ButtigiegMineralMap

I love my current job, it’s unionized, we get weekly pay, the managers are some of the kindest people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet, let alone work alongside of, I get plenty of breaks and reading time when I’m not busy, I get Saturdays off and additional Sunday pay. But two things suck, the coworkers and the pay. One of my coworkers is an old Lib that was very Pro Ireland and we talked for a bit but he’s TERRIFIED of Soviets, like he’s literally spooked by me bc I wear a USSR jacket and Ushankas in winter. I also had a coworker that claimed to be Jesus. Yep, they thought they were the Son of God sent down to redeem humanity’s sinners. He also claimed to have been in the military, a few cults and a few mafias and eventually got fired for calling a young black coworker the Hard-R N-slur, so he was a piece of work. You could never trust what he says and would love to cockblock people. Very odd guy, tough to feel sorry for him but I kinda do, he’s obviously not all there. With all that craziness out of the way, I’m interviewing for a new position that makes like 2-3x as much as my current job and a lot more professional than a grocery. Technically the title of this post is a TINY bit misleading because I already did the interview early this morning. I had to look up stuff about the company and slob a whole bunch of corporate knob to make me seem interested in the job without sounding desperate. If it went well I go on to Interview #2 in-person, if THAT goes well, I get the job. Hopefully I never have to see that crazy wannabe Jesus dude again.

I watched this movie earlier today and enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. We start in Baltimore 1914, with the Patriarch of the Jewish-Pole Krichinsky family, Sam, arriving in Baltimore on July 4th, the spectacle all around him encapsulates his excitement for new life and opportunity. We see his life as a wallpaper presser in his newfound home in America. Over time, the years pass by, into the 1940s and 50s and eventually to the early 70s at the end of the film. He marries and has a large family. His son and nephew go into business together, he helps to raise his grandson, he battles verbally with his wife and his brother and deals with old age and with loss in its many different forms, biological, financial or otherwise. I don’t want to give spoilers but oddly enough, even if I did, it wouldn’t fundamentally change much of your viewing. The movie isn’t about a huge plot-twist, or a gigantic action scene that kills multiple characters or anything. I would describe it as a Slice of Life, and the pain-staking detail that Barry Levinson-Gould went through in directing this movie to be accurate to the times is more than admirable. Every car and piece of furniture is spectacularly curated. The scenes that are supposed to feel happy and exciting look bright and vibrant, kinetic in a way. The scenes of dispair, of agony in some sort, feel so slow and dark that you feel like you yourself are there, begging for the moment to pass. (in a good way, not saying the scenes are boring and drag on too long) There are also many small comedic moments, nothing that will get you flying off your seat, dying laughing, but small little cultural/linguistic things, like the difference between “Can I?” and “May I?” or how they pronounce Turkey or Furnace (Toykey, Foynace). I really loved this movie, if you have a chance to stream it or check it out from your local library I would highly suggest it. It was a great movie and I feel like (as cringe as it sounds to say) I lived through a period of the 50s watching this movie. My big caveat is that it sorta puts Rose-Tinted glasses on and drifts past issues of racism or abuse by only focusing on this one particular Jewish family. Besides that, I really liked this movie, I related to it on a very personal level (except I’m not Jewish) with some of their plot points and characters that appear, it really touched me at certain points. I would probably put this in my top 30 movies, watch it if possible. That’s all Folks!

I’ve been a cinephile for a while now, I have tons of movies on my watchlist, and they are all very different in their own way. I’m basically asking: what movies would yall be interested to hear about? Only movies I refuse to review are most RomComs, (few exceptions) tiny-budget movies that are tough to find, (I don’t doubt some of those are great films, I just don’t wanna search thru 30 websites of pure malware to find a 1hr 27 min 70s Dutch Crime Thriller) history documentaries (I would consider those educational films rather than cinema to be reviewed) and maybe stuff that’s too overtly grotesque (I ain’t watching Saw movies or anything similar, all other horror is still on the table). Besides that, I would love to watch basically any film people are interested in, Old Soviet films, Cringe-inducing Right-wing movies, Liberal Utopias, hell, even classic films that could really use a lefty perspective on it like Forrest Gump or Full Metal Jacket. Any movie suggestions are not only welcome but appreciated. Thanks in advance everybody, I look forward to watching these movies and subsequently reviewing them for you all to read.

I understand that nothing can be done to remedy the disgusting behavior that Chauvin did, but goddamn does it feel nice to see something like this. Chauvin spent a lot of his career tossing people into prison and was made an infamous part of US history in the 21st century when he brutally beat, chokes and murdered George Floyd. The 2 had worked together in the past, if Chauvin’s crime on its own wasn’t already 1st degree murder, that fact puts it over the top. To see someone like that in prison, and to know that he’s getting stabbed and living in fear, like the people he terrorized, well it doesn’t right any wrongs, but it’s something that you love to hear.

I’ve only learned about her today, and I found [https://apnews.com/article/germany-politics-wagenknecht-new-party-4afbec16f56bbacc46629771263398b8](this article, which despite being liberal, doesn’t do a good job of making her sound scary and evil.) (a lil outdated tho)Are there good resources of her policies and political stances, everything I look up just says she’s “leftist” and I’m wondering what kind. It sounds positive because people are calling her “authoritarian left” aka actual functional left

I know that Chiang Kai Shek ran away to Taiwan to continue the reactionary policies of the ROC. Although I admit that I don’t know as much about Taiwan and their connection with China as I would like. Has Taiwan always been a part of China? Do leftists in Taiwan care to join China or make their own communist state? Or is Taiwan independence mostly astroturfed? Sorry that I have so many questions, I want to learn more and searching for answers about Taiwan (especially about hypothetical independence scenarios) brings up “China, yay, 4000 years of history… Before IT , the unspeakable, happened!” Ok I’m exaggerating a bit lol but yk what I mean. Any answers are more than appreciated🫂🤗

Obviously we support AES countries as well as Palestine. Which other countries are worth supporting? (critically, of course)

I’ve heard a mixed bag of takes on him. Maybe I had a bad intro to him, but I don’t really like him. Ik that he’s been on The Deprogram (I haven’t heard the ep yet) and that he’s lefty, well better than being a liberal. The reason I don’t like him is because he was shitting on BayArea415 for supporting Deng Xiaoping. Basically BE was saying “Read Parenti” bc Parenti was not very positive about Deng. He really tried to rip BA415 a new one on that topic. I feel that it’s fine to recognize Deng’s faults but to say he was a capitalist roader or something is a bit much while also recognizing that Parenti may have simplified a bit. I’m open to criticism on that also, to be clear. BE’s Palestine takes are decent, hell he probably has quite a few good takes but I haven’t watched him enough,what do yall think?

All my life, from when I was a little Republican shitstain to now, I always had a soft spot for the Native Americans. No rationale or so-called “nuance” ever made what the settlers did okay. In school we didn’t learn much about the Native Americans. We learned a tiny bit about their infrastructure and where they would typically live, but nothing that humanized them, we didn’t learn about culture or traditions or their own history. We learned that “Colombus sailed the Ocean Blue a long time ago in 1492 and came to America to give new inventions and spread religion to these far-off undiscovered lands”. Then you find out in HS or on your own time that 95% of that sentence is completely false, especially the coming to America part, he never went to any part of the Lower 48. You also learn about the Pilgrims in school. We learned that “some stuffy Christians who were even stuffier than the ones in England came over here to practice their religion in peace. They were a bit in over their heads and needed the Native Americans to help. They thanked each other and ate pumpkin pie with Turkey and stuffing and agreed that they were all friends” and then you learn what actually happens and it’s fucking terrifying. I had a nightmare as a little kid that drunken pilgrims were breaking in and trying to steal my family’s house. it really shook me for like a week or 2. Seeing as how like everything we were taught was utterly bullshit, what else is interesting to learn about the Native Americans? I ask because I found a “fun fact” (not very fun once you realize what the US did to these people) that the area I live in used to have Native Americans living here for 12,000 yrs STRAIGHT! Disgusting to think that that legacy is over because of racism and greed. Any short reads or good videos you would recommend?

I was born and raised Catholic (Western Belarusian and Irish parents) and I went through a once-a-week religious class, but never felt especially attached to Christianity. I became an atheist over time and have been going through difficulties currently and I find that I still have a faith deep down. I’m interested in Islam because I read a tiny bit of the Quran as a kid out of curiosity (during the height of Islamophobia in the US, George Bush, early Obama era) and found that it wasn’t “terrifying and inhumane” as Fox News would say on the TV set at my grandparents’ condo. What resources would you point to for a beginner/ on the fence person to learn about Islam? Thank you in advance.

My family are mostly Democrat voting liberals and I identified as one for years. When I was in 5th grade I spent more time with my Fox News-watching grandparents and became a Republican for like a year or 2 and became an apolitical lib for a while. From like 2015-2019 I was a Bernie bro who had some objectively shit takes. The biggest 180 I did was probably on the sex trade. I used to be for it as a horny teen like “huh? Did someone say SeX?? Well it’s all ConSeNsUAL so why cockblock someone from getting some PuSsY?” Obviously now I realize that’s a disgusting sentiment and that most people in the industry are not happy and would rather do anything else. Just because a few are happy with their line of work, it doesn’t make it right to force so many others into a position where they feel abused and humiliated or threatened. “Legitimacy of industry” in terms of prostitution always means lining the pockets of abusive pimps (physical or anything else) who will use the opportunity to get rich and usually fund illegal markets (source: Look at Nevada). Enough about me, what topics have become more clear to yall after becoming a communist? I could probably list a few others but I’m interested in seeing what yall say.