Political Voices Network – Joyce Vance: There’s Now a Serious Path for Jack Smith & DOJ to Make a Charge on Trump. Here’s How..
The Gateway Pundit – If you haven’t already seen or read about tis, you are going to have difficulty believing your eyes.
Parody Project – Prison Cells
Picky Kitten Refuses To Give Up His Bottle
Beau – Let’s talk about Libya, the US, and Pan Am….
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There is no doubt that the FIFA World Cup fever engulfs its fans and inspires them to dress up in support of their nation’s team. The efforts they put in to making their costumes to support their countries at football’s biggest carnival is simply amazing!
But my gob was smacked when I was treated to this outfit:
When I first saw this, I thought it was fake – some CGI (Computer-Generated Image) or VFX (Visual Effects) character with augmented reality that was promoting the World Cup by honoring Brazil’s incomparable Pelé (who is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time having led team Brazil to World Cup Championships in 1958, 1962 and 1970).
I had the definite impression that I wasn’t really seeing an actual human being, but rather an animation enhanced by special effects. It truly seemed more like a digital rendition of a football player – like someone had just walked out of a video game.
But it’s a real person in the most imaginative costume I’ve ever seen!
This Brazil fan went all out 😳🇧🇷🪞 pic.twitter.com/Yjif15XtrS
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 9, 2022
@maskbusters #qatar2022 #fifa #fifaworldcup #qatarliving #thisisqatar #football #soccer #pele #worldcup #fortnite #trophy #ball #eventideas #evententertainment #specialevents #eventperformer #corporateentertainment #eventpros #eventservices #corporateevents #eventshow #liveentertainment #luxuryevents #show #eventplanner #mirror #costume #mascot #brazil #brasil
In fact there are three people decked out in these fabulous, mirrored costumes that have virally taken the World Cup fans – and Netizens of the world – by storm. Beside Pelé there’s one sporting a red jersey that portrays Cristiano Ronaldo, star of the Portugal national team. And finally, a third character all decked out in the quirky mirror outfit of a referee.
@onefootball Replying to @Luis Aguilar 👽 They are 🤩 @maskbusters #worldcup
@espnfc This #Brazil fan came ready at the #WorldCup 🇧🇷👏 #qatar #soccer #neymar (via cahemota/Twitter)
Turns out that these costumes were not crafted by a Brazilian or Portuguese fan – but are the creations of a company called MaskBusters. It’s located in Slovakia, and like you, I had lots of questions about their creations.
Sadly, I couldn’t find out as much as I wanted about the costumes or MaskBusters itself – but here’s what I did learn. They’re made of triangular pieces of colored reflective material forming a mosaic-like geometric outfit in a broken-glass pattern that’s sewn onto a layer of fabric. (You can make out the zipper on the back in a few of the frames.) The consensus of Netizens’ comments is that it’s most likely a thin plastic or possibly mylar – so it’s probably fairly lightweight.
I was unable to find out how hot they are, but probably not as hot as a lot of college and professional team mascot costumes are.
You can hire MaskBusters to design a costume for your event, but they don’t sell them. Apparently they have a crew of models who perform while using the mirroring costumes the client requested. I have no idea what the cost might be – either with a Google search or at the MaskBusters website.
Here’s a sampling from their portfolio of what they’ve created in the past:
Finally, sadly for the man dressed as Pelé, after reflecting on his team’s loss I’m sure he was “shattered” into a Brazilian pieces.
(I forgot – how many zeroes are there in a Brazilian?)
Yesterday was Beethoven’s birthday – although, in Eurpoe in his day, no one kept a record of birthdays. Most records were not kept by the state but by the church, and those recorded baptisms, not birthdays (if you are into genealogy you probably knew that.) We assume his birthday was the 16th because he was baptized on the 17th, and it was normal to baptize babies as soon as possible, usually on the day after the birth. Of course we could be wrong. But it’s such a long-established tradition now it would be a shame to have to change it. He would be 252, in case anyone cares. And there was no snow Thursday night (not that I expected any.) Tomorrow, I’ll be going to see Virgil, and yes, I will pass on all the greetings, and thank you very much for them. Last week I mentioned how tickled he was to get a card from my “frosted sister” and I should follow up by sharing that, when I sent her a note of thanks, she reaponded, “I couldn’t forget my brother-in-law at Christmas.”
Cartoon
Short Takes –
The 19th – The hate hasn’t stopped, Club Q shooting survivors tell House lawmakers
Colorado Public Radio – Club Q co-owner and shooting survivors testified at Congress about the tragedy and rising anti-LGBTQ hate
Quote 1 – Matthew Haynes, founding co-owner of Club Q in Colorado Springs, says he’s witnessed several kinds of anti-LGBTQ+ hate in the wake of the mass shooting there last month that left five people dead. There’s visceral hate, which he says the club, a longtime queer community space, has received through hundreds of vitriol-filled emails and letters since the shooting took place. Then there’s the “subtle hate” — which he identifies as legislation and leaders not respecting LGBTQ+ people or families, and in Republicans who did not vote for the just-signed Respect for Marriage Act.
Quote 2 – “To the politicians and activists who accuse LGBTQ people of grooming children and being abusers: Shame on you,” [Michael Anderson] said…. His testimony was part of a hearing on the rise of anti-LGBTQ violence convened by Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York, who chairs the committee. She said the Club Q attack is part of a broader trend of violence and intimidation across the country that includes the rise in anti-LGBTQ laws in state houses and in Congress.
Click through to one or both for more imformation.Once again I am combining two stories because they are the same, but for different audences. The first was written for a target audience of women and minorities, including LGBTQIA+, and the second for Colorado residents regardless of identity. Both can be painful to read … but I’m grateful for the Oversight Committee under Carolyn Maloney for holding the hearings, despite pushback from the GOP.
The Daily Beast – Discipline Crackdown Freaks Out Parents in Florida Schools
Quote – Two weeks ago, Brevard County, Florida, Sheriff Wayne Ivey stood at a podium set in front of the local jail and its barbed-wire fences and suggested that children were not sufficiently terrified of getting in trouble at school. “They know they’re not going to be given after-school detention, they’re not going to be suspended,” Ivey, whose school-based officers carry long guns, declared. “They’re not going to be expelled or, like in the old days, they’re not gonna have the cheeks of their ass torn off for not doing right in class.” The statement—made alongside newly installed far-right school board chair Matt Susin—ushered into public view a simmering conflict over safety and student discipline at one of the larger districts in the country.
Click through for details. I’d freakout too – even just as a citizen, not a parent. Actually, no matter where you live in the US, there is potential for adults who were damaged by this distrct as kids to move into your neighborhood. (I have no idea whether this sheriff is any relation to the Governor of Alabama.)
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Special Counsel Jack Smith RAMPS UP criminal investigation of Donald Trump’s crimes
Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Marjorie Taylor Greene talking to Young Republicans about Dildos (from the cussing pond – bleeped)
MSNBC – Jan. 6 Committee To Hold Public Meeting On Dec. 19
Rocky Mountain Mike – Trump In Jail Rock (full transcript at YouTube)
People Rescue A Mama Osprey After She Gets Attacked
Beau – Let’s talk about Trump not being in contempt….
Yesterday, I pretty much didn’t do anything. Didn’t even have any profound thoughts. I did notice that Weather Underground thinks I may get some snow tonight, but it’s only a maybe, and even if it happens, there shouldn’t be very much. I did work on some cartoons a bit.
Cartoon
Short Takes –
Robert Reich – The Fed is Dead
Quote – The Fed [met Tuesday. Wednesday], presumably, it will [have raised] interest rates again in its continuing attempt to stem inflation by slowing the economy. But the Fed’s rate hikes aren’t working. Despite seven straight increases in just nine months, totaling a whopping 4.25 percentage points — a pace not seen since the Fed’s inflation fight in the 1980s — price increases are still hovering near four-decade highs. The Consumer Price Index measure climbed 7.1 percent in November compared to a year earlier. The Fed’s rate hikes are slowing the economy, but not prices. Why not?
Click through for full facts. We have Robert Reich, and we have Paul Krugman, and both know what they are talking about. I cannot grasp why Democrats aren’t paying attention.
Mediaite – Rachel Maddow’s Podcast ‘Ultra’ is Headed to Hollywood as Steven Spielberg Acquires Film Rights
Quote – The show has consistently been among the top ten podcasts on Apple, in the weeks since its premiere. Now, it’s in the hands of Spielberg. Although the Hollywood legend is not set to direct the film, he will produce the movie adaptation alongside Bridge of Spies producer Kristie Macosko Krieger. According to Deadline, the talks to purchase film rights to the podcast became a bidding war in recent months with Maddow taking meetings with high-level Hollywood execs in an attempt to find the show, which she wrote and hosted, a perfect home.
Click through for details. I am tickled about this. Withe Spielbergs’s name (and I expect him to do a great job), this story will reach many people who would never otherwise even know it existed. I can’t wait to see who gets cast for Coughlin
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner missed another day (I hope he’s alright), and I can’t find him on Political VOices Netwrok either. So here is Lawrence with Neal Katyal, who aregued the right side of Moore v Harper before SCOTUS last week.
The Lincoln Project – Marjorie Taylor Greene Says The Quiet Part Out Loud
Meidas Touch – Top Democrat [Ted Lieu] FACT-CHECKS Republicans on their Vile and Deranged Conspiracy Theories (repetetive, but not terribly long)
Parody Project – Ambrose
Woman Rescues A Very Angry, Growly Feral Kitten And Earns Her Love
Beau – Let’s talk about Republicans assessing Biden….
Yesterday, I started the day by writing messages in the few seasonal cards I still don’t send electronically (because I don’t have an email address.) I had tried to finish them the night before, but my shoulder wouldn’t allow me to. After a night’s rest, it was a different story, and I quickly got it done. I got them tothe mailbox for today’s pickup – and, somehow, also mahaged to put out trash and recyclables.
Cartoon
Short Takes –
ProPublica – Inside Google’s Quest to Digitize Troops’ Tissue Samples
Quote – Mostly unknown to the public, the trove and the staff who study it have long been regarded in pathology circles as vital national resources: Scientists used a dead soldier’s specimen that was archived here to perform the first genetic sequencing of the 1918 Flu. Google had a confidential plan to turn the collection of slides into an immense archive that — with the help of the company’s burgeoning, and potentially profitable, AI business — could help create tools to aid the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other diseases. And it would seek first, exclusive dibs to do so.
Click through for more information. I can see great benefits from digitizing this data. By a private corporation, however,not so much. And Goolge knows that. Why else avoid publicity?
The Daily Beast – Inside the Jury Room for the Trump Org Criminal Trial
Quote – “I constantly fought my knee-jerk belief that of course anything with the name Trump on it is crooked,” one juror told The Daily Beast this week. “I shocked myself in mid-November when I realized that I wasn’t sure I could find the Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation guilty. We talked in the jury room about having to put on blinders and look just at these two companies. One of the guys started calling Trump ‘Joe Smith.’ From there on we referred to ‘Mr. Smith’s company.’” After a six-week trial, it took the jury just two days last week to come back with guilty verdicts on all nine counts issued against a pair of Trump Organization affiliate companies. Jurors were convinced the companies had blatantly committed fraud, but they still felt compelled to carefully consider each criminal charge to be absolutely sure the facts lined up with legal definitions, according to this juror who exclusively spoke to The Daily Beast.
Click through for details. Every trial lawyer in the country – even the world – should read this, and every law professors should make it required reading . The general public, and even lawyers, have some very inaccurate notions about how juries think and decide. In fact, the jury of 12 ordinary people (6 in some civil cases) is probably the most trustworthy piece of every justice system. When jurors go into that room to deliberate, they are as serious as a heart attack, and they work hard to stifle any preconceived notions and to evaluate the evidence, and decide with their heads, not with their emotions.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner (with Barbara McQuade on Political Voices Network. Sorry, but he skipped a day.)
MSNBC – Litman: ‘Inconceivable That 1/6 Cmte. Would Make Criminal Referral And It Not Be Trump’
Farron Balanced – Biden Admin Wants To Make Marjorie Taylor Greene The Face Of Republican Party
Parody Project – Addicted to Trump
Puppies So Happy Someone Showed Up In Middle Of Night To Save Them
Beau – Let’s talk about McCarthy’s first agenda item….