On the left is Jake, a 15-year old aging Boer who is nearly 300 pounds. He lives at a sanctuary because he refuses to respect enclosures of any kind. On the right is Sophie, an 8 year old Angora.
All the portraits are of sheep and goats, and they are wonderful! You can see the rest here.
From Kengi. So adorable. Click for full size.
© Kengi. All rights reserved.
From Lofty. Beautiful! Click for full size.
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Grackle. Click for full size.
© C. Ford. All rights reserved.
14. But imagine having to turn launch keys not knowing if we were under attack or if it was b/c foreign leader said a mean thing on twitter
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
15. The power is there to kill millions. Permanently alter the geopolitical landscape. It is a sacred, sobering responsibility.
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
16. Idea that nukes would be used, say over Raqqa or Mosul, simply because we have no more allies and it's a simple, easy fix is nauseating
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
18. respond. Nuclear deterrence is about balance. Trump is an elephant jumping up and down on one side of the scale. So damn dangerous.
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
19. But geopolitics aside, I can't get my mind off the young officers on nuke alert right now. Wondering if they'll soon answer to a madman.
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
20. And be asked to do a duty that should morally be asked of no human being, ever. //end
— John Noonan (@noonanjo) August 3, 2016
Via Raw Story. Also see: 9 Terrifying Things Donald Trump Has Publicly Said About Nuclear Weapons.
Gov. Phil Bryant. AP Photo.
Apparently, Governor Bryant doesn’t understand the word no, even though it has been explained to him repeatedly.
A federal judge had some harsh words for Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant when he refused—again—to let the state enforce what many have called the country’s most discriminatory law against LGBTs.
U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves refused Monday to stay his injunction against HB 1523 while Bryant organized his appeal, saying that the “absence does not impair the free exercise of religion.”
[…]
Reeves’s irritation with the case came through loud and clear in his brief, claiming he was “passing the baton” to a higher court and openly doubted if the governor would win on appeal.
Maybe that’s because the Magnolia State tried to compare businesses serving LGBT customers with forcing someone to fight in combat or get an abortion.
“Issuing a marriage license to a gay couple is not like being forced into armed combat or to assist with an abortion,” Reeves wrote.
Honestly, you can hear the exasperation in the writing.
I imagine that’s the same exasperation parents feel when presented with a toddler who refuses to take no for an answer. Grow up, Governor.
Via Out.
In the ‘water is wet’ category, Francis has railed against the concept of people being transgender. Here we go again with the whole “oh, it’s just a lifestyle choice” nonsense.
Pope Francis is getting criticism for speaking out against the idea that gender can be chosen.
“Today, in schools they are teaching this to children — to children! — that everyone can choose their gender,” the pope said in a meeting with Catholic bishops in Poland last week, the Associated Press reports. The Vatican released a transcript of his remarks today.
He quoted his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who retired in 2013 but still lives at the Vatican: “Speaking with Pope Benedict, who is well and has a clear mind, he was telling me: ‘Holiness, this is the epoch of sin against God the Creator, he’s intelligent! God created man and woman, God created the world this way, this way, this way, and we are doing the opposite.’”
Pope Francis has previously denounced the idea of gender mutability, saying that “gender theory … does not recognize the order of creation” and calling for “valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity,” as “it is not a healthy attitude which would seek to cancel out sexual difference.”
[…]
Criticism of the pope came from Kelsey Louie, CEO of Gay Men’s Health Crisis, who said he was “saddened and disturbed” by the remarks. In an emailed statement, Louie continued, “Our children deserve to know that of course they have the right to choose, and GMHC applauds all schools that teach students not to oppress who they are, but instead live the life as the gender they most identify with.” He noted that in light of the mass shooting at the Pulse LGBT nightclub in Orlando, “what we need now is for our world leaders to spread messages of tolerance and acceptance.”
The Advocate has the full story.
Supporters of Donald Trump at rally (Photo: Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock)
Some Trump supporters have spoken up on Reddit. The question was what would it take for a Trump supporter to switch to a different candidate. The responses are interesting, in a Donald sort of way.
User ThreeStarUniform said that if Trump admitted “I was only running to clinch it for Hillary,” would lose his support. Threatening a draft or saying anime isn’t real would also be an end game.
The Reddit community agreed that anime was a critical issue for them this election. “I didn’t even know I could be this triggered,” ihatethesidebar admitted.
This is an issue? That’s news to me.
Pornography is also an important issue for Reddit users. “Coming after internet porn is getting pretty f*cking close to finishing him off in my book,” one person wrote, as snickers followed.
Jrf_1973 is concerned about the TPP. They would be done if Trump were to say, “I’ve spoken to Hillary, and she is definitely definitely going to stop TPP. And I know I said I was going to do that, because it’s such a terrible treaty.. but if Hillary is truly against it, and I believe she is, then I must be for it. So if elected, I will absolutely pass TPP.”
Users agreed that they understood all of the words in that statement and that Trump has “the best words.”
Uh…I’m at a loss for words. Words that when strung together actually make sense, that is.
Redditer thisishowiwrite said that when they saw the list of tweets of Trump denying climate change is real, that was the end for them. Another user corrected them saying that Trump only denies climate change, unless it impacts him.
[…]
Another Reddit user described a creative event in detail that it would take to pull support from Trump this way: “Says he loves ISIS and takes a big sh*t on the American flag that’s covering the casket of a dead soldier while Westboro Baptist Church throws confetti on him.”
ScipioAfricanvs remarked that Mr. Trump has already taken “a big sh*t in the casket of a dead soldier,” referring to Cpt. Khan.
I’m glad someone pointed out the situation with Trump and his complete nastiness towards the Khan family.
A user who admitted his father is a die-hard Trump supporter who would never leave the candidate, summed it. “He could murder his wife, I wouldn’t care.” “We arent voting for trump, we are voting to find out the truth about Obama and where he came from, and what grades he got, and who his real father is,” his father told him.
“My dad then started talking about how he will never find out what happened to JFK, maybe his grandson (age 9) will find out, but in my dad’s lifetime he won’t get to know,” the user continues. “And it is ‘obvious the JFK assassination was set up by someone in the government.’ But we won’t ever know what really happened with JFK, or all the secrets Obama has. A vote for Trump would ‘reveal all of Obama’s secrets’ and ‘get Obama and Hillary locked up.’”
The user clarified, “My dad also believes that trump can’t actually harm America because ‘Congress won’t let him.’ But Hillary and Obama will make America a third world country that we won’t be able to recover from in my (me, age 31) lifetime.”
How in the hell anyone could possibly reason with the above person is beyond me. There’s an intense level of stupid in this country.
Via Raw Story.
Herb Williams works in crayon, and his pieces are stunning, pure awesomeness.
Crayons are a gateway drug. To most adults, the sight and smell of crayons produce specific memories of childhood. The twist in the road to nostalgia is the creation of a new object, from a medium in which it was not intended. This element of unexpected interaction and play had me at hello.
I am one of the only individual wholesalers of crayons in the world. Because I am in pursuit of larger ideas, the playful aspect of my medium is integral to the works of art I’m creating. I can subversively insert a concept that may bloom well after the initial recognition of the form as a familiar children’s implement. To create my work I need to produce sculpture on a grand scale (which takes thousands and thousands of crayons), so I order each color individually packed (3000 to a case) and cut the sticks down to the length I need. I then bond the paper—not the wax—to a form I have carved or cast, completely enveloping the form.
I am interested in identifying iconic objects that society perceives to fit one role and then reintroducing them in different subtexts. Intriguing questions arise when an object associated with childhood, such as a crayon, is used to address issues dealing with more adult matters, such as sexuality, religion, and social hierarchy. The sculptures are childlike in their curious approach to the object as icon, but beguiling and satisfying to me in the use of pure color as form. Larger room installations also add the element of playing to the olfactory sense, as the scent of the wax completely saturates the environment. My intent is to continue to seriously create art that looks at itself unseriously.
Spend some looking around his galleries, you won’t be disappointed! One of Mr. Williams’s projects was also featured on Colossal.
And how beautiful they are! From Kengi, click for full size.
© Kengi. All rights reserved.
This 2″ x 1″ section of knots is one skein of embroidery thread. A skein is 8 m (8.7 yards). This marks the 127th skein used so far in the Tree Quilt. If I have the time to order online, I do, because it’s a substantial savings at 49 cents per skein. The times I have to pick up what I need at Joann’s, not so great, because the cost per skein there is 70 cents to 1 dollar per skein.
© C. Ford. All rights reserved.
Clickety for full size.
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Downy Woodpecker. Click for full size.
© C. Ford. All rights reserved.