Politics Plus

We’ve all enjoyed the Bribe & Emoluments Light Show that artist Robin Bell projected onto the Trump Hotel in Washington, DC this past week.  But in case you missed it, a quick review

While it's great to know where to send the Bribes – the Bigger Question we have is: Where do we send all the upcoming subpoenas?

And Mr. Bell's own Tweet of it as a video:

Projections of #EmolumentsWelcome at Trump Hotel in Washington, DC 5-15-17 #resist pic.twitter.com/8gkucztYOm

— robin bell (@bellvisuals) May 16, 2017

This is not the first time Artist Bell has entertained the public with a creative political light show message for the masses.  In fact Bell is so dedicated that he has designed a specially-equipped van from which he projects his light shows, after creating them with Photoshop and his projection-mapping software.

And so happens there actually was a more recent one involving Attorney General Sessions – “Sessions Must Go” – at DOJ)

 

NOTE:  You have to click on the little movie projector icon, and then click to run the video below]

#SessionsMustGo projecting now at the DOJ. #fireSessions #WeNeedToSeeTheMemo ? https://t.co/pEuQBmvE0N

— robin bell (@bellvisuals) May 19, 2017

The Bribe-Emoluments light show at the Trump Hotel lasted just about 10 minutes before security personnel from the hotel asked him to quit.  And when he didn’t, they physically moved to stand in front of the projection, blocking it.  But I was wondering if Bell’s provocative and creative light shows are legal.  Could he be charged with criminal trespassing?

You may remember it was just a week ago that reporter Dan Heyman was arrest for “willful disruption of government processes.”  Heyman tried to ask Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price a question about how the GOP AHCA would impact victims of domestic violence.  The criminal complaint accused him of a misdemeanor — “willful disruption of governmental processes” — and said he was “aggressively breaching the secret service agents.”

So there is clearly a legitimate concern by the media if Trump thugs trying to shut down the press’ First Amendment rights. 

Fortunately for Mr. Bell to the question of criminal trespassing charges, the answer is “Probably not.”

Looking into it, there actually is case law addressing this issue: Int'l Union of Painters & Allied Trades Dist. Council 15 Local 159 v. Great Wash Park, LLC.

The court ruled that while the union had no First Amendment right or labor law right to project a message onto an employer’s wall, it also held that the projection itself is not against the law.

Trespassing cases generally revolve around if there were “invasion of land through a physical, tangible object” – or torts “when intangible matter, such as particles emanating from a manufacturing plant, cause actual and/or substantial damage to the [property].”

But virtually all “light trespass” cases involved ambient light “leaking or diffusing” onto private property – like from construction lighting or drive-in movie theater.

But a projected light show is designed to send a specific message, so it could not be considered “ambient”.  But the court ruled that unless a light show lasted an excessively long time, or happened to shine into the room of a paying guest – it would not meet the criteria of criminal trespassing.

However, it would most likely reach the standards for a tort of nuisance. 

But Mr. Bell proudly has announced that other light shows will continue to follow.

Seems appropriate to end with a message from our own creative Light Brigade last winter in Madison, WI:

 

Was planning on doing this one last week – but instead I had to head up to Illinois to refill and restock my Mom’s meds.  (And unfortunately 3 of the 4 prescription meds she takes had run out of refills, so they all needed new authorization.  What a hassle!)

Obviously science has been a big part of my life.  I know, I know – it’s a large part of EVERYONE’S life.  But unfortunately, we’ve not done a good job of convincing Twitler and his Luddite minions of that fact.

Which brings us to the recent March for Science.  A March that was joined by millions not just across our country – but around the world.  It was great to see people marching to acknowledge the role that science, in its broadest sense, plays in bettering our lives.  So I thought I’d share some of my favorite signs from the March – some funny, some serious and some very clever.

Let’s start with a clever one that takes some familiarity with the building blocks of chemistry, because someone decided to add a new element to the Periodic Table: "Wtf"

But the disbelief that Twitler’s troglodytes have so poisoned the academic arena that we actually had to have a March for Science was a common theme in several signs:

So maybe we should start with the Serious Ones:

[Maybe hard to read.  It was from the Boston March:

Nobel Science Laureates

Harvard – 118

MIT – 84

Trump U – ZERO

And one my centenarian Mom would love:

Some Funny Ones:

Some Clever Ones:

And two head-scratchers that were so clever it took me a while to figure out.  (Full Disclosure: Along with the help of Google for the first one)

Proudly post your answers in the Comments.

And for all of Twitler’s knuckle-draggers who hated that millions joined the March for Science to protest Twitler’s policies, I’ll close with the wisdom of Albert Einstein

**********************************

SIDEBAR:

My “Friday Fun” posts tend to be heavy on the graphics.  I made the photos the “Medium” size to take up less real estate.  Would you rather I keep them formatted individually – or as a scrolling GIF like the one close to the top?

I can make the GIF larger than the individual photos, and I think the 3.5 second timing is about right.  But you cannot stop it like a slideshow if you want to look at just one of the photos. 

If you do click on one photo, it will open it in another window, and hangs an additional second or two longer – but then starts scrolling again.

Makes no difference to me, but I’d appreciate your input in the Comments as to individual (takes up more space) versus GIF (less space, but less “control”).  And is 3.5 seconds too fast, too slow or about right?

Thanks

Texas annually anticipates its springtime carpet of bluebonnets producing a Floral Photo Fantabula …

But this year California is taking over the top floral spot with a Super Bloom rarely seen.

[NOTE: I created free-standing GIFs, so you can't stop it to view individual photos.  If you do click on it at a certain photo, it'll open in a new window that takes a while to load – but then reverts to slideshow mode.]

Thanks to the record-breaking, drought-ending drenching California experienced this past winter, its parched desert hills and valleys are awash in a technicolor Super Bloom – a phantasmagorical palette that has not been seen for years and years.

According to research ecologist, Cameron Barrows, seeds that have been dormant in the desert sands for 5, 10, or even 30 years are responding to the rains of winter, creating carpets of red, orange, yellow, and purple flowers that have drawn record crowds – and it’s easy to see why!

The U.S. Department of the Interior, which posted photos to their Facebook page, wrote:

"The Valley floor has endless expanses of yellows and purples from coreopsis, tidy tips and phacelia, with smaller patches of dozens of other species.  Not to be outdone, the Temblor Range is painted with swaths of wildflowers in oranges yellow and purple like something out of a storybook."

And amazingly the Super Bloom fields are so vast, they’re visible from space!

Senior environmental specialist Wendy Picht, notes that the poppy fields draw the largest crowds because they last the longest and are brighter than other area species, such as baby blue eyes, arroyo lupine, caterpillar phacelia, Canterbury bells, goldfields, cream cups, delphinium and blue dicks (I’m NOT kidding, that’s what their name is – you can Google it – the fact that it’s edible … Oh, never mind)

Let's take a closer look at some of these beauties …

But she pleads with all visitors to respect the environment and STAY ON THE TRAILS. 

Granted, it may be hard to not wander afield – but for those that follow, please do Stay On The Trails.  What do you think – did this gal stay on a trail for her selfie?

The Super Bloom show started in the deserts close to the Mexican border, and has worked its way north.  If you’re in the LA Metro – or want to travel – this site has a map of the best locations.  But better hurry – the show is coming to a close soon:

http://laist.com/2017/03/31/super_bloom_3_best.php

 

Does it really take a Village, People, to troll Kellyanne Conway?

Apparently not – as one guy got it done all by himself.  But more on that in a little bit.  Let’s start with what I think makes for a great Trump Theme Song – sung to the Village People’s anthem of “YMCA”.

I’m including the lyrics below – but a HEADS-UP … the lyrics are NSFW [NOT Safe for Work]!

 

White men,

Here's how it's going down.

All the black men,

We'll shoot them into the ground.

 

Mexicans,

This is not your hometown,

We're gonna build a wall 'round the country.

Barrack,

It's time to clear your shit out.

 

Hey Muslims,

Take the first flight out.

Yo Putin,

You're my BFF now.

Together we can nuke

Any country

Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb

 

That's how it's gonna be in

Trump's USA!

I have successfully,

Fucked USA-A!

 

We have no gun control,

So you men can enjoy,

Just don't make out with,

Any boys…

 

Hillary,

You can suck my cock,

I didn't mean that,

It was just locker room talk

 

So ladies…

Don't be too shocked

If I grab you

By the pussy.

 

(I actually said that)

 

That's how it's going to be in

Trump's USA!

 

Of course, Kellyanne Conway has made herself an easy target for trolling between her “alternative facts” and “spying microwaves” – but Alfredo Pelicci (an attorney in Washington) deserves a medal for a great one.

A couple of weeks back I came across this Tweet that was all the rage about Alfredo approaching Conway at the Lupo Verde restaurant in Washington and asking for a selfie.  [NOTE: Given my lack of hearing, their conversation was what I gleaned from reading comments about the Tweet.  So I’d appreciate your 2¢ on what you think they actually said.]

Conway agreed – but rather than the standard issue “Say: ‘Cheese’”, Alfredo went with “Say: ‘I’m ruining America’” – in what was described as a cheerful voice. 

And when Conway demurs, saying “Are you happy?  You must feel really brave saying that”, Alfredo politely and cheerfully closes with “No?  Alright.  Thank you.”

tears, this is hilarious. pic.twitter.com/EADYyiAbCi

— deray mckesson (@deray) March 4, 2017

Let’s close with a useful Schadenfreude tool to follow along on the (hopefully soon) demise of Twitler’s administration.  It’s a site that provides an INTERACTIVE Historical Tracking of Presidential Approval Ratings. 

You select the presidents you want to compare to Trump and duration of administration – it then graphs them out, but it does load a little slow.  Below is the current graph comparing everyone from Reagan on.  That red line way down at the bottom?  That’s Twitler.

ETA [Edited to Add]

Just saw two magazine covers that came out in the past 24 hours that are smile-inducing – so I'll slip them in.

First is from our beloved "The New Yorker" – Andy's home – titled "Broken Windows":

And the second is a very clever animation from "The Economist" – also following a golf theme that so aptly illustrates Twitler violating "The First Law of Holes": If you find yourself in one, STOP DIGGING!

This week's animated cover: https://t.co/EU9VnkU6BD #Trump #TrumpLeaks #Trumprussia #TrumpTaxReturns #fakenews #FridayFeeling #animation pic.twitter.com/AeE1UVcsnJ

— Economist MoGrapher (@MotionNino) March 31, 2017