Yes, We Have No Erinyes #2

 Posted by at 8:36 am  Politics, Religion
Mar 042017
 

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage.  I try to present incidents from the news which call for outrage, in order to help with keeping it alive.  As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."

But I am giving the Furies a week off – at least from me.  In "The Resistance #40" (in TomCat's Open Thread for March 1  and also on the YouTube GQ channel), Keith covered exactly the kind of atrocities I try to cover, covered more of them than I would have room for, and covered them in a fiery icicle-dripping tone (oxymoron, yes, but I stand by it) that I can't begin to match in print.  So I am sending the ladies over to him to follow up on those incidents, while I indulge some of my passion for art.

Now, of course, we all know there are two kinds of Christians, real ones and fake ones.  And probably some of us know there is another way to divide Christians where both divisions contain both realies and fakies, and that is liturgical or non-liturgical.  "Liturgy" comes from the Greek words for "people" and "work," though today we think of it mostly as doing church services with the same words every time, or verbal ritual.  Probably the Catholic Church is the most liturgical on the western side (as opposed to the orthodox denominations), keeping its verbal ceremonies in obsolete languages long after they are obsolete, and keeping them always the same.  But it's not just verbally that Catholics are liturgical.  We like movements (ever been to a Catholic service and wonder whether you had accidentally read "catholic" when it was really "calisthenic"?) and we like objects.  In that way, a new ager focusing energy through a crystal or a wiccan focusing on a tarot symbol is also being liturgical.

During Lent (which started Wednesday), one liturgical exercise that a Catholic (or anyone who wants to) can do is called The Way of the Cross (or the Stations of the Cross or the Via Crucis, or the Via Dolorosa).  You will see around most Catholic churches a series of picture, fourteen in number, often seven up one side and seven down the other, showing incidents which happened before, during and after the Crucifixion.  It's the same 14 incidents everywhere, at least since about 1588, and there are some prayers that are traditional, but the idea is that you can go round them and contemplate each one, and so do a mini-pilgrimage.

Sometines they will be outdoors (there is a remarkable outdoor set in Colorado's San Luis Valley), and it is an outdoor one that made me want to share this today.

Coexist House at this point is a vision for a new ecumenical landmark in London, England.  But they have coordinated with people and institutions in Washington, DC, to "build" a (mostly) outdoor Stations of the Cross from existing art.

This unique exhibition—held in 14 locations across Washington, D.C. —  will use works of art to tell the story of the Passion in a new way, for people of different faiths. The Stations weave through religious as well as secular spaces.  In this pilgrimage for art lovers, viewers  will travel across the District, from the United Methodist Building adjacent to the Supreme Court, to the National Cathedral.  Instead of easy answers, the Stations aim to provoke the passions: artistically, spiritually, and politically. 

I won't show an illustration of every station, but the fourteen works selected for this different incidents are:

Station One
​Jesus is condemned to death by the mob
The United Methodist Building
Ndume Olatushani 'Disrupting the Cradle to Prison Pipeline ' 2017

Station ​Two
Jesus takes up his cross and begins his journey
West Potomac Park
Lei Yixin, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, 2011

Station ​Three
Jesus falls the first time
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
George Segal, Depression Bread Line, 1991 and Leonard Baskin, The Funeral Cortege, 1997

Station ​Four
Jesus meets his mother
Vietnam Women's Memorial
Glenna Goodacre, 1993

Station ​Five
Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross
Marine Corp War Memorial – Iwo Jima
Felix de Weldon, 1954

Station Seven
Jesus falls for the second time
National Gallery of Art
Barnett Newman, Stations of the Cross: Lema Sabachthani, 1958-1965

Station ​Eight
Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
First Congregational United Church of Christ
Leni Diner Dothan, Dead End, 2017

Station ​Nine
Jesus falls the third time.
Church of the Epiphany
Michael Takeo Magruder, Lamentation for the Forsaken, 2016

Station ​Ten
Jesus is stripped of his garments
Catholic Charities
Timothy Schmalz, Homeless Jesus, 2013

Station ​Eleven
Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross
Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart at Georgetown University
Altar Cross, 17th century

Station ​Twelve
Jesus dies on the cross
American University Museum
Fernando Botero, Abu Ghraib 73, 2005

Station ​Thirteen
Jesus is taken down from the cross
St. Sophia Orthodox Cathedral
Epitaphios

Station ​Fourteen
Jesus is laid in the tomb
Washington National Cathedral
Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea

Some of these choices, I think, are obvious, but most are anything but, and some are so striking they just grab the imagination and won't let go.  Here is a link to the page which provides a small picture of each, explains the rationale for each choice, and gives the hours, a map, and a short podcast for each.  Everything you'd need to know.  For those here who are not Christian or not liturgical, hopefully you can still appreciate the art, and perhaps the inspiration the art is intended to evoke.  I am not trying to proselytize, but to share.

Let me end with an image of the face of Jesus which I have found to be extremely moving; I have often tried to describe it (usually eliciting responses like "yeah, yeah, whatever."  I don't think it can be described; I think it has to be seen).  As far as I know, the only place it can be seen is in a book by Frederick Buechner called The Faces of Jesus, which contains over 150 photographs, all but about a dozen of which were taken by Lee Boltin, who holds the copyright.  I think showing one out of about 140 (with full credit) constitutes fair use here.  Beyond here, maybe not so much; if you want to share it beyond here, I'd appreciate you having your friends come here to see it.   The original, by an unknown sculptor, is in a private collection.  The book is still in print in paperback, about 3/4 of the size of my hardcover.  The images range in time from about the 6th century to yesterday, in space from all over the world, in artistic ability from children's refrigerator art to great masters, in medium from bronze through stone, wood, tapestry, and paper, to almost anything you can think of, including one sliding steel door.  I hope that at least some others here will appreciate seeing this one.

The Furies and I will be back.

 

Cross posted to Care2 at http://www.care2.com/news/member/101612212/4040239

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Friday Fun – Can One Overdose on Schadenfreude?

 Posted by at 1:32 pm  Politics
Mar 032017
 

Have you noticed that after reading the tons of terrible troubles that the Twitler Klan is facing these days there’s an extra bounce to your step?  The corners of your mouth are heading north more often?  Foods taste better?  Your sex life is … well, maybe we should stop here.

At any rate, the depressing funk from the 11/8/16 apocalypse is lifting – at least is some aspects.  And while the RESIST and INDIVISIBLE movements have had a genuine impact on mobilizing us proud Liberals, the downside is that they have also galvanized the Trumpkins.

Twitler pleaded with his Trumpster-Divers to show up in full-force prior to his Joint Session of Congress speech this past Tuesday, and Breitbart predicted the turnout would be “massive”.  And it was!  They turned out in hundreds of millions … tens of thousands … DOZENS! 

So let’s take a look at what we’re up against, since it was Sun Tzu who advised, in “The Art of War”, that we should “Know your enemy”.

[NOTE: You can right-click or scrollwheel-click on most of the photos to open them full-size in a separate window]

       [That one is Atlanta … ATLANTA!]

  

And my favorite:

BREA, CA – FEBRUARY 27: A supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump sits on a bench next to a cardboard cut out of President Trump during a rally in favor of the "America First" on February 27, 2017 in Brea, California. Dozens of supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump held a rally outside the office of U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) in support of the "America First" agenda that the Trump administration is pushing forward. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Of course from Twitler's point of view …

So in answer to Twitler’s pleading Tweet …

You already did …

It Wasn't!

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Beauregard on the Run

 Posted by at 10:45 am  Politics
Mar 032017
 

In one of the few stories that we would classify as good news,  KKK Beauregard, the racist, misogynistic, homophobic, pseudo-Christian bigot that Fuhrer Drumphenfarten appointed as AG, had been caught red handed committing perjury in his Senate confirmation hearing.  Although he should resign immediate in the hope of evading charges, he has opted to recuse himself from matters pertaining to Russian interference in our election and contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials in a desperate attempt to cling to power.

0303sessions-kislyak

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday that he will recuse himself from investigations related to the 2016 presidential campaign, which would include any Russian interference in the electoral process.

Speaking at a hastily called news conference at the Justice Department, Sessions said he was following the recommendation of department ethics officials after an evaluation of the rules and cases in which he might have a conflict.

“They said that since I had involvement with the campaign, I should not be involved in any campaign investigation,” Sessions said. He added that he concurred with their assessment and would thus recuse himself from any existing or future investigation involving President Trump’s 2016 campaign.

The announcement comes a day after The Washington Post revealed that Sessions twice met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the campaign and did not disclose that to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing in January… [emphasis added]

From <Washington Post>

Beauregard did more than fail to disclose the contacts.  He lied under oath and said there were no contacts.

0303sessionsRep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Friday morning that Attorney General Jeff Session’s explanations of why he didn’t disclose two meetings with the Russian ambassador to the Senate are “not credible.”

“You don’t, I think, treat a visit in your office by the Russian ambassador as something casual, something not memorable,” Schiff said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “And when you’re asked about your contacts with Russians in the senate, that should have been disclosed. I think he knew it should have been disclosed.”

Sessions met twice with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in 2016 but said he “did not have communications with the Russians” during his confirmation hearing. The attorney general recused himself Thursday afternoon from any investigation involving the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia, which he strongly supported.

Schiff, one of many Democrats to call for Sessions to resign Thursday, said although perjury has a high standard, that is not the standard to evaluate Sessions’ ability to do his job…

From <Politico>
Photo Credit: Blog for Arizona

Frankly, I think he should be charged.  Lawrence O’Donnell has some excellent commentary for us.

Yes, even the Fuhrer threw Beauregard under the bus by mistake.  But lest be real for a second.  Kislyak, the Russian ambassador, who is both chatty and a political wonk, visited Beauregard at his office at the Republican National Convention.  To suggest that the campaign never came up in that circumstance has to be BS!

RESIST!!

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Open Thread – 3/3/2017

 Posted by at 10:44 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 032017
 

Another day has gone by as the Republican Party keeps sticking its grotesque head farther into the noose.  What we don’t know is whether or not Republicans will destroy the nation before the noose tightens.

Personally, I slept well, but am still quite tired.  Fighting through bad vision to complete the simplest tasks is exhausting.  A little over a year ago, I went to see my Ophthalmologist for new glasses.  I will be so happy when the hornets nest that trip unleashed is finally over.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:08 (average 5:28).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From KP Daily Funnies: Republicans, Get in My Vagina

 

This is an old one, but it still applies. RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: Donald Trump must have thought he was home free. He had his people in control of the Justice Department, Republicans in House and Senate were content to make a token “investigation” of Trump’s Russia connections for appearances sake, and the media could be instantly distracted with the tiniest crumb. Look! A speech!

What Trump didn’t expect was a voice from the past.

In the Obama administration’s last days, some White House officials scrambled to spread information about Russian efforts to undermine the presidential election — and about possible contacts between associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump and Russians — across the government. Former American officials say they had two aims: to ensure that such meddling isn’t duplicated in future American or European elections, and to leave a clear trail of intelligence for government investigators.

The last days of the Obama administration resemble the final moments of Pompeii. Throughout the executive branch, officials hurried to gather up information and store it away against the towering threat of deliberate ignorance glowering on the horizon. Scientists frantically copied climate data while other officials worked to save democracy itself. The information they smuggled out before the ash rained down shows that the connections between the Trump team and Russia were even more numerous than expected.

I’m sure glad Obama did this, although I wish he had declassified and released all but sources and methods to the public. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: In a stunning rebuke of the Attorney General, Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Jeff Sessions resign from the Russian government “at once.”

Speaking at the Kremlin, Putin said that the controversies swirling around Sessions in Washington “no longer make it possible for Jeff Sessions to function as an integral part of the Kremlin team.”

Putin asserted that Sessions had “become a distraction,” and ordered the Alabama native to clear out his desk at the Kremlin “by Friday morning at the latest.”

While Kremlin sources said that forcing Sessions’s resignation was “a necessary measure,” they would not guarantee that he was the only member of the Trump Cabinet who would be expelled from the Russian government.

Dang Andy!! If KKK Beauregard isn’t good enough for Putin (R-RU), he’s not good enough for us!! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

0303Cartoon

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Personal Update – 3/2/2017

 Posted by at 1:35 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 022017
 

I just returned from my Physical Terrorism, and my m 3enchmarks were all up again.  I’m feeling quite tired after Courtney put me through my paces and after four hours riding in or waiting for Lift busses.  I will be back tomorrow, but I think I will wait another month before the next Monthly Report, because we don’t have data for the first week in February and because I’m not yet fully schooled in Analytics.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:56 (average 4:42).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

0302Cartoon

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Gas from the Sphincter

 Posted by at 1:45 pm  Politics
Mar 012017
 

I did not watch the speech.  I had less than 100 industrial strength barf bags left, and George told me that if I used him for the overflow, he would reject Stumpy for a month.

In recent weeks, as the horror of living in  a Republican Reich has begun to unfold, it slipped my mind that the Fuhrer can be very skillful at following a script on a reality show.  His speech was nothing like his persona and was completely unrelated to his policies.  It was good enough to fool casual viewers, who have not been following recent events, to think Trump might not be so bad, after all.

TrumpAsshole

President Donald Trump got rave reviews for his disciplined, restrained first address before Congress, but a pressing question looms — can this Trump last?

There are signs Trump and his aides are proactively trying to keep the good vibes going. They yanked the rollout of a new executive order on Trump’s controversial travel ban that sparked mass protests across the nation. Vice President Mike Pence was trotted out on the morning shows to deliver his ever-on-message talking points – even saying Trump’s speech was “all him,” even though many of his aides had a heavy hand in its crafting. And Trump himself was banal on Twitter, simply writing “THANK YOU” on Wednesday morning.

But there are real doubts Trump can stick to his pledge on Tuesday night that the “time for trivial fights is behind us,” and Democrats were eager to claim the presidential figure appearing in the well of the House was a phony.

“This president’s speech matters a lot less than the speeches of just about any other president because they’re detached from his reality. He talks one way and does another,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on CNN Wednesday morning, adding on ABC that Trump “talks to the working folks of America, they were his main constituency, but the way he’s governed has been totally with the hard right special interests against the working people.”…

From <Politico>

For better commentary, here are several clips from MSNBC.

Bill Maher weighs in on Trump

Bill Maher, host of HBO’s ‘Real Time,’ joins Chris to discuss Trump’s Join Address and his call to "drain the swamp."

 

He’s right! It was nothing like the real Fuhrer, but he did drain the swamp. Most of the decent people are drained and gone.

Moore: we are witnessing new chapter in Orwell’s 1984

Michael Moore discusses Trump’s aggressive agenda outlined in hist first address to Congress.

 

All of the Fuhrer’s talk is doublespeak!  I call it RepubliSpeak.

Maddow: Trump disconnected from his own policies as president

Rachel Maddow discusses with an MSNBC panel what accounts for the disconnect between what Donald Trump says unscripted and in interviews and what Donald Trump reads from teleprompters and signs into law.

 

Rachel made it clear that Trump is not governing at all, I deduce that the Fuhrer has outsourced government to his Nazi cronies.

Democrats on new footing in the Trump era

Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and DNC deputy chairman, Rep. Keith Ellison, discuss Donald Trump’s address to Congress and how the Democrats plan to take back power in Washington, D.C.

 

Steve Bannon on steroids is a most apt description.

Before wrapping this up, I need to add one thing.  For Trump to put the widow of the SEAL he murdered through his incompetent dinner table "planning" of his failed Yemen raid on display and then to claim the standing ovation she received is just so evil that decent people everywhere need to

RESIST!!

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Open Thread – 3/1/2017

 Posted by at 1:44 pm  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 012017
 

I’m waiting for Store to Door to arrive with my groceries, and Wendy is coming this evening, so I’m quite busy.  Tomorrow, please expect no more than a Personal Update, because it’s my monthly Physical Terrorism with Courtney, who loves to be called Lady Torquemada.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

T^oday’s took me 2:57 (average 4:51).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (GQ Channel): Let’s Be Honest: Trump’s Banning Muslims and Purging Hispanics

 

Republicans have been the party of bigotry, hate, and racism for decades. But the hate-filled hairball and jus Nazi sidekick have taken it to a level that makes the KKK seem moderate by comparison. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: On the final day of Black History Month, Donald J. Trump thanked Ben Carson for participating in a handful of photo opportunities during the month, and bade him farewell until Black History Month next year.

Saying goodbye to Carson at the White House, Trump praised him for “sitting or standing next to me” at various times over the past four weeks.

Andy sure has that right. It’s the only time of year the racist Resident (NOT President) and the token Uncle Tom feel the need to associate.  RESIST!!

From NY Times: A ruling issued on Monday by a federal judge in Manhattan, in a case brought by a freelance journalist without a lawyer, may interest the White House. The judge said that the New York Police Department may have violated the First Amendment by revoking the press credentials of the journalist, Jason B. Nicholas.

The ruling was preliminary, and the Police Department said it had legitimate reasons for its actions. But Judge J. Paul Oetken’s decision was timely, following as it did the exclusion of several news organizations from a Friday briefing at the White House.

“It has been held impermissible,” Judge Oetken wrote, “to exclude a single television news network from live coverage of mayoral candidates’ headquarters and to withhold White House press passes in a content-based or arbitrary fashion.”

Last Friday’s developments at the White House crossed that legal line, said Jameel Jaffer, the director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

Don’t just sit there, media! sue the damn Fuhrer! RESIST!!

Cartoon:

0301Cartoon

 

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Another Tie to Russia

 Posted by at 12:49 pm  Politics
Feb 282017
 

Putin’s Pervert keeps trying to hide the intricate web of interaction between Russia, his campaign first, and now, his administration.  But no matter how much he lies and bullies, every time we turn around we see more evidence that the Fuhrer is deeply and criminally involved with the Russians.  Here’s the latest.

93592251

A study prepared exclusively for DCReport.org by James S. Henry reveals deep financial ties between Donald Trump’s nominee for Commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, and three Russian oligarchs, whose lives and fortunes depend on staying in the good graces of Vladimir Putin.

These connections raise many new questions about Trump’s reliance on the Putin regime, which all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies say interfered in the presidential election on Trump’s behalf, but which Trump disputes.

These relationships between nominee Ross and the oligarchs involve ownership and management of a European bank with a reputation for laundering Russian money and making bad loans.

The study also compared flight records of Trump’s campaign plane and a plane used by one of the oligarchs. During the campaign, the two planes often were at the same airports at the same time… [emphasis added]

From <The Daily Beast>

With a few more facts we can see that Trump’s initial involvement with the Russians was his involvement with Putin’s cronies’ money laundering.  Rachel Maddow paints that picture in three segments.  In the first, she weaves together all the loose threads until they all fall into place.

In the second and third, she and David Remnick discuss Putin’s present relationship with Trump and avenues for investigation.

Remnick makes perfect sense when he said that Putin’s intent was not for the Fuhrer to become Resident.  Like almost everyone else, Putin expected Hillary to be President, but have a weakened Presidency, because of his activities.  Now that the Fuhrer is in the White House, Putin is like the dawg that caught the car.  He may be almost as freaked as we are.

Eventually, all these chickens will come home to roost.  Until then…

RESIST!!

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