Free Republic

It’s even worse than I thought. Mike Lee working with Chip Roy. Very sad. https://t.co/jY9mjUUqUU— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) January 4, 2021Clarification from Lee's office >> https://t.co/eqPGjVIMw2— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) January 4, 2021

NEW YORK (AP) -- The morning after Michelle Obama's big speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2012, in which she argued passionately for a second term for her husband, designer Tracy Reese's phone was ringing. And ringing. Mrs. Obama's powerfully delivered speech had attracted much attention - but these phone calls were about her dress. A shimmering sleeveless sheath in rose and silvery gray, it was pretty universally considered a fashion slam dunk. And customers wanted it.

here

President Obama is laughing off lingering doubts about his birth certificate. The commander-in-chief cracked wise at a fund-raiser in Boston, poking fun at the so-called "birther" movement, which insists he is not a natural-born citizen. "There's no weakness in us trying to reach out and seeing if we can find common ground," he said Tuesday. "Now, there are going to be times where we can't. I was born in Hawaii. What can I say? I mean, I just ... I can't change those facts."

Charles Krauthammer tears into Obama on his speech today calling it “Abstract, vapid, and self-absorbed” [video at site] Absolutely perfect! Moral relativism at its worst... (Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net ...

President Hussein and Mrs. Hussein are reportedly removing portraits of presidents past from the White House and replacing them with abstract art. Remember, in Cambodia, when the Khumer Rouge took over, they declared it to be "year one," and removed all references to the past. Abstract art rather than pictures of Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln? Yes, those oppressors, in Obama's mind, represent the stale US past

NASA Earth Observatory is having a 10th anniversary, and you can vote for the best image (through April 13th; the finals are April 14-27. Voting Info Anyway, I've been voting, and found two nice images of sand dunes. I might have posted the second one before; oh well, it's still a great image. As is common, click for full size.

Researchers from three universities worked on the project and have said Obama has produced vague proposals compared to other candidates. U.S. and Canadian researchers say voters respond to Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama's abstract notions of hope, change and judgment. Hakkyun Kim of Concordia University, Akshay Rao of the University of Minnesota and Angela Lee of Northwestern University said that while Obama was providing abstract messages, rivals Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and other candidates presented detailed, concrete proposals on many topics, which did not resonate as well. The researchers said Obama's reliance on lofty rhetoric succeeded thus far, because...

New movie out in October. From the site: Synopsis: within a few months 4yr old Marla Olmstead sold over $300K worth of paintings. Compared to Kandinsky and Pollock.... Michael Kimmelman Quotes: "people don't seem to feel there's really some way of judging what's good, what's bad. There's this large idea out there that abstract art has no standards, no truths.." .."pulls the veil off this con game...."

Meaningful Art in a Meaningful Universe: the Fallacies of Abstractionist Ideology by Frederick Turner HUMAN BEINGS TAKE A NATURAL DELIGHT IN FORM and pattern. Our eyes and visual cortex are designed to pick out shapes and hints of half-hidden presences, and to recognize the colors, textures, and fine details of natural objects. These are the necessary skills of a hunter-gatherer species, adapted to follow the obscure tracks of fleeing prey, to resolve the outline of a camouflaged animal in hiding, to remember and find again a nutritious berry, root, or herb. Nature rewards the exercise of such skills, which...

Link post: Geopics of the Week, September 15-21, 2002 (amazing!)

Abstract patterns in nature is our theme today: (Go to title link to also see a Space Shuttle photograph of an Aleutian Island volcano that's respectable) Click on this image to go to the current Kilauea update page:

"...The art of painting, one of the greatest traditions in all of human history has been under a merciless and relentless assault for the last one hundred years. I'm referring to the accumulated knowledge of over 2500 hundred years, spanning from Ancient Greece to the early Renaissance and through to the extraordinary pinnacles of artistic achievement seen in the High Renaissance, 17th century Dutch, and the great 19th century Academies of Europe and America. These traditions, just when they were at their absolute zenith, at a peak of achievement, seemingly unbeatable and unstoppable, hit the twentieth century at full stride,...

ARC Chairman speaks at the Met Good Art / Bad Art - Pulling Back the Curtain, by Fred Ross June 7, 2001 -- Fred Ross, Chairman of the Art Renewal Center, addressed a crowd of over 700 portrait artists, gallery owners and members of the press today at America's premier institution of art, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, at the American Society of Portrait Artists (ASOPA) Conference. Mr Ross was interrupted at least 10 times to thunderous applause or peals of laughter as he blasted Modernism and its chief icons, Picasso, Mattisse and DeKooning, with some of the most...