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Saturday, January 8, 2022
Thursday, January 6, 2022
January 6th. Incites. Riot. Gives Comfort.
Pardon the Interruption
Last year, many of us witnessed something incredible at the U.S. Capitol.
Whereas the day was supposed to demonstrate the greatness of our democratic election process, it brought out the ugly in our society.
Protest is a democratic right given by the First Amendment in our Constitution, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Yet, what occurred on January 6th at the Capitol was not a protest but a riot.
The federal Anti-Riot Act (1968), which is part of the Civil Rights Act, makes it a felony to "travel in interstate commerce... with the intent to incite, promote, encourage, participate in and carry on a riot." Riot is defined as "a public disturbance involving (1) an act or acts of violence by one or more persons part of an assemblage of three or more persons, which act or acts shall constitute a clear and present danger of, or shall result in, damage or injury to the property of any other person or to the person of any other individual."
Additionally, "to incite a riot" is defined as "to organize, promote, encourage, participate in, or carry on a riot", includes, but not limited to, urging or instigating other persons to riot..."
Organize. Promote. Encourage. Urging. Instigating.
People do have to right to protest an election outcome. These types of protests have occurred numerous times in U.S. history. Democrats protested after the 2000 election and then again in 2004. Democrats blamed the election in 2000 on "hanging chads." and the use of electronic voting machines in 2004.
And during the election recount in 2000, there was the Brooks Brothers riot, which Roger Stone takes credit for organizing, but it was in no way violent. Republicans in corporate attire descended upon Miami-Dade County and successfully stopped recount by intimidation, but it never turned violent as seen during the January 6th riot.
January 6 was different. After weeks of purporting false claims of a "rigged" election, Trump encouraged his supporters to attend his rally with a tweet, "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!"
Moreover, at a Georgia rally, two days before January 6, Trump told his supporters, "we're going to take what they did to us on Nov. 3rd. We're going to take it back."
At the pro-Trump rally on the Ellipse, Trump capitalized in his false narrative of election fraud and encouraged his supporters to go to the Capitol and intimidate and fight, "We're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you...we're going to walk down to the capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you'll never take back our country with weakness... We will see whether Republicans stand strong for integrity of our elections... I want to thank the more than 140 members of the House. Those are warrior. They're over there working like you've never seen before. Studying, talking, actually going all the way back, studying the roots of the Constitution, because they know we have the right to send a bad note that was illegally gotten... Nobody until I came along had any idea how corrupt our elections were... But I said something's wrong here... And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."
Before his speech finished, a group of pro-Trump supporters were assembling outside the Capitol. More joined the group after the speech. Trump returned to the White House where he watched coverage of the protestors, according to many with firsthand knowledge. He did not walk with his supporters as he said he would.
At 1:00 p.m. protesters began storming through the police barricade around the Capitol building. An hour later, protesters broke windows and began climbing into the Capitol.
At 2:38 p.m., Trump sends out a tweet asking the protesters to "stay peaceful"; although, rioters had already breached the Capitol and began injuring Capitol police officers.
Throughout the afternoon, elected officials from both parties, Fox News anchors, and many others were asking the President to come out and stop the insurrection, the violent uprising.
At 4:17 p.m., over three hours later, Trump tweets a video repeating his false narrative and asking his supporters inside the Capitol to go home, "I know your pain, I know you're hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don't want anybody hurt.It's a very tough period of time. There's never been a time like this where such a thing happened where they could take it away from all of us — from me, from you, from our country. This was a fraudulent election, but we can't play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You're very special. You've seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil.I know how you feel, but go home, and go home in peace."
Scholars say the United States was very close to a Constitutional crisis had Trump succeeded in stopping the certification and overturning the election.
Merriam-Webster defines "insurrection" as a violent attempt to take control of a government. President Joe Biden and other Democrats call the event at the Capitol an insurrection. Republicans disagree. One Republican Congressman called it a normal tourist visit.
The U.S. Crimes and Criminal Procedures Code defines "Rebellion or insurrection" as "whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto..."
The goal of the group that stormed the Capitol was to disrupt the electoral count. They were successful at it, temporarily. And the argument is that those involved where guided by President Trump who said, "We're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you...we're going to walk down to the capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you'll never take back our country with weakness." Added to that, Trump released a video after the rioters stormed the Capitol saying, "We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side... We love you. You're very special."
Incited. Gives Comfort.
Sources:
Wikipedia
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2102
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2018/11/15/its-insanity-how-brooks-brothers-riot-killed-recount-miami/
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/03/politics/january-6-committee-firsthand-knowledge-trump-actions/index.html
https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/jan/11/timeline-what-trump-said-jan-6-capitol-riot/
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/05/1069977469/a-timeline-of-how-the-jan-6-attack-unfolded-including-who-said-what-and-when
Tuesday, January 4, 2022
André Masson
Art Appreciation
French artist André Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, Oise, a town north of Paris, on January 4, 1896.
Masson began studying art at the age of eleven at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He later studied in Paris.
In his early works, he experimented with cubism and surrealism. He then turned to a more structured style often producing works with a violent or erotic theme. In fact, when he escaped German occupation and arrived in New York City, customs found a cache of erotic drawings in his luggage.
His work became an important influence on American abstract expressionisms, such as Jackson Pollock.
Pedestal Table in the Studio (1922)
Hôtel des Automates (1939 - 1941)
The Kill (1944)
Source: Wikipedia, Barnebys.co.uk, Moma.org
Monday, January 3, 2022
Sunday, January 2, 2022
Sunday, December 26, 2021
Richard Artschwager
Art Appreciation
Born in Washington, D.C. on December 26, 1923, Richard Artschwager was an American painter, illustrator, and sculptor.
Artschwager served in the United States Army during World War II. Although wounded in combat, he was assigned to move high-level prisoners, including German General Nikolaus Von Falkenhorst.
Artschwager studied chemistry and mathematics at Cornell University. In 1944, he enlisted in the United States Army. He then was assigned to an intelligence posting in Vienna.
In 1947, Artschwager returned to the United States, and finished college. Although he received a Bachelor of Arts in physics, Artschwager and his wife Elfriede Wejmelka moved to New York City to work as a baby photographer.
A couple of years later, Artschwager studied under Amédée Ozenfant, a purist painter, in Paris. However, he abandoned art soon after and resorted to working various jobs.
In 1953, Artschwager began selling furniture. He then began designing and manufacturing simple and modern furniture.
He was commissioned by the Catholic Church in 1960 to build portable altars for ships. In a time of abstract expressionism, he was inspired to explore incorporating craftsmanship into art working to produce small wall objects made of wood and laminated composite material known as Formica. His breakthrough piece was a three-dimensional wall piece made of Formica titled Handle.
Although he was best known for his furniture, Artschwager was also a painter. Many of his figurative paintings were from photographs. He also experimented with perspective creating the illusion of space in many of his paintings.
In 1968, he incorporated what he called blps, space punctuation, in his pieces. A dispersed installation called 100 Locations, had blps in 100 different in Manhattan's Whitney Museum, later that year.
In the 70s, his work was more into decorative design and bourgeois interiors that relied on light and its ability to guide the eye.
In the 80s and 90s, he continued to work on furniture and incorporating painted wood, Celotex, and Formica. In the 90s, Artschwager made an extensive series of sculptures in the form of shipping crates.
His final gallery exhibition featured five laminate sculptures of upright and grand pianos at the Gagosian Gallery in Rome in 2012.
He passed away at the age of 89 on February 9, 2013.
Installation, Haus der Kunst 2013
2020
Splatter Piano II, 1995
Source: Wikipedia, Hausderkunst.de, Artforum.com, mcba.ch, Spruethmager.com
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