I want to re-set my taste a bit and watch some beautiful movies that weren’t made in America. (A few years ago I did a Subtitle February and I liked that a lot.)
I watched Drive My Car (Japan, 2021) yesterday, and Decision To Leave (South Korea, 2022) today. What else should I watch? Thanks in advance!
China overtakes Australia as country with second-largest known lithium reserves
China overtakes Australia as country with second-largest known lithium reserves
The China Geological Survey says new discoveries mean the country's share of the world's known lithium reserves have increased from 6 per cent to 16.5 per cent.Will Jackson (ABC News)
like this
Farmers are “central and socially responsible” in forestry expansion, according to the Department of Agriculture, Fishery and the Marine (DAFM). Simultaneously, forestry in Ireland remains an economically, politically, and socially tortuous concept. Driving planting efforts for over 40 years, farmers have contributed 4% to the current national forest cover of approximately 11.7%. However, challenges remain in encouraging landowners to plant native woodland.
Can native woodland flourish without farmers? They also deserve a just transition
There are ongoing calls and policy targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and afforestation is identified as a vital solution to mitigating impacts, but significant challenges remain.www.tcd.ie
@SrRochardBunson so i just want to say, that 5 seconds into @leolevinsky 's soapbox i thought two things to myself.
1) fuck yeah.
2) rochard would love this.
and then i go to his bandcamp and will ya look at that.
small [fedi]world we have here.
faircamp.radiofreefedi.net/lev…
levinskyleo.bandcamp.com/album…
#music #musician #lofi #bedroompop
reshared this
@benda@kolektiva.social
Thank you both so much for your kind words and for listening to my music. It really means a lot to me.
According to the association, the company’s shares will be sold, “so legal entity would remain the same but under new ownership.”
MEC to be sold for a second time in less than 5 years
Mountain Equipment Company (MEC) is being sold again, less than five years after being offloaded to an American private investment firm.CityNews Halifax
A former faculty member, the accomplished scholar and energetic leader returns to the Institute with a broad vision and deep experience.
Richard Locke PhD ’89 named dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management
Richard Locke, a prominent scholar and academic administrator with a wide range of leadership experience, has been named the new dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management.MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Torsten likes this.
reshared this
"Why should I care? [The Regulatory Standards Bill] is the twin to the Treaty Principles Bill. So much so that you can use your submission for that bill as the template to this one. It has been described as: The ‘dangerous’ bill flying under the radar and 'arguably one of the most regressive and dangerous Bills ever considered'."
emilywrites.substack.com/p/ok-…
Consultation closes this Monday, 13 January 2025.
#RSB #RegulatoryStandardsBill #TPB #TreatyPrinciplesBill
OK fine, what submissions do I have to make FFS?!
Don't worry - I got you. Here's everything you need in one place!Emily Writes (Emily Writes Weekly )
"... Act is finally poised to achieve its goal. The [Regulatory Standards] bill is included in the Act-National coalition agreement, as a bill to be passed.
The coalition government’s bill is based, with some proposed changes, on the Regulatory Standards Bill 2021."
#MelanieNelson, 2024
e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-an…
Hmm. Looks like we might need another Hikoi in a few months time. One with teeth, since this abomination actually has National's full support.
(1/?)
The ‘dangerous’ bill flying under the radar | E-Tangata
“Individually or together, these two bills would entrench libertarian preferences in New Zealand’s constitutional framework. They would also obstruct the consideration of Te Tiriti in future lawmaking.” — Melanie Nelson.Melanie Nelson (E-Tangata)
Given that Labour, Greens and TPM can all be relied on to vote against the RSB en masse, the NatACTs will need Winston First MPs to vote with them to pass it. So one aspect of strategy could be based on lobbying Winston First supporters. Who are many things, not all of them laudable, but fans of corporate supremacy they are not.
(2/?)
Consider also this will cone to a head around the time Rimmer takes over from Winston as Deputy Dawg. Winston's ego will be bruised, and he'll be more inclined to listen to dissent from the rank and file.
If Winston is determined to charge ahead with making his caucus vote for the bill, and damn the torpedoes, against an upswell of internal opposition, there's a possibility of a Mauri Pacific style split. With enough MPs, that could bring down the coalition. Or at least lame duck it.
(3/?)
This is also an opportunity for Greens and TPM to emphasise the progressive nationalist/ localist aspects of their politics. A major shift of grassroots support from Winston First to those parties could bring down the coalition of chaos, even if it has to wait until 2026.
Of course, all the Opposition parties must commit to repealing the RSB. However long it takes them to get back into government. Restoring sovereign democracy, and unpicking any corporate rule put in place under it.
(4/?)
While I'm riffing on opposition strategy...
"Regulatory Standards Bill 2021 ... outlines how all new legislation and regulation — and after 10 years all existing legislation (excluding Treaty settlements) — should adhere to a specific set of libertarian principles."
#MelanieNelson, 2024
e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-an…
Can we *please* stop buying into the hard right lie that their philosophy and policy is in any way "libertarian"? It isn't, in any historical or meaningful sense of the term.
(5/?)
The ‘dangerous’ bill flying under the radar | E-Tangata
“Individually or together, these two bills would entrench libertarian preferences in New Zealand’s constitutional framework. They would also obstruct the consideration of Te Tiriti in future lawmaking.” — Melanie Nelson.Melanie Nelson (E-Tangata)
ACT are "libertarian" like the Bolsheviks under Stalin were "communist". They pay lip service to the ideas to recruit people who believe in them as Useful Idiots, while pushing exactly the opposite in their policy.
We don't have a (visible) left-libertarian tradition in Aotearoa. So every new generation of intuitive libertarians are at risk of becoming child soldiers for ACT. To mitigate this, Greens/ TPM need to lean into the principled libertarian aspects of their philosophies.
(6/?)
I'm not talking about paying lip service either, like ACT do. In the past, NZ Greens have stood up for all the basic civil liberties enshrined in BORA. Freedoms of expression and assembly, of the press and the net, and freedom from mass surveillance.
They also campaign against monopoly power (unlike ACT who make excuses for it), like overextension of copyright and patent monopolies. And for fair shakes for sustainable, workers-respecting small businesses, farmers, and rural communities.
(7/?)
Yes, the Greens drifted down a technocratic and somewhat authoritarian path over the last decade. James Shaw is less responsible for this than opportunist scapegoating has claimed, it's been a whole party problem;
strypey.dreamwidth.org/6069.ht…
But I've posted recently about how the Tana affair seems to have woken them up to the entryist tail wagging the dog. I'm encouraged by Davidson's Right to Repair bill, and new MPs like Kahurangi Taylor and Benjamin Doyle;
peertube.nz/w/fTGp8RJt7XTdRprH…
(8/?)
Benjamin Doyle Maiden Statement
Aotearoa New Zealand Green Party List MP Benjamin Doyle's Maiden Statement delivered to parliament Thursday 21st of November 2024.
As for Te Pāti Māori, part of NatACT First's influence campaigns strategy has been to smear them as heavy-handed authoritarians. Which is about as honest as Stalin smearing real communists, including anarchists, as 'enemies of the revolution'.
What TPM in its current form really represent is one of the most radically democratic forces in NZ political history. Which is how they were able to almost sweep the board in the Māori seats, and almost double their best party vote result (2008).
(9/?)
TPM policy is all about decentralisation and self-governance. For all the peoples of Aotearoa, as promised in the wording of Te Tiriti, not just those of Māori heritage (another ACT smear).
The same rules that enable kura kaupapa also enable special character schools based on Waldorf education philosophy, or Montessori, or discovery learning. Without the need for Charter School models that reduce schools to for-profit businesses, with elite privileges over for-purpose schools.
(10/?)
That said, like the Greens, TPM are all about liberating community-based businesses. From captured regulation, like Charter Schools, slanting every playing field towards the largest corporate players. Which is exactly what the Regulatory Standards Bill seeks to entrench, at everyone else's expense.
ACT has never and will never exist primarily to protect the civil liberties of all. Even when principled activists have managed to make it vote for them. Those people need to look elsewhere.
(11/?)
If Labour can shake off their Rogernomics rump (which may or not require shaking off Hipkins), the Greens can finish shake off the People's Front of Judea technocracy, and Te Pāti Māori can continue to build deep and wide flaxroots governance - of all ethnicities - there's no reason they can't defeat NatACT First in 2026, if not before.
As I mentioned a few days ago, this year's local body elections are a chance to send some shots across the bows of the government's ship. Let's use it.
(12/12)
Me:
> Consider also this will cone to a head
Typo, no pun intended, but I like this so much I'm going to leave it in and pretend it was intentional : P
> unfortunately the NZ First coalition agreement requires them to support the things that National agreed to do for ACT
True, but see the subsequent posts. There's a good chance that with sufficient educating and agitating about this corporate empowerment bill, one of two things will break. The coalition, or NZ First.
Either would be a win, although the former would get rid of the coalition faster.
> . It's in the agreement. This one *will* pass
Keep reading. This means the stakes of voting for it are high for Winston First, whether they do or not. We can make them higher.
> I doubt it will be the RSB that does it
I think that depends a lot on how the left plays our cards against it. But I'm curious to know why you think that.
> where is the link to make a submission? I can’t seem to find it
It seems they're accepting consultation by email at this point. See;
emilywrites.substack.com/p/ok-…
OK fine, what submissions do I have to make FFS?!
Don't worry - I got you. Here's everything you need in one place!Emily Writes (Emily Writes Weekly )
Biden admin imposes harsh sanctions on Russian oil industry to cut off funding for Ukraine war effort
Biden admin imposes harsh sanctions on Russian oil industry to cut off funding for Ukraine war efforthttps://www.cnn.com/2025/01/10/politics/biden-admin-russia-energy-sanctions-ukraine/index.htmlBYTESEU (Bytes Europe)
Did Mayor Karen Bass really cut the fire department budget? The answer gets tricky (David Zahniser/Los Angeles Times)
latimes.com/california/story/2…
memeorandum.com/250110/p120#a2…
Did L.A.'s mayor cut the fire department budget? The answer gets tricky
Employee raises and other expenses are expanding the Los Angeles Fire Department's budget. At the same time, the agency has had to scale back operations in recent months.David Zahniser (Los Angeles Times)
Summary A TCD Medical/Health Humanities Seminar talk by Dr Tylor Brand, who will speak about children as the most vulnerable group within the famine that struck Lebanon during World War I.
The resignation means there is now very little that Trudeau can do now to stave off Trump's tariff threat, says David MacNaughton, whom Trudeau appointed as Canada's ambassador to the U.S. in 2016.
turn off the water
turn off the gas
turn off the electricity
turn off the oil..
watch them damn yankees panic...........
Tom: All things being equal, what is your language of choice?
Jerry: Python
Tom: That's a relief!
Jerry: Oh?
Tom: Based on the greyness of your beard, I was afraid you were going to say perl.
Micheál Martin has paid tribute to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau following his announcement that he will resign from that role. Last night Mr Trudeau confirmed he intends to step down as leader of the ruling Liberal Party of Canada after nine years in office although he will remain in his post until the party chooses a replacement.
Tánaiste claims outgoing Canadian PM Justin Trudeau is a ‘true friend of Ireland’
TÁNAISTE Micheál Martin has paid tribute to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau following his ...Fiona Audley (The Irish Post)
If we ever want to reform our political environment, we need to separate money and politics
-- @blueca1776.bsky.social
Der Beitrag Vornamen von Silvester-Randalierern geleakt – Polizei
Vornamen von Silvester-Randalierern geleakt – Polizei warnt vor Rassismus - reitschuster.de
Weil zuvor streng unter Verschluss gehaltene Informationen jetzt doch an die Öffentlichkeit gelangt sind, werden einmal mehr Nebelkerzen geworfen – ganz nach dem Motto: Es kann nicht sein, was nicht sein darf! Die "Drei Affen" lassen grüßen… Von Kai …Kai Rebmann (reitschuster.de)
Roland Häder likes this.
It’s super late and like this cutie here time to get some meow meows 
Goodnight our dear friends 
Marcin Wichary
in reply to Marcin Wichary • • •Today I watched Fallen Leaves (Finland, 2023) – thank you to @rosetta and @asjo for the recommendation.
Apparently, the director (Aki Kaurismäki) has three more movies in the same “Proletariat” series and I’m immediately excited.
Marcin Wichary
in reply to Marcin Wichary • • •Marcin Wichary
in reply to Marcin Wichary • • •Kung Fu Hustle (China, 2004) today for a change of pace. I don’t have a lot of experience with martial arts movies, but something tells me this is not a typical martial arts movie.
Kept thinking “this is not my sense of humour” and then laughing out loud.
Thank you to @roberthurdman @mcsquank @petejohanson for recommending!
Marcin Wichary
in reply to Marcin Wichary • • •Marcin Wichary
in reply to Marcin Wichary • • •Michael B. Johnson
in reply to Marcin Wichary • • •