. [You can watch the Foucault-Chomsky debate mentioned in the video here]
Reading
Recent moves by Eugen Rochko (known as Gargron on fedi),
the CEO of Mastodon-the-non-profit and
lead developer of Mastodon-the-software,
got some people worried
about the outsized
influence Mastodon (the software project and the
non-profit) has on the rest of the Fediverse.
Good. We should be worried.
Mastodon-the-software is used by far by the most people on fedi. The
biggest instance, mastodon.social, is home to over 200.000
active accounts as of this writing. This is roughly 1/10th of the whole Fediverse, on a
single instance. Worse, Mastodon-the-software is often
identified as the whole social network, obscuring the fact that
Fediverse is a much broader
system comprised of a much more diverse software.
The 49th Seattle International Film Festival (May 11-21) opens next week, featuring 264 shorts, docs, and narrative films from 74 countries. As always, the looming question is – where to begin? I’ve found the trick to navigating festivals is developing a 6th sense for films in your wheelhouse (so I embrace my OCD and channel it like a cinematic dowser). (deep breath) Let’s dive in. This year’s Opening Night Gala selection is Past Lives (USA/Korea), the latest offering from A24 (Ex Machina, Ladybird, Moonlight, Everything Everywhere All at Once, et.al.). Billed as “a heartrending modern romance”, the drama was written and directed by Celine Song, who will be attending and participating in a Q&A following the screening. Always with the personal drama: Dean Kavanagh’s Hole in the Head (Ireland) is a character study about a mute projectionist who uses the tools of his trade as a conduit for coming to terms with long-repressed memories. Adolfo (Mexico, U.S.
“I don’t think we’ve spoken enough about what Black women have had to endure here,” said Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx, a Gardner ally.
The post Why St. Louis’s Reform DA Kim Gardner Quit appeared first on The Intercept.
It’s going to take work to educate people about this issue: Clear majorities of Americans support restrictions affecting transgender children, a Washington Post-KFF poll finds, offering political jet fuel for Republicans in statehouses and Congress who are pushing measures restricting curriculum, sports participation and medical care. Most Americans don’t believe it’s even possible to be a gender that differs from that assigned at birth. A 57 percent majority of adults said a person’s gender is determined from the start, with 43 percent saying it can differ. This is the saddest part: And some Americans have become more conservative on these questions as Republicans have seized the issue and worked to promote new restrictions. The Pew Research Center found 60 percent last year saying one’s gender is determined by the sex assigned at birth, up from 54 percent in 2017. Even among young adults, who are the most accepting of trans identity, about half said in the Post-KFF poll that a person’s gender is determined by their sex at birth.
En av den svenska popmusikens största banbrytare, Pugh Rogefeldt, har gått ur tiden. Pugh skrev den sorts musik som glömskan inte rår på. Tack för allt. Vila i frid min vän.
That does not make me feel confident Washington Examiner: I know you cannot get into any of the specifics about your grand jury appearance, but I’m wondering if you could just peel back for readers what the was process like? Mike Pence: I really can’t speak in any detail about the proceedings. But I can tell you that the American people can be confident that the story I wrote in my memoir about those difficult days, the story I’ve told in numerous interviews and in the wake of the release of my book, is the same story that I tell in every respect. And so, for me, I just have a lot of peace about the process. I’m very concerned about what I see as the politicization of the Justice Department. I’m very concerned about what I see as the criminalization of politics, but we obeyed the law. We did our part, and the American people can be confident that the story we’ve written, the story we told, is the same story that took place in that setting. In other words, he didn’t come through with the full truth about Trump’s coup plotting. He never has.
Carbon Capture and Storage, nothing but an inadequate fig leaf for obscene government endorsed corporate practices. Direct Air Capture may play a useful climate role in a few decades. Banks still lending trillions to fossil fuel companies. Capturing carbon: where are we? Part 2 of 2 Last week I described the difference between absorbing CO2 Continue reading »
Eighteen months ago, when Australians first learned of the AUKUS proposal for their country to build nuclear-powered submarines, it came as a stunning shock. So great was the shock, in fact, that for a time it eclipsed any serious debate about this revolutionary and quite unprecedented idea. An initiative of such scale and audacity seemed Continue reading »
Speech at The Persecution of Truth conference According to Dr Suelette Dreyfus, Julian Assange was the most original voice in twenty-first-century journalism. She justified this claim by referencing the invention of the anonymous digital dropbox that WikiLeaks and Assange pioneered, which allowed whistle-blowers to transfer information to the public, while preserving their anonymity. This invention Continue reading »
Minister Mark Butler’s Hugh Stretton Oration (April 27) demonstrates he gets it. He may be the first Minister we have had in Aged Care who understands the issues of ageing and is prepared to speak out. Policy makers and those in the professional age care industry (both advocates and providers) seem to be trapped in Continue reading »
Perhaps now – more than ever – is the time when Australia needs outstanding foreign policy thinkers. It has lost one of its best with the death of Allan Gyngell after a short illness. When he relinquished the National Presidency of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) a few months ago, he saw it Continue reading »
Enclosure in the US and Israel The nature of Enclosure is not often associated with the settler-colonial societies of the US and Israel. Yet it is an important aspect to the exceptionalism of both these states and their righteous sectioning off of land for their own religious aims. Both states got their foothold on the Continue reading »
When the western media and politicians speak of China’s treatment of minorities it is always taken for granted that such treatment is a violation of the minority’s human rights. I would venture to differ. China has a complex framework of ethnic-regional autonomy enshrined in its constitution that is poorly understood in the West. Having worked Continue reading »
Use to discuss topics unrelated to recent posts.
And he said it overseas… A day after federal prosecutors won their latest high-profile cases against leaders of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, former president Donald Trump lashed out in a social media post at the Justice Department, claiming it and the FBI are “destroying the lives of so many Great American Patriots.” “Back in the USA, but sadly I see so many really bad things happening to our Country,” Trump, who broke ground earlier this week on a golf course in Scotland, wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform. “The DOJ and FBI are destroying the lives of so many Great American Patriots, right before our very eyes,” he wrote. “The Court System is a RUBBER STAMP for their conviction and imprisonment. All this while the Radical Left protects and coddles extremists and murderers at a level, and with intensity, never seen before. GET SMART AMERICA, THEY ARE COMING AFTER YOU!!!” On Thursday, former Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and three other leaders of the far-rightextremist group were found guilty of seditious conspiracy in the attack on Capitol.
His Trump impression needs work.
Since I’m on the topic of Max Weber, religion and technology already, here’s a half-developed theory of Elon Musk that I’ve been nurturing for a while. I’ve trotted it out informally at a couple of meetings, and I’m not completely convinced it is right, but it’s prima facie plausible, and I’ve gotten some entertainment from […]
Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston offered a two-word reaction to today's Coronation event for King Charles III & Queen Camilla.
From the front lines in NC North Carolina Democrats’ new state chair, Anderson Clayton, is drawing national press, including a New York Times profile this week. She rallied supporters last month to win a Daily Kos poll for which “ ‘super swing state’ deserves Daily Kos’ help the most.” (I’m biased.) DKos sent out mailings last week asking members to contribute $15 to the fight. Clayton is not shy about painting the challenge North Carolina Democrats face in 2024. One would be the leading Republican contender for governor. In case you need reminding, Clayton’s talking about this guy: “Tell our enemies on the other side of the aisle that would drag this nation down into a socialist hellhole that you will only do it as you run past me laying on the ground choking on my own blood — Christian patriots of this nation will own this nation and rule this nation.” AG Josh Stein, Democrats’ leading contender for governor, has a close race on his hands in a political environment that is terra incognita for Democrats.