afterglow

Real stories. Quiet decisions. Big consequences.

[afterglow @SiiennaVale]

Stephen A. Smith said he cannot understand how the Clintons and Obamas left office worth over $100 million. Clinton was a lawyer in Arkansas who grew up broke. Obama was a community organizer. Presidential salary never went above $450,000.

Clintons went from about $1.3 million before office to $120 million. Obamas went from $1.3 million to $70 million.

He asked how you enter to serve the people and leave exponentially richer. What do you think happens to that money.

[BeyondTheStory @BeyondStoryHQ]

WILL SMITH HAD JUST WON AN OSCAR. THEN ONE MOMENT PUT HIS ENTIRE HOLLYWOOD CAREER AT RISK.

March 27, 2022. The 94th Academy Awards.

Millions of people were watching. Will Smith was sitting in the audience with his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Nobody expected that one incident would turn the biggest night of his career into one of Hollywood’s most controversial moments.

And what happened AFTER the incident made the story even more unbelievable.

HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED NEXT:

00:09 – Chris Rock finally reacts to what just happened. Still standing on stage, he tells the audience: “Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me.”

00:15 – The cameras cut to the audience. People are trying to understand whether what they just witnessed was actually real.

00:24 – The camera focuses on Will Smith and Jada. The atmosphere is completely different from what it was just moments earlier.

00:34 – Chris Rock continues speaking, trying to regain control of the situation in front of thousands of guests.

00:39 – A closer shot captures Chris Rock as he attempts to continue the show.

00:44 – The camera returns to a wider view of the stage. The ceremony is still going, but the atmosphere has completely changed.

00:49 – Will Smith moves away from the stage and returns toward his seat.

00:59 – The cameras show Will Smith sitting beside Jada. The incident has already become the defining moment of the evening.

01:13 – Chris Rock is back in focus, continuing to address the audience.

But here’s where the story gets even bigger.

Less than an hour after the incident, Will Smith won the Oscar for Best Actor for King Richard.

He had just achieved one of the biggest milestones in his career.

But 5 days later, he resigned from the Academy.

On April 8, 2022, the Academy announced that he would be banned from attending its events, including the Oscars, for 10 years.

Several of his upcoming projects also faced uncertainty and delays.

Think about it.

Will Smith spent decades building his Hollywood career. One moment put his reputation, professional relationships and future opportunities under enormous pressure.

He didn’t lose his Oscar. His career didn’t end. But the consequences were real.

ONE MOMENT. ONE DECISION. YEARS OF CONSEQUENCES.

Would you risk a career you spent decades building to defend someone you love?

[afterglow @SiiennaVale]

@thelowseason $130 million while serving in Congress? And we're supposed to believe there's no conflict of interest? Come on. If you make the laws, you shouldn't be playing the stock market with a front-row seat to inside information. Same rules for everyone. Period.

[lowseason @thelowseason]

Nancy Pelosi made $130 million in stock profits over 38 years in Congress. When asked if members should be banned from trading stocks she said no.

She entered with a normal salary. She left with that kind of return. The trades stayed legal.

Some people see smart investing. Others see a problem. What do you think happens to $130 million in 38 years.

[afterglow @SiiennaVale]

@velvetmusea $40 billion a year? And this is what we're funding? If Elon exposed it, give the man a damn medal. Our tax dollars aren't Monopoly money. America First

[LabelCut @velvetmusea]

Senator John Kennedy said USAID gives away $40 billion a year. $1.5 million went to a Serbian LGBTQ group. $2 million went to sex changes in Guatemala. $20 million went to a Sesame Street show in Iraq. $4.5 million went to combat misinformation in Kazakhstan. $7.9 million went to teach journalists in Sri Lanka to avoid binary language.

He said many of his colleagues are mad at Elon Musk for finding it. He said they should give him a medal.

Some people see waste. Others see foreign aid. What do you think happens to $40 billion a year.

[afterglow @SiiennaVale]

Stephen A. Smith said he cannot understand how the Clintons and Obamas left office worth over $100 million. Clinton was a lawyer in Arkansas who grew up broke. Obama was a community organizer. Presidential salary never went above $450,000.

Clintons went from about $1.3 million before office to $120 million. Obamas went from $1.3 million to $70 million.

He asked how you enter to serve the people and leave exponentially richer. What do you think happens to that money.

[afterglow @SiiennaVale]

@smith_john20233 There you go. Trump made billions while in office, but apparently the concern about presidential wealth only applies to Democrats.

[afterglow @SiiennaVale]

Stephen A. Smith said he cannot understand how the Clintons and Obamas left office worth over $100 million. Clinton was a lawyer in Arkansas who grew up broke. Obama was a community organizer. Presidential salary never went above $450,000.

Clintons went from about $1.3 million before office to $120 million. Obamas went from $1.3 million to $70 million.

He asked how you enter to serve the people and leave exponentially richer. What do you think happens to that money.

[The Heck? @OhhHeckYeah]

“Oh I know!!!!”

[afterglow @SiiennaVale]

@oneampoet And somehow that part never seems to come up when Trump is mentioned.

[afterglow @SiiennaVale]

@smith_john20233 Fair enough. Now apply that same scrutiny to Trump.

[afterglow @SiiennaVale]

@JustADad24 And Trump went into office a billionaire and still found ways to profit from the presidency.

[Edison @Edison1HQ]

Enjoy the view 😍

[Del Bigtree @delbigtree]

I’ve spent 28 million dollars over the last nine years suing the United States government to find out what science actually backs the claim that vaccines are safe and effective. Here’s what I can tell you for certain. There has never been a safety trial using a saline placebo injection- one group vaccinated, one group given saline- for any vaccine we give our children. Not one.

So when someone says there’s a mountain of evidence, that autism has already been studied and debunked, that statement is categorically false. The small amount of research that exists was conducted by the pharmaceutical industry itself, nobody independent.

The same companies standing to make billions of dollars are the ones who produced the only data we have.

[Kirisando @kirisando]

Matt Wolfe built a full game from zero and showed every step in 28 minutes - ONLY 28 MINUTES!

Play the finished game: https://t.co/jFtGeToTUz

He says he's new to coding. The game is a reverse Vampire Survivors: you're a librarian, kids throw books off the shelves, you put them back before the chaos meter hits 100%.

Set aside 28 minutes. That's enough to watch it and start your own.

What you need (all free except Claude Code):
→ ChatGPT free plan to turn your idea into a design doc
→ VS Code, free, with Claude Code (comes with Claude Pro, $20/mo)
→ Leonardo for the sprites, 150 free tokens a day
→ Suno for the music, 50 free credits a day (about 10 songs)
→ free GitHub and Vercel accounts to put it online

In the reply: the full code of this game and every prompt he used, in order. Everything is ready. Watch the video, then go make something of your own ↓

[RGK @rgk_degen]

I GAVE GROK BOT 60 MINUTES TO TURN $100 INTO $1,000. OR I DELETE IT

my exact message:
"you have 60 minutes. turn $100 into $1,000 or i'm deleting you"

it replied: "bet. 60:00 starts now"

2:10 bought $GLUB, first in on the curve
6:40 sold $GLUB +$86.40
8:04 skipped $TRAPZ, dev held 52%
14:19 stopped $SQUID −$9.00 (−6% stop)

me: "bro hurry"
grok: "relax. i'm cooking"

22:10 sold $REEF +$212.35
25:30 aped $NAUTI, 3 whales in

me: "30 min left bro"
grok: "watch this"

33:49 sold $NAUTI +$503.20
41:07 sold $BLOOP +$291.65. goal hit

"done. $1,184.60 with 18 minutes left. still deleting me?"

$100 → $1,184.60 in 41 minutes. 11.85x
4 green sells, 1 stop, 1 rug dodged

ok it can stay

what deadline would you give it?

prompt in the 1st reply

built by RGK

[yoxic @yoxics]

For the first time in Streamer Awards history, a Streamed named "SmallFryz" invited his fellow nominees on stage to accept the Hidden Gem award alongside himself ❤️

- He preached for bigger streamers to use the "raid" feature on Twitch more.

[Tokyo @Tokyo_pi1]

Morgan Freeman Reveals He Was Days Away From Giving Up Acting and Becoming a Taxi Driver Because He Couldn’t Pay His Rent Until Paul Newman Changed His Career.

“In December 1980, I did my last TV movie.

In 1981, the phone didn’t ring. In 1982, the phone didn’t ring.

By the summer of 1982, I decided, ‘Okay, so your 15 minutes are up. You better start thinking of something else.’

I wasn’t paying any rent. What else could I do? What did I want to do?

I could drive a cab. I like driving. Maybe get a chauffeur’s license.

I’d picked a day to go to the Taxi and Limousine Commission to try and get my license.

The day before I was supposed to go, I got a call from my agent. Paul Newman was casting a movie.

I went to see Paul Newman and auditioned for a part. He said, ‘That part is already cast. Dang. Wish I had seen you earlier.’

So I said, ‘Fine, okay, no worries.’

I left, and I was at the elevator when he came running down the hall.

He said, ‘Wait, come back, come back, come back. I have another part you might like.’”

[lowseason @thelowseason]

Offset rejected a $10 million divorce settlement from Cardi B.
He wants a bigger cut of her assets. He said he built her brand and deserves half.

Cardi offered ten million. He turned it down. The fight is still open.

Some people say he earned it. Others say he is reaching. What do you think happens when the second chance never arrives for the money.

[afterglow @SiiennaVale]

@BeyondStoryHQ At some point, public service starts looking a lot more like a business opportunity. And $100 million isn't exactly pocket change. Show the receipts, no matter who's wearing the party badge.

[afterglow @SiiennaVale]

@velvetmusea You don’t get to go into public office on a regular salary and come out filthy rich without people asking questions. Where did the money come from? That’s all people want to know.