Court Painter has risen to the challenge and rendered both front runners with numerous striking portraits of approximation. Everyone who has viewed them agrees he has captured penetrating similarities to the actual subjects however leave the viewers scratching their heads in wonderment. Court Painter has served the greater purpose of Art once again.
AMERICAN RASPUTIN
Steve Bannon is still scheming. And he’s still a threat to democracy.
JUNE 6, 2022, 6 AM The Atlantic
Click link for article
You can discern much of Bannon’s mad character and contradictions in these exchanges. The chaos and the focus, the pugnacity and the enthusiasm, the transparency and the industrial-grade bullshit. Also, the mania: logomania, arithmomania, monomania (he’d likely cop to all of these, especially that last one—he’s the first to say that one of the features of his show is “wash rinse repeat”). Garden-variety hypermania (with a generous assist from espressos). And last of all, perhaps above all else, straight-up megalomania, which even those who profess affection for the man can see, though it appears to be a problem only for those who believe, as I do, that he’s attempting to insert a lit bomb into the mouth of American democracy.
Alyssum murale
Court Painter & Alyssum Murale 2
Click link for Guardian article
In the struggle to mitigate and adapt to climate breakdown – and all the other entangled crises we face – we are starting to recognise that other ways of knowing and acting on the world, from indigenous knowledge systems to changes in our own consumption and patterns of life, are vital to surviving and thriving on a hotter, wetter and more conflicted planet. We know too that this survival is dependent not only on our own abilities and inventions, but on the survival of the other species we share the planet with. The collapse of biodiversity which is already occurring makes it harder for us to hold back the collapse of whole ecosystems on which we too depend: for the pollination of crops, for disease resistance, for safe and sufficient food, for protection from fires and other natural disasters. We will flourish together, or not at all.
The deep knowledge that is possessed by animals, plants and others – their intelligence, we should begin to say – is another reason why we must preserve and protect them. But more than this: we should be listening to them, learning from them and working with them. The hyperaccumulator plants, for example, show us there are other ways of getting what we need from the planet; they also remind us that there are limits to what we should extract, as to turn them into another agroindustrial resource like soya beans or palm oil would be just as damaging. The knowledge that there are other ways of being intelligent on this planet should force us to reassess the centrality and usefulness of our own. Other worlds are not only possible, they have been growing around us all along.
Court Painter & Alyssum murale 1
Ontario just can’t get enough of those Ford bros!
While the Progressive Conservatives may have won a sweeping victory Thursday night, a large majority of Ontarians decided not to bother heading to the polls.
The province recorded the lowest voter turnout in history during the 2022 election, with just about 43.5 per cent of eligible voters casting a ballot according to preliminary Elections Ontario results.
Of the just over 10.7 million registered voters in the province, this equals just over 4.6 million votes cast.
PCs WON 40.8 % OF THOSE VOTES
According to the preliminary results, Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives won with just over 1.9 million votes
The last time voter turnout was below 50 per cent was in 2011, when just 48 per cent of Ontario residents over the age of 18 voted.
No other time in Ontario history has the voter turnout fallen that low.
Court Painter with his recent Ford Dynasty painting.
Excerpted from article by Ashley Burke · CBC News · Posted: May 30, 2022
Military should give up control of sexual assault cases permanently: former Supreme Court justice
Military must adapt to a new reality – the women warriors are here to stay,’ says Louise Arbor.
The time has come for the Canadian Armed Forces to permanently give up control of investigations of sexual offences by its members, says a major new report by a former Supreme Court justice.
Concluding more than a year of work, Louise Arbour today released her much-anticipated report on the military’s sexual misconduct crisis. It recommends, among other things, that civilian police and courts handle all sexual assault cases involving allegations against military members.
“As challenging as it is, this organization must demonstrate enough humility to accept external help and open itself to the outside world,” wrote Arbour in the roughly 400-page report.
“Meaningful change will rest on the political will and determination of the civilians who oversee the CAF.”
Military sexual trauma complainants have been demanding for decades that civilians take over sexual misconduct cases, arguing that the Canadian Armed Forces has failed to properly support victims and to thoroughly investigate and prosecute cases.
Images of Canadian women soldiers in Afghanistan from AHM war artist files.
NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION
HOUSTON TEXAS 2022
14 ACRES Of GUNS & GEAR
…as the increasing vitriol of the National Rifle Association (NRA) proved politically effective, some in the gun business realized this messaging could be adopted by the firearms industry to sell more guns. All that was required for success was a dedication to frighteningly dangerous rhetoric and increasingly powerful weaponry. Cultural norms and responsibility would have to go.
Ryan Busse
author of Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America
Excerpted from CTV Politics/News May 26/2022
In the wake of a horrific mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has signalled that the Canadian government will be moving ahead on new gun-control measures “in the coming weeks.”
However…
With just a few weeks left in the House of Commons’ spring sitting before MPs take a summer hiatus from debating and passing legislation, and other priority bills already moving through Parliament, should a new gun-control bill be presented in as Trudeau has said “the coming weeks,” it’s unlikely it would pass before the fall.
Between factoring in the time opposition parties would want to study any proposed new legislation, and the time that may be needed to implement any regulations stemming from potential new laws, it could be some time before further updates to Canada’s firearm laws are in effect.
During his time in office, under Presidents Ford & Nixon, Henry Kissinger had been involved in three genocides : Pol Pot’s “killing fields” in Cambodia, which would never have occurred had he not infamously ordered an illegal four-and-a-half-year bombing campaign in that country; Indonesia’s massacre in East Timor; Pakistan’s in Bangladesh both of which he expedited and later as a vociferous public supporter of invading Iraq.
Source: Salon/November 10,2015
The former US Secretary of State has said in the past ‘that the temptation to launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korea is strong and the argument rational’, remaining consistent in his steadfast support for “bombing as an instrument of diplomacy.“ Kissinger has been credited with being the modern architect of America’s propensity for “endless war”.
Take advice from this man at your peril!
The fact we’re not having a serious conversation about the casual use of the notwithstanding clause to undermine fundamental rights is just bonkers.
By Supriya Dwivedi Contributing Columnist Toronto Star ,Sun., May 22, 2022
EXCERPT FROM ARTICLE:
It doesn’t matter which party is in power or what year it is — Quebec politicians using language strife in the province for political gain is as Quebecois as poutine itself.
As such, it is unsurprising that Quebec Premier François Legault and his Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government would try and further exploit linguistic anxieties in the province for their own gain. Bill 96, formally known as “An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec,” was introduced in the National Assembly a little over a year ago under the guise of further strengthening French in the province.
There are multiple objectionable parts to the bill, and there are several aspects that are blatantly unconstitutional. Arguably, one of the most egregious elements is contained in provisions that relate to strengthening the powers of investigation and inspection of the province’s language police, known officially as the Office québécois de la langue française. It would allow them to enter premises other than homes or dwellings, and access any and all electronic devices and any other documents located on the premises — all subject to the whims of the individual language inspector.
If this sounds like it goes directly against Section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states “Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure,” it’s because that’s precisely the case. Section 111 of Bill 96 lays out this constitutional overreach very clearly, and nowhere in the bill does it further specify there would at the very least need to be a requirement of reasonable suspicion — or the need to obtain a warrant or other legal authorization — in order to enter the premises and conduct a search.
