Saturday, 20 February 2016

Walter de La Mare: Napoleon: ideological ascendancy in the least rational campaign in recent memory



Donald Trump after his big victory Saturday night. But he will now face a less divided mainstream field: photo by Jim Wilson/The New York Times, 20 February 2016 

Walter de La Mare: Napoleon

'What is the world, O soldiers?
    It is I;
I, this incessant snow,
  This northern sky;
Soldiers, this solitude
  Through which we go
    Is I.'

Walter de la Mare (1973-1956): Napoleon



 
Donald J. Trump in Spartanburg, S.C., with his wife and family on Saturday night: photo by Jim Wilson/The New York Times, 20 February 2016


Donald J. Trump greeted fans at his rally at a farm in Walterboro, S.C., on Wednesday: photo by Jim Wilson/The New York Times 17 February 2016


 
Supporters of Donald Trump in North Augusta, S.C., on Wednesday: photo by Stephen B. Morton for The New York Times, 17 February 2016


Donald Trump addressing a rally on Friday at the Pawleys Plantation Golf and Country Club in Pawleys Island, S.C. In comments televised on Thursday, Mr. Trump expressed support for the main tenet of the Affordable Care Act. Less than 24 hours later, he distanced himself from the remark.: photo by Jim Wilson/The New York Times, 19 February 2016
 
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon officially opens Glasgow Vaults, Scotland's first independent safety deposit box service

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon officially opens Glasgow Vaults, Scotland’s first independent safety deposit box service: photo by Danny Lawson/PA, 19 February 2016

An Islamic State fighter gestures while being held as prisoner with fellow fighters under Democratic Forces of Syria fighters as they ride a pick-up truck near al-Shadadi town, Hasaka countryside

An Islamic State fighter gestures while being held as prisoner with fellow fighters under Democratic Forces of Syria fighters as they ride a pick-up truck near al-Shadadi town, Hasaka countryside Syria: photo by Reuters, 19 February 2016
 

During a job-hunting pep rally in Tokyo, a Japanese college graduate publicly vowed to do her best to find work: photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters. 19 February 2016



 Through broken windows in Debaltseve, Ukraine, separatists’ vehicles could be seen.work: photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters. 19 February 2016



Working on a skewer of barbecued mutton at a Lunar New Year fair in Beijing: photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters. 19 February 2015


After a winter storm on Friday, a prayer at the Western Wall in Jerusalem: photo by Sebastian Scheiner/Associated Press, 19 February 2016

Kosovo police officers weeraing gas masks inspect the parliament, after tear gas was launched by opposition lawmakers, disrupting the first parliamentary session of the year

Kosovo police officers eeraing gas masks inspect the parliament, after tear gas was launched by opposition lawmakers, disrupting the first parliamentary session of the year: photo by Armend Nimani via FT Photo Diary, 19 February 2016


Items belonging to migrants from Africa hung on a border fence between Morocco and the enclave of Melilla, Spain, after the migrants tried to cross into Spanish territory: photo by Jesus Blasco de Avellaneda/Reuters, 18 February 2016


Family members stood outside a morgue in Ankara, Turkey, after at least 28 people were killed and 61 were injured in a car bombing near a convoy of military vehicles in the capital on Wednesday: photo by Chris McGrath via the New York Times, 18 February 2016

Trading Ring Unveiled Inside London Metals Exchange's New Premises...Traders, brokers and clerks shout and gesture on the trading floor of the open outcry pit at the London Metal Exchange (LME), at their new premises on Finsbury Square, in London, U.K in London, U.K., on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016. The new LME ring has capacity to host 14 members. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg 
Traders, brokers and clerks shout and gesture on the trading floor of the open outcry pit at the London Metal Exchange (LME), at their new premises on Finsbury Square in London: photo by Chris Ratcliffe/Bloombergs, 18 February 2016
 
People surrounded by smoke wave flags and shout slogans during a protest by a Spanish taxi drivers’ union in Madrid

People surrounded by smoke wave flags and shout slogans during a protest by a Spanish taxi drivers’€™ union in Madrid: photo by Francisco Seco/AP, 18 February 2016

An H-2A rocket carrying the ASTRO-H sate...An H-2A rocket carrying the ASTRO-H satellite, developed in collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), NASA and other groups, lifts off at the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan on February 17, 2016. Japan successfully launched a jointly developed space observation satellite on February 17 tasked with studying mysterious black holes, the country's space agency said.

An H-2A rocket carrying the ASTRO-H satellite, developed in collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), NASA and other groups, lifts off at the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan: photo by Jiji Press/AFP, 17 February 2016

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy (C) arrives at the Pole financier (the financial section of Paris court house) in the French capital, to be heard in the investigation of false invoices in the "Bygmalion affair", a corruption scandal centred on claims that his party paid some of his campaign expenses in 2012 to get around strict spending limits.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy (C) arrives at the Pole Financier (the financial section of Paris court house) in the French capital, to be heard in the investigation of false invoices in the “Bygmalion affair”, a corruption scandal centred on claims that his party paid some of his campaign expenses in 2012 to get around strict spending limits: photo by Thomas Samson/AFP, 16 February 2016

Daily Life in Srinagar ...epa05167710 A Kashmiri fisherman on Dal Lake in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 18 February 2016. The temperature in the Kashmir valley has risen and people are out enjoying the warmer weather. EPA/FAROOQ KHAN
Kashmiri fisherman on Dal Lake in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered  Kashmir. The temperature in the Kashmir valley has risen and people are out enjoying the warmer weather: photo by Farooq Khan/EPA, 18 February 2016

Daily Life, 1st prize singles, World Press Photo Awards (Kevin Frayer - China's Coal Addiction)Chinese men pull a tricycle in a neighborhood next to a coal-fired power plant in Shanxi, China, November 26, 2015

Chinese men pull a tricycle in a neighborhood next to a coal-fired power plant in Shanxi, China, November 26, 2015. Daily Life, 1st prize singles, World Press Photo Awards (Kevin Frayer – China’s Coal Addiction) .: photo by Kevin Frayer via WPP/Reuters, 18 February 2016

Japan Art

Model feebee poses as part of art installation i€œDazzle roomi€ made by artist Shigeki Matsuyama at Room 32 fashion and design exhibition in Tokyo, on Friday: photo by Shuji Kajiyama/AP, 19 February 2016


Migrants crowded an inflatable boat that landed at Mytilene, Greece, on the island of Lesvos, after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey: photo by Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse, 17 February 2015

 Refugees situation in Greece...epa05165620 Volunteers of an NGO direct refugees and migrants arriving in a dinghy from Turkey to the coast of Mytilini, on the island of Lesvos, Greece, 17 February 2016. Around 1 million people, including many refugees from war zones in the Middle East and Central Asia, passed through Greece and along the Balkan route in 2015, most of them in the latter half of the year. EPA/ORESTIS PANAGIOTOU

Volunteers of an NGO direct refugees and migrants arriving in a dinghy from Turkey to the coast of Mytilini, on the island of Lesvos, Greece: photo by Orestis Panagiotou/EPA, 17 February 2016


Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican candidate for president, giving a speech in Greenville, S.C. The Republican primary is Saturday: photo by Alex Wong via the New York Times, 18 February 2016  


The 2016 presidential campaign will be remembered as the least rational in recent memory: image via Reuters Opinion @Reuters Opinion, 17 February 2016

Utopia Challenged - Sweden's Relationship With Refugees

Muhammed (L), 13, of Syria and Mahdi Ghafour, 6, of Afghanistan plays on a pier on in Kladesholmen, Sweden. Last year Sweden received 162,877 asylum applications, more than any European country proportionate to its population. According to the Swedish Migration Agency, Sweden housed more than 180,000 people in 2015, more than double the total in 2014. The country is struggling to house refugees in proper conditions during the harsh winter; summer holiday resorts, old schools and private buildings are being turned into temporary shelters for asylum seekers as they wait for a decision on their asylum application. Sweden is facing new challenges on its migration policy after the massive arrival of refugees last year, forcing the country to drastically reduce the number of refugees passing through its borders. Stricter controls have had a significant effect on the number of arrivals, reducing weekly numbers from 10,000 to 800. The Swedish migration minister announced in January that the government will reject up to 80,000 refugees who applied for asylum last year, proposing strict new residency rules: photo by David Ramos via FT Photo Diary, 16 February 2016


NO ONE EXPRESSES THE HUMAN CONDITION BETTER THAN A BABY SEA LION STRANDED IN A HUMAN ENVIRONMENT: image via Julia Carrie Wong @juliacarriew, 4 February 2016
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3 comments:

  1. Mose2321 February 2016 at 02:27

    Napoleon is an fine model for the bourgeois subject shackled by inexorable colonial impulses. A monster undoubtedly but fascinating nonetheless. Trump's a piss poor repetition; no tragedy in his solitude. He'll leave that drama for the American people (should the worst happen).

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  2. TC21 February 2016 at 11:58

    Yes, and when all that's true, and the worst that can happen and the best that may befall seem to be diabolically converging... When the toxic light glancing off the armoured metallic surfaces of the frantically deathward streaming SUVs slants just right in the imagination, and the freefalling blubber of the diehard animal-devouring supporters in ballcaps flocking toward the the triumphalist xenophobic photo-op rallies shifts out of view a bit, creating the necessary lebensraum for the full play of fancy, one can almost envision Guantánamo as a sort of upscale Elba... but of course with a gigantic Trump Tower and Casino and walled-in Digital Database Immigrant Extermination Chamber -- the standard high-end Murican amenities -- all conveniently built in... not to mention plenty of adjacent attractive property virtually crying out for overdevelopment and deal-doing and tourist-selfie-taking, those great Murican pastimes... not forgetting that That's What Made America Great... the dream, the knowledge, the certainty, that we're all alone together, or really separately, forever, in our vast wasted shrill hysterical brutal made/bought world... surrounded by all the little dead machine-worlds and busy-bots we have bought and wrought... and all these small annoying questions that won't go away... How many different kinds of "restrooms" do we have to have in "public places"?... Should Apple negotiate a hostile takeover of the FBI?... Was conquering Russia really worth it after all?

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  3. TC21 February 2016 at 12:27

    In a perhaps unrelated side note, I'm plagued by wonderment concerning the woman who appears to be either eating a blue pickle or merely gazing in astonishment at our latter-day Napoleon's armpit, in the top photo.

    Of course if it were really Napoleon, we wouldn't have this problem, there would be no armpit-expanse into which to stare in apparent astonishment, because the arm would be safely tucked into the tunic -- as in fact befits proper dictators.

    Now I'm aware the wire-loop thingie descending ever so all-but-unnoticeably from the armpit may have something to do with this. But just looking at the astonished woman, you know she's toured this property before, is a woman of the world, and is thus quite likely to be aware of the ubiquitous wire-loop thingie phenomenon, due to what LEOs call "priors".

    Still, just saying.

    Now we've never seen Hildebeest with a trailing wire-loop armpit-thingie, much less with an admirer staring in astonishment at it. Perhaps hers is simply tucked in with the rest of the stuffing. (Just how much of that is Hildebeest, and how much is the latest in technology, is not so easy to tell.)

    But now the Bern, we'd have no idea whether or not he's packing armpit wire-loop thingies because when he jabs his bluster-finger repeatedly in our placidly attentive faces, the instinctive response is not to stare in astonishment into his unseen armpit, but to duck, if you're me, and offer a silent prayer to the ghosts of George McGovern and Jimmy Carter (though of course Jimmy hasn't yet given up his -- our last honest President! and tougher than we ever guessed!).

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