Utterly stunning works by Claude-Olivier Guay – just two here. While I’m busy putting my jaw back together, you can see and read more about this amazing artist at The Creator’s Project.
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Art, Fun, & Nonsense.
Utterly stunning works by Claude-Olivier Guay – just two here. While I’m busy putting my jaw back together, you can see and read more about this amazing artist at The Creator’s Project.
A raft of baby Chinch photos, more than enough to start your day with a thawed heart. (Our vet is a Chinch person, has three of them!)
All the Light Pillar photography a person could want, from all over the world, here’s a few:
MORE CLAY LESS PLASTIC was born in 2014 as an open group on Facebook with the intent of creating a network between ceramicists and the public.
THE MESSAGE The message we want to put through is very simple: more clay less plastic.
PLASTIC POLLUTION Plastic pollution has reached dramatic levels. Reducing the use of plastic is a fundamental and urgent step to save the environment and improve the life quality of every living creature.
INVOLUTION AS A FORM OF EVOLUTION The aim is to highlight respect for the environment by inviting people to rethink their daily habits, for example by avoiding disposable plastic. Colanders, cups, plates, bowls … once made of clay and then substituted with plastic, can be made of clay again.
PEOPLE Today MORE CLAY LESS PLASTIC is coming out of the web to meet people, promoting the reduction of plastic usage at cultural events, workshops and exhibitions.
ARTISANS MORE CLAY LESS PLASTIC believes in craft as a means of going back to a more human dimension, in artcrafts which are not just “things” since they carry stories and ancient knowledge within. By replacing a plastic utensil with a ceramic one we can all be part of a big revolution.
I’m all in favour. When I was young, plastic wasn’t ubiquitous yet. It was getting there, but you still saw much more glass, ceramic, and wood than you did plastic. Go on over and have a visit.
From rq, click for full size.
© rq, all rights reserved.
Blue Jay, click for full size.
© C. Ford.
For the first time in the 70-year history of the Doomsday Clock, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board has moved the hands of the iconic clock 30 seconds closer to midnight.
In the 2017 Doomsday Clock Statement, the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board notes that world leaders have failed to come to grips with humanity’s most pressing existential threats: nuclear weapons and climate change. Disturbing comments about the use and proliferation of nuclear weapons made by Donald Trump, as well as the expressed disbelief in the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change by both Trump and several of his cabinet appointees, affected the Board’s decision, as did the emergence of strident nationalism worldwide.
http://thebulletin.org/press-release/board-moves-clock-ahead10433
Trump administration chief strategist Steve Bannon (Screen cap).
Might as well start with the worst. One those ever so savvy business moves of Trump’s seems to be based on a very old office adage: always look busy. Because the most important thing is appearances, of course. It seems Donny wants to give the impression that he’s hard at work, right away. Unfortunately, he’s not doing anything, and he’s leaving the impression of busy work to others, who like Donny, don’t have the slightest fucking idea of what they are doing. I don’t like Pence, not even one tiny bit, he’s an evil fucker, but he is an experienced politician, who is actually familiar with the actual work, so I have to wonder why he’s so conspicuously missing. It turns out, Donny’s little nazis are busy churning out the busy work.
Two of Donald Trump’s senior advisors — neither of whom has any previous government or legal experience — have reportedly been writing executive orders without any input from the agencies they would effect.
Aides told Politico that Steve Bannon, the president’s chief strategist, and Stephen Miller, the senior White House advisor for policy, have made almost no effort to consult with federal agency lawyers or lawmakers as they wrote executive orders.
Bannon, the former chairman of Breitbart, and Miller, a Republican political operative who’s written most of Trump’s major speeches, are writing many of the orders based on ideas that came from transition officials or “landing teams” who weren’t working in the White House.
The orders have come so quickly, and from seemingly out of nowhere, that aides sometimes aren’t even sure which actions Trump will sign until they cross his desk.
“He was determined to show people that he’s getting to work from Day One,” a source told Politico.
The quick pace gives the appearance of momentum as the Trump administration gets up and running, but legal experts are concerned the White House is issuing “flawed orders that might be unworkable, unenforceable or even illegal,” the website reported.
For example, the website reported the White House failed to ask State Department experts to review the memorandum on the Keystone XL pipeline, although the Canadian company vying for a permit to build the project is currently suing the U.S. for $15 billion.
A former State Department lawyer who worked on the Keystone proposal said Trump’s order was “more than unusual, that’s reckless.”
There’s much more here. I’d call this a clown show, but actual clown shows are well planned and timed. This…I don’t know what this is. Even clusterfuck doesn’t cover it. Whatever the case, ‘government’ has nothing to do with it. These idiots don’t understand government, they don’t know how to govern, they don’t understand procedures or laws, or anything. It’s just a frenzy of second rate fascists trying to ram anything and everything through.
Moving on…
Suspected undocumented immigrants are transferred out of the holding area after being processed at the Tucson Sector of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection headquarters CREDIT: AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File.
Trump’s scarily close to insane fixation on immigration is going to be incredibly costly, and it should go without saying, highly harmful to all manner of peoples.
As part of a series of executive orders aimed at attacking immigrants and immigrant communities, President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that going forward, his administration will order the mandatory detention of all those apprehended or arrested by immigration enforcement officials.
The U.S. already spends more on all immigration enforcement — nearly $20 billion a year — than on all other federal law enforcement combined, and currently detains more immigrants each day — more than 42,000 — than ever before. Summary removals and mandatory detention are at an all-time high. And the focus on removals has come at the cost of due process, placing vulnerable populations like asylum seekers at risk. The number of asylum seekers held in detention increased threefold from 2010 to 2014.
Making detention mandatory will only exacerbate these issues.
It will also be expensive. The mandatory detention of all immigrants apprehended or arrested will cost the U.S. an additional $902 million each year, for a total of $9 billion in new federal spending over the next decade.
[…]
And these estimates are by their nature conservative. They don’t take into account potentially lengthened stays in detention under this executive order, nor any costs to DHS for rapidly building or acquiring more detention facilities and bed space to meet new needs.
Let’s put that in perspective. For $9 billion, the U.S. could instead:
- Build over 550 new elementary schools, at $45 million each.
- Hire over 16,500 new kindergarten and elementary school teachers, and pay their salaries for the next decade.
- Pay in-state tuition costs for just over 93,000 students at public universities, each year for the next decade.
Ah, those would be good things though, and the rethuglicans are in charge of the asylum, so we definitely rule that out. No point at all in helping all people, and building a safe and stable society, with some thought to a social safety net. No, in our new fascist order, that sort of thing is bad. Spending all that money to simply no point outside of causing harm, that must be more of those really good business moves we keep hearing about. *eyeroll*
Speaking at a church event in Wichita [in 2014], then-Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kansas), the newly confirmed Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said radical Muslims want “to wipe Christians from the face of the Earth,” and that Christians need to pray, fight, and understand that “Jesus Christ our Savior is truly the only solution for our world.”
[…]
“But I can tell you that this threat to America is from people who deeply believe that Islam is the way and the light and the only answer,” said Pompeo.
“So, as we think about what U.S. policy needs to be, how we will begin to combat this, we need to recognize that these folks believe it is religiously driven for them to wipe Christians from the face of the Earth,” he said.
Right. You think your god [placeholder] is the way and the light and the only answer. You believe, as a christian, you are religiously driven to wipe muslims from the face of the earth, and you want to force your religious beliefs on everyone. As usual, such fanatics completely ignore the fact that you aren’t fighting over two gods [placeholder], it’s the same fucking one. Abrahamaic religions: Judaism, Islam, Christianity. Same fucking god. (If you’re confused, ‘god’ is a generic word, a placeholder for a specific god; ‘allah’ is the same thing, means ‘god’. Unless you specify, ‘god’ in any language could be applicable to thousands of imaginary beings.)
You bloodthirsty christian assholes want a jihad, you want to kill, slaughter, and most likely torture first. No room to talk here, a fanatic is a fanatic, and all you idiotic fanatics want to do this over different interpretations. It’s fair enough to say most christians just want to live their lives, like everyone else, and be left in peace. It’s fair enough to say the very same thing about most muslims. I dearly wish we could just lock up all you fucking religious fanatics in a room, lock it, and walk away.
“But these folks are serious and they abhor Christians,” said the future CIA director. “And [they] will continue to press against us until we make sure that we pray and stand and fight and make sure that we know that Jesus Christ our Savior is truly the only solution for our world.”
Yes, some fanatical assholes do abhor christians. Just like some fanatical assholes abhor muslims. Can’t say I’m altogether fond of fanatics of any stripe, but here in the States, where I live, it’s christians who constantly prove to be a threat to all people who don’t measure up to their fucked up immoral standards. Turn that laser focus on yourself, sir, and let that ‘god’ of yours fight its own fucking battles.
Unsurprisingly, Pompeo is willing to go along with Trump and bring torture back, because torture good.
Via CNS.
The U.S. Department of Defense had an interesting tweet yesterday:
From refugee to #Marine. @USMC Cpl Ali J. Mohammed takes the fight to the doorstep of those who cast his family out.https://t.co/oSXWGrzsL7 pic.twitter.com/UVlWsaESic
— U.S. Dept of Defense (@DeptofDefense) January 25, 2017
“From refugee to Marine,” the tweet reads. “USMC Cpl Ali J. Mohammed takes the fight to the doorstep of those who cast his family out.”
The tweet then links to an article on the Marines’ official homepage that explains how Mohammed and his family came to the United States after being targeted by Iraqi insurgents for their role in helping the U.S. government during the Iraq War.
Mohammed subsequently enlisted in the Marines in 2014, and is now serving in Iraq as “a translator with an SPMAGTF Advise and Assist team that supports Iraqi forces as they fight to oust ISIL from their country.”
It’s not known whether the DoD’s social media manager sent out this particular story on Wednesday to tweak the president, although the timing is interesting given Trump’s expected new policy on Muslim refugees that would have barred Mohammed from ever entering the United States in the first place.
This is activism. Small, subversive activism, and I hope to all hells that we see much more of it, and people gather their spines and stand up against the fascist regime. This is one tiny facet of the most important thing – refusing to other, seeing human beings as human beings. I don’t know who tweeted this story, but I’m thankful, and this small act put a smile on my face, and kindled a tiny flame in my heart.
Via Raw Story.
The CDC’s 2015 HIV Surveillance Report is out, and with it, the 15 cities with the highest rates of new cases of HIV. What’s striking here is that most of the new cases are in the South. Tireless work has helped to reduce the stigma of HIV, but with the ongoing and ever increasing bigotry against all queer folk, that stigma is re-asserting itself, along with the stigma of being LGBT in many states. It must be emphasised, once again, that hetero people also contract HIV, it’s no guarantee at all that you won’t be at risk. I don’t care what people do sexually, as long as they are fully consensual adults, but in such hateful and uncertain times, especially in regard to healthcare, this is no time to take risks or blithely assume it won’t be a problem for you. It’s best to remember that a great many people cheat, too. And cheaters have a tendency to lie. Please, be careful, protect yourself and your partner[s] at all times, take the time to be aware of not just HIV, but all sexually transmitted diseases, get tested, urge others to get tested, and don’t let yourself be bullied by any partner or potential partner who does not want to use protection or get tested. If you are sexually assaulted or raped, don’t eschew testing, it could save your life. This applies even if you do not want to report. No one can force you to report, but get tested.
Cities, in order: 1, Miami, Florida. 2, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 3, New Orleans, Louisiana. 4, Jackson, Mississippi. 5, Atlanta, Georgia. 6, Orlando, Florida. 7, Louisville, Kentucky and Jefferson County, Indiana. 8, Memphis, Tennessee. 9, Jacksonville, Florida. 10, Baltimore, Maryland. 11, Houston, Texas. 12, Washington, DC. 13, Columbia, South Carolina. 14, Las Vegas, Nevada. 15, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida.
If you’re in one of these cities, be vigilant about your health, but remember, being outside these states is no guarantee. Be careful, please.
Via Plus.
The T.R.U.T.H Project will be active in one of the listed cities, Houston.
To commemorate National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, an initiative to engage the Black community about the importance of HIV education and testing, on February 7 the T.R.U.T.H project will hold a performance and panel discussion with Houston health professionals and advocates to discuss and answer questions about HIV and mental health.
The one-night only event is titled “I am My Brother/Sister’s Keeper: Fight HIV/AIDS” and will also be providing free HIV and Syphilis testing for all who attend. The show is sponsored by the Houston Department Bureau of HIV/STD Prevention and Walgreens, with additional support from AIDS Foundation Houston, and will be moderated by author and empowerment coach Jai Sneed.
[…]
“We can’t address HIV/ AIDS without touching on mental and emotional health. The public health and scientific communities are working on great new biomedical interventions, but uptake and effectiveness are stagnated when other needs aren’t being met.”
Panelists include licensed professional counselors Dr. Kimm Perez and Milton Smith, Human Rights activist and HIV advocate Deondre Moore, PrEP and HIV Advocate Adonis May, clinical social worker DeShantra Moore, HIV/AIDS advocate Tiffany Quinton, and will feature artists Nick Muckleroy and visual artist Ashley “Pinklomein” Price.
Those with mental health issues are at higher risk of becoming HIV-positive, and once poz are more likely to have negative health outcomes, especially if they are Black gay men.
Via Plus.
Joshua and James Wedzin with some of their art. James says watching his son work is influencing his own art. (Curtis Mandeville/CBC).
A lovely story about a child following his own artistic path in the wake of his father’s.
When nine-year-old Joshua Wedzin of Behchoko, N.W.T., isn’t watching TV, playing with his brother or at school, he is at work in his artist father’s studio, painting the stars.
His father, James Wedzin, is a well known Tlicho artist who taught himself and then trained at art school in Victoria. He draws inspiration from the landscape around Behchoko.
James said his son began watching him create artwork a few years ago. James said he would get up at 4 a.m. and head over to his studio to work on a carving or painting, and an hour later his son would get himself out of bed just to watch him work.
Joshua recalls being mesmerized by his father’s artwork.
“His painting was beautiful was [what I thought] when I first seen them,” he said.
James, 43, had been teaching others before deciding to take a break. That gave him the opportunity to teach his son.
“So this one day I asked him ‘would you like to paint?’ First he says ‘I just want to watch first.’ And then I painted and talked with him… I didn’t bug him to paint at the time… and then finally one day he came in and says ‘I want to paint northern lights.'”
The full story, and more pictures of these two extraordinary artists is here.
Death, comes for us all. From rq, click for full size.
© rq, all rights reserved.