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Coaxing Cops To Tackle Cybercrime? There's An App For That

Cybercrime is booming, and victims are often at a loss about where to get help. In theory, Americans should report the crimes to the FBI, via its Internet Crime Complaint Center . In practice, the feds get hundreds of thousands of complaints a year, and have to focus on the biggest cases. But the other option, calling the police, can seem even less promising. "They didn't even respond," says Gregg Bennett, whose loss of 100 Bitcoin was described in an earlier NPR story about SIM-swap scams . He says he called his city's police department soon after discovering the theft, but concluded it was a dead end. "They have no ability to look up something like this," Bennett says. "It certainly is not local — this is not a local issue." It's conventional wisdom that cybercrime is too technical and too international for local police to handle. But as daily life becomes more digital, so does everyday crime, and some police say they can no longer avoid wading into the world of phone spoofers,




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The Great Compromise (John Prine) by flapjax at midnite

When I heard the news of John Prine's hospitalization on March 30, I was, of course, saddened. His music has meant so much to me over the decades. On that day, I recorded this cover of one of my favorites from Prine's early output, a political song cleverly disguised as a broken-hearted love ballad. There's a video I posted to YouTube of this very same performance, which also includes some spoken introduction, about how I was feeling upon getting the news of John's contracting the coronavirus, and so forth. So, if you'd like to hear that, and see the song performed, it's here. I did a little bit of work on the audio for this MeFiMu upload, though, so I think it might sound a little better here than on the video. Anyway, rest in peace, John Prine, rest in peace.




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03 - crows happen - vampire deer by pyramid termite

my daughter has a treefull of crows outside her window and she's convinced they're as interested in her as she is in them she's sure they are her friends i've tried to tell her that i'm not sure they're really all that interested in her, but i don't really think that's getting through to her - and i don't know whether she really understands the current situation - why she has to stay home, why her dad had to stay in quarantine for 14 days just because he was a little sick, why her dad was worried about what was going to happen i guess this song is about all that i can't tell you if the crows like you even though you believe they talk to you they were created for another world but maybe we pretend that it's not our world too fly around and looking for a meal fly around and looking for a summer deal but it's april and where we live everything takes so long to happen well, it's not much fun, wondering if i'll be gone i can't even go for a walk on the lawn the days all count to the last fade away but then again, it's always really been that way do you think the crows don't think about all that? somehow i think they do - the way they gather at their friend lying there, complaining everything more or less has to happen but with any luck, it will warm up a little and i think my hourglass isn't ready to settle we can go out and watch the crows once again and you can tell me that they are your friends one day we'll get to walk out and feel free and not think about the things that could be we can be like crows and bluff our way through all the things, good and bad, that happen and the secret to life, so i've been told is you keep lucking out and then you find yourself old and you wonder, what the hell did i do with all that time? and it didn't make much sense, and it didn't even rhyme and if i gave you a ring for surety some crow would go and grab it and hide it in a tree and forget about it - that crow and you and me just more of those things that happen




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Autumn, Semaphores by mykescipark

A psychedelic synthpop meditation on dreams, the romance of travel, the uncanny desert night, and technology approaching obsolescence. If Tears For Fears collaborated with 1970-era Steve Reich, you might get something like this. Based on a painting by Georgy Nissky and a time-lapse video of two vintage railroad semaphores in the New Mexico desert. LYRICS Somewhere over Santa Fe Atmospheric ocean Wheeled above our dreaming heads Hypnotized in motion Signals in your lover's eye Sleeping at the junction Silhouetted in the sky Solemn semaphores sit Winking out their last goodbye Frozen into caution Dreamt I was a satellite Falling out of orbit Rolling in the silver light Like a lonely gauntlet Winking over Wagon Mound And the pines of Carson No more lunar lullaby Did I see their arms lift As I broke up on the tracks? P.S.: I've started releasing free albums of new material every month, and this is on the newest one. Grab and enjoy.




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iOS Music Apps Roundup: January 2017

This iOS Music Apps Roundup features five innovative iPad apps from Air Craft, KORG, Reactable Systems, ClubROOM, and Klevgrand.

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The post iOS Music Apps Roundup: January 2017 appeared first on Dubspot Blog.




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iOS Music App Spotlight: Modstep by AppBC

San Francisco producer Scott Whitehead introduces us to Modstep, a modulation and MIDI sequencer for the iPad.

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The post iOS Music App Spotlight: Modstep by AppBC appeared first on Dubspot Blog.




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Jesus and the Apostles’ View of the Bible

'Jesus taught His disciples obedience to the Word of God and the law. There is never a hint of Him doubting the authority or relevance of Scripture. On the contrary, He constantly referred to it as the source of divine authority. '



  • How to Interpret Scripture

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MetaPhotography

If you feel up to it, please take a photo of something nice (anything that makes you feel good) and share it with all of us. It can be something on your desk. Something pretty you have hanging on the wall. Or maybe something interesting in your backyard, porch, stoop or balcony. Cute dog & cat photos are encouraged. I just want to look at something pleasant and nice. Stay safe and remember to be kind to yourself and to others.




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Happy birthday, cortex!

Happy birthday to the guy who probably worries more than most about keeping the lights on in this sometimes only bright corner of the internets!




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By mochapickle in "What do you do while waiting for a potentially terminal diagnosis?" on Ask MeFi

I have a health condition with a high mortality rate, where about one quarter of us die within the first year, and two-thirds of us don't last five years. I'm on Year 4 now and I'm doing okay, and I'm thankful to be receiving excellent care, and I'm generally optimistic that I'll get to stick around for a while.

Ramping up to my diagnosis, I thought my life was over. And that was both utterly untrue and completely true at the same time. You can't really know what it's like until you have the actual diagnosis, and even then it's been a world of surprises. You may or may not be able to do some of the things you would like to do.

For me to deal with it in a healthy way, I kind of had to create a hard line in the sand. I had to take time to grieve the person I'd been before falling ill, take stock of my accomplishments, and most importantly, I had to REALIZE MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS WERE ENOUGH for my lifetime. If I'd been hit by a bus, my life would have been over in a snap, and whatever I'd accomplished by that point would have had to be enough. Taking that pressure off myself was the kindest thing I could do for myself.

I found I had to let a lot of things go and not compare Previous Me to Sick Me. Previous Me was active, enjoyed travel, able to hold down complex and interesting work. Sick Me can't do much of that, but Sick Me does pretty okay for a sick person, and Sick Me does so much more than Dead Me could possibly do! Seriously, compared to Dead Me, Sick Me is a total winner. Sick Me can do a little modest gardening, enough to keep the weeds away. Sick Me can care for my dog and handle the occasional load of laundry. Sick Me finds a lot of joy in my friends and family and internet communities, and has transferred my social life to text, email, and the occasional dining out when the stars align and energy allows. (Metafilter is a lifesaver because I can pick it up whenever my energy level allows and people are so welcoming and understanding.)

As you're waiting for news, it's easy to fall to worry. Please be kind to yourself and don't suffer those fears and losses before you need to. Right now, you are there for your children. Don't put yourself through the punishment of losing them multiple times unnecessarily. And don't say you won't ever get to do a painting class -- I took my first painting class last fall and it was a boon to my soul and it renewed my capacity for beauty.

In the meantime, take as much control of the situation as you need to. Write down a list of questions to review with your doctors. (I've actually typed them out and distributed copies for them to follow along.) You can google, and it's hard not to, but please never tell a doctor that your questions or concerns are coming from google. Also, do not call yourself a hypochondriac -- what you are feeling is what you are feeling, and your concerns are valid and deserving of respect.

Waiting is hard. Please be extra kind to yourself.




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Reisewarnung bis Ende April – das müssen Sie jetzt wissen

Die allgemeine Reisewarnung ist die höchste Eskalationsstufe der Hinweise des Auswärtigen Amts. Normalerweise wird sie nur für Kriegsgebiete und besonders gefährliche Regionen ausgesprochen – jetzt gilt sie weltweit. Was Reisende wissen müssen.




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Unemployment Money Not Reaching Millions Of People Who Applied

About 17 million people have applied for unemployment benefits in the U.S. in recent weeks. It's an astonishing number that's nearly 10 times what the system has ever handled so quickly. But, by one estimate , that money is still not flowing to about half of those people who desperately need it. And others are only getting a trickle of what they should be receiving. Many people have been out of a job for a month now. That's a long time to be without your income in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. "It's really intense and it's really frightening," says Nicolena Loshonkohl, a hair stylist NPR has been checking in with in Roanoke, Va. She's a single mom with a 2-year-old daughter. As a regular employee at a local salon, she says it was pretty easy to file for unemployment online. And she's now started to get payments. Loshonkohl feels fortunate about that. But so far, she's only receiving $340 a week. And that doesn't cover her rent, health insurance, food and other basic costs of




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Europe's Economy Was Hit Hard Too, But Jobs Didn't Disappear Like In The U.S.

When the British economy ground to a halt a few weeks ago, Reda Maher suddenly found himself among the ranks of the unemployed, alongside untold millions of other people around the world. But unlike many others, Maher can rest easy, knowing that money will keep flowing into his bank account until he's called back to work. "I woke up a couple of hours later than I normally would. I won't lie," Maher said one afternoon earlier this month. "I took a nice long masked and gloved walk. I've got a remote personal training like fitness session in about 20 minutes." The United Kingdom recently began paying 80% of the salaries of workers laid off because of the coronavirus pandemic. The government caps the pay at about $3,000 a month, but many employers, including the London-based video streaming service where Maher works, add to what the government hands out. Maher also doesn't need to worry about being left without health care coverage, thanks to Britain's National Health Service. Across




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„Eingestehen, dass wir psychisch strapaziert sind“

Dies sind harte Zeiten für alle Menschen. Wer aber ohnehin psychisch angeschlagen ist, für den sind sie noch schwerer. Psychiater Mazda Adli erklärt, was psychisch kranken Menschen jetzt hilft – und allen anderen auch.




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Seeking Producers With High Quality, Energetic, Trap, Pop, & R&B Instrumentals To Be Considered For Placement!

Our Clients are independent and multi platinum artist(s) Seeking high quality, energetic trap, pop, & R&B style beats for production placement on upcoming releases. We are looking for industry quality production to shop throughout our network, as well as to consider signing new talent for production management opportunity. We will provide you with feedback & rate your submissions!

: Please submit your best work. Songs will go through the review process and if selected you will receive negotiated compensation. We look forward to hearing what you have to offer. 
- The Administration

Deal Type: Producer / Production Management Decision Maker: We are the final decision makers Deal Structure: Negotiable Compensation: Negotiable Song Quality: Rough Mixes, Fully Mastered, Broadcast Ready Similar Sounding Artist: Future, Migos, The Weeknd, Drake, Ty Dolla Sign, 2Chainz, Gucci Mane, Tory Lanez, Chris Brown, Cardi B, Lil Baby




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Commercial Hit Songs - Submit for the SE Asian Market - Taiwan, Japan, China etc

Looking for commercial hit songs for a host of pop artists in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan etc. We work closely with Universal Music in Hong Kong, giving us direct access to major artists in South East Asia and Japan searching for tracks for their next and current projects.

We are looking for commercial radio tracks which have great beats, memorable hook lines and current styles. Uptempo K-Pop, ballads, R&B/Pop, Rock, Soul and MOR suitable for male, female and boy and girl-bands.

Lyrics may be translated depending on the artist so send in all language demos or masters.

We are looking forward to hearing some great music.

- Dean Hart / Afrikan Cowboy Publishing

Deal Type: Song Placement
Decision Maker: Selected tracks will be pitched for final decision
Deal Structure: Non-Exclusive
Compensation: $1,000+ based on final placement
Song Quality: Rough Demos, Fully mastered, Broadcast ready




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952- Beth Nielsen Chapman, Carrie Newcomer, Erin Rae, Lisa Mednick Powell, Lillie Mae

Guest host Kathy Mattea welcomes performances from Beth Nielsen Chapman, Carrie Newcomer, Erin Rae, Lisa Mednick Powell, and Lillie Mae. Support for this podcast is provided by Adventures on the Gorge. https://adventuresonthegorge.com/




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953- Shawn Colvin, Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis, Lucy Kaplansky, Rebecca Loebe, Kacy & Clayton

Guest host Kathy Mattea welcomes Shawn Colvin, Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis, Lucy Kaplansky, Rebecca Loebe, and Kacy & Clayton.Support is provided by Adventures on the Gorge.https://adventuresonthegorge.com/




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Reconstructing A Final Chapter Of The American Slave Trade

Savannah businessman Charles Lamar on Nov. 28, 1858, became the first person in 40 years to land a slave ship on American soil. That event is the subject of Jim Jordan’s new book, “ The Slave-Trader’s Letter-Book: Charles Lamer, the Wanderer, and other Tales of the African Slave Trade .” Jordan was able to reconstruct the story because he got his hands on valuable research material — Charles Lamar’s own letters, which most historians didn’t even believe existed.




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How The Approval Of The Birth Control Pill 60 Years Ago Helped Change Lives

Updated at 9:44 a.m. ET As a young woman growing up in a poor farming community in Virginia in the 1940 and '50s, with little information about sex or contraception, sexuality was a frightening thing for Carole Cato and her female friends. "We lived in constant fear, I mean all of us," she said. "It was like a tightrope. always wondering, is this going to be the time [I get pregnant]?" Cato, 78, now lives in Columbia, S.C. She grew up in the years before the birth control pill was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on May 9, 1960. She said teenage girls in her community were told very little about how their bodies worked. "I was very fortunate; I did not get pregnant, but a lot of my friends did. And of course, they just got married and went into their little farmhouses," she said. "But I just felt I just had to get out." At 23, Cato married a widower who already had seven children. They decided seven was enough. By that time, Cato said, the pill allowed the couple to




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Medical Minute: Better Therapies For Uterine Cancer

In this week’s Medical Minute, Dr. Joseph Hobbs, chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, discusses a push to study a group of genes that may hold the key to finding better therapies for women with a rare, aggressive uterine cancer. The Medical Minute airs at 8:18 a.m., 1:20 p.m. and 5:18 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday on the 17 GPB radio stations across Georgia. For more Medical Minute episodes, visit the Medical Minute 2020 SoundCloud page.




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8 Of The Best Apps For DJ Livestreaming On Mac, Windows, iOS & Android

Read on to discover the best software to use for DJ livestreaming, whether you want to livestream from your Mac or Windows computer, iOS/iPadOS device, or Android phone/tablet. In this article we’ll explain why you need such software, and talk you through our top choices from the many options out there. So why do you … Continued The post 8 Of The Best Apps For DJ Livestreaming On...

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Serato Announces Free Laptop DJing For All With Serato Play

Serato has announced that its Serato Play Expansion Pack, which turns any laptop into a simple DJ controller allowing users to play sets without the need of extra hardware, will be available completely free for the next month. When combined with either the company’s Serato DJ Lite or Serato DJ Pro DJing software, both of … Continued The post Serato Announces Free Laptop DJing For All...

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Tutorial: How To DJ With Just Your Laptop For Free With Serato!

A really great skill to learn that all DJs should know is how to mix with just a laptop – and with Serato making its laptop DJing software Serato Play free to everyone for the month of May 2020, now is a great time to start. In this lesson and video, I show you how. … Continued The post Tutorial: How To DJ With Just Your Laptop For Free With Serato! appeared first on Digital DJ Tips.

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Friday Five: Jazzy Jeff’s Peter Piper Routine Played On Magnetic Tape

It’s Friday again, and that means a round-up of all that’s going on in the world of DJing, as reported by other websites and outlets. Enjoy this list of stuff we’ve been enjoying this week… The 100 Greatest UK Number Ones, 100-61 – Part 1 of this countdown, from the Guardian. Great for ideas to … Continued The post Friday Five: Jazzy Jeff’s Peter Piper...

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What Happened Today: Health Care System Crumbles, Testing Questions

Marc Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, answers questions about access to testing for COVID-19, false-negative results and the challenges of mass testing.




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Weapons in the Church?

What weapons can we have in church? We trust the Lord but we must also be practical and protect each other in times of danger. The Bible is our most important weapon of all.



  • Pastor Doug's Weekly Message

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Girl Scout Cookies (Chapel Hill, NC)

I’m looking for someone who is either selling Girl Scout cookies in Chapel Hill, NC or can share their online page for internet orders. Specific bakery does not matter to me. I just like cookies and supporting GS.




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Help me apply to jobs (New York, NY)

I have some mental illness/executive function/autism issues that make applying to jobs a particularly excruciating and time consuming, and I need someone to help look through listings, customize my resumes and cover letters and send them out.

We would meet at a cafe for a few hours each week to coordinate and figure out a strategy and a weekly schedule, and depending on what makes sense at the time, either we'd crank through applications together, or you'd go off and work through them on your own.

I can pay $40/hr plus a $500 bonus if one of the applications you work on leads to me accepting a job.




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sysadmin/developer/devops type folks (Bloomington, Indianapolis)

Indiana University's Global Network Operations Center is looking to hire multiple people into their systems engineering and software development group. Are you a sysadmin who's capable of dev? Are you a dev who's capable of sysadmin? Know some of both? Want to learn more? Want to have a hand in supporting research and education-focussed networking in the US and across the world?

Full time, professional, permanent appointments. Great benefits.

Have questions? You can reply to this post, memail me, or send email to careers@globalnoc.iu.edu.

Lots more info and how to apply.




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Das können Ihnen die Kopfhörer von Apple wirklich bieten

AirPods sowie die neuen AirPods Pro zählen zu den High-End-Ohrhörern – was sie können und für wen sich die Anschaffung lohnt, erfahren Sie hier in unserem praktischen Überblick.



  • Webwelt & Technik

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Diese Smartwatches sind Alternativen zur Apple Watch

Vor kurzem stellte Apple die vierte Generation seiner Apple Watches vor. Wer auch gerne in die Welt der Smartwatches einsteigen will, aber lieber auf den Kosmos des kalifornischen Technikriesen verzichten möchte, hat eine ganze Reihe von Alternativen.



  • Webwelt & Technik

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Laptop mit Touchscreen: Die besten Modelle

Laptop mit Touchscreens sind die perfekte Mischung aus den Vorzügen eines Notebooks und den intuitiven Bedienmöglichkeiten eines Tablets.



  • Webwelt & Technik

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Growing Appreciation

A comic about a glorious view.




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Red Ticket: A Story of Collapse

1993 was the most brutal of the post-collapse years in Moscow, and it was also the year I moved there without really knowing any better. I woke up in a society where few institutions functioned, mobsters in tracksuits flourished, and chewing gum was worth more than money. Red Ticket is my memoir about Russia after it lost the Cold War (remember when we used to say that?), and about social and personal collapse.

1. When Everything Is Easy- I move to Russia to make things harder.

2. Hussein | 3. Pay Stove - I meet the man who will save my life the next day. A mysterious woman gives me a gift.

4. Smokers' Paradise | 5. The Attack - I finally get to use the condoms. Things in the dorm take a dark turn.

[Link]




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Float Therapy unintentionally pays homage to Weekend at Bernie's in "Gaffer Tape" [Video]

Float Therapy is the moniker of 19-year-old musician Padraig Wilson. In fact, he also happens to write and record all the instruments himself. Float Therapy is a relatively new artist with a whole lot to say and he only recently released his first single "Gaffer Tape"- an intense, solid anthem that takes inspiration from the […]

The post Float Therapy unintentionally pays homage to Weekend at Bernie's in "Gaffer Tape" [Video] appeared first on EARMILK.




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Macca Wiles' fusion of trap and grunge is "Outlined" in new single [Video]

Rising British rapper, Macca Wiles releases an electrifying new single "Outlined" - a collage of post-'90s grunge rock with modern trap.  Produced by Matt Schwartz (Yungblud, M.O., Massive Attack, Halsey) "Outline" brilliantly fuses the manic alt-rock energy of Nirvana with the trap swagger of Migos. The informal verses guide the listener through a vivid storytelling […]

The post Macca Wiles' fusion of trap and grunge is "Outlined" in new single [Video] appeared first on EARMILK.




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SPELA have an appreciation of little moments in life on "You Got Me"

We can all take a moment to appreciate the smaller moments in life, especially when everything can feel so large and uncertain to comprehend and a little bit of hope can go a long way.  Enter South London-based duo PELA who join the streaming sphere today with their new single "You Got Me" which has been […]

The post SPELA have an appreciation of little moments in life on "You Got Me" appeared first on EARMILK.




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What Happened Today: Health Care System Crumbles, Testing Questions

Marc Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, answers questions about access to testing for COVID-19, false-negative results and the challenges of mass testing.




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Cinema Chat: Golden Globes Wrap-Up, '1917,' 'Just Mercy,' And More

The Golden Globes were handed out this past weekend, and that's just the beginning for what's going on in the movie world. In this week's "Cinema Chat," WEMU's David Fair sits down with Michigan and State Theater executive director Russ Collins for a conversation about the latest movie news and the latest flicks landing on the big screen this weekend.




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Cinema Chat: 2020 Oscars Recap, 'Downhill,' 'Sonic The Hedgehog,' And More

The 92nd Academy Awards ceremony is now in the books! In this week's "Cinema Chat," WEMU's Michael Jewett and Michigan and State Theater executive director Russ Collins discuss this year's winners and surprises. Plus, they'll talk about all of the new films heading to the silver screen this weekend.




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Cinema Chat: Direct From Sundance Recap, 'Portrait Of A Lady On Fire,' 'The Invisible Man,' And More

A touch of Sundance descended upon Ann Arbor this week, and we have the rundown! In this week's "Cinema Chat," WEMU's David Fair and Michigan and State Theater executive director Russ Collins discuss last night's "Direct from Sundance" event and all of the new films landing on the big screen this weekend.




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Cinema Chat: Giving Tuesday Appreciation, Curbside Concessions, 'Driveways,' And More

In this week's "Cinema Chat," WEMU's David Fair talks to Michigan and State Theater executive director Russ Collins about all of the new flicks and special events the Michigan Theater is providing for your online viewing pleasure this weekend. Plus, they talk about how WEMU and the Michigan Theater fared during this week's National Day of Giving.




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Denver Rapper & Songwriter BVNK Releases New Single “SITUATIONS’

STREAM HERE: https://open.spotify.com/track/0ZuUEeXuSvg4uupbGRqzxu?si=YTak2s4-SaafSkR1vG0b4w

Exciting new rapper, singer and songwriter BVNK is a musical product of his environment, having been born in Nigeria, raised in the UK, and now residing in North America – his music is a melting pot of lush R&B, heavy-hitting hip hop, and melodic rap/sung, flavoured with indie music sensibilities, with his life experiences across three different continents informing his storytelling and songwriting. After dipping his toes into the waters last year with two mixtapes including fan-favourite ‘Promises’, Bvnk is set to take 2020 by the scruff of its neck, starting with his brand new single titled ‘SITUATIONS’.

Produced by burgeoning LA-based musician and beatsmith Twelve 92, and taken from his forthcoming debut EP titled XX/XX (pronounced 20/20), Bvnk’s ‘Situations’ sees the Denver rapper-singer taking responsibility for failures in his past relationship, as he croons, “I did something to you, I never said sorry to you”, before kicking off his rap verse with, “tell me what I did to make you feel like I was breaking you”. The track is led by dreamy R&B guitar licks, minimalist drum arrangements, groovy melodies, and an infectious bassline, over which Bvnk showcases his dual singing and rapping talents, and undeniable songwriting dexterities.

Speaking about the inspiration behind the ‘Situations’ track, Bvnk says, “In a time where the world is full of one sided stories, and men thinking that taking responsibility is weak for some reason or the other, with women left having to deal with their toxic masculine energy, I wanted to take the truthful route on ‘Situations’. The song is about me looking into the mirror, taking responsibility, and apologising for the hurt I had caused. Amidst it all, ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’ is the perfect quote that explains ‘Situations’, because I’m ultimately asking for a second chance”.

STREAM HERE: https://open.spotify.com/track/0ZuUEeXuSvg4uupbGRqzxu?si=YTak2s4-SaafSkR1vG0b4w

CONNECT WITH BVNK
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/bvnk_official
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bvnk_official
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bvnk_official

The post Denver Rapper & Songwriter BVNK Releases New Single “SITUATIONS’ appeared first on Singersroom.com.




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Identity Politics and Elite Capture

"The black feminist Combahee River Collective manifesto and E. Franklin Frazier's Black Bourgeoisie share the diagnosis that the wealthy and powerful will take every opportunity to hijack activist energies for their own ends."

On the origins of identity politics with black feminist activists:

The term "identity politics" was first popularized by the 1977 manifesto of the Combahee River Collective, an organization of black feminist activists. In a recent interview with the Root and in an op-ed at the Guardian, Barbara Smith, a founding member of the collective, addresses common misconceptions about the term. The manifesto, she explains, was written by black women claiming the right to set their own political agendas. They weren't establishing themselves as a moral aristocracy—they were building a political viewpoint out of common experience to work toward "common problems." As such, they were strongly in favor of diverse people working in coalition, an approach that for Smith was exemplified by the Bernie Sanders campaign's grassroots approach and its focus on social issues that people of many identities face, especially "basic needs of food, housing and healthcare." According to Smith, today's uses of the concept are often "very different than what we intended." "We absolutely did not mean that we would work with people who were only identical to ourselves," she insists. "We strongly believed in coalitions and working with people across various identities on common problems."
On the concept of elite capture:
The concept of elite capture originated in the study of developing countries to describe the way socially advantaged people tend to gain control over financial benefits meant for everyone, especially foreign aid. But the concept has also been applied more generally to describe how political projects can be hijacked—in principle or in effect—by the well positioned and resourced, as Yang's "step up" demand exemplifies. The idea also helps to explain how public resources such as knowledge, attention, and values get distorted and distributed by our power structures. And it is precisely what stands between us and Smith's urgent vision of coalitional politics.
On the concept of value capture:
To better understand the broader dynamic, we can look to philosopher C. Thi Nguyen's work on games. As he explains in his new book Games: Agency as Art (2020), confusing the real world with the carefully incentivized structure of game worlds can lead to a phenomenon he calls "value capture," a process by which we begin with rich and subtle values, encounter simplified versions of them in social life, and then revise our values in the direction of simplicity. Nguyen is careful to point out that value capture doesn't require anyone's deliberate or calculated intervention, only an environment or incentive structure that encourages excess value clarity.

Nguyen stops short of noting that another risk of gamifying values is the unequal distribution of power across participants. But outside of the world of games, power differentials do shape outcomes. Value capture is managed by elites, on purpose or not. In other words, elites don't simply participate in our community; their decisions help to structure it, much in the way that game designers structure the world of games. After all, elites face a simpler version of oppression than non-elites do: whereas working-class black folk are pressed by racial slights and degradation alongside economic problems that might require "socialized medicine" to solve, elites's economic position makes them comfortable enough to focus on their own status and cultural power—often at the expense of non-elites.
On a telling example of value capture:
The Congressional Black Caucus's cosponsorship of Ronald Reagan's 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act helped supercharge mass incarceration by establishing mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines and adding $1.7 billion toward the drug war while welfare programs were cut. This legislation solved the problem for the black elites of the CBC of how to seem involved with respect to the crack cocaine epidemic. But with the law's passage, working-class African Americans went from dealing with one very complex problem to weathering two interlocking ones: the drug epidemic itself—unsolved by this draconian measure—and the surge of discriminatory law enforcement the legislation unleashed.
On other forms of elite capture:
Elite capture is not unique to black politics; it is a general feature of politics, anywhere and everywhere. I could just as easily have focused on the world of elite universities. In Philosophy of African American Studies (2015), for example, Stephen Ferguson II makes a similar argument about the elite capture of black studies, which owes its existence to the radical student movements of the 1960s and '70s but has since been "turned into a bureaucratic cog in the academic wheel controlled by administrators, with virtually no democratic input from students or the black working-class community." I could also have kept the general perspective but reversed the role of race and class. In socialist organizations, for example, we might find that white people likewise tend to capture the group's politics.

Or we could look away from race to a different set of identity characteristics altogether. In the Buzzfeed article "You Wanted Same-Sex Marriage? Now You Have Pete Buttigieg," Shannon Keating laments the trajectory of mainstream queer politics away from the more radical elements dramatically on display in the Stonewall riot of 1969 and ACT UP. Or take how The Wing, a coworking space touting itself as a "women's utopia," exploits the women who work for it.
On what co-optation looks like outside the United States:
And, of course, elite abuse of identity politics isn't limited to the United States. It is also a particularly salient problem in Global South politics, where national, ethnic, and caste identities are shaped by an unstable mix of indigenous and colonial history. Peace studies scholar Camilla Orjuela argues that, from Sri Lanka to Kenya, politics in multiethnic Global South societies easily fall into cycles of expecting elites to allocate resources along blatantly ethnic and regional lines. After all, the thinking going, the elites of every other ethnic group will do the same when they're in power. Journalist John Githongo describes such ethnic elites as "creatures of patronage and . . . influence peddling" who treat the state as a ladder to their own goals rather than an institution of collective responsibility. These conceptual strands are vividly illustrated by the history of the U.S.-backed Haitian dictators "Papa Doc" and "Baby Doc" Duvalier. The Duvaliers cynically used tropes drawn from the Vodou religion, popular with the country's poor, to intimidate the citizenry while enriching themselves. At the same time, they unleashed unspeakable violence upon actual Vodou practitioners, fearing the revolutionary potential of the religion, which was instrumental in ending slavery on the island.
On a more hopeful final note:
As the Combahee River Collective acknowledged, simply participating in activism is no guarantee that we will develop the right kind of political culture; its founding members were veterans of important radical political movements that nevertheless made crucial oversights along the way. Elites have to get involved—actually involved—but that involvement needs to resist elite capture of values and the gamification of political life.

We have our work cut out for us, but fortunately we aren't starting from scratch: there's a rich history to draw from. In the 1960s, feminists held regular group meetings, in houses and apartments, to discuss gender injustice in ways that would have been taboo in mixed company. A set of such "consciousness raising" guidelines by Barbara Smith and fellow activists Tia Cross, Freada Klein, and Beverly Smith provides an example of identity politics work as the Combahee River Collective envisioned it. The exercise starts by asking participants to examine their own shortcomings ("When did you first notice yourself treating people of color in a different way?"), but ends by asking how they can use an element of shared oppression as a bridge to unite people across difference ("In what ways can shared lesbian oppression be used to build connections between white women and women of color?"). Because, in the end, we're in it together—and, from the point of view of identity politics, that is the whole point.
Previously on the co-optation of identity for elite capture.

And previously on identity politics in general.




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