#palma police family

[hmswintake-mallorca-files]

Hey, pretty shining people!

#the mallorca files #mallorca files #palma police family #wintake #max and miranda

[the-mallorca-files]

Max & Miranda: *bickering during a serious meeting*

Inés, glaring at them: I apologise for my children

Max: awww, you think of us as your children!

Miranda: oh cool, at least now I have one parent who loves me

Inés: *long-suffering sigh*

#the mallorca files #incorrect quotes #miranda blake #max winter #ines villegas #palma police family #miranda blake backstory dependant #…kinda? #incorrect mallorca files

[vintage1981]

Actress and Author, Lara Parker, of Dark Shadows, Passes at 84

Lara Parker, who found the role of a lifetime at just 28 years old when she was cast by Dark Shadows producer Dan Curtis as the beautiful, vengeful and altogether evil witch Angelique Bouchard Collins, died October 12 in her sleep in Los Angeles following a battle with cancer. She was 84.

Her death was announced by producer Jim Pierson of Dan Curtis Productions, on behalf of Parker’s family.

“I’m heartbroken, as all of us are who knew and loved her,” said her Dark Shadows co-star and longtime friend Kathryn Leigh Scott in a statement. “She graced our lives with her beauty, talent and friendship, and we are all richer for having had her in our lives.”

Parker was born Mary Lamar Rickey on Oct. 27, 1938, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her father, Albert, was an attorney, and her mother, Ann, was active in civic groups.

She graduated from Central High School in Memphis and attended Vassar — she roomed with Jane Fonda there — and Rhodes College in Memphis, where at 19 she served as Wink Martindale’s assistant on his WHBQ-TV show, Dance Party. She then earned a master’s degree from the University of Iowa.

Parker, who also authored four popular Dark Shadows-related novels from 1998-2016, arrived on the supernatural soap opera in 1967, not long after Canadian actor Jonathan Frid had been cast as vampire Barnabas Collins. Frid’s storyline changed the show from a moody, Gothic Jane Eyre-type serial into a flat-out horror show.

During breaks in production, Parker acted on Broadway in September 1968 in Woman Is My Idea, which lasted just five performances, and in the early Brian De Palma film Hi, Mom! (1970), starring Robert De Niro.

And toward the end of the daytime serial, she and fellow castmembers including John Karlen, Kate Jackson, David Selby and Grayson Hall appeared in the poorly received MGM film Night of Dark Shadows (1971).

In 1972, Parker relocated to Los Angeles and went on to appear on episodes of such shows as Medical Center, Kojak, The Rockford Files, Police Woman, Kolchak: The Night Stalker (as a witch) and The Incredible Hulk, where she played David Banner’s first wife in a flashback sequence in the pilot.

In her later years, Parker turned to writing and teaching — her novels include Angelique’s Descent (1998), The Salem Branch (2006), Wolf Moon Rising (2013) and Heiress of Collinwood (2016). The books proved popular among Dark Shadows‘ still-devoted, conventions-attending fan base, as well as devotees of romance and horror genre novels.

Parker kept in touch with her co-stars including Scott, Selby, Roger Davis, the late John Karlen and others throughout her life, particularly once the conventions became annual events in the late 1980s through the 1990s and up to the 50th anniversary celebration in 2017.

Many of the original cast, including Parker, recorded a series of Dark Shadows audio dramas in the 2000s released by Big Finish Productions. They also reunited for a “Smartphone Theatre” Zoom-style, Covid-era performance of A Christmas Carol in 2021 and, on Halloween night 2020, a YouTube/Zoom Dark Shadows cast reunion.

Parker is survived by second husband Jim Hawkins, daughter Caitlin, sons Rick and Andy, and their wives Miranda and Celia; and grandson Wesley.

#Lara Parker #Dark Shadows #Dan Curtis #Jonathan Frid #The Incredible Hulk #Kojak #Kathryn Leigh Scott #Big Finish Productions #David Selby #Grayson Hall #Angelique Bouchard #Angelique Bouchard Collins #Barnabas Collins

[catdotjpeg]

About a thousand protesters converged on Hollywood on Sunday ahead of the Academy Awards ceremony to call for an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. Their presence frustrated Oscars organizers and traffic control. Shortly before the ceremony was set to begin at 4 p.m., dozens of black vans carrying attendees stood at a standstill on Highland Avenue. “Go, go, go!” one organizer yelled as he frantically waved at cars to move through the intersection at Sunset Boulevard and Highland near the Dolby Theatre, where the ceremony was set to start. Some Oscar-goers ditched their cars and walked toward the venue. By the time the ceremony began, police had cleared access routes. Three hours earlier, demonstrators began gathering by the hundreds at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Ivar Avenue, about a mile east of the theater on Hollywood Boulevard.

The demonstrators then spilled out to Sunset Boulevard, waving Palestinian flags and occupying the eastbound side of the street. “Let’s shut it down!” protesters chanted as they swarmed Sunset. The crowd began moving westward on the boulevard, led by a white van with half a dozen people on top chanting into a microphone and megaphone. About 40 police officers in riot gear stood vigilant at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Las Palmas Avenue, one block west of the approaching crowd. “Free free Palestine!” the crowd chanted to a drumbeat — waving posters showing a movie slate painted in black, white, green and red, the colors of the Palestinian flag — with a message addressed to the Oscar audience: “While you’re watching, bombs are dropping.” Demonstrators also gathered earlier around the Hollywood Boulevard exit off the 101 Freeway and at the intersection of Sunset and Vine. Still others rallied on La Brea and Franklin avenues, near the Dolby Theatre, waving signs saying “Cease-fire now.”

[...]

Miguel Camnitzer, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace of Los Angeles, said he recently joined the pro-Palestinian cause. The grandson of Jews who fled Germany during the Holocaust, the 44-year-old said he could not stand by while Palestinians are killed. “I just can’t sit home today watching an awards show when a genocide is going on in the name of my people and with a previous genocide having happened to my people,” he said. “I was raised believing it’s a collective responsibility from preventing that from anyone else.” For Sarah Jacobus, a mentor for young writers, protesting the Israel-Hamas war is more about getting food, water and other necessities to her mentees, some of whom are in Rafah in southern Gaza. “They’re hanging on for dear life,” Jacobus, 72, said. “Two are in Rafah, one in a tent with his family and another in a room with about 50 people.” She said one of her mentees needs diapers for his 2-month-old, but “what they need more than anything is freedom.” Joining the demonstration on Sunset, several members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television Radio Artists showed their support for Palestinians and a cease-fire, holding a large SAG-AFTRA poster at the front of the crowd. One of the protesters was a 35-year-old actress whose aunt and uncle are sheltering in a church in Gaza, she said. She requested anonymity for fear of retaliation against her family in Gaza and herself in the entertainment industry. “Hollywood is complicit,” she said, as she marched west toward the Dolby Theatre with the crowd. “There is this racist ideology running rampant inside [SAG], and there is no punishment for it.”

-- From "1,000 Gaza protesters rally in Hollywood ahead of Oscars, blocking traffic" by Ashley Ahn for Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar 2024

#palestine #gaza #los angeles #california #hollywood #rafah

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

One Family's Decade-Long Control of Rio de Janeiro's Largest Militia

With a mafia-style aesthetic, the Braga Family had brothers in leadership positions; defense denies involvement in crime

In an artwork posted on profiles believed to belong to militia members on social media, according to the police, is the iconic staircase from Scarface (1983), a film by Brian de Palma portraying mafia violence. Three men are depicted: one with a rifle, another with a cigar and a gold chain, and the third with a bundle of money. The phrase 'Braga Family: never surrender' accompanies the image.

According to investigators, this is a tribute to the Braga brothers: Wellington da Silva Braga, known as Ecko, Carlos da Silva Braga, known as CL or Carlinhos Três Pontes, and Luís Antônio da Silva Braga, known as Zinho, who succeeded each other in leading Rio de Janeiro's largest militia in the last decade. Out of the 833 areas listed by the Civil Police as under the influence of the militia, 812 are influenced by this group.

Continue reading.

#brazil #brazilian politics #politics #militias #public security #mod nise da silveira #image description in alt

[mayabunny23]

Palma, my dearest bastard man.

He is a Plants Vs Zombies oc which I drew as a human.

I am going to ramble about him now, thanksssssss

The man is just a regular dude (Except for having a very limited form of shapeshifting, he can only change into a cat.) who wants to live a normal life but his father and mother were a hero and a former criminal, so eventually issues arise when his father decided to get involved in stopping this big criminal ring (The police didn't want to deal with them).

They found out about the pesky hero's family and kidnapped them for ransom, this plan didn't play out in the criminals' favour however, so they just shot the guy.

Palma got trauma from that event and more later in his life :)

He is also meant to be like 25

this si like disorganized.

#my ocs #my oc doodle #my own character #digital art #art #my art #Palma is his name #tw death mention #the insane ramblings of a tired ass bitch #rambling #Palma P Lasershooter #One of the flowers (ocs)

[wikifoxnews]

Who was Robyn-Eve Maines ( Holidaymaker, 24, who died after falling 30ft from hotel balcony ) Wiki, Bio, Age, Crime, Incident Details, Investigations and More Facts

Robyn-Eve Maines Biography                            Robyn-Eve Maines Wiki

Family thoughts have gone in for a 24-year-old holidaymaker who died after falling 30ft from a hotel balcony in Ibiza's resort town of San Antonio.

Robyn-Eve Maines, from Wallsey, Liverpool, was described as "beautiful inside and out" by close relatives. Mother Claire Maines told the Liverpool Echo: "Our beautiful 24-year-old daughter has sadly passed away after falling 30ft from the balcony. There are no words for us. We are truly heartbroken." Her brother Cam added: "For those who don't already know, today I lost my older sister Robyn-Eve Maines, she fell 30ft from a hotel balcony in Ibiza. She will always be loved and remembered for what an amazing person she is. . Our hearts bleed at the loss of someone so special. I love you little sister, I will always love you." She was pronounced dead at the scene after falling at the Rosamar Hotel at 9am on September 25. Robyn-Eve Maines was on holiday in San Antonio when she reportedly fell 30 feet from a balcony.https://t.co/SRDPUf7z0O — ITV Granada Reports (@GranadaReports) September 26, 2022 Ms Maines' partner is said to have been with her at the time and told police she had fallen from a second floor balcony. Paramedics rushed to the scene but could do nothing to save her. Police investigations were ongoing on Sunday. Hotel Rosamar is a 4-star, adults-only hotel located a few minutes' walk from Cala de Bou beach on the west of the island and a short drive from San Antonio. No member of the hotel was immediately approached for comment. Earlier this month, a 35-year-old Briton died after falling from the sixth floor of the Bellver Hotel in Palma, the Mallorcan capital. In early September, a 55-year-old British tourist slipped and fell almost 400 feet off a cliff on the paradise Balearic island of Formentera. Local reports said she was with her partner and a group of friends when the tragedy struck. Last month another Briton, 48, died after falling from a room on the eighth floor of the four-star Melia Palma Marina hotel, also in the Mallorcan capital. Read the full article

#BALCONY #FALL #HOLIDAYMAKER #IBIZA'SRESORTTOWN #ROBYN-EVEMAINES

[4dlee]

CRIS CRASH Cristiano Ronaldo’s £1.7m Bugatti involved in crash in Majorca as police launch investigation after supercar hits a wall

CRIS CRASH Cristiano Ronaldo’s £1.7m Bugatti involved in crash in Majorca as police launch investigation after supercar hits a wall

The smash is being investigated by the local police’s traffic service – but involved Ronaldo’s £1.7million Bugatti Veyron. The driver – who is reportedly not Ronaldo but one of his bodyguards – lost control and skidded into a wall in the residential estate of Sa Coma, Bunyola, Palma de Majorca, where the Manchester United star is currently holidaying with his family. The front of the Bugatti has…

View On WordPress

#Cristiano Ronaldo

[julez-fiction]

Top 10 Best Gangster Movies of All Time

November 25, 2021 - Here are some great movies to check out over the Thanksgiving holiday. May we all have plenty of food to eat and just as many streaming services to choose from! So load up on the pumpkin pie and get get your fill of some organized crime 😉😆🦃🥧🥔🎥🎬✌🙌

1. Scarface, 1983

My favorite quote: "You Wanna F*** With Me? Okay. You Wanna Play Rough? Okay! Say Hello To My Little Friend!"

Crime/Drama

Rotten Tomatoes: 82%

IMDb: 8.3/10

Director: Brian De Palma

Starring: Al Pacino

Synopsis:

After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana (Al Pacino) stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami. But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall.

Synopsis found on Google

2. Menace II Society, 1993

My Favorite Quote: Caine: "First I get shot, then you're gonna drive me home? Somebody must want me to die...."

Crime / Drama

Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

IMDb: 7.5/10

Director: Allen Hughes and Albert Hughes

Starring: Larenz Tate, Tyrin Turner, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Samuel L. Jackson

Synopsis:

After growing up in the gang lifestyle of the Los Angeles projects, 18-year-old Caine Lawson (Tyrin Turner) wants a way out. Everyone around him, including his unpredictable friend O-Dog (Larenz Tate), is trapped in their lives of crime and violence. With the help of his caring teacher (Charles Dutton) and supportive girlfriend (Jada Pinkett), Caine plans to leave the city for good. But in a series of tragic events, Caine realizes that escape will not be easy.

Synopsis found on Google

3. Mario Puzo's The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, 1990

My Favorite Quote: Michael Corleone: "Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment."

Crime / Drama

Rotten Tomatoes: 68%

IMDb: 7.6 / 10

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Starring: Al Pacino, Andy Garcia, Sofia Coppola, Diane Keaton

Synopsis:

As Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) ages, he finds that being the head of the Corleone crime family isn't getting any easier. He wants his family out of the Mafia, but the mob kingpin (Eli Wallach) isn't eager to let one of the most powerful and wealthy families go legit. Making matters even worse is Michael's nephew, Vincent (Andy Garcia). Not only does Vincent want a piece of the Corleone family's criminal empire, but he also wants Michael's daughter, Mary (Sofia Coppola).

Synopsis found on Google

4. Goodfellas, 1990

My favorite Quote: Henry Hill: " As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster."

Crime / Drama

Rotten Tomatoes: 96%

IMDb: 8.7 / 10

Director: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino

Synopsis:

A young man grows up in the mob and works very hard to advance himself through the ranks. He enjoys his life of money and luxury, but is oblivious to the horror that he causes. A drug addiction and a few mistakes ultimately unravel his climb to the top. Based on the book "Wiseguy" by Nicholas Pileggi.

Synopsis found on Google

5. The Departed, 2006

My Favorite Quote: Dingnam: "I'm The Guy Who Does His Job. You Must Be The Other Guy."

Crime / Drama

Rotten Tomatoes:90%

IMDb: 8.5 / 10

Director: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio; Matt Damon; Jack Nicholson; Mark Whalberg; Martin Sheen; Ray Winstone; Vera Farmiga; Alec Baldwin

Synopsis:

South Boston cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) goes under cover to infiltrate the organization of gangland chief Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). As Billy gains the mobster's trust, a career criminal named Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) infiltrates the police department and reports on its activities to his syndicate bosses. When both organizations learn they have a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin must figure out each other's identities to save their own lives.

Synopsis found on Google

6. American Gangster, 2007

My Favorite Quote: Frank Lucas: "The loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room.".

Crime / Drama

Rotten Tomatoes: 81%

IMDb: 7.8 / 10

Director: Ridley Scott

Starring: Denzel Washington; Lymari Nadal; Russell Crowe; Caria Gugino; Idris Elba

Synopsis:

Harlem drug dealer Frank Lucas rises to power in corrupt 1970s New York, equalling and surpassing the notorious Mafia families with the reach of his empire. On the other side of the law, honest cop Richie Roberts dedicates himself to taking down `the most dangerous man walking the streets'. Lucas acts with impunity, smuggling heroin into the US in the coffins of American soldiers killed in Vietnam.

Synopsis found on Google

7. Boyz N The Hood, 1991

My Favorite Quote: Furious:" Never Respect Anybody Who Doesn't Respect You Back."

Crime / Drama

Rotten Tomatoes: 96%

IMDb: 7.8 / 10

Director: John Singleton

Starring: Cuba Gooding, Jr.; Ice Cube; Laurence Fishbourne; Morris Chestnut; Angela Bassett; Regina King; Nia Long

Synopsis:

Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.) is sent to live with his father, Furious Styles (Larry Fishburne), in tough South Central Los Angeles. Although his hard-nosed father instills proper values and respect in him, and his devout girlfriend Brandi (Nia Long) teaches him about faith, Tre's friends Doughboy (Ice Cube) and Ricky (Morris Chestnut) don't have the same kind of support and are drawn into the neighborhood's booming drug and gang culture, with increasingly tragic results.

Synopsis found on Google

8. Donnie Brasco, 1997

My Favorite Quote: Donnie Brasco: " If I come out alive, this guy, Lefty, ends up dead. Thats the same thing as me putting the bullet in his head myself."

Crime / Drama

Rotten Tomatoes: --

IMDb: 7.7 / 10

Director: Mike Newell

Starring: Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby, James Russo, Anne Hache

Synopsis:

Joseph Pistone (Johnny Depp) is an FBI agent who has infiltrated one of the major New York Mafia families and is living under the name Donnie Brasco. He develops a relationship with mob hit man Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero (Al Pacino) in order to get deeper under cover, but ends up developing a real friendship with the Mafioso. As their relationship develops, Pistone must decide whether or not to complete his job, knowing that it will lead to the murder of his new friend.

Synopsis found on Google

9. Casino, 1995

My Favorite Quote: Ace Rothstein: “That’s The Truth About Las Vegas. We’re The Only Winners. The Players Don’t Stand A Chance.”

Crime / Drama

Rotten Tomatoes: 79%

IMDb: 8.2 / 10

Director: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Robert De Niro; Sharon Stone; Joe Pesci; Don Rickles; Kevin Pollack; James Woods

Synopsis:

In early-1970s Las Vegas, low-level mobster Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) gets tapped by his bosses to head the Tangiers Casino. At first, he's a great success in the job, but over the years, problems with his loose-cannon enforcer Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), his ex-hustler wife Ginger (Sharon Stone), her con-artist ex Lester Diamond (James Woods) and a handful of corrupt politicians put Sam in ever-increasing danger. Martin Scorsese directs this adaptation of Nicholas Pileggi's book.

Synopsis found on Google

10. The Usual Suspects, 1995

My Favorite Quote: Kobayashi: "One Cannot Be Betrayed If One Has No People."

Thriller / Crime

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

IMDb: 8.5 / 10

Director: Bryan Singer

Starring: Kevin Spacey; Benicio del Toro; Gabriel Byrne; Stephen Baldwin; Kevin Pollack; Chazz Palminteri

Synopsis:

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist," says con man Kint (Kevin Spacey), drawing a comparison to the most enigmatic criminal of all time, Keyser Soze. Kint attempts to convince the feds that the mythic crime lord not only exists, but is also responsible for drawing Kint and his four partners into a multi-million dollar heist that ended with an explosion in San Pedro Harbor - leaving few survivors.

Synopsis found on Google

#Youtube #best of movie lists #best gangster movies #movie list #movie night #movies #mobster movies #looking for a movie #Scarface #casino #goodfellas #boyz n the hood #menace ii society #the godfather #the usual suspects

[hmswintake-mallorca-files]

Palma Police Family groupchat

Max: I think we should have codenames

Max: I’m Maverick 😎

Max: Miranda’s Goose 🦆

Max: Miranda, I see you typing and yes I am still aware that’s a duck

Max: Take it up with whoever makes the emojis

Miranda: 😑

Max: Inés is Icewoman 🧊

Max: Roberto is Viper 🐍

Max: Luisa is Slider 🛼

Miranda: How many times have you watched Top Gear this month??

Max: Top GUN 🙄

Max: Also 4

Inés: Why would you do this?

Max: I like the 80s aesthetic and the soundtrack is an absolute classic 

Roberto: Disagree ☠️🙉

Luisa: PLAYING WITH THE BOYS 🎶😎✌️

Miranda: Don’t think I’ve heard any of it

Max: Take my breath away, my love, take my breath away 😘

Inés: 👀

Luisa: 👀👀

Roberto: 👀👀👀

#the mallorca files #mallorca files #palma police family #wintake #max and miranda

[the-mallorca-files]

Miranda, looking at her bio family: dysfunctional family (derogatory)

Miranda, looking at the Palma police family: dysfunctional family (affectionate)

#…this was funnier in my head #the mallorca files #incorrect quotes #miranda blake #palma police family #miranda blake backstory dependant #incorrect mallorca files

[i-watch-too-many-movies]

5 Favorite First Viewings of July 2021

Quick note: Hi everyone, I'm back, things have honestly been getting better for me, and I'm glad to be on this site full of cinephiles, people that are too horny, and cinephiles that are too horny. I'll be more active on here. But anyway, let's talk about some movies.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) (dir. Russ Meyer)

CW: Abortion mention

What a picture. What a gorgeous, sexy, horrifying slice of what Hollywood and star life can do to a bunch of bright-eyed young people looking for success. Also is a critique of how macho nature can ruin friendships and romantic relationships with total ease. I was obsessed with the scene transitions, like Pet pouring pancake mix onto a plate after the abortion scene, or Kelly singing after someone screams before their murder in the opening scene.

Great, campy flick with exceptional music too.

Deep Cover (1992) (dir. Bill Duke)

Laurence Fishburne plays Russell Stevens, a Cincinnati police officer who hopes to do well by the community, to make a difference. He’s traumatized by the death of his substance-abusing father, and wants to make sure that he can help the people of his own town. He goes undercover on assignment as a drug dealer, where his boss orders him to take down the kingpin. Stevens realizes the police’s own failings while on assignment. The racist abuse he takes from Agent Carver, and the realization that the police department is protecting drug kingpins like Gallegos and Barbossa. Giving drugs to Black kids and Latinx kids so there will be less of them. The cops are no different than the drug kingpins looking to make filthy amounts of money.

Fishburne’s performance is excellent, as Stevens feels he has to maintain a stone face so he doesn’t get caught by Jason or Barbossa or any of his cronies, but also he maintains a stone face to try and hide his emotion, his trauma. But when he gets pissed, Fishburne acts it beautifully, as is when he has to deliver a funny quip to counter Jason’s douchebaggery. And the production design, holy fuck, the sets and the lighting.

A perfect neo-noir for the HW Bush years, arguably one of the most timeless commentaries on the era, as well as the police as a whole.

Fast Five (2011) (dir. Justin Lin)

I was torn between including this or Furious 7, but I ultimately went with Fast Five because it felt like an important turning point in the series, it's a great heist film, and it reached the same chaotic highs and genuinely excellent filmmaking that I had been waiting for since 2 Fast and Tokyo Drift.

Fast Five opens where Fast & 4ious left off. Dom is hauled away to prison on a bus. Mia and Brian drive in their high-tech cars and knock the bus over, helping Dom escape. The title drops. Fast Five. It’s such an intense yet short action scene, and dropping the title immediately after it lets the viewer know that this movie is not fucking around. It’s arguably gonna be more intense and insane than the previous one.

And it is. The filmmakers made the decision to use a lot more practical stunt work for the film, and as a result, it leads to, so far, the best action in the entire series, since 2 Fast and Tokyo Drift. It’s not just how it’s shot or edited, it’s the geography of the locations, the rooftop chase echoes the rooftop chase of Jackie Chan’s masterwork Police Story, particularly the way each character bounces from top to top.

And of course, there’s the silliest moment in the movie, the one that matches the intensity and kineticism of a film like 2 Fast, which is driving the Reyes’ bank vault throughout the street, getting chased by corrupt cops.

I know we make fun of Vin Diesel for saying “family” all the time in these films, but there’s a reason we remember him saying all of these impassioned monologues. Because he’s unbelievably sincere, and has so much love in his heart for every single person in the room. Anytime he delivers a speech to any of them, it’s genuinely heartwarming.

This is the film that finally shows La Familia in their best environment, which is working together, in a movie genre that allows them to work together, which is a heist film. And a great one at that.

Last Days (2005) (dir. Gus Van Sant)

CW: Mention of suicide

Several films have been made about legendary rock artist Kurt Cobain, and for good reason. He is one of the most tragic figures in rock and roll. A tortured genius who has written and performed classic song after classic song with his band Nirvana. He was called the voice of a generation, and helped change the face of mainstream alternative rock music as we know it. But with that fame, and all of those expectations came a worsening depression and further drug abuse, and his eventual death. But most of the films about Kurt Cobain ask one question which gets under my skin way too much:

“Who REEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLY killed Kurt Cobain?”

It was him. He did. And it’s okay, I’m sad too. Thinking that Kurt Cobain was murdered is completely ignoring the depression that he faced. And despite Last Days being more inspired by the death of Cobain rather than actually about it, it feels much more honest than the conspiracy documentaries on his death, wanting to leech off of his dead body.

This is the last installment of Gus Van Sant’s “Death Trilogy”, the previous two installments being Gerry (2001), and Elephant (2003). While I have not seen Gerry, I have seen Elephant though, and love that film for its minimalist, raw nature, and its boldness for not romanticizing the school shooter or the lives they had taken. Last Days falls into that trap once, as I don’t agree with the shot of Blake’s soul climbing up a ladder, that always struck me as cheesy in a film that is anything but.

Last Days is similar to Elephant in terms of the way it is filmed. Its usage of long takes, and still shots of characters doing various things, such as Blake playing his guitar behind a drum set. The way these moments are shot is similar to a Chantal Akerman film, particularly Jeanne Dielman. Where the acts of the mundane are the stars of the film. Blake wanders around an empty house, and the viewer can feel the pain, not just through Michael Pitt’s acting, but from the house itself. Its decay, its paint peeling from the walls, from the soft glow of the lamp that lights his face.

I say this is the most honest film about Kurt Cobain, because, despite the characters technically being fictional (the main character who looks, walks, and acts like Cobain is named Blake), this film focuses on the mental state of a person before they eventually take their own life. They’re still working, still making music, still trying to talk to friends and bandmates, but the depression lingers on. Not once does this film try to make you believe that someone else killed him, because you can see the signs of his own suicide taking place just through the film’s excellent cinematography by Harris Savides, showing his mental state only growing worse through the production design.

And it’s empathetic with him. There’s no judgement for leaving rehab, there’s no finger-wagging at him or the people he was with, there’s just a silent prayer at the end of the film, hoping that he is in a better place than he was.

Sometimes you don’t need to show every event that led you to where you are, all you can show is the moment, which also makes this better than most biopics as well, as it never feels messy or muddled, just showing one moment of Blake/Kurt’s life.

I really loved this film, and I’ll be writing about it in full soon.

The Village (2004) (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

The Cracked.com/Channel Awesome audience stuck in 2012 will tell you that this was the beginning of the end for Shyamalan. That this was when people stopped taking him seriously, that this was when he became more of a punchline because of his twist endings.

But why?

The Village was released in 2004, deep in the Bush administration, during the early stages of the Iraq War. The leaders of the time were talking about imaginary boogeymen, terrorists that would attack the civilians if they could. Because of 9/11, politicians could get away with these false ideas with the majority of Americans fully believing them. The boogeymen in The Village are “The People We Don’t Speak Of”, monsters attracted by the color red. Yet we find out that they are all costumes made by the Elders of the land, designed to prevent people from going outside the land. They rule by fear disguised as love. They’ve gone through their own traumas through the deaths of their family members, but they’ve decided to completely abandon the lives that they’ve had and have their children living lies.

9/11 impacted American life by teaching citizens to live primarily by fear, to not trust anyone but their own people. And yet, post-9/11, all that increased was not “coming together”, but hate crimes against South Asian people. The rage white Americans had felt led to conservative politicians pushing fear-mongering agendas, and said white Americans blindly accepted. The outside world was progressing, but too many people were fine with living with further conservative politics only regressing American life further and further back, all for the illusion of safety. Meanwhile, the only threats to them were not the brown citizens outside of America they were so afraid of, but the white elders, the white politicians.

The Village explores these fears so eloquently, all while having a terrifying atmosphere, an enchanting score, and brilliant sound design. I enjoyed this movie very much.

Other viewings I enjoyed:

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) (dir. Mike Judge) (re-watch)

Blow Out (1981) (dir. Brian de Palma) (re-watch)

Clueless (1995) (dir. Amy Heckerling) (re-watch)

Furious 7 (2015) (dir. James Wan)

The Long Goodbye (1973) (dir. Robert Altman)

Lupin III: The First (2019) (dir. Takashi Yamazaki)

Unbreakable (2000) (dir. M. Night Shyamalan) (re-watch)

Velvet Goldmine (1998) (dir. Todd Haynes)

The Visit (2015) (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

#favorite first watches #these movies are (chef's kiss) #beyond the valley of the dolls #russ meyer #deep cover #bill duke #fast five #justin lin #last days #gus van sant #the village #m night shyamalan

[tcm]

Overlooked Bernard Herrmann Scores By Jessica Pickens

His name is synonymous with staccato violin notes that remind audiences of knife stabbing and have made many reluctant to take a shower. Composer Bernard Herrmann is the master behind iconic scores for films like THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER (’41) and PSYCHO (’60). The Academy Award-winning composer scored the two films that are often argued to be the best of all-time: CITIZEN KANE (’41) and VERTIGO (’58). His work continues to be reused in pop culture, from his whistling TWISTED NERVE (’68) theme used in Quentin Tarantino’s KILL BILL: VOLUME 1 (2003) to Lady Gaga using part of VERTIGO’s prelude in her “Born This Way” music video.

Known best for his collaborations with directors Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles, other works of Herrmann’s often go overlooked. Below are a few of his scores that are less often discussed.

JANE EYRE (’43)

In this adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre (Joan Fontaine), who is hired by the wealthy Edward Rochester (Orson Welles), works as the governess for Rochester’s daughter which leads to her discovering secrets in the house. “On a project like ‘Jane Eyre,’ I didn’t need to see the film beforehand. One just remembers the book,” Herrmann said in a 1975 interview, discussing this film’s score.

JANE EYRE was Herrmann’s first project with 20th Century-Fox, which started a 19-year partnership with the studio and a long friendship with composer and Fox music director Alfred Newman. Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck initially sought composer Igor Stravinsky to score the film, but negotiations fell through. Producer David O. Selznick and Welles were the driving force behind hiring Herrmann for the project, according to Herrmann’s biographer Steven Smith.

Herrmann’s score has a dark, gothic feel that matches the theme of the novel. New York Herald Tribune composer critic Paul Bowles described the score as “gothic extravagance and poetic morbidities. It contains some of the most carefully wrought effects to be found in recent film scores,” Bowles wrote. According to Smith, Herrmann called it his first “screen opera.” The score foreshadowed work on another Brontë project — his “Wuthering Heights” opera that didn’t see a full theatrical performance until 2011.

ON DANGEROUS GROUND (‘51)

Directed by Nicholas Ray, an adaptation of Gerald Butler’s book Mad with Much Heart. The film follows a rough city police officer, Jim Wilson (Robert Ryan). After Jim is too violent with a suspect, he is sent to a rural area as punishment. His job is to help with a manhunt for the murderer of a child. A blind woman, Mary Malden (Ida Lupino) is the sister of the murderer, and she tries to convince Jim to protect her brother.

ON DANGEROUS GROUND is one of Herrmann’s few film noir scores. Film noir expert and host of TCM’s Noir Alley Eddie Muller said, "Herrmann's score is one of the most distinctive crime scores of the era." In a June 2019 introduction of the film, Muller noted “Herrmann’s score is unlike any other music written for film noir. A dramatic clash of brass, strings and percussion that goes a long way to unify the film’s unusual — almost schizophrenia — structure.”

Herrmann admired Ray’s storytelling and engineered a creative score that illustrated good and evil. For Lupino’s character, Herrmann used the viola soloist Virginia Majewski, who Herrmann advocated to have on-screen credit. Herrmann also had the rare freedom to compose, orchestra and conduct the entire score. The most notable cue is “The Death Hunt,” that has a driving, frantic tempo and can be compared to his later NORTH BY NORTHWEST (’59) score. Muller noted that to make sure “The Death Hunt” cue was effective, Herrmann fought to have the sound mix corrected during the scene so that the barking dogs wouldn’t drown out his score.

THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO (1952)

Based on an Ernest Hemingway short story, Gregory Peck plays Harry, a novelist who uses his earnings to travel. While on safari in Africa, Harry suffers an injury that results in a deadly infection. As he lies dying, he thinks back on his life and past romances, and his safari companion Helen, played by Susan Hayward, nurses Harry through his illness.

While some of Herrmann’s most famous scores drive thrillers and adventures, scores like THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO show he can create beautiful, gentle and charming tunes. His cues are dreamy and wistful, matching the mental state of the ill Harry, whose mind travels to the past while on his death bed. Herrmann’s cue entitled, “The Memory Waltz,” is particularly dreamy. Herrmann said he tried to create music of “a highly nostalgic nature” as a man dies and deals with his “emotional past.”

On the film’s release, New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther praised Herrmann’s score. “For it is Mr. Herrmann’s music, singing sadly and hauntingly, that helps one sense the pathos of dead romances and a wasted career. A saxophone and a piano in a Paris studio, an accordion on an old Left Bank bar and an arrogant guitarist in a Spanish café—these are also actors in the film. Perhaps they come closer to stating what Hemingway had to say.”

MARNIE (1964)

Marnie (Tippi Hedren) is a thief who suffers from psychological trauma of her past, which comes to a head after she marries a widower (Sean Connery) from a wealthy Philadelphia family who does not readily accept her. MARNIE was the end of an era. It marked the last of seven films that Herrmann collaborated on with director Alfred Hitchcock on, beginning with THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (’55).

Much had changed for both Herrmann and Hitchcock by 1964, including how they were both viewed by Hollywood executives. Herrmann and Hitchcock were being pressured to be more “hip” for 1960s audiences. The studio even urged Hitchcock not to hire “old-fashioned” Herrmann. But if Hitchcock did hire Herrmann, they encouraged him to also have a title pop song, according to Smith. The film was a box-office failure — Hitchcock’s first failure in many years. Today, the film is now appreciated by audiences, but Herrmann’s score still is often overlooked when compared to other Hitchcock titles.

The main title of MARNIE features blaring horns, which sound haphazard against more melodic violins — illustrating the mix of trauma and beauty. A notable cue is “The Foxhunt,” which begins with a jaunty, almost cheerful, tune filled with horns and violins. But the cue turns more haphazard and frantic as it continues. While this was Herrmann’s last completed score for Hitchcock, Herrmann started work on TORN CURTAIN (’66) but was replaced due to artistic differences.

IT’S ALIVE (’74)

The Davies family (Sharon Farrell and John P. Ryan) are expecting their second child. But when their baby is born, he is a monster who kills anyone in his path. The 1970s marked a new era for Bernard Herrmann. He began working with younger filmmakers who appreciated his work of the past. These included Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma. One of these collaborations spawned a friendship with director of IT’S ALIVE, Larry Cohen, who cited Herrmann as a major influence in his career up until his death in 2019.

Herrmann enjoyed the experience with his film because he enjoyed working with Cohen. To add to the eerie, creepy vibe of the film, Herrmann incorporated a Moog synthesizer into the score. He also uses a viola for a mournful note, according to Smith. Herrmann also had fun naming his cues, such as “The Milkman Goeth” when the baby kills the milkman.

Herrmann was set to work with Cohen again for the film GOD TOLD ME TO (’76), but Herrmann died in 1975 before he could begin.

#Bernard Herrmann #scores #music scores #compositions #theme songs #Vertigo #Marnie #Alfred Hitchcock #Larry Cohen #Orson Welles #Gregory Peck #Ida Lupino #TCM #Turner Classic Movies #Jessica Pickens

[lastsonlost]

I’m not sure if people have completely wrapped their minds around this, but we have an entire political party that has converted into an authoritarian—albeit Americanized version—style of politics that cares nothing about U.S. democracy or anyone who is not white.

With the exception of a few dissenting Republican senators who aren’t up for reelection until 2024 or 2026 (only Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is on the ballot in 2022) or are retiring, the GOP not only acquitted Donald Trump of inciting an insurrection that he clearly incited, but they told Republican voters that the lies Trump told them were true: The election was stolen and you have a right to be angry about that.

And it’s working.

During the impeachment trial last week, his defense lawyers reinforced those lies, and Republicans basically sat by and said nothing to counter them. They, in effect, are a party of turncoats. What makes their behavior so terrifying is that Democrats, who hold control of the Senate by only Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote, are left with no choice but to negotiate with the very people whose leading members encouraged the coup and instigated supporters to undermine American institutions.

Pam Keith, a U.S. Navy veteran who ran out of Florida’s 18th Congressional District as the Democratic nominee, told The Root that Democrats should give up on working with Republicans as if they are operating in good faith and have shown that they will be as corrupt and obstructionist as Trump.

“What they’re saying is we don’t care that he broke the law,” said Keith, who also hosts the politics show But What It Really Means. “He’s our guy and we’re with our guy and there’s nothing you can say to make us turn on our guy. He’s above the law. He’s above the Constitution. He is above the well-being of the United States because he’s our mechanism to retaining power. That is the absolute definition of totalitarian dictatorship. We don’t care what he does—especially if what he does hurts you,” she said.

“You cannot live in a diverse country when the paradigm is oppressed or be oppressed. That’s what’s going on in South Sudan right now. There’s only one way: bloody conflict. The only way a country like ours survives is through mutual agreement to set a standard. That’s what the Constitution is. That’s what the rule of law is. If you don’t have that, then there’s no incentive to peacefully allow the other sides to exercise power.”

Kyle Bibby, national campaign manager at Common Defense and a former Marine Corps Infantry officer, told The Root that had a foreign entity engaged in an attack similar to the Jan. 6 coup attempt or rallied the support of the main culprit thereafter, the U.S. military would have responded with an offensive strike or at the minimum stiff economic penalties. But he added that the militias and Trump supporters who were there are ultimately not so much the issue as is the Republican Party that empowers them.

When asked about the violent insurrectionists, Bibby said, “If they were in Afghanistan, we would’ve hit them. Either a raid, drop a bomb on them, whatever it is.” He continued, “But the organizations that are funding this and who are backing this that are creating the political movement behind this are organizations like Fox News, Breitbart, One America News Network, and the Republican Party. If these organizations existed in another country, we would be sanctioning them. We would be seizing their assets for inciting terroristic threats against an American ally or against U.S. interests.”

Mind you, Republicans lead a meaningless investigation into the Benghazi attack, accusing Democrats of being soft on terrorism. They forced Susan Rice to withdraw her name from consideration for Obama’s secretary of state because of their unfounded claims that she did not react appropriately to the 2012 attacks on the American consulate in Libya. They drilled former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in very bad faith, for hours over her management of the tragedy during a hearing in 2015. Meanwhile, when it comes to the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Republican Congress members called for the nation to move on and acquitted the man responsible for inciting it.

“The bottom line is that this kind of white nationalist violence was never taken seriously,” Pam Campos-Palma, director of Peace & Security at the Working Families Party, told The Root, “because it is inherent to the GOP, policing and national security institutions.”

In addition to terrorism against their fellow citizens and authoritarian behavior, Republicans also traffic in conspiracy theories. Newly sworn member of Congress Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga) has become Trump’s loudest disseminator of conspiracy theories and lies about the 2020 election, according to CNN:

Greene also peddled in 2017 the debunked “Clinton Kill List” or “Clinton Body Count” conspiracy, which alleges the Clintons have assassinated their associates. She spread false conspiracies the Clintons were involved in sextrafficking and peddled the cruel conspiracy that Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was not killed during an attempted robbery but murdered by Democratic actors.

CNN’s KFile previously reported that Greene in 2017 peddled the “Pizzagate” conspiracy, a debunked conspiracy alleging that Clinton and other Democratic Party leaders were running a human-trafficking and pedophilia ring out of a pizzeria in Washington, DC. In a blog post, she suggested that the White supremacist rally held in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, that killed one woman was an “inside job” to “further the agenda of the elites.” Greene also endorsed 9/11 trutherism conspiracies and falsely claimed there was no evidence a plane crashed into the Pentagon, according to reporting from Media Matters.

She was stripped of her committee assignments, but the GOP leadership still supported her.

In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is blaming wind turbines and the Green New Deal for power outages across his state—which are lies. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes spent more than seven minutes debunking right-wing media lies about the outages, but Republicans in Congress aren’t doing much to quell them. In fact, they are spreading them. Much of why they are doing this is because they feel their power is being threatened and the only way to galvanize support for their causes is through lying and scaring people so intensely that they will see lies as truth. Those people are the ideal type of supporters Republicans can groom into ill-informed and lethal insurrectionists and white supremacists who will help you maintain power—even if it destroys the country, so long as enough of the “enemy”—Black folks and people of color—suffer and/or die as a result.

Malcolm Nance, a national security expert and author of the upcoming book, They Want to Kill Americans: The Armed Militias, The Fanatical Terrorists, and The Deranged Ideology of the Coming Trump Insurgency, told The Root that not only is the Republican Party behaving like a terror group, he predicted soon after the Charlottesville, Va., attacks in 2017 that Trump’s use of insurrectionist language—“stand down and stand by”—essentially would become a white supremacist call to arms akin to kind of terrorist extremism he saw as a military intelligence officer.

“If Trump wins, these unofficial paramilitaries, the Proud Boys, the Boogaloo Boys, the state militias, all these other groups, are essentially going to become semi-official Brownshirts [the original paramilitary of Germany’s Nazi Party] of the Trump campaign,” he said. “If Trump loses, these people are going to become the Iraq insurgents. They’re going to go underground. They’re going to be furious and, over time, with the Trump campaign leading as the political wing of this insurgency. With a president in exile, those people will resort to armed violence, political standoffs, and terrorism.”

He said the reason why these threats aren’t taken seriously is because white people do not take white terrorism seriously. He brought up a post-election appearance on Bill Maher where he was a guest with an expert from George Washington University who said his analysis was over the top.

“She’s all, ‘Tone it down. Kumbaya,’ and I’m telling her what I’ve seen for the last six months, which is, the alt-right has transformed itself into the paramilitary arm of the Trump campaign,” he said. “Now that Trump has lost that election, they are going to be the Iraq insurgents. The Republican Party will view themselves as Sinn Fein and the Republican base will view themselves as the white Catholics who think they’ve got to support the IRA.”

Nance added: “Black evidence is never believed until a white person confirms it.”

Democrats introduced a resolution calling for an investigation into white supremacy earlier this month. This week, the NAACP, civil rights law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss) are suing Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and two white nationalist groups over the coup. While these are promising steps, Democrats have few options to get to the heart of white terrorism because their Republican colleagues in Congress benefit from it politically. We have to view the GOP as enemy combatants because, for years, they have proven that Democrats are theirs.

As far as Keith is concerned, Democrats have to go hard. That means going as far as pressuring any Democrat who supports the filibuster into changing their mind or face a primary challenge. The days of compromise are dead. Obama should have taught us that much. The GOP went to war with him for eight years and Democrats, along with much of America, suffered.

We don’t want to be as gangsta as they are,” Keith said of Democrats in Congress. “We still have this delusion of bipartisanship. There’s no fucking bipartisanship. Get off that ship. It does not work. It’s sinking. It’s done. It’s at the bottom of the ocean. It’s the fucking Titanic. It’s down in the water. Let it go.”

Update: 2/19/2012, 5:23 p.m. ET: A quote by Kyle Bibby was clarified to reflect that he meant that the insurrectionists would be bombed not the GOP.

[newstfionline]

Monday, October 18, 2021

Unhappy with prices, ranchers look to build own meat plant (AP) Like other ranchers across the country, Rusty Kemp for years grumbled about rock-bottom prices paid for the cattle he raised in central Nebraska, even as the cost of beef at grocery stores kept climbing. He and his neighbors blamed it on consolidation in the beef industry stretching back to the 1970s that resulted in four companies slaughtering over 80% of the nation’s cattle, giving the processors more power to set prices while ranchers struggled to make a living. Federal data show that for every dollar spent on food, the share that went to ranchers and farmers dropped from 35 cents in the 1970s to 14 cents recently. It led Kemp to launch an audacious plan: Raise more than $300 million from ranchers to build a plant themselves, putting their future in their own hands. Crews will start work this fall building the Sustainable Beef plant on nearly 400 acres near North Platte, Nebraska, and other groups are making similar surprising moves in Iowa, Idaho and Wisconsin. The enterprises will test whether it’s really possible to compete financially against an industry trend that has swept through American agriculture.

US religious group says 17 missionaries kidnapped in Haiti (AP) A group of 17 U.S. missionaries including children was kidnapped by a gang in Haiti on Saturday, according to a voice message sent to various religious missions by an organization with direct knowledge of the incident. The missionaries were on their way home from building an orphanage, according to a message from Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries. Haiti is struggling with a spike in gang-related kidnapping. At least 328 kidnapping victims were reported to Haiti’s National Police in the first eight months of 2021, compared with a total of 234 for all of 2020. Gangs have demanded ransoms ranging from a couple hundred dollars to more than $1 million, according to authorities. Gangs have been accused of kidnapping schoolchildren, doctors, police officers, busloads of passengers and others as they grow more powerful. In April, one gang kidnapped five priests and two nuns.

Venezuela halts talks after Maduro ally’s extradition to US (AP) Venezuela’s government said Saturday it would halt negotiations with its opponents in retaliation for the extradition to the U.S. of a close ally of President Nicolás Maduro who prosecutors believe could be the most significant witness ever about corruption in the South American country. The announcement capped a tumultuous day that saw businessman Alex Saab placed on a U.S.-bound plane in Cape Verde after a 16-month fight by Maduro and his allies. A few hours after news of Saab’s extradition blew up Venezuelan social media, six American oil executives held on house arrest were taken back to jail by security forces--a sign that relations between Washington and Caracas could be upended after months of quiet diplomacy since Joe Biden entered the White House. Families of the men known as the Citgo 6--for the Houston subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company where they worked--expressed frustration with both governments.

Celebrity chef’s group feeds the hungry on Spain’s eruption-hit La Palma (Reuters) Working in close proximity to the red-hot lava flowing from a volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma, emergency workers anxiously await their lunch break--and while any food would do, it tastes better when it comes from a celebrity chef’s kitchen. Chef Jose Andres’ non-profit World Central Kitchen (WCK) has been delivering hot food, sandwiches and water to thousands of evacuees as well as the emergency workers overseeing residents’ removal from harm’s way. “Although there are so many of us, it seems like there’s a lack of personnel ... including those who come down to give us a sandwich! It seems silly but after eight hours on the ground it’s fundamental,” said Captain Diego Ortiz of the Guardia Civil police force. The non-profit started cooking 200 meals a day early in the eruption--which began on Sept. 19--and is now making 1,400, with the amount growing daily, said Olivier de Belleroche, a 45-year-old chef from Madrid who works for WCK.

Heavy rains, floods leave 8 dead, 12 missing in south India (AP) At least eight people have died and a dozen are feared missing after a day of torrential rains in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Rescue operations were underway on Sunday after heavy rains lashed the state the day before, triggering flash floods and landslides, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported. The National Disaster Response Force and the Indian Army deployed teams to help with rescue efforts in two of the worst-hit districts, Kottayam and Idukki, where a dozen people are still feared missing.

New crew docks at China’s first permanent space station (AP) Chinese astronauts began Saturday their six-month mission on China’s first permanent space station, after successfully docking aboard their spacecraft. The astronauts, two men and a woman, were seen floating around the module before speaking via a live-streamed video. The new crew includes Wang Yaping, 41, who is the first Chinese woman to board the Tiangong space station, and is expected to become China’s first female spacewalker. The crew will do three spacewalks to install equipment in preparation for expanding the station, assess living conditions in the Tianhe module, and conduct experiments in space medicine and other fields. China’s military-run space program plans to send multiple crews to the station over the next two years to make it fully functional.

Melbourne to ease world’s longest COVID-19 lockdowns as vaccinations rise (Reuters) Melbourne, which has spent more time under COVID-19 lockdowns than any other city in the world, is set to lift its stay-at-home orders this week, officials said on Sunday. By Friday, when some curbs will be lifted, the Australian city of 5 million people will have been under six lockdowns totalling 262 days, or nearly nine months, since March 2020. Australian and other media say this is the longest in the world, exceeding a 234-day lockdown in Buenos Aires.

Shooting in Syria could mark new phase in Israeli campaign (AP) The death of a former Syrian Druse lawmaker, allegedly by Israeli sniper fire, could mark a new phase in Israel’s war against Iranian entrenchment in neighboring Syria. Syria’s state-run news agency said that Midhat Saleh was fatally shot Saturday in Ein el-Tinneh, a village along the Israeli frontier in the Golan Heights where he ran a Syrian government office. Israeli media said Saleh had been assisting the Iranian military against Israel. The Israeli military declined to comment, but if the Syrian claim is true, it would mark the first time that Israeli snipers are known to have killed an Iranian-linked target across the border. Israel has said it will not tolerate a permanent Iranian military presence in Syria and has acknowledged carrying out scores of airstrikes on alleged Iranian arms shipments and military targets in Syria in recent years. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed the strategic territory. Most of the world does not recognize the annexation, though the Trump administration declared the territory to be part of Israel.

Pope pledges to continue being a ‘pest’ in defence of the poor (Reuters) Pope Francis said on Saturday he realises some people, including within the Church, consider him to be “a pest” for defending the poor and most vulnerable, but that it won’t stop him as it is part of Christianity. “Thinking about these situations (of exclusion and inequality), I make a pest of myself with my questions. And I go on asking. And I ask everyone in the name of God,” said Francis, Latin America’s first pope. Francis, 84, was speaking by video link to the World Meeting of Popular Movements, a grouping of grassroots organisations and social movements which bring attention to inequality in labour, land ownership, health care and other social issues in the developing world. Francis said rich countries and financial institutions should cancel the debts of the poorest nations. Weapons manufacturers and dealers should to stop contributing “to those awful geopolitical games which cost millions of displaced lives and millions of dead.” Technology giants should stop allowing hate speech, fake news, conspiracy theories, and political manipulation, he said, and called for a universal basic income and for countries to consider shortening the work day so more people could have jobs. “This system, with its relentless logic of profit, is escaping all human control. It is time to slow the locomotive down, an out-of-control locomotive hurtling towards the abyss. There is still time,” he said. “And so, I persist in my pestering.”

#headlines #news

[rightsinexile]

News on Countries of Origin

Global

Global displacement from war, crises doubles in a decade

New Rights Tracker survey data maps COVID-19 pressures, highlighting less visible internal displacement situations 

Africa

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Nearly 6,000 people flee brutal attacks on displacement sites in eastern DRC

ETHIOPIA: 

Reports of human rights violations are rampant as a civil war escalates in Ethiopia’s Tigray region

Mass graves found as reports of murder and rape intensify and at least 1.7 million people are displaced

Ethiopian hospitals destroyed by soldiers as Tigray fighting escalates

UN warns that parts of northern Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region are on "the brink of famine"

17 year-old boy publicly executed by security forces in Ethiopia’s Oromia region

LIBYA: 

Over 280 migrants and asylum-seekers, attempting to reach Europe, returned to Libyan shores and detained

UNHCR and IOM continue to condemn the return of migrants and refugees to Libya

MOZAMBIQUE: 

Attacks by military and security forces in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province have killed almost 3,000 and displaced hundreds of thousands 

UNHCR deeply concerned as conflict in coastal town of Palma causes people to flee daily, within Mozambique and across the border to Tanzania 

NIGER: Emerging communal crisis in Niger’s northern Tillabery region with massacres of civilians reported

RWANDA: Complaint filed to United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances in relation to enforced disappearances in Rwanda

Americas

COLOMBIA: OHCHR express “deep alarm” over police violence towards protesters in the city of Cali 

HAITI: An upsurge in deadly clashes between gangs in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, has displaced more than 5,000 people since the beginning of June

VENEZUELA: The continuing exodus of millions of Venezuelans is reaching “a tipping point” as the response to the crisis remains critically underfunded

Asia

MYANMAR: 100,000 forced from homes in border state amid fighting as UN concerned at 'deteriorating' situation

Asia Pacific

INDONESIA: Rohingya refugee boat lands in Indonesia after 113-day voyage

Europe

BELARUS: Colleagues of detained journalists fear for their lives

TURKEY: Turkish air strike kills at least three in refugee camp in Iraq

MENA

AFGHANISTAN: 

Afghan families abandon homes as drought claims first victims

Afghan interpreters who await visas after helping the US are increasingly targeted by the Taliban, as Western troops leave

IRAQ: Almost 1,400 Yazidi people were left homeless after a fire destroyed sections of their displacement camp

YEMEN: A dangerous road home for Horn of Africa migrants

#COI #origin #asylum #asylum seeker #refugee