purple group hint: Winter Olympics sport.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
OpenAI’s $852 billion valuation is facing skepticism from some of its own investors as the company scrambles to reorient itself around enterprise customers and fend off Anthropic, according to the Financial Times.
Anthropic’s annualized revenue jumped from $9 billion at the end of 2025 to $30 billion by the end of March, driven largely by demand for its coding tools. One investor who has backed both companies told the FT that justifying OpenAI’s round required assuming an IPO valuation of $1.2 trillion or more — making Anthropic’s current $380 billion valuation look like the relative bargain.
The secondary market tells a similar story right now, where demand for Anthropic shares has grown nearly insatiable while OpenAI shares are trading at a discount.
Altman has been here before. During his tenure leading Y Combinator, aggressive valuation inflation left some portfolio companies financially stranded while others proved worth every penny and then some.
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Iconiq Capital partner Roy Luo — whose firm has invested over $1 billion in Anthropic while holding a smaller stake in OpenAI — told the FT where he stood. “There’s room for both, but there is fundamentally a number one and a number two dynamic, and the number one will win disproportionately,” he said. “We picked.” OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar pushed back, telling the FT that the company’s $122 billion raise — the largest private fundraising in history — was evidence of continued investor confidence.
The FCC has granted (PDF) Netgear the first exemption from its foreign-made router ban, allowing the company to keep selling new consumer router models made outside the U.S. through Oct. 1, 2027. PCMag reports: The Defense Department reviewed Netgear’s application for an exemption and found that its products “do not pose risks to US national security.” The FCC’s order doesn’t elaborate on why. Netgear is based in San Jose, California, although its products are made in Asia. The exemption, known as a conditional approval, lasts until Oct. 1, 2027. It covers a large range of future Wi-Fi models from Netgear, spanning the R, RAX, RAXE, RS, MK, MR, M, and MH series, the Orbi consumer mesh, mobile, and standalone routers under the RBK, RBE, RBR, RBRE, LBR, LBK, and CBK series, as well as cable gateways and cable modems under the CAX and CM series.
The exemption isn’t a full green light for the future product models from Netgear. The FCC says the company still needs to go through the normal Commission-regulated equipment authorization process for each device. The Oct. 1, 2027 date effectively amounts to a deadline for Netgear to receive FCC certification for the router models; each certification is also permanent, enabling the product to be sold in the US on an ongoing basis. This also suggests that Netgear has an 18-month period to receive FCC certifications for future products.
Microsoft has introduced new Windows protections to defend against phishing attacks that abuse Remote Desktop connection (.rdp) files, adding warnings and disabling risky shared resources by default.
RDP files are commonly used in enterprise environments to connect to remote systems because admins can preconfigure them to automatically redirect local resources to the remote host.
Threat actors have increasingly abused this functionality in phishing campaigns. The Russian state-sponsored APT29 hacking group has previously used rogue RDP files to remotely steal data and credentials from victims.
When opened, these files can connect to attacker-controlled systems and redirect local drives to the connected device, allowing the attacker-controlled device to steal files and credentials stored on disk.
They can also capture clipboard data, such as passwords or sensitive text, or redirect authentication mechanisms like smart cards or Windows Hello to impersonate users
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New RDP protections roll out
As part of the April 2026 cumulative updates for Windows 10 (KB5082200) and Windows 11 (KB5083769 and KB5082052), Microsoft has now released new protections to prevent malicious RDP connection files from being used on devices.
“Malicious actors misuse this capability by sending RDP files through phishing emails,” warns Microsoft.
“When a victim opens the file, their device silently connects to a server controlled by the attacker and shares local resources, giving the attacker access to files, credentials, and more.”
After installing this update, when users open an RDP file for the first time, a one-time educational prompt is shown that explains what RDP files are and warns about their risks. Windows users will then be prompted to acknowledge that they understand the risks and press OK, which will prevent the alert from being shown again.
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Educational dialog warning about the risks of RDP files Source: Microsoft
Future attempts to open RDP files will now display a security dialog before any connection is made.
This dialog shows whether the RDP file is signed by a verified publisher, the remote system’s address, and lists all local resource redirections, such as drives, clipboard, or devices, with every option disabled by default.
If a file is not digitally signed, Windows displays a “Caution: Unknown remote connection” warning and labels the publisher as unknown, indicating there is no way to verify who created the file.
Windows warning that an RDP file is from an unverified publisher Source: Microsoft
If the RDP file is digitally signed, Windows will display the publisher, but still warn you to verify their legitimacy before connecting.
It should be noted that these new protections apply only to connections initiated by opening RDP files, not to those made through the Windows Remote Desktop client.
Microsoft says that Administrators can temporarily disable these protections by going to the HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services\Client Registry key and modifying the RedirectionWarningDialogVersion value so it is set to 1.
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However, as RDP files have historically been abused in attacks, it is strongly recommended to keep these protections enabled.
Automated pentesting proves the path exists. BAS proves whether your controls stop it. Most teams run one without the other.
This whitepaper maps six validation surfaces, shows where coverage ends, and provides practitioners with three diagnostic questions for any tool evaluation.
If you have ever typed the same AI prompt into Gemini multiple times across different tabs, you know how tedious that gets. Google has now solved that problem by launching a new feature called Skills in Chrome. It lets you save your most useful Gemini prompts and run them again instantly with a single click.
So what can I do with Skills in Chrome?
Skills can turn your Gemini prompts into reusable one-click tools. Once saved, a Skill stays available across all your desktop devices signed into the same Google account.
Early testers have used them to calculate protein macros from recipe pages, generate side-by-side product spec comparisons across multiple tabs, and scan lengthy documents to summarize information.
Google
Google is also launching a pre-built Skills library with ready-to-use prompts for common tasks. You can use them as-is or customize them to fit your needs. Skills also come with privacy guardrails. Before taking sensitive actions such as sending an email or adding a calendar event, it will ask for your confirmation first.
How to use Skills in Google Chrome
Skills are rolling out to desktop Chrome users with their language set to English-US. To save a Skill, open Gemini in Chrome and type a prompt you want to reuse. Once the conversation is in your chat history, you will see the option to save it directly as a Skill from there.
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Google
To run it, type a forward slash ( / ) in the Gemini chat box and select your saved Skill. You can also use the plus sign ( + ) button to access Skills. To manage or edit them, type forward slash ( / ) and click the compass icon. To browse the pre-built library, look for it inside the same menu.
Apple reportedly threatened Grok owner xAI with an App Store ban if the deepfake nude generation issues weren’t addressed. In spite of ongoing problems with the chatbot, the app was never removed.
X and Grok faced backlash after deepfake problem
For several horrific days in January, social media platform X was flooded with AI-generated pornographic images involving non-consenting adults and minors. Many wondered why legal entities were slow to respond, but above all, why Apple was completely silent on the matter. According to a new report from CNBC, shared by9to5Mac, Apple did threaten to remove Grok from the App Store. While Elon Musk did change moderation rules on X, even after monetizing the illegal porn, the Grok app didn’t change much at all. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
Washington state’s Legislative Building, which houses the Legislature. (GeekWire Photo / Brent Roraback)
Longtime Seattle investor and entrepreneur Chris DeVore is managing partner of Founders’ Co-op.
I have a confession to make. I’m a Democrat. And a capitalist. Both, at the same time.
This didn’t used to be a position that needed defending. But over the course of my adult life these two ideas have moved farther and farther apart. The bond is now at the breaking point, and if it snaps, the party I grew up in will abdicate its once-legitimate claim to the best of the American idea.
The belief in free markets is actually shared by the vast majority of Americans, and while it may anger the populist fringe, embracing capitalism would be a rallying cry to centrists from both parties who despair for our future and are hungry for a message that makes sense.
Today, the party that has labored to defend and perfect the American experiment — with opportunity, justice and equal treatment under the law for all — has either lost its mind, or its memory, for the motive force that makes those ideals possible.
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Take away the promise of a better life (immigration), the means to achieve it (capitalism), and the certainty that the fruits of your labor won’t be arbitrarily confiscated (rule of law), and the engine that has made America the richest, most powerful and most admired country in the world grinds to a halt, and the whole grand experiment comes to an end.
One can acknowledge all the historical errors that mar the American project — the displacement and murder of indigenous people, slavery and Jim Crow, the creeping capture of government by corporations, rich people, old people, the list goes on — and not lose sight of the three essential ingredients that make our strange and complicated country possible: capitalism, the rule of law, and a welcome embrace of all who wish to make America their home.
But if you listen to Democrats at both the state and national level today, capitalism is the enemy. Billionaires and their current avatars, AI and data centers, have become the bogeymen that electeds and party leaders invoke to stir outrage in the base.
What’s offered as an alternative isn’t economically coherent (“tax the rich,” when the top 10% of earners already pay ~75% of all federal income taxes; “ban data centers,” industrial-scale NIMBYism that simply pushes development elsewhere), but the message behind the slogans is clear: American prosperity is not something to be conserved, much less promoted; it is a natural resource that we somehow lucked into and can harvest at will, an overflowing fountain of wealth that will never run dry.
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How did we get here? How has capitalism, the incontrovertible powerplant of democracy, become anathema to the Democratic party?
Today’s apparent loss of faith is actually rooted in capitalism’s undefeated record of success, coupled with the fitful but now accelerating failure of our democratic machinery.
It’s strange that the centrality of capitalism to our national project requires explanation, but that’s actually the best evidence of its truth: we have been so rich for so long, so embarrassed with our abundance of material and experiential choices, that we have come to take it for granted. We blithely assume that the neighborhood business owners and global corporations that make abundance possible, depositing bi-weekly paychecks in the bank accounts of their millions of workers and filling store shelves with the bewildering array of goods and services we enjoy every day, have simply always been there, will always be there, like the air we breathe.
This is a tragic mistake.
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I have made a career, or more truly, I have found a calling, in supporting entrepreneurs from their moment of inception. Every business that exists, from the most humble corner cafe up to and including General Motors and Amazon, only does so because a small number of unreasonable people overcame extraordinary obstacles over many years to create something from nothing.
Every paying job, every charitable gift, every nickel of tax revenue that finances the safe and convenient world we all enjoy, springs from that improbable act of creation. The machinery of capitalism works so well, allowing one person’s vision to be transformed into millions of jobs and billions of dollars of tax revenue, that we have simply forgotten how extraordinary it is, how dramatic a break it represents from thousands of years of autocracy, feudalism, injustice and inequality.
The engine of capitalism is so efficient that it also conceals the deepest truth of all organic systems: companies, just like people, are born, live a short time, and then decline and die. This is hidden by the irrepressible generative energy of well-regulated self-interest: new companies arise to fill the gaps and address the shortcomings of current incumbents, fueling an endlessly diverse and creative process of regeneration. Every company that falters is replaced by two more, eager to serve the customers no longer satisfied by the prior wave’s lackluster efforts.
To paint a picture of this cycle of renewal, of the top 100 most valuable companies in America today, 15 were founded in just the past 10 years, 30 didn’t exist 25 years ago, 45 didn’t exist 50 years ago, and less than a third (30 of 100) have been around for 100 years or more. Great companies can seem like they’ve always been here, but in fact they are dying and being born every day. New companies have to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is the solar energy of the capitalist biosphere: entrepreneurship.
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If capitalism, and its essential generative act of entrepreneurship, are so great, how could we possibly have turned against them?
The answer is both democracy’s greatest failure, and its most obvious path to redemption.
For at least the past century, Democrats and Republicans have divided themselves by their views on the role of the state. Democrats see government as an essential partner in the national project: providing critical infrastructure like roads and airports, securing the national defense, providing basic education and health services, and ensuring that the rule of law is applied fairly and equally, both to the companies that help our economy thrive as well as to its individual citizens. Republicans share many of these same views, but where Democrats push for more, Republicans have generally wanted less: lower taxes, fewer regulations, and a generally less-generous redistribution of national income to those lower on the economic ladder.
But to obtain the levers of power needed to advance their respective goals, both parties have relied on the obvious carrot of legislative giveaways to secure blocs of electoral support: farmers, labor unions, business owners, real estate developers, the list is as endless and varied as the economy itself. The result is a regulatory and tax system so stuffed with incentives, tax breaks and special protections that any citizen, even and especially those favored by one set of legislated advantages, can point to those in another group and cry “unfair!”, “undemocratic!”, “corrupt!”
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It is this general stench of favoritism and corruption, slowly accreted over 250 years of electoral back-scratching on both sides of the aisle, that has brought us to our present crisis. Each party is so captured by its crazy quilt of protected electoral blocs and aggrieved parties, and so credibly able to point to the injustices perpetrated by the other side, that it becomes plausible to question the entire free-market edifice.
Great wealth now has the taint of theft, with no fine distinctions between entrepreneurial success and a systematic looting of the Treasury.
Things tend to continue as they began. So the most likely, and most depressing, scenario is that we are witnessing the final throes of the American idea. Two centuries of bipartisan regulatory capture have so encrusted our legislative and fiscal infrastructure that equal treatment under the law is now a bitter punchline, not the proud aspiration that once bound us together as a nation. Each party is now fully captive to its donor base, its electoral security purchased with gifts of regulatory ledgermain and dollars siphoned from public coffers, that there is precious little oxygen left for the promises on which the nation was built.
But to use this bipartisan failure of democracy to make a villain of capitalism, to paint as enemies of the state the few founders who have reaped extraordinary gains from their entrepreneurial ventures, when the vast majority are lucky to keep their employees paid and the lights of their modest establishments lit, is to eat out the very heart of the American project.
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This is already playing out in miniature at the state level. Traditionally Democratic states like Washington, Oregon and California are pursuing confiscatory tax policies that villainize entrepreneurial wealth. The net result is not the hoped-for increase in state tax revenue, but a highly visible and accelerating flight of entrepreneurial wealth and energy to more capitalist-friendly domiciles like Florida, Texas and Wyoming.
This is not to argue that the unexampled boon of living in a society where one can both earn and keep great wealth does not come with serious civic obligations. By all means use regulation to ensure fair and safe business operations and prevent abuse. Levy the taxes necessary to nurture our remarkable civic infrastructure, allowing entrepreneurs to build new companies from scratch without fear of expropriation, whether by criminals or the state itself. Unquestionably demand that corporations be positive civic actors, as if they were citizens themselves, with all the rights and obligations that entails.
But as a lifelong Democrat, and a passionate believer in the fundamental goodness of the American idea, I have one simple request for the party I still believe is most likely to carry our national experiment forward: recognize capitalist entrepreneurship as the motive force that has made our extraordinary success possible, and restore capitalism as one of the central pillars of our national promise.
By continuing to take our unprecedented prosperity for granted, you misunderstand both its source and its chances of survival. Worse yet, by demonizing the engine of our shared prosperity, you are sowing the seeds of our collective destruction.
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