Affinity
Art, Fun, & Nonsense.
Paul Hair, co-author of Hating Jesus: The American Left’s War on Christianity, is a wee bit upset over some confederate statues being dismantled and moved.
Reuters reported on Nov. 19 that Louisville, Ky. began dismantling a Confederate monument for removal to a different location. The dismantling of the monument is part of the progressive campaign to destroy all reminders of the Confederacy. This campaign, in turn, is part of the larger effort to demonize and destroy all of U.S. culture.
Oh my, all of American culture is gonna disappear, oh no! Just once, I’d dearly like a specific, clear definition of what constitutes U.S. Culture. Genocidal Bigotry, check. Religious fanaticism, check. Religious terrorism, check. Slavery worshiped as a beloved tradition, check. White supremacy, check. Fanatical fetishisizing weaponry, check. Okay, what else?
None of those things are anything to be proud of, they should be national embarrassments, but noooo, those are the good things, the moral things, oh my yes! Ugh.
Demonizing and destroying American culture includes elevating evil. This is why the Obama regime honored sodomy by designating the Stonewall National Monument in June of this year.
I have never know anyone to obsess on genitalia and all the things one might do with said genitalia like hetro Christians. Isn’t it bad enough that you all have a massive porn consumption problem? Couldn’t you focus on the problems with your own genitals and leave everyone else’s alone? Or perhaps you could try actually having fun with your equipment, might loosen you up a bit, make you happy for five minutes or something. Queer people are not evil, sex is not evil, and saving Stonewall has absolutely nothing to do with sex, you dimwit. I expect you know that, too, it just burns like crazy though, doesn’t it, having a monument to a time of great social change, wherein the majority of people decided to elevate their minds and hearts, and become inclusive, better human beings. Christians just hate that sort of thing, I know. I shall squeeze a tear out for you, Paul. It won’t be genuine, mind, but I doubt you’d care.
There already is a movement urging the incoming Trump administration to undo the Obama regime’s massive land grab. That land grab included designating the Stonewall Inn and many other areas of land as parts of national monuments.
Oh, you’re one to talk about a land grab, you genocidal believer in Christian Dominionism. That wasn’t a “land grab” it was a desperate attempt to save some small portion of our mother, our source of life, y’know, the planet we’re on. We only get one, and it didn’t come from any god, and there sure as hell isn’t any god pointing a cosmic finger and healing all the damage idiots like you are doing, and intent on doing yet more. Some of us think that things like the richness of family, friends, community, and a healthy eco-system which sustains and gives life are more important than a select handful of white assholes who think there can never ever be enough money or power in their pocket.
As for a “regime”, no there hasn’t been one of those yet, but you’re fair dripping at the one looming on the horizon, aren’t you? Disgusting.
There’s no reason those objecting to America honoring sodomy couldn’t join the larger movement to undo all the national monuments Obama designated at large. And if that effort proves successful, it then would make it possible to destroy the Stonewall Inn and wipe out its stain on American history.
A stain on American history. I rather think that white Christian colonials were (and are) a stain on Turtle Island, and on Turtle Island history. Perhaps it’s time for a different movement, one to dismantle, bit by bit, every single fucking church on Turtle Island. All of them, gotta go. You stand for every evil, for every single one of your so-called sins. That’s a stain that needs scrubbing out.
This is a wonderful video, and contains one of best happy scritching grooming moments ever.
During 2016, the badger had the honor of being Latvia’s animal of the year. And what a year it has been for badgers, as the video below shows.
Produced by the Latvian Natural History Museum and Latvian State Forests, the video shows badgers frolicking, loving, playing, fighting and generally badgering about throughout the whole year.
With films of all sorts of nonsense all over the place these days, how simple and refreshing it is to just watch 20 minutes of badgers being badgers.
There are also special guest appearances by deer, foxes, and assorted other woodland associates of Old Brock himself.
Thank you, Latvian badgers everywhere. Enjoy!
Via LSM.LV.
Beautiful! From Ice Swimmer. Click for full size.
© Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved.
Sparrow. Click for full size.
© C. Ford.
https://www.facebook.com/ntvsclothing/photos/a.248774832000321.1073741828.245852668959204/527999037411231/?type=3
People being what they are, there are many who are more than willing to steal and scam from actual Native artists, and using the good-heartedness of people who want to do something to show their support for Standing Rock. Indigenous artists have a difficult enough time, there are always a host of people trying to rip off what they do, but this is not only out of control, but once again, FB won’t do shit about it. So, it’s up to you. The people doing the scamming are mostly based outside the U.S., and they have enough money to buy sponsored ads on FB, which are resulting in millions upon millions of views, and worse, shares. Most Native artists and small business owners cannot afford the same amount of sponsored ads, their attempts to alert people don’t get very far, and as Aaron Silva noted in comments in the above post, FB was not allowing him to boost it.
We all know how lax FB is about such matters, in spite of what they might say. If you’re someone who wants to support Standing Rock, and thinks doing a donation by way of getting a cool shirt is a good way to do things, then do that, but do everyone a big favor by putting on your thinking cap, and keeping those eyes sharp. Verify, verify, verify, because money you think is going to Standing Rock isn’t, it’s going into the pocket of a thief. Aaron Silva has some helpful tips on what to look for at NTVS Clothing.
BuzzFeed has an extensive article about the problem. If you see a fake site, please, report them. Warn others, all the things you do on FB when you know something is bad. Native artists and all those at Standing Rock thank you for doing whatever you can to combat this ongoing problem.
Edited to add: If you fell for one of these scams, don’t feel bad, but do get mad, and help take them down!
Goodness. It’s rather clear just why Kirchmeier insisted on millions more on top of the 10 mil already provided, which bought him all kinds of white cowboy military tough guy Rambo goodies, most of which have been brought to bear on unarmed protectors. Hundreds of people have been badly injured by Kirchmeier’s tough dude fantasies, given reality by the unreal amount of money handed over by KKKJack Dalrymple, and we know who is backing him. (When you have invested all your money in oil, made sure there is no oversight and no accountability, why, so surprising oil would have his greedy backside, right?)
Now that millions more have been handed to him, Kirchmeier, after jerking around with the Morton County Sheriff’s fb, posting lies, getting caught, taking them down, lather rinse repeat a zillion times, yanking the whole account down, and now rebooting it, with Kyle the star of his dreams in “truth videos”. Sigh. This man is a flagrant criminal, and he’s never met a lie he doesn’t like. But he knows the truth, you betcha, and of course, he’s a bloody saint, and all those evil Indians and allies, well, we’re savages. And criminals. And liars. I’ve been out to the Oceti Sakowin camp, many times. Kirchmeier is a liar. He lies at every opportunity. I’ve witnessed his actions, I’ve heard his lies, and I’ve documented plenty, along with many others. Anyone with a conscience would be permanently bright red with embarrassment and shame right about now, but it looks like those are two things which do not exist in Kirchmeier.
Story at Medium, via #RuthHopkins.
In the meantime, this fucking thug of an asshole couldn’t even manage a proper thank you to those who fulfilled his Morton County and Burleigh County Cops’ wishlist:
On Friday December 2nd at approximately 2pm CST Water Protectors from Oceti Sakowin camp will fulfill a donation list that the Morton County Sheriff’s Department released on November 22, 2016.
The Oceti Sakowin headsman will join veterans, youth, and women leaders and stand with Leonard Crow Dog who will offer a prayer as Protectors deliver the supplies to the Sheriff’s Department in Mandan, ND.
Water Protectors offer these donations to the Morton County officers in generosity and compassion, despite the aggression and hostility they have shown innocent unarmed Protectors of this camp.
The following is a join statement from the Indigenous Environmental Network and the Indigenous Peoples Power Project :
“North Dakota taxpayers have already bankrolled the Morton County Sheriff Department with approximately 10 million dollars for the suppression of peaceful water protectors. Despite this excessive financial support, Morton County officers are asking taxpayers to donate supplies.
The Oceti Sakowin camp is a prayer camp, and a resilient, self-sufficient community. The camp is full of abundance– in spirit, in humanity, and in resources. Oceti Sakowin has enough to share. Generosity is an original teaching for the Lakota.”
Via Common Dreams.
Several weeks ago, law enforcement dealing with DAPL protests sent out a list of goods they could use if the community would like to donate them.
The International Indigenous Youth Council saw that list and decided to use it as an opportunity for de-escalation. Lead by the council, demonstrators dropped off Gatorade, water, batteries, breakfast bars and more.
The teens said they wanted the police to know they have compassion for all people and all walks of life.
“As American citizens, as the good American citizens that we are, we went ahead and we supplied them with that. We gave them water because water is life,” says Thomas Lopez Jr., IIYC member.
We reached out to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department who declined to comment on camera. Instead, they directed us to a Facebook post that read:
“Thank you to the members of the International Indigenous Youth Council who stopped by with gifts of supplies and snacks for our employees. Your kindness and support is very much appreciated!”
Via KFYR. Wow, aren’t you just blown away by the thanks? How about how much it has been completely underplayed? You’d almost think Kirchmeier didn’t want anyone to know about this, and given the fact that it isn’t being shouted by the cops, or covered by anyone else, well, I guess that means he keeps getting to paint us as nasty, evil, savages. Look in a fucking mirror, Kirchmeier, and you’ll see the evil.
The Russian President told members of the artistic community not to “divide society” during a televised debate with theatre and screen star Yevgeny Mironov who voiced concerns about growing restrictions on artistic freedom in Russia.
The Russian strongman said there was a “very subtle line between what I would call dangerously outrageous behaviour and creative freedom”.
“It’s a very subtle thing, a very subtle line. It depends on a feeling of tact, from all of us: officialdom on the one hand and people in creative professions on the other,” he said.
No, it’s not subtle, nor is it a feeling of tact. It’s anything you decide to take offense with, anything you feel just might contain a criticism of some sort, or express a dissatisfaction with the status quo. When you start suppressing artists with made up excuses, you have just screamed “There will be no dissent!” You may as well just come out and say so.
Mironov, who heads the Theatre of Nations in Moscow, told Putin in the televised exchange that fears are growing in creative circles over restrictions on artistic expression.
“Creative freedom is guaranteed by the law of our country” and bans “can be enforced only through a legal process,” Mironov said.
In recent months, religious and politically conservative activists have interrupted theatre productions and stormed galleries and defaced exhibits.
Orthodox activists this year campaigned to close a provincial staging of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Jesus Christ Superstar”.
[…]
Last year the director of a Siberian staging of Richard Wagner’s opera Tannhaeuser went on trial for offending believers, although the charges were eventually dropped.
Oh, the boot stomp of Christianity, those lovers of fascism. This is a dangerous time for artists, who are always irrepressible.
Full story here.
It seems that reality is slowly sinking in to some of those who voted for Trump, who now find themselves bewildered, angry, and sorrow-filled over the great tough dude they voted for. So much so, a tumblr has been started, compiling all the regrets. A great many of them have to do with Trump’s lack of action on the imprison/kill Clinton business. These people really thought he meant that isht.
@realDonaldTrump PLEASE SHUT UP. Can’t you just ignore and zip it until you take office? The more you speak the more I regret my choice.
Anthropologists often use ochre processing as a proxy for the origins of human symbolic thought. That’s partly because ochre is relatively difficult to make, requiring a few steps and at least two kinds of tools. As the researchers write, ochre comes from “rocks containing a high proportion of iron oxides, often mixed with silicates and other mineral substances, which are red or yellow in color, or are streaked with such shades.” Ochre itself is made by pulverizing the rock with one kind of tool and then reducing it to a powder between two grindstones.
There are many aesthetic uses for ochre, including as fabric dye, paint for cave walls, or a stain for rocks and other materials. All these artistic or cosmetic uses imply symbolic thought. But early humans used ochre for utilitarian purposes, too. The powder was mixed with other adhesives to keep weapons snugly attached to their hafts. Put simply, ochre was a key ingredient in glue.
The question that has long raged among archaeologists is whether people first began using ochre as a tool for engineering or as a substance for making art. In other words, does symbolism start with science or aesthetics? By examining 23 ochre-processing tools from Porc-Epic Cave, researchers figured out that the answer is that both emerged at the same time, in the same workshops.
A fascinating article, the full story is here.
Icicles. They often melt from the inside, and when they do, they always default to a very specific shape. ;) Click for full size.
© C. Ford.
Hairy Woodpecker. Click for full size.
© C. Ford.
