pconrad - Network

So this is how modern capitalism sows, waters and fertilizes the seeds that eventually grow into replacing democracy with authoritarian...

So this is how modern capitalism sows, waters and fertilizes the seeds that eventually grow into replacing democracy with authoritarian fascism, unless we resist, resist, resist.

(And before the bad faith attacks start, no, Stalinist or Maoist Authoritarian Communism is not the only alternative.)

How the fortune of one of America’s biggest pharmaceutical families has quietly funded conservative causes | CNN Politics
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/03/politics/dark-money-searle-foundation-invs/index.html

"... [S]ince the end of the Cold War, most democratic failure globally has been caused by elected governments using legal methods, such...

"... [S]ince the end of the Cold War, most democratic failure globally has been caused by elected governments using legal methods, such as gerrymandering and technical rule changes, to derail democracy. Their destructions of their own democracies have been supported by pluralities or majorities of their citizenries, whose polarization leads them to back policies that harm democracy to ensure their side prevails. America is on precisely this path."
https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/09/15/five-strategies-to-support-u.s.-democracy-pub-87918

"a former Southern slave plantation"?Strike the word "former" and we'll get a little closer to the...

"a former Southern slave plantation"?

Strike the word "former" and we'll get a little closer to the truth.

https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation-c6f0eb4747963283316e494eadf08c4e

New unit of measurement has dropped

New unit of measurement has dropped

Ok, if you don't feel like reading the Wikipedia article on the Weimar Republic, go watch Cabaret.Just understand the moment we are in...

Ok, if you don't feel like reading the Wikipedia article on the Weimar Republic, go watch Cabaret.

Just understand the moment we are in here.

The calendar says 2024.

But it's a lie. It's 1933 outside. Just look around.

Greta Gerwig deserved a nomination and the win. It seemed impossible that a Barbie movie could simultaneously be (a) entertaining (b) on...

Greta Gerwig deserved a nomination and the win. It seemed impossible that a Barbie movie could simultaneously be (a) entertaining (b) on brand for Mattel (c) a seriously subversive feminist statement. But she did it. That should have not gone unnoticed.
That it did is, as someone else already noted, a bit too on the nose.

Nolan allowing the film to go out with sound balance so bad that half the dialogue is unintelligible should have been disqualifying, whatever the other merits of the film.

Apparently they are giving Oscars for sound design to movies where the underscoring and effects are so loud you can't hear the...

Apparently they are giving Oscars for sound design to movies where the underscoring and effects are so loud you can't hear the dialogue.

Oppenheimer is a terrific film, but the sound folks should have been encouraged to pursue a new career in something else, not rewarded with an Academy Award nomination.

And to also become familiar with the early days of the Third Reich 1933-1939, when lots of folks *really really* wanted to believe that...

And to also become familiar with the early days of the Third Reich 1933-1939, when lots of folks *really really* wanted to believe that Hitler wasn't that bad, and that the threats were exaggerated, and that this would all blow over.

I will continue to beat this drum until I no longer can: I am once again imploring everyone that is an eligible voter in the United States...

I will continue to beat this drum until I no longer can: I am once again imploring everyone that is an eligible voter in the United States to familiarize themselves with the history of the Weimar Republic and the *early* history of the Third Reich.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic

And, specifically, the way a democracy was followed by a fascist dictatorship and how that happened slowly, slowly, then all at once.

About 10% (estimate) of the images on my feed are just blurry placeholders. I can read the ALT text which describes the images, and based...

About 10% (estimate) of the images on my feed are just blurry placeholders. I can read the ALT text which describes the images, and based on those descriptions most of them are fairly bland in terms of content, so they aren't being blurred for being "sensitive content".

Any idea what's going wrong here?

After a week in NYC I am now approximately 10% Cheesecake by volume.

After a week in NYC I am now approximately 10% Cheesecake by volume.

Frog

Frog

Ugh. Google is placing ads for right wing chocolates on my Android content feed.No thank you, I don't want your sexist, racist,...

Ugh. Google is placing ads for right wing chocolates on my Android content feed.

No thank you, I don't want your sexist, racist, fascist, homophobic and transphobic confections.

Actually, scratch the "No, thank you" and replace it with: "What the hell were you thinking?"

When people say that the United States is a racist country with racism built into the very concrete, many people (mostly people that are...

When people say that the United States is a racist country with racism built into the very concrete, many people (mostly people that are white like me) take offense.

But I no longer take offense. I nod and say: yeah, that's pretty self-evidently true. And it would be true even if everyone in 2023 was entirely free of racial prejudice (a wildly unrealistic assumption, but "even if").

Because (e.g.) the freeways we drive on still have racist impact, every single day.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/12/17/1218584283/a-new-orleans-neighborhood-confronts-the-racist-legacy-of-a-toxic-stretch-of-hig

Leave the World Behind on Netflix with Mahershala Ali, Julia Roberts, and Ethan Hawke, and an intense cameo by Kevin Bacon, plus three...

Leave the World Behind on Netflix with Mahershala Ali, Julia Roberts, and Ethan Hawke, and an intense cameo by Kevin Bacon, plus three amazing young actors.

This film has several important messages that we in the United States need to hear, as a society.

I've imagined the plot of this film in my nightmares.

And it gives me no joy to say that I fully expect to see the events it portrays in my lifetime.

Adam Kinzinger: "Every democracy in my mind needs a liberal or a progressive movement and a conservative movement because that tug and...

Adam Kinzinger: "Every democracy in my mind needs a liberal or a progressive movement and a conservative movement because that tug and pull – that push and pull - is what actually makes a country advance at the right speed – not always perfectly. I'll continue to fight for the GOP but that doesn't mean I'm voting GOP. I'm not because they're an anti-constitutionalist party at the moment."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/republican-adam-kinzinger-if-trump-is-gop-nominee-vote-for-biden-the-takeout/

As a matter of fact, yes, I have been binge watching "The Bear".What makes you ask?

As a matter of fact, yes, I have been binge watching "The Bear".

What makes you ask?

Barbie movie with my husband, sporting the only hot pink thing I own.

Barbie movie with my husband, sporting the only hot pink thing I own.

Water feature at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport#KeepAustinWeird

Water feature at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport

#KeepAustinWeird

It's like I'm in a King of the Hill episode. I tell you what, the waffles at this here hotel breakfast bar are in the shape of...

It's like I'm in a King of the Hill episode.

I tell you what, the waffles at this here hotel breakfast bar are in the shape of Texas.