Every Picture Tells a Story – Ongoing Series 6.7.2019

My daughter and I spent this beautiful June morning  visiting the “Early Rubens” Exhibit at the Legion of Honor located on a cliff with a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean and the Marin Headlands.

I took the photo below of the Marin Headlands while soaking in the view from the Legion of Honor.  My other photos are a representative sampling of  Peter Paul Ruben’s early work.  I was enthralled while studying Ruben’s realistic and gritty  Head of Medusa shown above.

“Early Rubens” is impressive and well curated.  Each piece of art is exquisitely described along with historical overviews for many of the paintings. This exhibit is educational and artistically impressive.

Massacre of the Innocents (circa 1610)

The Raising of the Cross (ca. 1638)

The Boar Hunt (circa 1615-1617)

A link to a review of the Exhibit written by art critic Charles Desmarais in the San Francisco Chronicle  4.10.2019 follows.

https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/art-exhibits/gothic-tales-in-baroque-style-early-rubens-at-the-legion-of-honor

 

 

This is a place America needs to be politically

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 6.7.2019

The opposition Greens have hit a record high in a new opinion poll, pulling ahead of Angela Merkel’s conservatives. The center-left SPD have dropped even further, slipping behind the far-right Alternative for Germany.

A Deutschlandtrend poll by Infratest dimap has put the environmentalist Greens up 6 percentage points at a record 26%, one point ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and sister party Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), reflecting a similar sampling last week.

In last month’s European Parliament elections, the Greens came second among German voters with 20.5%, behind Merkel’s bloc, with a mandate focused on issues such as climate change and a renewables-based economy.

In another boon for the Greens, the party’s dual leadership of Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock polled at 36% and 26% respectively, placing them fourth and sixth as preferred national politicians in Thursday’s findings published by Germany’s ARD public broadcaster.

https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-greens-hit-poll-high-ahead-of-merkels-bloc-survey/a-49094285

 

 

The Golden State Warriors created an international incident, bringing a little global excitement to the NBA playoffs between America’s team and Toronto’s Raptors. By the way, the Raptors won the Game.

Excerpted from the Wall Street Journal 6.6.2019

The NBA announced that Mark Stevens would be banned from attending all games and league activities for one year and is subject to a $500,000 fine

Until now, some light trash-talking by Drake provided the only off-the-court drama in this year’s NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors. That all changed Wednesday night with an incident between Toronto guard Kyle Lowry and an aggressive fan—who turned out to be a minority owner of the Warriors.

 

 

The “Progressive” Congresswoman shows some Class in standing up for the unjust treatment of Paul Manafort and Chelsea Manning, shining a spotlight on the torture of Solitary Confinement.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 6.16.2019

UPDATE:

A 45-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the killing of German politician Walter Lübcke, police said on Sunday.

The suspect was detained on Saturday morning by special police units in the central city of Kassel, 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of Frankfurt. The individual was then brought before an investigating judge on Sunday and remanded in custody.

“The arrest was based on a DNA match,” the regional public prosecutor’s office and the Hesse state office of criminal investigation said.

https://www.dw.com/en/new-arrest-in-murder-of-german-politician-walter-l%C3%BCbcke/a-49227718

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 6.4.2019

“Welcome to Berlin-Neukölln,” says a man, referring to the inner-city Berlin neighborhood that has come to symbolize crime for some Germans.

The neighbors are trying to imagine what exactly happened at Walter Lübcke’s Kassel house on Saturday night. The village fair was underway over the weekend. It was probably too loud to have heard any shots, they say. The man says he walked past the house on his way home at about the time the murder must have taken place.

“What would you have done if the killer had come out?” asks one woman. “Let him go,” says the other, adding that it would be the only sane thing to do.

Walter Lübcke’s neighbors and co-workers can’t make sense of his death from a gunshot wound in a village on the outskirts of Kassel, in central Germany. They hope for relief from detectives working to solve the crime.

“Did you read the hateful tirades on the internet about him?” one woman asks. “Those are keyboard perpetrators.”

Media reported that Lübcke had received death threats during the refugee crisis, when the region, like all of Germany, was taking in people fleeing war and poverty in Syria and beyond.

“Anyone who doesn’t share these values can leave this country at any time,” Lübcke, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), had said in response to disruptions at a community meeting about the situation in October 2015.

Everyone knew Walter Lübcke in Istha. He didn’t have to be shot dead for people in this quiet village of around 900 to learn his name. As president of the district council, the Regierungspräsidium, or governing presidium, here in the north of the state of Hesse, he was one of the most powerful politicians in the region.

The state police have been investigating what happened on Saturday night. They have not said whether or not they have leads, but that they are looking in all directions. They have also said that Walter Lübcke, who was 65, was shot in the head at close range and that no weapon was found. It was not suicide. He was discovered in his garden around midnight by a family member and pronounced dead in hospital two hours later. They have asked people to refrain from speculating.

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-killing-of-kassel-district-president-leaves-locals-aghast/a-49060746

 

June 3, 2019

Every Picture Tells a Story – Ongoing Series

Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry reacts to Quinn Cook after Cook hit a three-pointer in the fourth quarter during game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday, June 2 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

A Stunned SuperRapper Drake looks on in Dismay.

The Warriors won 109-104. Game 3 is Wednesday night in Oakland. The series is tied 1-1.

Photo: Scott Strazzante / The San Francisco Chronicle

 

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 6.2.2019

Photo above – Andre Iguodala after hitting game winning 3 pointer with five seconds left.

TORONTO — Warriors head coach Steve Kerr didn’t question his team’s ability to recover from its Game 1 loss to the Raptors in the NBA Finals.

“These guys have seen it all,” Kerr said Sunday, several hours before they would see a lot more adversity.

Photo above – Steph Curry and Kawhi Leonard

In Game 2, they saw a double-digit deficit, a host of injury scares and a raucous Scotiabank Arena crowd and overcame it all to escape with a 109-104 win over the Raptors to even the series at 1-1. Now, as Golden State flies back to Oakland, it stares down some key questions:

How serious is the left hamstring injury Klay Thompson suffered early in the fourth quarter? Will Kevon Looney — the Warriors’ most reliable center this season — miss time with a left chest contusion he sustained early in the third quarter? Can Kevin Durant return for Game 3 on Wednesday from a strained right calf that has sidelined him for seven games?

Regardless of their injury report moving forward, the Warriors can take solace knowing that they’re as well-equipped to weather attrition as any team in recent NBA history.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/warriors/article/XXXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXXX-13917835.php?psid=6nO7

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 6.2.2019

The Chinese government said the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square – which left hundreds of protesters dead,  perhaps thousands – was not a mistake. The defense came days ahead of the 30th anniversary of the killings.

Chinese Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe on Sunday defended the bloody crackdown on protesters Tiananmen Squarealmost three decades after it took place.

“That incident was a political turbulence and the central government took measures to stop the turbulence which is a correct policy,” Wei told a regional security forum in Singapore.

“The 30 years have proven that China has undergone major changes,” Wei said in response to a question from the audience. He said that because of the government’s action at that time “China has enjoyed stability and development.”

Wei said the action was necessary to avoid political instability, and questioned why people still said that China has not handled the situation well.

The response was a rare acknowledgment of the killings, which had followed seven weeks of protests in 1989 by students and workers calling for democracy and an end to corruption.

Hundreds, possibly more than 1,000 people were killed when soldiers and tanks chased protesters and onlookers in the streets around the square. One secret British diplomatic cable put the possible number of dead at up to 10,000.

Within China, online censors have been removing online content — such as memes, hashtags and photos — that allude to the events at Tiananmen Square.

https://www.dw.com/en/china-says-tiananmen-crackdown-was-correct/a-49004281

The scandalous Police State behavior by cops – abetted by three Judges who signed   search warrants and acquiescent local politicians – is a disgrace and a permanent stain on “progressive” San Francisco.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 6.1.2019

San Francisco police obtained a warrant to search freelance journalist Bryan Carmody’s phone records and were authorized to “conduct remote monitoring” on the phone more than two months before a controversial raid on his home and office, according to documents released Friday, May 31st.

“The SFPD appears to have used the illegal warrant to spy on Bryan’s movements, phone calls and communications,” Carmody’s defense attorney, Ben Berkowitz, said in a statement Friday. “This is an alarming and deeply disturbing attack on the free press in an attempt to unmask Mr. Carmody’s confidential source.”

Officers executed the warrant on Carmody’s phone records on March 1 — the first of seven search warrants obtained in the investigation into who leaked him a report on the Feb. 22 death of Public Defender Jeff Adachi.

The revelation that police had broad authority to covertly monitor Carmody adds a new twist to the unfolding case that was thrust into the national spotlight when police used a sledgehammer to raid his home and office on May 10. Officers seized Carmody’s computers, phones and other electronic devices after learning he had sold the report to three television news stations.

It’s still not clear how police justified the searches to at least three judges, how police knew Carmody obtained the report and whether officers listened in on the private calls of a journalist after executing the warrant.

June 1, 2019

Every Picture Tells a Story – Ongoing Series

Photos by Liz Heidhues – Stasi Museum – Berlin, Germany 5.14.2017

June 4th is the 30th Anniversary of the Tianamen Square massacre in Beijing