cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/38745122

An accused serial killer who was executed for murder in Florida on Thursday used his final words to express support for President Trump after offering comfort to his family and his victims’ families.

cross-posted from: https://ponder.cat/post/2881339

cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/182912

From Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories via this RSS feed

In a time when civil society voices are increasingly dismissed as radical or disloyal, new research led by Ph.D. student Lee Aldar and Professor Eran Halperin at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, found that a discourse emphasizing shared values and common goals—like fairness, solidarity, and support for vulnerable communities—can significantly boost the legitimacy of controversial civil groups, even among skeptical or even hostile public.

From the study:

These interventions, emphasizing common interests (e.g., supporting communities, reducing disparities in the provision of health services) and common values (e.g., human dignity, fair due process), can be applied to amplify and include critical voices as part of the effort to combat the harmful consequences of democratic backsliding.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/64035920

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/44364106

I wrote the book Copaganda based on my years of being a civil rights lawyer and public defender representing the most vulnerable people in our society. I watched as the police and the news media distorted how we think about our collective safety. Copaganda makes us afraid of the most powerless people, helps us ignore far greater harms committed by people with money and power, and always pushes on us the idea that our fears can be solved by more money for police, prosecution, and prisons. Based on the evidence, this idea of more investment in the punishment bureaucracy making us safer is like climate science denial.

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/30393129

• Increased scrutiny of Chinese tech companies pushed startups to hide their roots overseas.
• DeepSeek’s success has emboldened some Chinese founders to tout advantages of China talent and operations.
• Startups chasing foreign investment are more likely to pursue China-shedding.

cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/182950

From Scientific American via this RSS feed

cross-posted from: https://metawire.eu/post/94522

A councillor's wife tells the appeal court she never intended to incite violence with a 2024 post.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/44073921

He DOGEd Twitter's employees in France, and it turns out... not so legal.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/64004969

"We're in danger of having no public service broadcasting within a decade, certainly within 20 years," he says. "We don't have a strategy for their survival. It's that serious. The regulators need to start thinking about it."

Do we want a future where European media is dominated by US streamers like Netflix and YouTube, and European broadcasters are a shadow of their former selves or have even ceased to exist?

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/64024099

Reporting Highlights

• “Maximum Pressure”: The State Department conducted a monthslong campaign to push a small African country to help Musk’s satellite internet company, records and interviews show.
• “Ram This Through”: Working closely with executives at Starlink, the U.S. government has made a global push to help expand Musk’s business empire in the developing world.
• “Crony Capitalism”: Diplomats said the events were an alarming departure from standard practice — because of both the tactics used and the person who would benefit most from them.

On a lonely Texas road, time, space and murder are about to collide

Stumbled across the DDF: Reel Films channel on YouTube, which has a bunch of full movies that are apparently properly licensed.

After seeing Brett Harrelson (brother of Woody) in Inferno, I went with another desert action film with less famous / successful / good relations of someone famous. And it's a twofer! With John Belushi's brother James being intentionally odious as the bad guy and... Roger Clinton! Yes, look out for an early cameo from the half-brother of the then-serving President of the actual United States!

Plus, this is also a sci-fi timey-wimey flick (but don't worry, no technobabble) in the vein of Cause and Effect and Groundhog Day, and c/tenforward has been loopy for time loops lately.

• Retroactive - full movie on YouTube (missing part of opening and closing titles but otherwise intact)
• Retroactive - trailer on YouTube
• Wikipedia - Retroactive
• IMDb - Retroactive
• Letterboxd - Retroactive

Director

• Louis Morneau

Starring

• James Belushi
• Kylie Travis
• Shannon Whirry
• Frank Whaley
• Jesse Borrego
• M. Emmet Walsh
• and introducing Roger Clinton

Geoff Andrew of Time Out wrote:

With its explosive action, black comedy and far-fetched sci-fi imposed on an otherwise vaguely plausible crime thriller, this modest indie film is reminiscent of such low budget '80s exploiters as Tremors and the work of Charles Band. Like the most memorable of these, it's lifted out of the rut by a quirky, imaginative script. True, Belushi's performance is overbearing and M. Emmet Walsh turns in yet another sweaty cameo; true, too, that the frequent visual emphasis on Travis' cleavage flags the movie's compromised ambitions. Nevertheless, there's more than enough energy, bravado and invention to engage the attention throughout.

I enjoyed it but then I'm a sucker for 90s action flicks.

Everyone knows about Bruceploitation, that wave of martial art films starring Bruce Lee lookalikes with names like Bruce Li/Le/Lai etc.

But did you know about Bronsploitation? Action movies starring people who look like Charles Bronson. Director Mike Malloy has made a documentary about three Bronson-lookalikes who went into the movies:

• the Korean Bobby Kim https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0453374/
• the Chilean Fenelón Guajardo (I can't find IMDb for him)
• the Hungarian Robert Bronzi https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8459909/

Article:

• https://cityonfire.com/bronsploitation-documentary-mike-malloy-bronsonsploitation-charles-bronson-sploitation-exploitation-bobby-kim-chilean-korean-hungarian-robert-bronzi-fenelon-guajardo/

Trailer:

• https://peertube.wtf/w/qTQYDvah3ytck5kLyEfK5K
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvH0QEEF1x0

I didn't know about Bronsploitation before, but given that he was the biggest movie star in the world for a while, it seems only logical that there were producers trying to cash in using lookalikes. In fact, full disclosure :D, I had a distant cousin who looked like Bronson and used to make some extra money in the 70s and 80s doing things like opening supermarkets!

I never would have guessed that Bronsploitation would still be a thing in the 2020s, though!

---

A more in-depth article on Bronzi:

• https://crookedmarquee.com/the-strange-sordid-tale-of-charles-bronson-lookalike-robert-bronzi/

Bronzi fares better in Once Upon a Time in Deadwood, the best of the Bronzi/Perez collaborations. The production values are still abysmal, with nearly every actor looking like they’re participating in a hastily organized Wild West re-enactment, but the story is more substantial, and Paré brings charisma to his role as the villain. The movie piggybacks on both Bronson Westerns and the HBO series Deadwood, with most of the action set in the Dakota Territory town of Deadwood, where Paré plays a local kingpin named Swearengen.

Obviously, Paré is no Ian McShane, and Perez is no David Milch. The dialogue and acting are mostly stiff and awkward, and Bronzi comes up against the limits of his range when he’s called upon to express pain and anguish. He’s a remarkably inexpressive actor, and it doesn’t help that Perez insists on having someone else dub his lines, to cover for Bronzi’s thick Hungarian accent. In From Hell to the Wild West, that voice comes closest to sounding like Bronson, and in other Perez movies it just sounds like a bored voiceover artist in a recording booth.

Trailer for Once Upon a Time in Deadwood:

• https://youtu.be/_cSvarla1mE

And this line :D

Bronzi’s latest film, Escape From Death Block 13, is his first without Perez, and it’s easily the most movie-like movie he’s ever starred in.

Trailer for Escape From Death Block 13:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ8XvC2KSx4

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FULL MOVIES

Exorcist Vengeance (2022)

Horror starring Robert Bronzi and Steven Berkoff

Trailer:

• https://youtu.be/7JeYhEbCrD0

Full movie (uploader claims to be the official channel for Uncork'd Entertainment, so I think it's legit):

• https://youtu.be/3mbINSUwQ5I

---

The Manchurian Avenger (1984)

Martials arts Western starring Bobby Kim and Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace

Trailer:

• https://youtu.be/K60Zwsia-_A

Full movie (uploader claims all their movies are licensed and copyright-compliant; they also have the great Dolph Lundgren actioner Joshua Tree. If you haven't seen it, check it out!):

• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTjxrujNCF9JSQzXE3th21A