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Hemmelig Room (‘secret room’ in Norwegian), Upstate New York,

Jason Koxvold and Studio Padron

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Paris apartments (click on link for full home tour):

A small bohemian apartment in Paris

An elegant apartment in Paris

A serene apartment with a perfect view over Paris

Original details and historic touches in a family home in Paris

A vibrant family home in an old factory

A renovated attic apartment in Paris

Historic details in a home in Montmartre

A cozy Airbnb apartment in an 18th century building

Spectacular windows in a book-filled oasis

The beautiful Paris apartment of Jackie Kai Ellis

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Donziger won Indigenous clients a $9.5 billion settlement from Chevron for poisoning the Amazon. Now he's gone to jail after a US judge appointed a Chevron-linked private law firm to serve as prosecutor in a contempt of court case. (Federal prosecutors refused to try the case)

One judge in the first case did not disclose he held investments in Chevron and was openly hostile to the plaintiffs. He appointed the second judge, who not only hired a law firm that works with Big Oil to prosecute Donziger, but hid the trial from the public

Via petition for Donziger's release:

Steven Donziger is a US lawyer, Harvard Law alumnus, and environmental rights defender who represented victims of oil dumping in an emblematic case against Chevron Corporation in Ecuador, following accusations that the corporation was responsible for what is widely considered one of the worst oil-related environmental disasters in recent history.

He has been under pre-trial house arrest since August 2019 after he refused to comply with a court order to hand over his electronic devices, arguing that such a disclosure could compromise the confidentiality of the communications with his clients and put them at risk. The detention follows a long-running smear campaign of intimidation and harassment against Steven Donziger and other human rights defenders by Chevron. 

In September 2021, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Steven Donziger’s deprivation of liberty is arbitrary because it lacks any legal basis and is in violation of several norms relating to the right to a fair trial, including the apparent lack of impartiality of the courts. Moreover, the Working Group concluded that his detention appears to be in retaliation for his work as a legal representative of Indigenous communities in Ecuador. 

Despite serious concerns over the lack of independence, objectivity and impartiality of the judge who ordered the pre-trial house arrest and who has overseen the trial over criminal contempt charges, Steven Donziger was sentenced on 1 October to the maximum penalty of 6 months in prison and denied the possibility to be released pending an appeal. 

We urge the Department of Justice to assume jurisdiction over the case instead of the private prosecutor, and promptly implement the UN Working Group’s decision by ensuring that Steven Donziger is released immediately and unconditionally. We also call on Attorney General Garland to launch a full and independent investigation of the circumstances surrounding Steven Donziger’s arbitrary deprivation of liberty and take the necessary measures to ensure that corporations do not abuse the justice system to target and harass human rights defenders.

More information can be found in Amnesty International's urgent action bulletin here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/AMR51/4915/2021/en/

We join Amnesty International, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Rep. Jim McGovern, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and 29 Nobel Laureates in calling on the DOJ to intervene.

Sign the petition at change.org

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I said it in the notes on the last post but I’m gonna say it again.

I’m married to someone with severe memory problems. Automation of household appliances & systems helps him a lot and helps me a lot because it reduces the number of things I have to keep in my brain at all times. I love doors that lock themselves, being able to schedule dog food being delivered, a thermostat I can manipulate from wherever. Beyond my little bubble it should be noted that voice controlled appliances can be really good for people with mobility concerns. Appliances that can measure and talk and remember little tasks can be such a blessing for people.

I will never forgive Amazon and Google for taking technologies that could be really helpful and weaponizing them, and fuck everybody who acts like its some kind of conspiracy theory that those devices are spying on you. You absolutely should be distrustful of those devices but just make sure you’re getting angry at the right people.

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Yall ever heard white church music? Christian rock is one of the most gratingly generic and repetitive genres of music out there by a mile. It sucks so fucking bad. I am talking about this now because someone is sitting in front of the hospital and blaring “how great? Is our god?” As loud as the speakers in his truck can handle

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hades explaining that he’s the god of the dead, not the god of death

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Kevin is the real villian in Home Alone

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Lucy Lawless was not a particularly burly woman, but somehow she made Xena seem like a fucking tank and I don’t understand how.

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reminder:

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Update from the man himself

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American Photographer, Joel Bissel, took stunning pictures of the frozen Michigan Lake in Chicago, covered by ice scales (x)

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9 Stunning deVOL Kitchens

A deVOL kitchen in a renovated German schoolhouse

A classic deVOL kitchen in Mediterranean colors

A Haberdasher kitchen in a Swedish cottage

Wes Anderson meets Provance in a London basement kitchen

A cozy cluttered French-style kitchen

A moody green Classic English kitchen

Pearl Lowe’s beach house kitchen

Grey & yellow Shaker kitchen

The Victorian rectory kitchen