cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/12605

The revelation that Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, is playing a key role in Paramount Skydance's hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery underscores the extent to which the current administration's open corruption "is fundamentally distorting economic and governmental policymaking at the direct expense of the interests of the American people," a watchdog group said Tuesday.

Kushner's private equity firm, Affinity Partner, is listed in a regulatory filing as one of the organizations financing Paramount's $108 billion bid for Warner Bros., which owns CNN. Ethics experts say Kushner's involvement represents another glaring conflict of interest on top of preexisting concerns about the bid, stemming from Trump's relationship with Paramount CEO David Ellison and his billionaire father, GOP megadonor Larry Ellison.

"America is devolving into a caricature of crony capitalism," Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, said in a statement Tuesday. "Factions aiming to shrink media competition are fighting over who can show the greatest fealty to Donald Trump. Paramount seems to have won the prize, bringing in presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner—whose investment vehicle is flush with Saudi funds, deposited only because of his personal relationship with Donald Trump—as a partner."

"A working antitrust policy would block the merger of Warner Bros. Discovery with one of the existing media goliaths. It would never be influenced by personal connections to the president," Weissman added. "This case underscores that the corruption pervading the Trump administration isn’t just about making Trump and his family and hangers-on ever richer. That corruption is fundamentally distorting economic and governmental policy making, at the direct expense of the interests of the American people.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said that "the Warner Bros. merger was already suspect, but now Trump’s family is getting in on the act."

"Paramount already had deep ties to the White House," he added, "now Trump's family will directly profit if they win."

Asked Monday about Kushner's financing role, Trump said he has "never spoken to him about it."

Paramount, which the Trump administration reportedly favored to take over Warner Bros., announced its bid for the company days after the streaming behemoth Netflix and Warner Bros. leadership reached an $83 billion acquisition deal. The president immediately criticized the Netflix agreement and pledged to intervene in the federal review process.

"The blurred line between running the government and the family's business interests is expanding each day," Scott Amey, general counsel with the Project On Government Oversight, told Reuters.

Antitrust experts and advocates have argued that both of the proposed mergers are likely illegal and should be blocked.

Matt Stoller, research director at the American Economic Liberties Project, said Monday that either merger "would further deepen the media consolidation crisis that is eroding our creative economy and freedom of expression."

"Paramount specifically would be well-positioned to manipulate the news to please the president, which David Ellison made clear it intends to do in an interview earlier today," said Stoller. "There is a reason that policymakers and workers in Hollywood have come out against each iteration of this deal. Rather than allowing further consolidation in the industry, policymakers must reregulate the market with prohibitions on vertical integration.”

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

I watched “The Long Walk” on the plane. It was great. I was imagining something like “The Running Man,” another King adaptation—a “reality show” esque sci-fi story of the 1980s era of TV broadcast dominance (a critique on media)—but it was completely different. It’s about young lonely people, burdened with trauma and worries, who just keep walking through life (the long walk). The perspective and background of the organizers or the spectators aren’t shown; the film maintains a strict distance from the roadside. The camera simply stays close to the boys and walks by their side until the very end. The direction is very different from The Hunger Games. Director Francis Lawrence is clever. Within the absurdity of this game, the youths help each other, understand one another, reflect on their past, and come to realize the “path” that stretches toward tomorrow. Dropping out isn’t just the end of one person—it’s passing the baton and entrusting their “will” to the winners. It’s a meta, philosophical film about friendship and growth and also a declaration of war against the adults. In a way, it’s close to “Stand by Me.” David Jonsson, a big favorite of mine, gave an amazing performance too. Cooper Hoffman was also great. And of course, Mark Hamill, too. I’ll watch it again in theaters. Highly recommend.

https://x.com/HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN/status/1998289980205183145

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taliban-detains-men-peaky-blinders-style-for-rehabilitation-sharia-law/

"They were promoting foreign culture and imitating film actors in Herat, arrested, and a rehabilitation program started for them," Khyber said Sunday in a post on one of his social media accounts. "Praise be to Allah, we are Muslims and Afghans; we have our own religion, culture, and values. Through numerous sacrifices, we have protected this country from the spread of harmful cultures, and now we are also defending it."

Speaking with CBS News on Tuesday, however, Khyber said the men were not formally arrested, "only summoned and advised and released."

"We have our own religious and cultural values, and especially for clothing we have specific traditional styles," Khyber told CBS News on Tuesday. "The clothing they wore has no Afghan identity at all and does not match our culture. Secondly, their actions were an imitation of actors from a British movie. Our society is Muslim; if we are to follow or imitate someone, we should follow our righteous religious predecessors in good and lawful matters."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-Wl9es3dZ8

New taglist, let me know if you want to be added/removed.

Matrices for blorptube: https://matrix.to/#/#visual_cuisine:matrix.org | https://matrix.to/#/#blorptube:matrix.org

@@@@This comes from above: it's strongly recommended to use a VPN for cytube. @@@@ There was a thread recently about vpns and a few you should explicitly avoid.

You can read more about Peertube and potential security concerns here: https://hexbear.net/post/3471120?scrollToComments=false

We will be using Blorptube tonight: https://blorp.bot.nu/o/visual_cuisine It is still recommended to use a vpn for peertube.

The visual cuisine for tonight is Cardcaptor Sakura, Gen13, and the anime Shadow Skill - all due to popular demand.

6pm est

Cardcaptor Sakura is an anime about Sakura capturing all of the magical cards she accidentally set loose.

8 pm est

Thutmose is another comedy series like Poitrine, it is about Sanae being ordered by her ancestor to recapture 51 demons that were released, which she does with magic powers.

Medabots is about a kid following his dream of being a high-ranked medafighter after getting his own medabot.

6 pm est

content warnings:

Card Captor Sakura

https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/78298?index1=-1&index2=-1

• Children get beaten up in a boss battle
• Stalking
• Age gap relationships & pedophilia: brief mentions of a middle schooler dating his teacher, a high schooler getting engaged to her teacher, and an elementary schooler having a crush on their teacher
• A character gets restrained
• A character is held underwater
• A parent dies before the show takes place
• Shower scene
• Ghosts
• A character is possessed
• Anxiety attacks
• Flashing lights & images
• A character is misgendered
• "Man in dress" jokes
• The protagonist's best friend and cousin is implied to have a crush on the protagonist; likewise the cousin's mom is also implied to have a crush on the protagonist's mom
• Cartoon violence
• A character gets drunk but does not drink on screen

8 pm est

Thutmose

lacks a dogdie page and an imdb page, however it is a comedy series like Poitrine.

• "Man in dress jokes"
• Slapstick violence
• Flashing lights & images
• The premise of the show involves demons
• Possession
• Light violence towards children: the protagonist is a highschooler that combats demons
• Racism

Medabots

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293731/parentalguide/

• Violence
• The premise of the show is robots fighting each other
• The robots can feel physical and emotional pain
• Flashing lights & images

Some minor changes in soundtrack choices, some very slightly different takes used compared to Part 1 and 2, and of course, the biggest most important change, they removed the bit with Bill asking Sophia about whether or not The Bride knows about BB being alive. Also, the extended anime sequence is dope.

The Fortnite "lost chapter" is also in the movie, but THANK THE MOVIE GODS it is not until after AAAAAAAAAAAAALL the credits. Do yourself a favor and skip it. Its not good. But go catch the whole bloody affair, I couldn't have been happier.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/12014

Havana, Dec 6 (Prensa Latina) Accompanied by excellent reviews and the Best Actor award won by Wagner Moura, the film "The Secret Agent," by Kleber Mendonca, premieres at the 46th Havana Film Festival.

The post The secret agent, among favorites at Havana film festival first appeared on Prensa Latina.

Considered one of Brazil’s best directors, Mendonca also wrote the screenplay for the film, which also stars Udo Kier, Gabriel Leone, and Maria Fernanda Candido.

The feature film, which will be screened at the centrally located Yara Cinema, is a co-production between Brazil and France and follows Marcelo, a teacher caught up in the political turmoil of the final years of the military dictatorship in Brazil.

The year is 1977, and the 40-year-old protagonist, fleeing his mysterious past, returns to Recife in search of peace, but soon realizes that the city is far from the refuge he is seeking for. The film had its world premiere on May 18 of this year in the main competition of Cannes International Film Festival, where it was met with great acclaim.

It went on to become the most awarded film of the festival, winning the Best Actor award for Moura, the Best Director award for Mendonca, as well as the Art House Film Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Film.

From Prensa Latina via This RSS Feed.

IMPORTANT NOTE: please use a VPN whenever visiting Blorptube, or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. Protect your privacy.

For this Sunday Kino Night, first up is Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021), a three-part anthology about romantic mix-ups: one focusing on a love triangle, one on a honey trap, and one on a chance lesbian encounter. The reviews contain many comparisons to Chungking Express (1994), another film with multiple stories that is not quite a comedy, but nevertheless revels in the absurdity of romance. Director is Ryusuke Hamaguchi, the auteur otherwise best-known for the drama Drive My Car (2021), which we have not yet watched on the ‘tube. This is considered arguably his best film, so let’s give it a shot.

After that is White Christmas (1954), the perennial Christmas classic that is probably playing on TV somewhere right now. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye star as a pair of WW2 vets who become showbiz stars after the war, and each starts a romance with one half of a pair of sisters, using their talents to save a failing hotel. The whole thing is just an excuse for some fancy musical numbers, of course, all in glorious Technicolor. Just some good ol’ cozy holiday vibes. Director is Michael Curtiz, the Hollywood workhorse otherwise best-known for Casablanca (1942), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), and Mildred Pierce (1945); somehow, despite his prolific output, we have never watched any of his films on here. That changes tonight.

We’ll start at 8PM EST on Blorptube, right here:

https://blorp.bot.nu/o/visual_cuisine

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

• Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy: https://letterboxd.com/film/wheel-of-fortune-and-fantasy/
• White Christmas: https://letterboxd.com/film/white-christmas/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

• Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy: www.imdb.com/title/tt14034966/parentalguide/?ref_=tt_ov_at_pl_pg
• White Christmas: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/69531

CWs for Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy:

• Discussion of sex.
• Partial nudity.
• Profanity.
• Alcohol.
• Alcohol.
• Stabbing.

CWs for White Christmas:

• Someone leaves without saying goodbye.
• Copaganda.
• Jump scares.
• Explosions.
• Screaming.
• Someone is watched without their knowledge.
• Fat jokes.
• “Man in dress” jokes.
• One of the songs is about how much the performers miss minstrel shows.
• Honking horns.

Links to movies:

• Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy: https://tankie.tube/w/v3C3ZuADatgTqU64QKf1oe
• White Christmas: https://tankie.tube/w/mgNvRTkPK1wJKHJXZw6pM5

Note:

Ok, at the risk of sounding weird, I replaced ‘cabal’ with ‘Last Jews’

IMPORTANT NOTE: please use a VPN whenever visiting Blorptube, or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. Protect your privacy.

Last Jews in Kabul

This is the story of the last two Jews in Afghanistan [Post-Taliban rule]. All the other Jews have left a long time ago. Isaac and Zabulon live alone in the abandoned synagogue. The older of the two, the ruddy-faced Isaac, is Kabul’s sorcerer-healer. He makes cabalistic amulets, which he sells to Muslims to drive out demons from women, or from soldiers exhausted by the war. The other Jew, Zabulon, has the same Afghan customers, but sells them the wine, which he produces illegally. [Note - unfortunately, these two people hate each other]

~~Blackberry~~

canceled. I replaced it with Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)

We’ll start at 4:30 PM EST on Blorptube, right here: https://blorp.bot.nu/o/visual_cuisine

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

https://letterboxd.com/film/cabal-in-kabul/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

CWs for the films (excluding spoilers?)

Last Jews in Kabul

CW:

Kosher butchering carnism by Zabulon

Slurs thrown such as ‘goy’ by Zabulon against his fellow Jew Ishaq

Death of Ishaq shown

Source

Last Jews In Kabul (2006): https://tankie.tube/w/eEHKoseZ5EPPHBYrKbpi8U

Intermission tune: https://tankie.tube/w/bEoQhxtGPykAVMTfPLYSAp

What if we are all animated talking animals – like a perky rabbit, a sly fox, a shady viper or a plucky beaver – struggling to make it in the big city? That's the premise of "Zootopia 2," the sequel to the 2016 hit of the same name, which grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. The sequel may well be on its way to topping that record, after doing quite well among Chinese audiences. Barely four days into its China opening on November 29, "Zootopia 2" had a record one-day gross of more than 738 million yuan (around $104 million), raking in over 2 billion yuan in nine days. That is the power of the Chinese film market. What does this tell us about the tastes and preference of Chinese film-goers? Film industry insider Dede Nickerson, who's a producer and advisor for DLN Media, clues us in.

blorp.bot.nu/o/visual_cuisine

※Use a VPN and make sure you have a Hexbear account. Be aware that the uploads have two subtitle tracks: SDH and non-SDH subtitles, listed as "English" and "Latin" respectively for technical reasons. Let's thank Aer once again for all her good work in providing these uploads and subtitles for us.

We're finally at the last season of Friendship is Magic, which I've decided to call the "long goodbye". How are we feeling?

The rest of this post may contain spoilers.

♫ Uniting nations at the speeeed of liiiiight ♫
[epic sax solo]
♫ Station of the '20s — TV☆3SIS! ♫

https://xcancel.com/SenWarren/status/1996966530177733114#m

Vampires in the South ain't nothing new. Popular works like Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire and HBO's True Blood set their vampire stories in the South, using these monsters and surrounding narratives to critique Southern histories, fears, and anxieties. With Sinners (2025), Ryan Coogler follows this tradition of utilizing the vampire to explore Southern identity and politics, delivering a poignant and distinctly Black Southern story about family, religion, autonomy, and the blues.

Mobster twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, return to their hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1932, having fled Chicago with a bag full of cash and a truck full of Irish beer and Italian wine. It's later revealed that they "robbed both sides" of the Chicago Irish-Italian mob conflict. With their looted riches, the twins open a juke joint in Clarksdale's old sawmill, with aspirations of creating a place where they and their community can feel free. "Look at that sky," Stack tells his brother. "It's a mighty fine day to be free, ain't it? Our own juke joint, for us and by us, just like we always wanted."

"Juke joints are never built; rather, they appropriate previous spaces… The malleability of juke joints developed out of the subversive nature of early blues music itself. During slavery, African Americans were not permitted to gather; in some cases, dancing and singing also were not allowed. Despite these constraints, music played an important role in the development of the African American community. As blues music gained popularity in the Jim Crow South, juke joints became safe places for African Americans to gather without white supervision."

— Juke Joints, The Mississippi Encyclopedia

As veterans of World War I (1914–1918), Smoke and Stack have been "all over this world," fighting overseas for the American cause. Upon their return from the war front, Black WWI veterans were not regarded as heroes by white Americans. Instead, they were largely met with deepened racial discrimination and brutality. In 1917, Mississippi Senator James Vardaman warned that "once a Black soldier was allowed to see himself as an American hero, it would be 'but a short step to the conclusion that his political rights must be respected.'"

The return of Black war veterans became a threat to the order of the Jim Crow South, stirring up white angst about what Black "heroes" might demand. Black soldiers represented the possibility of social mobility for Black folks across the South, and the white supremacist social and economic order of the South required Black folks to remain disenfranchised and exploited laborers at the bottom of the racial hierarchy. White Southerners responded with violent lynch mobs targeting Black veterans, while white-owned businesses intentionally shut them out of many employment opportunities. As a result, many Black veterans fled the South, used their military weapons training to fight back against racist mobs, and sometimes turned to organized crime for survival. It's easy for me to imagine a similar backstory for the Smokestack twins and it affords their search for freedom even more weight.

full article