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Category: ethics
Dictators Nicolae & Elena Ceaușescu – Palace of the Parliament
Inspired by the dictator in North Korea, Nicolae Ceaușescu was a terrible leader.
While subjecting his people to extreme austerity, he built the Palace of the Parliament … the second-largest administrative building in the world after the Pentagon.
His thirst for power led to his regime bulldozing historical parts of Bucharest in the early eighties and forcing workers to build, through day and night, the enormous political and administrative complex known as the House of the People.
The grandiose palace, which was not completed in the Ceausescus’ lifetime despite the huge human and financial cost, has been called the world’s second biggest building after the Pentagon and boasts luxurious fittings. It is now Romania’s parliament building. (30% occupied) …
Under his regime, eating a banana was a rare luxury while all staple products such as milk, sugar, eggs and butter were rationed. …
It’s difficult to put this monstrosity into scale.
Check the size of the people on the balcony.
Here’s the last known photo of the dictator on that balcony.
It was from that balcony in 1992 that Michael Jackson shouted: “Hello Budapest“.
I took the tour seeing 4% of the space.
The exterior is classic former Soviet rectal-linear architecture. UG. LY.
The interior is better. Especially the halls they show to tourists.
Ceaușescu was shot before construction finished. There’s no mention of him in the building today.
This huge space was intended for a gigantic portrait. It was never painted.
I walked the perimeter surprised to see they are still building. This will be the future National Cathedral.
The waste of money and resources will always remind me of egomaniac dictators. And dictator wannabes like Trump.
Considered by the BBC a kangaroo court or a show trial, the main charge was genocide—namely, murdering “over 60,000 people” during the revolution in Timișoara. …
Steve Bannon exposé
Who is this dangerous man? 😦
“Darkness is good,” Bannon told the publication.
He added: “Dick Cheney, Darth Vader, Satan. That’s power. …
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On The Media audiocast
On The Media is my favourite podcast.
WNYC’s weekly investigation into how the media shapes our world view. Veteran journalists Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield give you the tools to survive the media maelstrom.
The most recent episode is super — This is Not a Safe Space. It explores the issues of students feeling safe on campus and academic freedom of speech.
White male patriarchy results in bullying on campus for anyone who is not a white male. Something like 1/5 women will STILL be sexually assaulted in their College years.
We want all students to feel safe while simultaneously protecting freedom of speech. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Pentatonic covers John Lennon’s Imagine
In this age of hate politics, this version is very timely.
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(via Faithtap)
us and them …
I mostly say what I think. Don’t worry about consequences.
But the majority in the age of Trump are trying to be careful what they say.
Here’s some good advice for us all.
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This Danish ad will challenge you to step outside your defining box
do you share fake news?
If so, what the Hell is the matter with you? 😦
We’ve always had propaganda.
Big Tobacco obfuscation of facts about cancer and smoking, for example.
… ignorance spreads when firstly, many people do not understand a concept or fact and secondly, when special interest groups – like a commercial firm or a political group – then work hard to create confusion about an issue. …
BBC Future – The Man Who Studies The Spread of Ignorance
2017 LIE of the Year goes to …
Donald Trump.
Who else?
A mountain of evidence points to a single fact: Russia meddled in the U.S. presidential election of 2016.
In both classified and public reports, U.S. intelligence agencies have said Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered actions to interfere with the election. …
2017 Lie of the Year: Russian election interference is a ‘made-up story’
Snowden – the movie
I’ve had mixed feelings about Snowden himself. Watching the film was one way to learn more.
Sorry to say I ended up not much more enlightened. You can call him a a hero, a whistleblower, a dissident, a traitor and a patriot. All true. Certainly he’s a criminal.
I’d like to think I would have done the same thing … in his position.
His girlfriend Lindsay Mills is a much more interesting character. She’s an acrobat.
Snowden’s “breaking point” was “seeing the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, lie under oath to Congress”. That’s shown in the film. Initially hopeful that Obama would improve things, ultimately he gave up on him.
Snowden was right, of course.
N.S.A. Collection of Bulk Call Data Is Ruled Illegal
Trump’s pick for CIA director has called for Snowden’s execution.
I’ve been following Glenn Greenwald over the past couple of years. He’s smart. But accurately depicted in the film as a jerk.
In the movie Snowden smuggles the classified information hidden in a tile in his Rubik’s cube. That may not be how he did it.
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Snowden is a 2016 German-American biographical political thriller film directed by Oliver Stone and written by Stone and Kieran Fitzgerald, based on the books The Snowden Files by Luke Harding and Time of the Octopus by Anatoly Kucherena. …
For his role as Snowden, Joseph Gordon-Levitt pledged to donate his entire salary from the film to “help facilitate the conversation” about the relationship between technology and democracy …
Due to fear of interference by the National Security Agency, Stone decided to shoot the film mostly outside of the United States …
Snowden received mixed reviews from critics, but Gordon-Levitt’s performance garnered critical praise. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 61%
there are good people out there
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Rick McCharles 