[video]
A Revolution in Brittany: Mayors Defy French State to Ban Pesticides -
Fun story, about how the local mayors in parts of France are taking matters into their own hands and banning certain pesticides, regardless of the decisions made by the EU or France. As Tip O’Neil once said, all politics is local.
Excerpt from this New York Times story:
If France is going through an ecological awakening, its spiritual center may be here in Langouët, a quiet village in Brittany, where the environmentalist mayor has become a folk hero to fellow small-town officials all over the country.
Dozens of mayors are following the example of Langouët’s leader, Daniel Cueff, even though the French state has rapped him on the knuckles, dragged him into court and told him that he, the shepherd over a mere 600 souls, had no right to ban pesticides by ordinance from his village.
The other French mayors, from the Alps to the Atlantic, don’t seem to care and have passed their own restrictions in as many as 40 small towns.
Mr. Cueff, a steely eyed 64-year-old veteran of the environmental wars who earned his chops four decades ago in fighting a nuclear reactor, is used to being considered an outlier. Not this time.
“Isn’t the mayor of a village called on to fill in for the state’s deficiencies?” he asked in an interview in his wood-paneled office — powered by solar energy, like the other municipal buildings.
After a scorching summer in which the French were frightened by successive record heat waves, brutally underscoring the reality of climate change, there is a premium on politicians who are seen to act. The Greens made a strong showing in last spring’s European Parliament elections, environmentalists are on the rise and establishment politicians are genuflecting.
The lesson has not been lost on President Emmanuel Macron, who recently declared, “I’ve changed,” in matters ecological.
“We rural mayors are faced with a real decline in our environment,” he said. “The trees are dying. The insect population is in free-fall. You look around the hillsides here, there are huge brown patches. We’ve had three droughts in a row. Climate change is taking place before our eyes.”
(via merelygifted)
Best friends
(via everythingfox)
Battle Ax of Baki
This battle axe was found inside the coffin of a man named Baki, whose formal name was Bak-Amun. He was buried in the family tomb of Noferkhawt, who was probably his father or his father-in-law. The handle has been partially restored with modern wood. The rawhide lashing is modern, based on ancient examples.
Bronze or copper alloy, wood (with modern restoration), modern rawhide. New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, reign of Thutmose I - early sole Thutmose III, ca. 1500-1450 BC.
From Tomb of Neferkhawet, El-Assasif, West Thebes. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 35.3.56
(via egypt-museum-deactivated2021071)
Khafre Enthroned
This perfectly modeled and well-polished life-size statue depicts king Khafra, the builder of the second largest pyramid at Giza. It was found in a pit in the antechamber of his Valley Temple at Giza. The king is seated on a throne flanked by lion heads. The two sides of the throne are decorated with the sema-tawy, symbol of the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Khafra wears the nemes headdress, surmounted by the uraeus, or royal cobra. He wears the royal pleated kilt. Attached to his chin is an artificial ceremonial sacred beard. He is protected by the god Horus, represented as a falcon, perched at the back of his neck.
This artifact is a masterpiece of workmanship. The sculptor was able to depict the details of the facial features and muscles of the body, in spite of the hardness of the stone.
Made out of anorthosite gneiss, (related to diorite). From the Valley Temple of Khafre. Old Kingdom, 4th Dynasty, around 2570 BC. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 10062
(via egypt-museum-deactivated2021071)
Statuette of a Jackal
This example of fine bronze casting represents the god Anubis or Wepwawet, the jackal guardians of burial sites. The figure is solid cast, and the details of its fur are incised. The figure may originally have decorated the top of a shrine.
Late Period, 26th Dynasty, ca. 664-525 BC. Now in the Art Institute of Chicago.
(via egypt-ancient-and-modern)
[video]
Trump Says He’s Completely Immune from ‘the Criminal Process’ in Lawsuit to Keep Tax Returns Secret -
The 20-page filing offers an array of citations–including a law review article written by then-judge Brett Kavanaugh in 2009–to put forward the notion that a sitting president simply cannot be arrested, investigated, imprisoned or detained while in office.
“Nor can he be investigated, indicted, or otherwise subjected to the criminal process,” the complaint reads.
This latest petition comes as part of a continued legal slog to keep the 45th president’s tax returns out of public sight.
“In response to the subpoenas issued by the New York County District Attorney, we have filed a lawsuit this morning in Federal Court on behalf of the President in order to address the significant constitutional issues at stake in this case,” said Trump’s longtime personal attorney Jay Sekulow–who is not listed as an attorney working on the case itself in Thursday’s federal court filing.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero.
Trump is being represented in the matter by attorneys Alan Futerfas, Marc Mukasey, Patrick Strawbridge and William Consovoy–the last of whom concurrently filed a pro hac vice motion in order to represent Trump on this lawsuit in New York State. Consovoy is currently licensed to practice law in Washington, D.C. and Virginia.
The attorneys are suing Vance in his official capacity on behalf of Trump in his private capacity as a citizen. Also named as a defendant in the lawsuit is global elite accounting firm Mazars USA, LLP. In August, Mazars was subpoenaed by Vance as part of the Manhattan District Attorney’s bid to unearth those ever-elusive tax returns.
The accounting firm said in a statement that it will “respect the legal process and fully comply with its legal obligations.”
“We believe strongly in the ethical and professional rules and regulations that govern our industry, our work and our client interactions,” Mazars said. “As a matter of firm policy and professional rules we do not comment on the work we conduct for our clients.”
Vance’s office is said to be seeking Trump’s personal financial records for the past eight years–from 2011 to the present.
(via shad0ww0rdpain)
Created for Fake Criterion’s Faked from the Dead series.
(via horror-heks)