UPDATED December 22/23
Court Painter loves this time of year and prepares well in advance a new product line of posters for easy gift giving to those folks that love to receive but frown on giving! (Thanks to Norman Rockwell + for being ever inspiring)
In Ukraine a humanitarian effort continues to save and treat animal victims of war.
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ANIMALS IN CONFLICT SINCE 1914 – TIMELINE
1914-1918 – First World War: More than 16 million animals were made to serve on all sides, with nine million killed (including eight million horses, mules and donkeys)
1914-1918 – First World War: 100,000 homing pigeons carried messages to and from the trenches
1915-1918 – First World War: During the British Army’s desert campaign in Sinai and Palestine, 50,000 transport camels carrying water, and mounted camel regiments (including the Imperial Camel Corps) formed the largest camel force the world has seen
1916 – First World War: 7,000 horses died in one day alone at the Battle of Verdun
1917 – First World War: Britain had over one million horses and mules in service (over the course of the war Britain lost more than 484,000 horses)
1918 – First World War: The British Army Veterinary Corps gained the ‘Royal’ prefix for its efforts in mitigating animal suffering. This was the first war in which a trained veterinary service existed
1936-1939 – Spanish Civil War: The war saw the demise of roughly half of Spanish livestock, and post-war Spain had to import thousands of working mules from overseas
1939 – Second World War: Britain became the first nation to motorise its army, and had begun to replace horse cavalry with armoured vehicles in 1928
1939 – Second World War: Over 750,000 domestic pets were killed in Britain in one week following a government public information campaign about their safety and expected food shortages
1941 – Second World War: The German Army on the Eastern Front lost 179,000 horses in two months
1942 – Second World War: The British Army still employed 6,500 horses, 10,000 mules and 1,700 camels. In total, 200,000 animals – also including dogs and pigeons – were put into service by Britain
1942-1945 – Second World War: The British and Japanese in Burma used elephants for transport, building bridges and roads, and for pulling trucks out of the mud
1944 – Second World War: 14,000 mules were used by US military in northern Italy, and China used more than 20,000 mules in battles against the Japanese
1950-1953 – Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces used mules to transport supplies, including during the 1951 Spring Offensive against South Korea
1955-1975 – Vietnam War: Use of Agent Orange to eliminate forest cover destroyed the habitats of tigers, Asian elephants, gibbons, civets, leopards and other species. At least 40,000 animals were killed by unexploded landmines in the 20 years following the war
1977-1992 – Mozambique Civil War: Giraffe and elephant herds in the Gorongosa National Park shrank by 90 per cent
1980-1988 – Iran-Iraq War: Populations of wild goat, wolves, otters, pelicans, striped hyenas, river dolphins and other wildlife were wiped out or reached the point of extinction
1983-2005 – Sudanese Civil War: South Sudan’s elephant population fell from 100,000 to 5,000
1990s – Afghan War: Over 75,000 animals were lost due to mines – more than half of the total livestock population
1990-1991 – Gulf War: More than 80 per cent of livestock in Kuwait died, including 790,000 sheep, 12,500 cows and 2,500 horses
1990-1991 – Gulf War: A deliberate oil leak into the Persian Gulf by Iraqi troops caused the deaths of up to 230,000 aquatic animals and birds, while 100 mammals were killed
1997 – First Congo War: Armed militias reached Garamba National Park and, in three months, half of the park’s elephants, two-thirds of buffaloes and three-quarters of hippos disappeared. Garamba had also been home to the last surviving wild Northern white rhinos
1998-1999 – Kosovo War: Kosovo’s cattle population reduced from 400,000 to 200,000
2001-present – War in Afghanistan: Military dogs supported British Special Forces operations. The UK Ministry of Defence said the role of the 11,000 dogs working across the armed forces ‘cannot be underestimated.’
2003-2011 – Iraq War: Insurgents commonly strapped bombs to dogs to target convoys and used donkeys to pull carts of explosives for the same purpose
2014 – Gaza Conflict: 20 per cent of the animal population estimated to be lost – including 15,000 missing sheep and goats
Anger and hate didn’t work, Trump couldn’t hang it all on Sleepy Joe
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre can imitate Trumpian politics to his heart’s content. But that is old, tired, and empty politics.
Excerpted from The Hill Times OPINION | BY MICHAEL HARRIS | November 14, 2022 (click Michael Harris to find article on Hill Times website)
‘The way Pierre Poilievre tells it, everything in Canada is broken. And Justin Trudeau is to blame.
As a political strategy, that might work with members of the Flat Earth Society, or those who think Elvis is still in the building. Regular people know that when a politician tells them the sky is falling, particularly in a country as blessed as this one, it just means he is tired of being in opposition, and would rather have the Big Office.
Understood. Losing is no fun, especially in politics. And the Conservative Party of Canada has had its share of losing in the last three elections. But Poilievre’s modus operandi amounts to the same simple-minded schtick that Donald Trump resorted to in the run-up to the U.S. mid-term elections; and for that matter, when he ran for president back in 2016. The new CPC leader should reflect on the results.
Poilievre can imitate Trumpian politics to his heart’s content. He can try to turn the Freedom Convoy into a moderate “Canadian” event. He can beat the dead horse that vaccine mandates were somehow an attack on civil liberties, rather than a life-saving public policy. He can ignore and demonize the national press. He can defy medical experts on how to handle a resurgence of the pandemic. And he can even claim that everything will be better if only Canadians dump the cause all the distress and dysfunction—Justin Trudeau.
That is old, tired, and empty politics. It is contemptuous of thinking people. It didn’t work in the U.S. and it won’t work here. Canadians would rather have something to vote for, not just against. And on that score, Poilievre’s proposals sound like a recording from Harper times.
The GOP is not the only political party that needs to take a good hard look in the mirror.’
The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism by Clara E. Mattei, published by the University of Chicago Press. © 2022 by the University of Chicago Press.
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Excerpted from publication:
‘Austerity has been so widespread in its uptake over the last century that it has become largely undetectable: the economics of austerity, with its prescribed budgetary cuts and public moderation, is largely synonymous with today’s economics.’
‘ While austerity policies may not be identified by name, they underscore the most common tropes of contemporary politics: budget cuts (especially in welfare expenditures such as public education, health care, housing, and unemployment benefits), regressive taxation, deflation, privatizations, wage repression, and employment deregulation. Taken together, this suite of policies entrenches existing wealth and the primacy of the private sector, both of which tend to be held up as economic keys that will guide nations to better days. ‘
Deep-fake goes legit, with Court Painter’s recent commercial poster
Court Painter’s digital likeness was licensed for use in a NO Smoking commercial poster.
Close up of the digital deep-fake demonstrates how indistinguishable it is from the real flesh & blood Court Painter! We dare you to detect a difference.
Word on the street is that Court Painter’s digital likeness was licensed for use in a NO Smoking commercial poster. As both technology and acceptance of ‘deep-fakes’ like this are improving, opportunities will soon abound for people with value attached to their names and likenesses….think CC (name available upon request).
CC(name available upon request) seen in digital form rocking’ the western vibe in a 10 cent poster.Example is a proof of concept.
So who controls a digital likeness of Court Painter? Can a Sunday painter sell his or her likeness in perpetuity, to paint pets when they’re long dead? Can a celebrity like Court Painter endorse cheap red wine without ever going near it or consuming it?
And what happens to the aspiring conceptual and performance artists who would otherwise have gotten the less-publicized exhibitions that could now go to the mere image of someone way more famous than they are? The possibilities are endless till the end of time!
‘Everything is broken in this country’ Pierre Poilievre says, blaming PM Trudeau
Albertans tire of fights with Ottawa, as Danielle Smith ups the ‘anti’
Rex Murphy: Freedom Convoy was perfectly Canadian in its moderation
Nova Scotia’s only federal cabinet minister, Sean Fraser, says Nova Scotia’s minister of finance is wrong to blame Ottawa for not being able to lower the province’s roughly 15-cents-a-litre tax on gasoline and diesel.
Text messages entered into evidence at the Emergencies Act inquiry describe a testy exchange between feuding Alberta and federal ministers around the time the act was invoked.
Court Painter realizes there are many issues that citizens of the Great Dominion must face everyday emitting from their Twitter & assorted media accounts. The preceding news items were cherry picked by the Court Painter’s cherry picking team headed by his underpaid Press Attache and studio barista A Hardon MacKay.
However, the accompanying images have absolutely nothing to do with the news identified by AHM and his team as Court Painter the painter is unconcerned with any of these issues and any subsequent confusion or contextual comprehension issues arising from this post …simply because Court Painter is a picture maker and not a conjurer of understandings and dot connecting. Make of that what you will!
A union representing 55,000 Ontario education workers who walked off the job Friday says protest sites “will be collapsed starting” Tuesday in response to Premier Doug Ford saying he will repeal legislation that imposed a contract on them and banned them from striking.
Representatives from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) said at a news conference Monday that Ford had put his commitment in writing, and that both sides would restart contract negotiations. Leaders from numerous other unions were also in attendance.
A statement from Minister of Education Stephen Lecce confirmed that the government will repeal Bill 28 “in its entirety.” The law included the notwithstanding clause to circumvent any constitutional challenge to the legislation. The clause allows legislatures to override parts of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a five-year term.
Source: Excerpted from CBC News Nov.7/22
Facing a fateful fork in the road: which road will America choose in it’s midterm elections …a tilt to the left toward survival of democratic values & principles or a tilt to the right toward further authoritarian degradation of governance ?
While we contemplate this question perhaps a glance at paintings by Swiss painter Arnold Böcklin: 1827-1901 , Die Toteninsel “Isle of the Dead” and Die Lebensinsel “Isle of Life”; might visualize the choice facing America. It should be noted that the artist did 5 “Isle of the Dead ” versions and copies or originals were owned by Freud, Hitler and Lenin and Vladimir Nabokov observed in his 1936 novel Despair that prints could be “found in every Berlin home”.
Only one “Isle of Life” was produced by the artist. Make of that what you will.
Note: The 4 th version was destroyed by fire and exists only as a black & white photograph.
Four images of “Isle of the Dead”
Court Painter version of “Isle of the Dead”
Court Painter version of ” Isle of Life”
A high blink rate is often the result of excitement, arousal and stress.
Blinking is the body’s way of preparing us for action as we keep our eyes moist and alert. The normal blink rate is between six and eight times per minute but it can increase by four or five times while under pressure.
A rapid series of eye blinks can also indicate an inner struggle or distress, nervousness and concern.
A high eye blink rate is also associated with lying but it can also be a signal that they are worried about being perceived as liar – so really a high blink rate is only a sign of arousal. One must find the source of the arousal to uncover lying. Eyes that multi-blink where there are a quick succession of rapid eye movement usually signifies high stress and that a person is on the verge of tears. Other times a high eye blink rate means the eyes are dry or that something is stuck in the eye.
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Treated video excerpts from the Freedom Convoy participant & witness testimony of Daniel Bulford during the Public Order Emergency Commission inquiry, Friday ,November 4/22.
Text Source: Excerpted from CBC News
In a statement submitted to the Public Order Emergency Commission inquiry, Friday ,November 4/22, Daniel Bulford, a 15-year veteran of the RCMP who resigned from the Mounties in December 2021, acknowledged he was the subject of a POI Profile made by the Ontario Provincial Police therein it states that it is believed that Bulford had leaked the Prime Minister’s schedule some months prior to January 30, 2022. He denied that he’d leaked any information.
Bulford said in his inquiry testimony that he served as sniper-observer on the RCMP’s national division Emergency Response Team for most of his RCMP career. He said the RCMP revoked his security clearance after he spoke out against the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for Mounties, which went into effect in October 2021, and Bulford resigned from the Mounties in December 2021 .Bulford told the inquiry he later joined the self-styled Freedom Convoy protest. He said he was a “volunteer security coordinator” and “police liaison” with the convoy starting on January 26, 2022.
Court Painter acknowledges his daily ability to keep up with the torrent of words on his mini TV as he follows the Emergencies Act Inquiry ,is less than adequate to be of much use to the Great Dominion.
However in spite of sooo much going on and his fragile emotional state , he took time to stop time and create a few images for the pleasure of his many art groupies , potential investors and perhaps capture a Canadian Heritage moment.
Meanwhile : The Emergencies Act hearings continue…
Court Painter staring fixedly at his mini TV witnesses the hearing as it continues and the Convoy participants and organizers state there was so much going on to keep up with common sense and the law…all kinds of stuff…a lot of stuff happening, it was busy chaotic ,lawyers flying in, if it wasn’t one thing it was another…kinda echoing the police authorities complaints…too much stuff going on…beyond training & reason and laws they were to uphold …anyway CP is hanging on every word…so many words…so much deflection, everyone wanted to know about the money, cash, etransfers ,crypto currency, one foot ahead of the other ,fuel /food/ lodging, organic leadership, bags of swag, the spark that lit the fire, logistics ,mother hen ,dropping everything, patriotic good Christian man with deep pockets, honking, didn’t pay attention, road captains, don’t recall, freedom ,fuel, had to believe, passion, hot head, team effort, check your ego, no time to follow convoy participants reason’s for participating, a lot that couldn’t be got to, honking, exit strategy, very fluid, shrink /not shrink the footprint, there was lots going on,Tweets, Peckford, lovefest, honking ,deal/no deal, right reasons, core, part of a story, no regrets it is what it is, things happened the way they were supposed to happen, hindsight 20/20 …tears…..
…oh dear and these are all freedom loving Canadians speaking freely wrapped in freedom…whose going to clear the ice, shovel the walk and flood the rink..?
Source : November 3 /22
Alex Ballingall Toronto Star
Commissioner Paul Rouleau tells Convoy participant James Bauder he’s free to go, but Bauder doesn’t want to leave. Now he wants to pull up a video. No video, but now he’s talking about how he loves unity.
judyatrinh CTV
Commissioner Rouleau wants him to wrap it up- says what Bauder is saying isn’t relevant to the inquiry.
