Mid-Morning Art Thread

Elijah fed by Ravens
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino)

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (321) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 4/25/24

Good morning, kids. First, a big thanks to Mis Hum for filling in yesterday. Not going to go into detail about my situation except to say that I'm neither better nor worse than before the consult. In the coming weeks, I might be absent for a few days here and there, hopefully no longer than that and not on a continuing basis. As always, your prayers and words of encouragement are appreciated more than you can know. We'll muddle through somehow.

Now, back to the meshugas of upside down world . . .

Well, we've established that the GOP – Grifting Oleaginous Parasites – are not the stupid party but are in fact stooges/pawns/confederates of the Uniparty playing the role in the ongoing kabuki-bukkake theatre of "opposition." With the latest maddening sell-out by Mike Johnson, who is turning out to be the Paul Ryan of Kevin McCarthy's, insofar as sending billions of dollars to Ukraine, and whatever minimal pittance to Israel (of course I support Israel, and dollars sent there as opposed to virtually anywhere else on the planet would actually do some good in terms of its and our own security, but that's for another time) while doing nothing to stop the border invasion, you want to tear your hair out.

In point of fact, the $61 billion sent to Ukraine would build the wall several times over. Even better would be stripping the IRS of the 80,000 new agents and using the money to fund 80,000 CBP/INS agents to round up and deport every damned wetback who's on our soil and returning them from whence they came. But the duplicity aside, perhaps stupidity shouldn't be discounted out of hand:

The estimable Raheem Khassam probably said it best:

“When the enemy is making a false movement, we must take good care not to interrupt him,” so said Napoleon at one of the critical junctures of the Battle of Waterloo. Today it is commonly written as: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

”With that in mind: what the fuck is Mike Johnson doing? No, not with his predictable capitulation to the defense industry. That move was obvious as the day is long. What’s more stunning is his bizarre trip to Columbia University on Wednesday, where he squeaked into a microphone, drowned out by cacophonous students chanting – doubtless to their chagrin (and ignorance) – in agreement with Steve Bannon of late: “Mike you suck! Mike you suck!”

Johnson’s completely arbitrary trip to New York is the very definition of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. An issue that was completely at the feet of Joe Biden and the fools in his foreign policy apparatus now appears – at best – as a “uniparty” issue, and at worst, as a scenario where the GOP is running interference for neoconservatism like its 2003. . .

. . . Why is it yours, my, or Mike Johnson’s job to save them from themselves? Simply speaking: it ain’t.And what happens when the Columbia University President refuses to resign, as Johnson demanded? The faculty will frame it as defiance against Republicans on Capitol Hill and by proxy (though you and I might know it’s not true), Donald Trump. . .

. . . So I ask you again: what the fuck was Mike Johnson doing? When Biden’s White House is under continuous fire from its once-believed “baked-in” voters. To interrupt your enemy when he’s making a false move? The height of narcissism and folly. And dare I suggest, perhaps intentional?"

Thanks, Raheem. I needed that last sentence to disabuse me of the notion that they're stupid. Stupid though as it seems at first glance, it does indeed seem that this GOP is intentionally trying to sabotage Trump and other Republicans, MAGAns or RINOs, from gaining control this November.

Then again, as we have all postulated what do elections really mean in a nation that is now so top-to-bottom corrupt both in and outside of government, that they can be stolen now openly with zero repercussions? Where kangaroo courts, as well as private institutions such as banks and media platforms, are running pell-mell to destroy political opposition, be it from the most prominent leaders to lowly citizens?

Worst of all, we have schools that have not only poisoned the minds of at least three generations of children to hate their country, their heritage, their parents and even themselves? Where scores of them are now ready, willing and able to commit acts of violence at the drop of a hat. Or yarmulke?

A Jewish Yale University student was jabbed in [near] the eye with a flag pole by an anti-Israel protester on Saturday night, Sophomore Sahar Tartak told The Jerusalem Post.

Tartak, a history student and editor-in-chief of the Yale Free Press, had attempted to film the pro-Palestinian protest encampment that had been set up on the campus.

The visibly religious Jewish student and her friend were immediately met with a wall of five activists each, who did not allow them to pass.

“One of them takes their Palestinian flag and waves it in my face and then jabs it in the face,” said Tartak.

Tartak reported the assault to campus police, but she is unaware of any action taken besides calling an ambulance for her. The student went to the hospital, but was discharged and will not suffer permanent damage. Mentally, however, Tartak said that she was in an “awful” state.

Why did the campus police not seek to arrest the student who hit her in the face with a flagpole? Will the university now investigate the matter, and determine who that student was, so that he, or she, can be subject to appropriate discipline, including expulsion from Yale?

Sahar Tartak is now fearful of returning to the Yale campus, since these pro-Hamas demonstrators now know who she is and may seek her out for violent retribution for reporting the flagpole attack to the police, especially if the perpetrator is indeed discovered and prosecuted.

Meanwhile, just off Washington Square Park, not five blocks from where I once lived, this happened yesterday at NYU:

Out of control New York University protesters swarmed and berated an NYPD chief and his officers – calling them “f–king fascists” – after they cuffed one of the demonstrators at an anti-Israel rally, wild new video shows.

The viral video, shared on X, shows NYPD Assistant Chief James McCarthy and his officers being chased and surrounded by protestors on Monday night while trying to get inside the NYU Catholic Center after arresting one of them.

“F–k you! F–k you, pigs,” the crowd could be heard shouting as they harassed the officers and demanded they release the woman in custody.

Mccarthy is seen attempting to get inside the NYU Catholic Center, but couldn't open the door. He eventually finds an unlocked door around the corner. . .

. . . The wild incident occurred when the NYPD was called in to clear out the campus encampment set up at NYU on Monday night, with more than 100 protesters arrested.

The students had created their own “tent city” in solidarity with the sprawling encampment set up at Columbia University, with NYU students demanding their own school divest holdings tied to Israel over the war in Gaza.

During Monday night’s clash with police, some protesters pelted NYPD officers with bottles as they worked to clear the encampment, with one demonstrator hitting a cop in the head with a chair, the NYPD said.

If I want to be positive, most of these bastards will be descending on Chicago this summer to "attend" the Democrat National Convention. Although it's small consolation that they'll be mindlessly shrieking at Democrats, I suspect quite a few synagogues in the Windy City might have their walls covered in swastikas, if not firebombed. All in the name of "coexistence."

On the downside, how else can the Sponge-Brain Shits-Pants/Kalorama Klown Komintern stab Israel in the heart to try and appease them beforehand?

While perhaps that might not satisfy the rabid tiger's appetite for Jewish blood, this is on the horizon to mollify the Einsatz-groupies:

Democrats have already made it clear that they will stop at nothing – nothing – to prevent Donald Trump from winning in November. So, we aren’t surprised to read reports that President Joe Biden might declare a “climate emergency” this year in hopes that it gooses his reelection odds. Never mind that such a declaration would put the U.S. right on the path to a Venezuela-style future.

Late last week, Bloomberg reported that “White House officials are weighing whether to declare a national climate emergency several months out from the 2024 election.”

. . . Let’s leave aside the entirely fatuous notion that there is anything even remotely constituting a climate “emergency.” What would be the basis for such a declaration? The number of hurricanes, fires, floods? None of these has been trending upward. Death rates from natural disasters are a tiny fraction of what they were 60 years ago, and lower than they were 20 years ago. Food production is way up. . .

. . . As we just learned from the three-year COVID national emergency, the left will eagerly use a climate emergency declaration to strip Americans of basic rights.

Whatever you think of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he is one of the few who has been outspoken about the dangers the COVID precedent set.

“We’ve now established a precedent in this country – they suspended the First Amendment: religion; freedom of association when they did the lockdowns,” he told Fox News.

“[They restricted] freedom of speech. They banned jury trials against vaccine companies – that’s [a violation of] the Seventh Amendment. They abolished property rights [which violates the] Fifth Amendment [when] they closed 3.3 million businesses with no due process, no just compensation, although there was no pandemic exception in the United States Constitution.”

Way back in 1973, a Senate report noted that emergency declarations give the president the ability to “seize property; organize and control the means of production; seize commodities; assign military forces abroad; institute martial law; seize and control all transportation and communication; regulate the operation of private enterprise; restrict travel; and, in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens.”

. . . Declaring a climate emergency would give Biden the ability to control anything that uses energy – which means literally all human activity – in the name of fighting this emergency.

If Biden were to declare a “climate emergency” and if – God forbid – it helps him win reelection, there will be little hope for the future of this nation.

And if by some miracle the majority of American-Americans say "Hell no!" to this, the little monsters on campuses nationwide terrorizing Jews will be unleashed, unbound, and will come after us for threatening Mother Earth.

Picture Greta Thunberg in a Palestinian terror towel wielding a Molotov Cocktail. Times tens of thousands. Of course, Jews will be targeted first because capitalism is destroying the planet.

Remember: given everything going on today, we are all Jews now.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• "Declaring a 'climate emergency' would put the U.S. right on the path to a Venezuela-style future."
  Is Biden About To Declare Himself Climate Dictator?
  
• "A new book examines weaknesses in China’s meritocratic system—and in our own."
  Meritocracy and the Great Power Competition
  
• "Communist societies have a long history of imprisoning political dissidents in psychiatric wards."
  Marxist Health Officials Want You Committed

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:37 AM | Comments (411) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 25 April 2024

Top Story

• President Biden has carried out his ceremonial duties as pudding-in-chief and smeared the TikTok divest-or-die bill into law. (The Verge)
  
  Huzzah, I guess.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (184) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Wednesday Overnight Open Thread (4/24/24

*****

The Quotes of The Day

Quote I

‘It really is appalling behaviour. I am at a loss. Both of you talk about it as if it was a beloved family pet. What an example you are showing to your children about what love is.’ Judge Roy Bean Judge Christine Laing KC

Quote II

“That’s what you get for $68,000 a year at Columbia — an administration who cowers in the face of thugs and bullies, and a university president who would rather make your kids try to learn off campus, than take a truly hard line with those students calling for the murder of Jews,” Mike Rowe

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 09:46 PM | Comments (523) | Trackbacks (Suck)

White Devil Alec Baldwin Cafe

Streets of Barcelona
by @yeraysg

Little dog wants kisses.

Kitten shows dog who runs this cell-block, bitch.

i halp

Trapped in a glass case of emotions.

Morning in Bali.

Ladies, if you put it out there, you're going to draw some interest from mashers.

Anyone with a fear of spiders obviously hasn't yet enjoyed the beauty of a snake giving birth. As I always say, nature is fucking gross.

A dinner cruise in Antarctica's Drake Passage. (In? On? At?)

Octopus disguises itself as a big dangerous predator.

Not all heroes wear capes but the real ones do.

They should install these in San Francisco so that the homeless can shit in the outdoors without inconveniencing the normal people. Who don't exist in San Francisco so forget I said anything.

Bowling for tuna.

I am the one who knocks.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:30 PM | Comments (293) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Quick Hits

The Bee:

Steven Kruiser writes that it's the "adults" at the Failure Factories formerly known as elite colleges who are to blame for their students' sick worldview.

As evidence, he cites this from Rick Moran:

The most serious confrontations between police and protesters did not feature idealistic, earnest 19- and 20-year-olds, but rather 40- and 50-something faculty members who acted like a bunch of spoiled brats.

"The faculty were -- from what I personally observed, and spoke to lieutenants and captains out there -- the most aggressive towards the police," NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry told Fox 5. "They would not move, they would not let go."

Reliving the glories of their youth, no doubt. That and showing off for the kids, trying to be role models, and setting an example of lawbreaking.

"I think parents have an expectation that when they send their kids to college the faculty and their professors will be teaching and not protesting," said Tarik Sheppard, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. "It was shocking to see the faculty out there."

And this from Robert Spencer:

The New York Post on Thursday published video of a man wearing a kippah and with an Israeli flag draped over his shoulders passing by a crowd of protesters at Columbia. One young man shouted at him, "Keep it moving, you Zionist pig!" A few moments later, the man with the Israeli flag, responding to something that was said to him, asks, "Hamas is okay?" To that, a woman with a keffiyeh over her head and covering her mouth bangs on a metal crowd-control barrier and shouts furiously, "We are Hamas!"

Another supporter of Israel asks her, "You're what? You're Hamas?" as she keeps banging on the barrier. She responds while continuing to bang on the barrier, "Yes, we're all Hamas, pig!" Another protester adds, "Long live Hamas!"

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:26 PM | Comments (199) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Alec Baldwin Harassment Incident Just Got Weirder

As you know, a very annoying woman harassed Alec Baldwin, demanding that he say "Free Palestine." When he didn't, she started calling him a killer, which is true enough but she's very, very annoying.

He ultimately slapped the phone out of her hand. Actually, it looks like a full assault.

That's not going to help his defense in the negligent homicide trial for killing a woman.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:23 PM | Comments (208) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Journ-O-List 2.0: Fake Reporters "Covering" the Trump Trials Get Together on Weekly Zoom Calls to Coordinate Their Biased Stories

Byron York points out that the gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Trump trials, by CNN and MSNBC, are mostly filled with "talk" from commentators, as there's not nearly enough news per hour to fill the time.

Would you be surprised to hear that all of this talk pushes Soros DA's theories of made-up law?

As far as the TV talk is concerned, we might be heading into another "collusion" cycle, referring to the time in 2017-2018 in which some of these same news organizations devoted thousands of hours to discussing allegations that Trump conspired with Russia to fix the 2016 election....

If you're following the trial, you might notice that a lot of the commentary sounds alike. Many of the people who talked their way through the collusion cycle have jumped on to the false bookkeeping "election interference" train and tend to say the same things that their colleagues are saying. There's a reason for some of that uniformity.

On Tuesday, Politico published a story revealing the existence of a weekly Zoom call that includes "some of the country's most well-known legal and political commentators." The call is "an exclusive weekly digital salon," Politico's Ankush Khardori wrote, "whose existence has not been previously reported, for prominent legal analysts and progressive and conservative anti-Trump lawyers and pundits. Every Friday, they meet on Zoom to hash out the latest twists and turns in the Trump legal saga -- and intellectually stress-test the arguments facing Trump on his journey through the American legal system."

The key phrase is "anti-Trump." When group members stress-test arguments, they're trying to find the arguments that will be most effective in bringing down Trump. That's what it is about.

The group includes names you will recognize if you watch CNN or MSNBC a lot: Andrew Weissmann, George Conway, Bill Kristol, Norm Eisen, Laurence Tribe, Barbara McQuade, Joyce White Vance, Jennifer Rubin, Mary McCord, Harry Litman, Elliot Williams, Asha Rangappa, Norm Ornstein, Renato Mariotti, Shan Wu, Ryan Goodman, Karen Agnifilo, Jeffrey Toobin, and more.

...

And so on. Khardori, a former federal prosecutor, called the group "the perfect emblem of today's Trump-media-legal-industrial complex." The long effort to topple Trump has become a career for some. "For them, this is a unique opportunity to ... obtain a level of public recognition and stature that few lawyers can ever attain," Khardori wrote. "The people on this call ... are essential cogs in that system, helping to generate and shape content for Trump-hungry consumers."

In other words, the call is a strategic tool that can help participants bring down Trump and get famous, too. Win-win! But it's not something participants want to talk about. Indeed, Khardori said he reached out for comment to everyone whose name was mentioned in the story, and "none spoke on the record." Some apparently talked to Khardori off the record, but they had to remain anonymous because they had promised the group to keep the Zoom sessions a secret.

Related: Believe all womens.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:26 PM | Comments (170) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Released Emails Show Biden's White House Conspiring With Bureaucrats to Force the Documents Issue

Manufacturing a fake crime.

Just the News:

Just weeks after learning Joe Biden had improperly retained government documents, his administration began working with federal bureaucrats in spring and fall 2021 to increase pressure on Donald Trump for similar issues and eventually prompt a criminal prosecution of the 45th president, according to government memos newly unsealed by a federal judge.

The correspondence, released this week by U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon in Florida, provide the the most extensive accounting so far of how the Biden White House worked with federal bureaucrats to escalate pressure on Trump to return documents to the National Archives even as it slow-walked similar issues involving its own boss.

One email dated May 5, 2021, shows the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) had already consulted the Biden White House about missing Trump records, more than a year before the public would learn that the former president president had kept some classified memos.

"I have had several conversations with [Person 40] since the end of the Trump Administration about various paper records that he believes were not transferred to us," NARA General Counsel Gary Stern wrote to his colleagues in one May email.

"Person 40" was not identified by name in the document but was listed as working for the Biden White House in the Records Management Office, according to a motion filed by Trump's lawyers in the case, which was previously redacted.

On August 30, 2021, NARA Archivist David Ferriero began to press Trump records representatives more explicitly about the documents, vowing to make referrals to "the Hill, DOJ, and the White House" if the documents had been destroyed or where not turned over soon.

"As you have seen in the press, the House has requested records," Ferriero writes in one email chain. "Our ability to respond requires access to the 24 boxes which have yet to be accounted for. At this point, I am assuming that they have been destroyed. In which case, I am obligated to report it to the Hill, DOJ, and the White House."

By September 2021, Stern had decided to a criminal referral against Trump to the Justice Department after documents were still not returned, according to an FBI interview summary with a NARA employee, identified as "Person 53" in the court documents.

"Stern approached [Per. 53] to formally a letter to DOJ raising concerns about PRA materials from the TRUMP administration which remained unaccounted for by NARA," the FBI memo stated.

In his interview with the FBI, Person 53 noted in his "years of experience," he "understood NARA never had to make such a referral to DOJ...to accomplish such an ask."

When he circulated the letter internally, Stern told colleagues he had been in contact with "DOJ counsel" about the matter and was continuing to communicate with the White House Counsel's Office, showing the Biden administration was in the loop about the efforts to repossess Trump's documents.

"In addition, [White House] Counsel is now also aware of the issue, and has asked that I keep them in the loop to the extent that we make any reference to the White House Office of Records Management," Stern wrote in the email.

While NARA and the White House were engaging DOJ on Trump, Biden aides were trying to figure out what to do with memos Biden kept at his University of Pennsylvania Biden Center office in Washington, some which turned out to be classified.

Hey guys, this all looks shady, but remember, they're Saving Democracy by weaponizing the government's intelligence and "law" enforcement arms against political opponents.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:28 PM | Comments (271) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Hamas Releases Disgusting Propaganda Video of American Hostage Forced to Read Pro-Hamas Statement -- His Arm Missing Due to Hamas' Attacks on Him

Hamas are savages. Their minds cannot even conceive of civilization, or what a civilized man's thoughts might be.

Proof of that is this video -- which Hamas chose to release, thinking that a literal Hostage Video of a man maimed by their terror attacks will sway opinion in their favor.

Can't wait to hear Sandy Cortez explain that this now-maimed man lost his arm due to his own colonizer sins.

Hamas has released a propaganda video featuring one of the American hostages it holds. In it, Hersh Goldberg-Polin is seen reading a pre-prepared script blaming Israel for October 7th and everything that has transpired since.

Golberg-Polin was taken captive at the Nova Music festival that Hamas attacked, slaughtering hundreds of people in the process. He can be seen missing his arm in the video, an injury he sustained that day at the hands of the terrorists after they threw grenades into a shelter he was in.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:20 PM | Comments (280) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Biden Slurs His Way Through a Shpeech About Funding His Paymaters In Ukraine
Update: At Fundraiser, Biden Accidentally Reads Aloud the Scripted Stage Directions

He immediately signed the bill into law, then let his Ukranian masters know that the Biden Brand is all about prompt service.

Joe Biden delivered remarks on Wednesday on Iran and Israel, and the passage of the bill that gives supplemental aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

Of course, because it's Joe Biden, most of the comments centered around his priority -- Ukraine.

Incredibly, he claims we're "investing in our own industrial base" by giving our stores away to Ukraine because we have to replenish it. We wouldn't have to spend that amount if he didn't give our stores away.

Biden claimed they were trying to surge aid now so as not to drag the U.S. into a war in the future if Putin attacked a NATO country. But we are already involved in this war, with a seemingly endless supply of money/weapons going out to Ukraine, with no goal set that would signify the end of our involvement.

He noted the bill was also sending aid to Israel. Even with the teleprompter, he had difficulty, slurring and dropping words in what he had to say.

He tripped all over himself, trying to talk about the allies who helped against the Iran attack.

He is senile:

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:33 PM | Comments (269) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Senate Passes Ukraine Funding Bill

The Senate has passed a substantial $95 billion aid package to support Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan overcoming strong internal dissent and delays within the GOP-led House.

Key Details:

The bill received overwhelming Senate approval with a 79-18 vote, backed by majorities from both parties despite some vocal opposition.

The package includes $61 billion for Ukraine, $15 billion for Israel, and measures to address Chinese influence, notably involving TikTok.

Critics like Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) expressed dissatisfaction, citing concerns over prioritizing foreign borders over American needs.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed a significant $95 billion emergency aid bill aimed at bolstering the defense capabilities of Ukraine and Israel, marking a pivotal moment in U.S. foreign policy amid contentious debates. The aid package, designed to address several international and security concerns, passed with a substantial majority, signaling strong bipartisan support despite notable opposition within both parties.

...

"I think we've turned a corner on the isolationist movement," Senator Mitch McConnell said about the aid bill passage.

Joe Biden will give a Shpeech -- he doesn't give speeches any longer, only shpeeches -- at 3:45pm.

The Senate also passed a bill mandating the sale of TikTok to non-Chinese-state-security owners.

In a significant move by U.S. lawmakers, Congress has passed a bill that presents the most substantial challenge to TikTok's operations in the United States to date, aiming to address long-standing national security concerns associated with the app's Chinese ownership. The legislation mandates that TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, either sell the app or face a national ban, a decision backed by substantial bipartisan support and reflecting years of mounting scrutiny over the app's data privacy practices.

The bill's passage marks a culmination of efforts to legislate against the perceived risks posed by Chinese technology companies, with TikTok in the spotlight due to its massive user base and cultural influence in the U.S. Critics of the app, including key Senate and House leaders, have argued that ByteDance's ownership could allow the Chinese government undue access to the personal data of American citizens, a claim TikTok has repeatedly contested.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:18 PM | Comments (376) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Wednesday Morning Rant

In Name Only?

"Republican In Name Only" has been a pejorative for about as long as I've been politically aware. I remember it being bandied about often during the Bush 43 Administration, and less often but still commonly during the Clinton Administrations, when it was apparently first attested in print. It's been in use for an entire generation now, and been in frequent use for more than 20 years.

It remains evergreen despite the arrival of new and even more hostile appellations like "C*ckservative" (I'm not sure if that one will cause advertising grief in the main post, so apologies for the asterisk) that are also quite popular. Something about "RINO" just works and so it remains popular. It has an "X-factor" as far as political insults go and I doubt it will ever leave common parlance. That's too bad, really, because it should - or at very least, it should stop being an insult and become a compliment.

Posted by: Joe Mannix at 11:00 AM | Comments (358) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread [Kris]

Lonely Dwelling
Alfons Walde

Lonely Dwelling is a view of the Tyrolean Alps of Austria. The first thing I noticed about it is its texture. The mountain in the background is craggy and rocky, with high, steep cliffs created by Walde’s application of thick, heavy paint. It is caked on in a way that makes the work look three-dimensional, shaping the surfaces and creating sharp edges and deep crevasses. The artist sculpted this picture, not just painted it. In art, this technique is called impasto.

Along with impasto, Walde also uses chiaroscuro, a heavy use of contrasts between highlight and shadows, usually for dramatic effect. In a piece as quiet as this however, chiaroscuro is used instead to shape and define some objects and frame others. Look back at the blue mountain in the center and the buildings on the edges. There are no clouds allowing strong sunlight. The sun is also low in the sky — either mid-morning or mid-afternoon. This creates long, dark shadows and bright highlights. On the mountain, the blacks work with the thick paint to visually build up the crags and boulders even more. The mountain is solid, massive, and steep, and towers over the dwelling.

Walde’s use of steel-blue creates the illusion that the mountain is in the far distance. Called atmospheric perspective, this technique implies great distances in art and creates an illusion of depth on flat surfaces. Notice how the mountain fills the background even though it’s far away. Walde emphasizes the massiveness of the mountain. In the foreground, the deep black shadows frame the bright mountain and draw my attention to it even more.

Another trait of atmospheric perspective is as an object recedes into the distance, it will get hazier because the air diffuses light passing through it. Here the mountain is crisp and clear, however. Walde might be trying to convey thin air and high altitude. To me, this implies a physical toughness in the people that live here.

In contrast, the foreground is occupied by two plain buildings and two small figures – all painted in browns and black. Here too, Walde’s impasto sculpts and defines the buildings. Almost windowless, the houses seem roughly constructed. Walde’s brown paint creates a plastered-on effect on the outer walls, like a wattle-and-daub or adobe-type construction. To me, this makes the buildings look simple and rough and unassuming. A clue into the lifestyle and personalities of the people who choose to live here.

The mother and child are interesting. Walde painted this family in the same black and tans as the buildings, except for a small, blue cloth on the mother’s lap, the same blue as in the mountain. I think Walde is trying to create visual connections between the Tyrolian people and their region through color. He uses chiaroscuro to shape them. Rather than human forms, they seem to be constructed from blocks and without the heavy shadows, I think these figures would look flat and lifeless and might get lost within the painting. The chiaroscuro gives them mass and dimension.

Walde uses texture, color, and light to define the rough and rugged terrain, and through that, its people. Walde was Tyrolese himself. His later career focused on bright and positive depictions of this region, advertising its virtues and features, and portraying its people. I think his hometown-pride shows in works like this.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:30 AM | Comments (233) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Wednesday Morning Report (4/24/24)

*****

'Mornin' Horde. Hope you had your breakfast beverage and join Rover and I in prayers. Our country sure could use them. What do we have below the fold this morning?

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 06:15 AM | Comments (459) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 24 April 2024

Top Story

• Legislation to force Bytedance to sell TikTok or shut it down has passed the Senate, lathered in $90 billion of pork, and is headed for President Biden's desk where he is expected to ceremonially smear it with pudding thus passing it into law. (The Verge)
  
  Expect TikTok to start claiming its first amendment rights to act as a spy and propaganda agency for America's enemies tomorrow.
  
  Also... TikTok is banned in China.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:22 AM | Comments (90) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Tuesday Overnight Open Thread (4/23/24)

*****

The Quotes of The Day

Quote I

I can’t get out of bed and I’ve been crying in my sleep because I feel his teeth in me. I’m left with a hideous scar on my face. It’s just ruined my life, because it will never be the same now. Kelly Allen, attackee

Quote II

“The potential for autonomous air-to-air combat has been imaginable for decades, but the reality has remained a distant dream up until now,” Frank Kendall, secretary of the Air Force

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 10:04 PM | Comments (405) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Armored Catvalry Cafe

David French's basement
by @tk_north

Pandas live lives so similar to my own.

Dog says "you go on walking, I'll just hang out here for a while."

This dog, on the other hand, is very appreciative of its master.

i halp

i halp, part 2

Giving a monkey a ride.

Some trick video photography.

Crow gives a wolf the cutest little goose.

Lambada, The Forbidden Dance.

Dog has happypaws.

Sheep is trying to pass as a dog. Pretty good effort.

You can buy the cat all the toys in the world, he'll still prefer non-toys.

This dog has a favorite toy. And it's an actual toy.

This video is labeled "World's Worst Sheepdog," but I prefer to think of him as just herding sheep by alternative means.

Dog hears a bad progress report.

Border collie does parkour.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:20 PM | Comments (276) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Speedy Pummelling

The Bee:

Non-Prince Harry is now fully a US resident.

And Harry continues doing the laying about that Americans just won't do.

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has formally confirmed he is now a US resident.

The acknowledgment is said to underscore the prince's increasing estrangement from Britain, after he and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, walked away from royal duties four years ago.

A travel company he controls has filed paperwork this week informing British authorities that he has moved and is now "usually resident" in the United States.

The paperwork was filed by Travalyst Ltd, a company at least 75% owned by Harry and which was founded in 2020 to "to promote global awareness of the importance of sustainable tourism".

Meahwhile, a "royal expert" says that more employees of the monarchy will come forward with stories of being "bullied" by Meghan Markle.

Royal expert Tom Bower, author of "Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors," believes more information about Meghan Markle's alleged bullying will come to light now that a former aide has officially spoken out.

"The trickle of information will, soon enough, become a stream," he wrote in an editorial for the Daily Mail, published Tuesday.

Bower's statement comes one week after former palace aide Samantha Cohen confirmed in an interview with the Australian Herald Sun that she was one of 10 staffers who were questioned about allegations that Markle, 42, "bullied" staffers during her time in the palace.

In 2017, Cohen, who had previously worked for Queen Elizabeth, was tasked with getting Markle ready for the royal family.

Bower wrote on Tuesday, "Certainly, I believe that Ms. Cohen was soon exasperated, within six months or so, and that Meghan either disagreed with, or failed to understand, the non-negotiable elements of royalty. I also believe that members of Samantha Cohen's team viewed this as an irresponsible self-indulgence. Both sides would blame a clash of cultures."

Cohen, who resigned in 2018, said that she was "treated harshly" and compared her former job to "working with teenagers," according to "Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown" by Valentine Low.

I'm telling you it's a slow news day. I almost made these two piece-of-shit stories their own post.

The Voyager probe had stopped sending data and was Mostly Dead. But now scientists have remotely fixed it, and it's sending data again.

Turns out all they had to do was try turning it off and then back on.

The US space agency says its Voyager-1 probe is once again sending usable information back to Earth after months of spouting gibberish.

The 46-year-old Nasa spacecraft is humanity's most distant object.

A computer fault stopped it returning readable data in November but engineers have now fixed this.

For the moment, Voyager is sending back only health data about its onboard systems, but further work should get the scientific instruments back online.

Voyager-1 is more than 24 billion km (15 billion miles) away, so distant, its radio messages take fully 22.5 hours to reach us.

"Voyager-1 spacecraft is returning usable data about the health and status of its onboard engineering systems," Nasa said in a statement.

"The next step is to enable the spacecraft to begin returning science data again."

Weirdly, it says its new mission is to "find Creator Kirk." No idea what that means. I guess we'll find out!

A woman riding the LA Metro died after being slashed and stabbed in the neck by a homeless man. No big deal, just all part of California's plan to bring "a diversity of travel outcomes" to riders.

A homeless man with a criminal record was arrested for the stabbing death of an unidentified woman on the Los Angeles Metro train system while she was on her way home from work on Monday morning, officials with the Los Angeles Police Department say. Forty-five-year-old Elliot T. Nowden was arrested for the murder and robbery of the unidentified female victim, who was found with a stab wound in the neck at the Studio City station.
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According to police, Nowden approached the 50-year-old victim while still on the train and repeatedly stabbed and slashed her throat before taking her purse. The victim was able to get off the train at the Studio City Station, where she collapsed from her wounds. Police say LA City Fire officials were dispatched to the platform at approximately 4:59 Monday morning regarding a person down call. While responding to the call, dispatchers were updated with several calls stating that the victim was bleeding, but no one approached the victim to ascertain anything about her condition. When authorities arrived, they found the victim bleeding from her neck and transported her to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Cameras located at the station were able to record most of the incident on video and show Nowden leaving the scene immediately after. Police officers were able to apprehend Nowden approximately 30 minutes later, roughly half a mile from the scene of the crime. After being interviewed by homicide detectives, Nowden was subsequently arrested and charged with murder and held on $2 million bail.

Holding a killer on bail -- now there's an innovative concept.

Germany has passed a law facilitating gender transitions for children This is just about as young as five years old.

This is all about what the kids are telling us, right? Not what their genderblending teachers and evil parents are telling them, right?

At REDUXX:

The German Parliament, or Bundestag, passed one of the world's most far-reaching sex self-determination policies on April 12, despite protests from women's rights campaigners. The Self-Determination Act (SBGG) establishes 'gender identity' as a protected characteristic and allows parents to change the sex marker on their children's documents from birth.

That's misleading, and why I didn't publish this earlier. It lets parents change their child's sex from birth but not at birth. That is, they can go back in time and change the (paper) gender of their children as if it was determined to be the opposite gender at the time of birth.

But they only have to wait until the kid is five years old to do this.

Five year olds are fully-grown adults with mature minds, right?

Supported by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition and promoted and supported by the Socialist Democratic Party (SDP), the SBGG also creates the potential for citizens to be fined up to €10,000 (approx. $10,800 USD) for revealing a person's given name and birth sex without their permission -- an action that trans activists staunchly oppose and refer to as 'deadnaming.'

But arguably the most troubling aspect of the law relates to a portion of the bill which permits parents to alter the recorded sex of children beginning from birth. From the age of five years old, it allows for name and sex changes if there is "mutual consent" between the child and their parents.

Oh, and it lets you change your gender ever single year, but only once per year. If you decide you're a woman in April but then decide you're a non-binary trans-trending male in August, sorry, buddy, but you'll have to wait until the following April to make that official.

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Crucially, the law includes a ban on disclosure that prohibits naming the sex and former birth name of an individual. This prohibition also applies to family members in the SBGG. Anyone who violates the ban on disclosure will face a fine of up to €10,000, which could discourage family members from coming forward to discuss how the identity change impacts them.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:12 PM | Comments (272) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Minnesota State Senator and Democrat AWFL Arrested for Burlarizing Mother-in-Law's Home

She's immune to charges for robbing every other Minnesota citizen.

Minnesota Democratic Senator Nicole Mitchell has been arrested on suspicion of first-degree burglary, just days after posting in support of creating "safer communities" on social media.

Sen. Nicole Mitchell was arrested early Monday in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, following a 911 call about an ongoing burglary at a local residence.

The arrest comes at a critical time for Senate Democrats, who currently hold a slender majority. Mitchell's likely absence could jeopardize the passing of any narrowly supported legislation.

Before her political career, Mitchell served as a meteorologist and is a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard. She was elected to the Senate in 2022.

Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:58 PM | Comments (296) | Trackbacks (Suck)