On Christopher Street.

Mark Seliger, “Adrian Torres and Carmen Carrera” (2015), gelatin silver print, 36 x 36 inches, Edition of 7+2AP (all images courtesy the artist and Von Lintel Gallery).

Mark Seliger, “Adrian Torres and Carmen Carrera” (2015), gelatin silver print, 36 x 36 inches, Edition of 7+2AP (all images courtesy the artist and Von Lintel Gallery).

Mark Seliger, “Mahayla McElroy” (2015), gelatin silver print 36 x 36 inches, Edition of 7+2AP.

Mark Seliger, “Mahayla McElroy” (2015), gelatin silver print 36 x 36 inches, Edition of 7+2AP.

Mark Seliger, “Benjamin Melzer” (2016), gelatin silver print, 36 x 36 inches, Edition of 7+2AP.

Mark Seliger, “Benjamin Melzer” (2016), gelatin silver print, 36 x 36 inches, Edition of 7+2AP.

LOS ANGELES — Mark Seliger is a widely known photographer, with over 125 Rolling Stone covers to his name, yet there is something new and revelatory in On Christopher Street, his current exhibit at Von Lintel Gallery showing portraits of trans women and men. Seliger lives and works in Manhattan’s West Village, and although he is primarily a celebrity photographer, this new body of work arose from engaging with the trans people in his own neighborhood.

Seliger has the rare ability to get his subjects to open up to the lens, their deeper layers rising to the surface of the picture. The photographs are black and white, executed in the high-gloss stew of hero worship and advertising we have come to expect from images of the famous. Though the Christopher Street subjects are mostly ordinary folk, his visual style confers a measure of stardom upon them without eclipsing their human vulnerability.

You can read all about this fabulous exhibit, and see more, at Hyperallergic.

Why not a comic book…

Lord Commander Trump Decapitates the Establishment Republicans.

Lord Commander Trump Decapitates the Establishment Republicans. © DonkeyHotey.

The NY Times has an article up about the current state of the white house, and it’s not good. Most worrying to me is the Tiny Tyrant’s demand when it comes to policy option papers, but there’s plenty to be anxious about.

But what is happening under the Trump White House is different, officials say, and not just because of Mr. Trump’s Twitter foreign policy. (Two officials said that at one recent meeting, there was talk of feeding suggested Twitter posts to the president so the council’s staff would have greater influence.)

A number of staff members who did not want to work for Mr. Trump have returned to their regular agencies, leaving a larger-than-usual hole in the experienced bureaucracy. Many of those who remain, who see themselves as apolitical civil servants, have been disturbed by displays of overt partisanship. At an all-hands meeting about two weeks into the new administration, Ms. McFarland told the group it needed to “make America great again,” numerous staff members who were there said.

New Trump appointees are carrying coffee mugs with that Trump campaign slogan into meetings with foreign counterparts, one staff member said.

Nervous staff members recently met late at night at a bar a few blocks from the White House and talked about purging their social media accounts of any suggestion of anti-Trump sentiments.

Golly, that doesn’t smell like that vaunted American freedom to me.

Ms. McFarland often draws on her television experience to make clear to officials that they need to make their points in council meetings quickly, and she signals when to wrap up, several participants said.

And while Mr. Obama liked policy option papers that were three to six single-spaced pages, council staff members are now being told to keep papers to a single page, with lots of graphics and maps.

“The president likes maps,” one official said.

Why not a daily comic book? That worked for Bush Jr. Oh, too many pages I guess. The Tiny Tyrant doesn’t like to read. I guess having someone read to him is out, that wouldn’t look presidential enough or something. Perhaps stick figures and word balloons?

For his part, Mr. Bannon sees the United States as headed toward an inevitable confrontation with two adversaries — China and Iran.

I don’t think we need a drawing for that one. These people are determined to embroil us all in a war none of us may survive.

The full article is at The Times.

Trolling Chaffetz with Invoices.

Bill

Constituents less than pleased with Chaffetz, who dismissed them as paid protesters, have found a brilliant way to troll him, while driving their displeasure at his lack of representation home. Daily Kos has the full story.

Also see Chaffetz’s shameful response to a 10 year old constituent:

Yes, Chaffetz needs to avoid such intimidating radicals as a 10-year-old girl who accepts science and wonders if her Congressman does.

Loot!

Loot

Oh, I has all the loot, with deepest thanks to my Marcus. Not long ago, my beloved little Samsung netbook suffered a dead screen. It’s old, so replacement isn’t an option, and the cost would likely be more than I paid in the first place, even if I could find a new screen. That little netbook was the one computer that actually managed to last around me, and I have missed it. Now I has another one! And external hard drives. And a DVD player. And more magical laundry liquid (which, if you start using, will soon find addictive). And incense with a sublime scent! Imma go play for a while now. *Happy*

Women: what I call them is, is you’re a ‘host.’

Host-parasite-coevolution-theory-of-sexual-reproduction

Oklahoma legislators are trying to ban abortion, nothing new there. One of the bills wants any woman seeking a termination to first have permission from whoever did the impregnating. Rep. Justin Humphrey wrote HB 1441, and he expanded on his reasoning:

At first, Humphrey said that the original intention of the bill was to ensure that fathers are involved in supporting a child from conception. “I was wanting fathers to have to pay child support at the beginning,” he said, but that specific language was excised from the bill.

Ultimately, he said, his intent was to let men have a say. “I believe one of the breakdowns in our society is that we have excluded the man out of all of these types of decisions,” he said. “I understand that they feel like that is their body,” he said of women. “I feel like it is a separate — what I call them is, is you’re a ‘host.’ And you know when you enter into a relationship you’re going to be that host and so, you know, if you pre-know that then take all precautions and don’t get pregnant,” he explained. “So that’s where I’m at. I’m like, hey, your body is your body and be responsible with it. But after you’re irresponsible then don’t claim, well, I can just go and do this with another body, when you’re the host and you invited that in.”

Let that sink in a bit. If you’re capable of getting pregnant and live in Oklahoma, you might want to get out, screaming all the way. Why is it, that women bear all the responsibility for “pre-knowing” something? Don’t men also “pre-know” they are wandering about with a loaded penis? Also, you dimwitted dipshit of a person, you can use contraceptives, correctly, and still end up pregnant. This is known as shit happens. Jesus Fuck.

The Intercept has the story.

It’s An Effing Circus.

President Donald Trump sits down to dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago on Friday. CREDIT: AP Photo/Susan Walsh.

President Donald Trump sits down to dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago on Friday. CREDIT: AP Photo/Susan Walsh.

This is an overload of facepalm. And near fatal eyerolling. And head desking. Underneath the idiocy of it all, is the scary.

According to a remarkable CNN report, President Trump was eating dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his private Mar-a-Lago club on Saturday evening when he received a call on his mobile phone informing him that North Korea had tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile.

[…]

Trump and Abe were seated in the middle of the club’s dining room, allowing members of the club to gawk as the two heads of state grappled with matters of war and peace.

“As Mar-a-Lago’s wealthy members looked on from their tables, and with a keyboard player crooning in the background, Trump and Abe’s evening meal quickly morphed into a strategy session, the decision-making on full view to fellow diners, who described it in detail to CNN,” Kevin Liptak of CNN wrote.

But White House strategist Steve Bannon and National Security Adviser Michael Flynn were sitting elsewhere in the dimly-lit dining area, so they had to huddle closer to Trump while he tried to deal with an international crisis.

“The patio was lit only with candles and moonlight, so aides used the camera lights on their phones to help the stone-faced Trump and Abe read through the documents,” CNN reports.

“Even as a flurry of advisers and translators descended upon the table carrying papers and phones for their bosses to consult, dinner itself proceeded apace. Waiters cleared the wedge salads and brought along the main course as Trump and Abe continued consulting with aides.”

In other words, Trump — who made Hillary Clinton’s email security the centerpiece of his presidential campaign  — discussed sensitive national security matters in front of waiters and diners who were later able to describe the scene “in detail” to reporters.

Some onlookers posted photos and accounts of what they saw on social media. (FB post at the main link.)

At Abe’s urging, the two heads of state decided to offer a joint statement before the assembled press. The New York Times praised the “uncharacteristic restraint” Trump demonstrated while reading his brief statement, but when he left the briefing room, the president couldn’t restrain himself from dropping in a wedding reception.

According to CNN, Trump grabbed a microphone at the reception and paid tribute to the newlywed couple, saying, “I saw them out on the lawn today… I said to the Prime Minister of Japan, I said, ‘C’mon Shinzo, let’s go over and say hello.’ “

“They’ve been members of this club for a long time,” Trump added. “They’ve paid me a fortune.”

Jesus Fucking Christ Onna Stick.

To capitalize on the the premium people are willing to pay for access to the president, the Trump Organization recently doubled the Mar-a-Lago initiation fee to $200,000. Trump has spent two of his three full weekends as president there.

Jesus Fucking Christ Onna Stick. I can’t even. Full story at Think Progress.

Hopper vs Calhoun.

Grace Hopper. Photo: Kay Peterson/Archives Center, National Museum.

Grace Hopper. Photo: Kay Peterson/Archives Center, National Museum.

Grace Hopper won out at Yale University, replacing Calhoun, and at least one person is all manner upsetty about it.

Yale University announced it would change the name of Calhoun College to instead honor Grace Murray Hopper, who was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer during World War II and also helped develop the Mark II and Mark III computers. The school had originally been named for John C. Calhoun, who held several high-profile positions in government, including vice president, senator, and secretary of state. Calhoun called slavery a “positive good.”

So who’s upset? Geraldo Rivera, who apparently had some sort of position there. Oh, he was an associate fellow, whatever that means.

On Sunday, media personality Geraldo Rivera announced he had stepped down from his role as an associate fellow at Yale, following the university’s decision to rename a college that had once been dedicated to a staunch slavery supporter. … Rivera described the university’s decision to cease honoring a champion of slavery and instead recognize a female computer scientist as “intolerant” and “lame.”

Does anyone care what Mr. Rivera thinks? I certainly don’t, and I’m very happy to hear that Yale has done the right thing here. Think Progress has the full story.

The Power Must Not Be Questioned!

Stephen Miller, policy adviser to President-elect Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower in New York, Monday, Jan. 9, 2017. CREDIT: AP Photo/Evan Vucci.

Stephen Miller, policy adviser to President-elect Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower in New York, Monday, Jan. 9, 2017. CREDIT: AP Photo/Evan Vucci.

As most everyone is aware, Stephen Miller did the media dance all of Sunday, spreading bullshit far and wide. It’s no secret that the Tiny Dictator is displeased with Spicer, and tweeted happily about Miller’s performances. Those performances should disturb the hell out of everyone with a brain and the ability to use it.

Senior White House Policy Advisor Stephen Miller raised plenty of eyebrows on Sunday as the perused the talk-show circuit talking about cases of voter fraud (that don’t exist) and Steve Bannon’s lack of involvement in drafting executive orders (which, according to most reports, is the exact opposite of the truth).

But perhaps his most alarming statement was in reference to the federal judges in Washington rejecting President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban.

“I think that it’s been an important reminder to all Americans that we have a judiciary that has taken far too much power and become in many cases a supreme branch of government,” Miller told John Dickerson of CBS News, as first noted by Will Saletan of Slate. “The end result of this, though, is that our opponents, the media, and the whole world will soon see, as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.”

Emphasis mine. This is the boot stomp of authoritarianism, the herald of a regime which wants no dissent whatsoever, from anyone. What’s even more frightening is the amount of people willing to go along with it. Elsewhere I wrote: I think there’s a place for the very worst truth of all: it does not take much to normalise the most monstrous of behaviours, and it takes very little indeed to make people willingly join in said behaviours. The time and place is now.

Think Progress has the full story.

11 Foot 8 Schadenfreude.

At the corner of Gregson and Peabody streets in Durham, North Carolina, lies a railroad trestle with an infamous history. The 11-foot-8-inch underpass, also known at the “can-opener bridge,” has seen hundreds of truck collisions over the past eight years. And Jürgen Henn has captured nearly every one of them with a surveillance camera and posted them online. A local celebrity, Henn and his 11foot8 website provide a delightfully painful reminder to pay attention to what’s around you—and to never underestimate your truck’s clearance height.

Via Great Big Story. I do love the Crash art, but I’m odd that way, with my collection of swarf, and other odd things which always end up in my pockets during a walk.

Kiikers gonna kiik.

Kiikers gonna kiik. Eesti Kiikingi Liit/CC BY-SA 3.0.

Kiikers gonna kiik. Eesti Kiikingi Liit/CC BY-SA 3.0.

Extreme swinging! Oh gods, that looks like so much fun! I was one of those insane swingers in my younger years, swinging is best when you’re upside down on the upswing, and I’ve wrapped a few chains in my time. I’ve always loved swinging, it’s always felt extraordinarily satisfying. I still love swinging. There was a set of swings across from the school here in town, and I’d always have to stop and have a swing. I think swinging is a particularly good activity for those of us with extreme stress problems – it gives you a comforting action, akin to rocking, and allows you to become fully focused on your physical self, and have complete joy in that. I wish I had a swing set.

…Meanwhile in Estonia, thanks to a cultural love affair with swings, going over the top has developed into a serious extreme sport.

Kiiking, as the sport of extreme swinging is known (“kiik” is “swing” in Estonian), is fairly young, having first been introduced in the early 1990s, but it has deep roots in Estonia’s cultural past. “Wooden swings are traditionally a big part of Estonian culture and all around Estonia you can find different wooden swings (they are called ‘village swings’) where all the people from surrounding places came together during celebrations or just to have fun while swinging and singing,” says Raili Laansalu, a kiiker since she was just 8 years old, and whose family currently runs the premiere website for the sport, Kiiking.com. To this day, communal wooden swings can be found in towns and villages across the country, so it’s perhaps no wonder that some Estonian daredevil would be the one to invent a way to go over the top.

[…]

As Laansalu tells it, a man named Tarmo Männigo attempted an arc over the spindle of both of Kosk’s swings. Männigo was able to conquer the first swing, which stood about 2.5 meters tall, but when he attempted to swing around the second, which stood slightly taller, at 2.7 meters tall, he couldn’t quite get over. It became clear that the taller the swing got, the more difficult it would be to complete a circuit over the spindle, which meant that there could be competitive accomplishments, and thus, a new sport was born. “We, who are kiikers so to say, like to say that “kiiking” starts when your legs are higher than your head, before that it is just swinging,” says Laansalu.

By 1997 Kosk had continued to refine his vision of kiiking as a pastime, and he invented a telescoping metal swing that could be raised and lowered safely, to allow for variable skill levels. The design has continued to be refined over the years, and the height of the swings increased. The spindly metal forks and system of support wires of modern kiiking swings are a far cry from Kosk’s original rustic inventions.

[…]

At least in Estonia, where kiiking is most popular, the rules of competition are regulated by the Estonian Kiiking Union (Eesti Kiikingi Liit). Kiikers set a certain height for the swing that they will then have the chance to try and round using just the momentum from their body. Should they swing all the way around at the stated height, they can try to go higher. “[For example], I set my first height at 4 meters. I make one spindle so I am allowed to choose a new height. For next one I choose 4.20 meters. I also complete that so I choose now 4.50 meters. If I do not complete 4.50m, my end result will be 4.20m,” says Laansalu. The competitor who can flip around the highest swing wins. According to Guinness World Records, the current champion kiiker cleared a 7.15 meter swing in 2015.

Indoor kiiking is also an option. Eesti Kiikingi Liit/CC BY-SA 3.0.

Indoor kiiking is also an option. Eesti Kiikingi Liit/CC BY-SA 3.0.

You can read and see more at Atlas Obscura.