text:
RightNation.US: Pelosi Says House to Vote on Resolution That Would Limit President Tru - RightNation.US
Pelosi Says House to Vote on Resolution That Would Limit President Tru Rate Topic:
Pelosi Says House to Vote on Resolution That Would Limit President Trump's Military Actions on Iran
https://thefederalistpapers.org/
By Steve Straub
Speaker of the House, and chief clown Nancy Pelosi said the House of Representatives will vote on a resolution to limit the President's ability to carry out military actions against Iran, as Reuters reports:
"U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will introduce and vote on a war powers resolution this week to limit U.S. President Donald Trump's military actions regarding Iran.
"This resolution is similar to the resolution introduced by Senator Tim Kaine in the Senate," Pelosi said in a statement late on Sunday.
"It reasserts Congress's long-established oversight responsibilities by mandating that if no further Congressional action is taken, the Administration's military hostilities with regard to Iran cease within 30 days."
The resolution is likely to win approval in the Democratic-led House, but prospects for passage are less certain in the Senate, which is controlled by Trump's fellow Republicans, many of whom have said they support the president's action on Iran.
#2 tailgunner
Where was the resolution limiting odumbo from doing anything he wanted?
#3 greggor
Hey you stupid loser beyotch.. you don't have the power to do a damn thing but lower the expectations that the American people have of you.
... but prospects for passage are less certain in the Senate...
They're starting to get it...
#5 Ticked@TinselTown
Unimpressed with Celebutards since Always
tailgunner, on 06 January 2020 - 02:12 PM, said:
That was a different story because...
Ticked@TinselTown, on 06 January 2020 - 03:00 PM, said:
Precisely <_<
greggor, on 06 January 2020 - 02:33 PM, said:
And that won't be easy...I really can't picture how she could lower my expectations of her.
ORANGE MAN BAD!
:rant: :soapbox: :rant:
#8 Rock N' Roll Right Winger
Pissing off all of the right people
Congress has no such power.
Once again Bella Pelosi and the dumbascraps are making shidt up and attempting to overthrow the president.
They need to be hanged for treason.
#9 RedSoloCup
Try it, you corrupt old hag.
Pay the price.
Rock N, on 06 January 2020 - 03:40 PM, said:
She has the power...to drop dead.
But but but TRUUUUUMMMMMMPPPP!
#10 Tikk
Oh Rrrrrreeeaaaally?
Nancy is promoting articles that would specifically protect Iran!? Our enemy. The country that is the biggest sponsor of terror and terrorists in the world. And they want to specifically protect them!?
:pray:
PLEASE do that Nancy!
Prove to the country how bat-$#!+ insane you and the rest of the House Majority are.
#11 johnnybravo
I'm guessing Obama didn't need authorization to take out bin laden or any of the American citizens he targeted with drones. The hypocrisy reeks.
#12 gravelrash
johnnybravo, on 06 January 2020 - 04:59 PM, said:
It's not hypocrisy. It's an agenda. Pelosi revealed that the Democrats want a parliament not a Congress. Parliamentary style of government has a revolving door where the "unpopular" elected government can get tossed out by chicken skwacks and citizens cast their votes so the ruling elite can readily identify whom to bring under heel.
#13 zurg
It's not hypocrisy. It's an agenda.
This is a salient point, and one I hadn't thought through carefully before until it struck me as you wrote it down.
Most people make the mistake of not knowing your enemy, or the opposing side. Most of us then make the mistake of judging them by our own standards and our own principles. How many times have I had this "discussion" with my wife while driving - I get agitated about other drivers and call them aholes, she tells me to stop judging them as if it was me driving, I'm focused on driving when I drive. She tells me they're not deliberately like that, they're driving while clueless.
Same thing with leftists/democrats. They aren't simply being hypocritical. Hypocrisy is a high crime and mortal sin to US, to CONSERVATIVES, but NOT to leftists/democrats. Being called a hypocrite is basically NOTHING to them. It's a pffft who cares level charge.
So yes, it IS all about the AGENDA.
#14 ASE
Love to see that old 'turkey neck' standing up wearing a proper 'necktie' right next to schiff while waiting for the short drop.
After a proper trial, of course... don't wanna be lawless like the d@mns now, do we?
This post has been edited by ASE: 06 January 2020 - 10:19 PM
#15 Howsithangin
No need for a Constitution enumerating the powers of the Executive vs Legislative branches, just pass resolutions to fit the situation to your liking, eh Nancy?
Iranians chant "death to America" and the Dems chant "si se puede".
#17 erp
Undead Undead Undead
It's all an attempt to spoil the election. They think this will taint Trump and stop people from voting for him.
They are wrong.
erp, on 07 January 2020 - 04:57 PM, said:
The Democrats accused PRESIDENT Donald J. Trump of "Russian collusion" while the establishment GOP was trying to kick him out of the primary. Then the Democrats accuse PRESIDENT Donald J. Trump of trying to "influence" the 2020 election through "abuse of power". Yeah, so WTF is Adam Schiffty doing with his star chamber coaching sessions, "parody" (libel and slander), and kangaroo court? The real corruption and abuse is obvious. To the point that Congress writes rules to shield themselves from prosecution AND has a slush fund paid with taxpayer money to settle lawsuits - chiefly for sexual harassment and rape.


text:
Toyota to open third research facility at U of M
Toyota announced Thursday it will open a third research facility at the University of Michigan.
Researchers will continue their work on driverless cars, but will now also explore other developments. The new facility will also work on artificial intelligence and in-home mobility aids for senior citizens.
Toyota is spending $1 billion on the new venture.
Jeff Makarewicz, senior vice president at the Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor, said the company has made great strides in automated vehicles, and there is more to come.
"We already have vehicles on the road but you're going to see more and more of them and it's really exciting to see what type of capability is out there," he said. "You'd be surprised."
Makarewicz also praised the state of Michigan, and the university, as a great place for this type of research and development. Last summer, the university unveiled Mcity, a 32-acre "ghost-town" designed to resemble an actual urban setting for researchers to test driverless cars. Researchers from Toyota, Ford, and elsewhere have been using the facility for their various work.
Ryan Eustice is one of the two university researchers Toyota hired for the new facility. Eustice said right now automated car developers are working on solving problems like unexpected weather and crossing-guards directing traffic at broken street lights.
He said it's likely use of driverless cars will take different forms in different settings: Urban areas will likely use them for chauffeuring services, and rural areas will use them for safety.
"There's a notion out there, I think, in the public's mind's eye that autonomous cars are just around the corner and I think they are – under certain assumptions," Eustice said.
Eustice's counterpart, another university professor named Edwin Olson, will lead the robotics and artificial intelligence research. Eustice said these projects aim to help the elderly inside their home, and make Toyota a leader in machine development.
He said there are parallels between the project's two goals: "The technologies that we use to make self-driving cars smart we also use inside the home to make robots smart."
News autotoyotaautonomous carsMCity
MCity opens its roads to researchers
Tracy Samilton
The University of Michigan celebrates the completion of "MCity" in a grand opening ceremony on Monday.MCity is a 32-acre autonomous vehicle test track,…
University of Michigan opens Mcity that will develop automonous vehicles
The University of Michigan held an opening ceremony for Mcity, a realistic test environment that will be used to develop autonomous vehicles.Autonomous…
As vehicles grow older, how safe are their airbags?
Stateside Staff
There have been at least eight people killed in accidents related to defective airbags made by Takata. The potential number of vehicles affected by these…
States are racing to attract the self-driving car industry. How does Michigan compare?
"MCity" is the 32-acre replica suburb designed to let researchers test self-driving cars in real-world conditions, safely away from pedestrians and other…

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Ten Questions with Andrew Westoll
Submitted by clelia on December 3, 2008 - 11:46am
Andrew Westoll is an award-winning journalist specializing in issues of science, travel, conservation and culture. A former biologist and primatologist, he now writes regularly for many of Canada's premier venues, such as The Walrus, Explore, Outpost and the Globe and Mail. His book, The Riverbones, was published this fall by McClelland & Stewart.
OB:
Tell us about your book, The Riverbones.
AW:
The Riverbones is about my search for the soul of South America's forgotten wilderness. It is a travel memoir set deep inside the jungles of Suriname, a little-known country just north of the Brazilian Amazon that might legitimately be called the world's Last Eden. The book describes the five months I spent journeying through Suriname's incredible rainforest, my immersion in the globally unique Afro-American culture of the Surinamese Maroons, and the environmental, social, political and personal revelations I undergo along the way. The book is structured as a classic quest, which is embodied by my obsessive search for a rare and beautiful blue frog called okopipi that can only be found in the valleys of a single mountain range on the remote southern border with Brazil.
What lead you to travel to Suriname in the first place?
At twenty-three, as a young biology graduate, my dream was to become a primatologist. As a first step, I took a job as a monkey researcher deep inside the jungles of Suriname. Although it was an incredible adventure, during my year there I fell out of love with science as a way of spending my life. But I fell in love with the country, became wholly obsessed by it. Five years later, I returned to the country to satisfy this strange fixation.
How did you research your book?
The research was broken up into two stages. After I left the country the first time around, I read everything I could find about Suriname – books, websites, Dutch newspapers, whatever. I wouldn't call this research, though. I'd simply call it curiosity. After leaving science, I thought I was going to be a novelist. So while writing fiction, I read casually about Suriname.
The second stage was much more intense. This was after I'd returned from my second visit, as I was writing about my adventures there. I spent months inside the Toronto Reference Library. I ordered used copies of books that were long out of print. I contacted various world experts on Suriname and barraged them with questions. I brushed up on my Sranantongo, the lingua franca of Suriname. I delved deep into South American social history, especially the writings of Galeano (as they are so beautifully forceful), in an effort to locate Suriname within the context of the Caribbean and Latin America.
Did you have a specific readership in mind when you wrote The Riverbones?
Not really. I wanted to write a page-turner aimed, I guess, at the travel-literature set. But I also wanted to write something more than simply an adventure book. I wanted the book to be as much an appeal for social and environmental justice as it is a rollicking good read. I just went on faith that a readership existed for a book of this sort. Time will tell.
Describe your ideal writing environment.
The Toronto Writers' Centre:
Quiet. White noise machine. Coffee. Dedicated work space. Eight-foot-long couch to accommodate napping tall guy. Friends/colleagues hard at work around me. There is no wood-paneling, or fireplace, or smoking room. The TWC takes the romance out of writing, so you can focus on the reality of it, which is simply this: apply bum to chair.
What was your first publication?
The first essay I wrote for the UBC MFA program was a piece about being a monkey researcher in Suriname. It was co-winner of Event magazine's Creative Non-Fiction Contest and published in 2003. The dye was cast right then, I guess.
If you had to choose three books as a "Welcome to Canada" gift, what would those books be?
Fugitive Pieces, by Anne Michaels
The Great Bear Rainforest, by Ian and Karen McAllister
Maps and Dreams, by Hugh Brody
What's the best advice you've ever received as a writer?
To realize early on that to write for a living is not to obey some divine calling, but to follow through on a (perhaps irrational, but nonetheless conscious) decision one has made.
I once read an interview with Jane Smiley in which she told of a small sign she keeps above her workspace. It reads: "No one asked you to write." I think this is the most important thing to remember as a writer. That no matter how frustrating this process can be, how exhausting or impoverishing or simply futile it might be at times, no one has ever put a gun to my head and told me, "Write, or else!"
This was my choice. So suck it up, keep plugging and focus on the highlights.
Describe the most memorable response you've received from a reader.
Hands down, the eighty-year-old woman who told my mother last week that she had fallen in love with her son (me) by page two.
What is your next project?
A book about our complicated relationship with mining. Partly set in Bolivia (like the new James Bond) and partly set in Canada.
"Suriname, an almost secret place: very few people know this is the cradle of many famous football players, and almost nobody knows that these sport stars are the historical heirs of the Maroon slaves who once defeated Dutch colonialism. Andrew Westoll went deep inside the jungle, looking for a sacred, tiny, shining, blue frog, and discovered that perhaps hell and heaven have the same address." - Eduardo Galeano
Read more about The Riverbones at the McClelland & Stewart website.
Related item from our archives
Fri February 15, 2008
Featured Non-Fiction: Amazing Insects by Michael Chinery
View more items filed under "Non-Fiction" in our Open Book Archives.
Submitted by clelia on February 15, 2008 - 12:30pm
Michael Chinery (Firefly Books, 2008)
Insects are the largest and most diverse group of animals, yet their world is often hidden. This spectacular book provides a rare and intimate view of the bizarre beauty of many overlooked creatures and their habitats.
Michael Chinery describes the natural science of insects - their life cycles, camouflage and defense, predators and prey, and habitats. Over 250 spectacular color photographs, many taken in the wild by the author, use scanning electron micrograph (SEM) technology at super-magnifications and high speed to show in astonishing detail the fantastical shapes and remarkable lives of insects from around the world. Examples are:
The stalk-eyed insect, with branch-like eye "stems," each as long as its body and holding an eye at the tip


text:
HistoPakistan
Just to tell you how much It means
Pakistan flag history
Succeeding Pakistan
Pakistan FlagHistory
Flag that unites us all
So starting from Pakistan Flag history.
Pakistans' flag was designed by "Syed Amir-Uddin Kedwaii".The official design of the national flag was adopted by the Constituent Assembly together with a definition of the features and proportions. Leaders of the Muslim League finally adopted this flag "Of The Dominion Of Pakistan" on 11 August 1947, which is about 3 days before the Independence Day of Pakistan.
When it became the official flag, Pakistan was afterward retained by the current-day Islamic Republic of Pakistan. This flag is a greenfield with a crescent moon and a five rayed star in the center and it has a vertical white stripe at the right (hoist) side. The green color is dark green and only green its official and most consistent representation is Pakistan green, which is shaded distinctively darker.
In National Anthem
The flag is referred to in the national anthem as the Flag of the Crescent and Star. It is flown on several important days of the year including Republic Day, Independence Day, and Defence Day. It is often hoisted every morning at schools, offices, and government buildings to the sound of the national anthem and lowered again before sunset. A notable flag raising and the lowering ceremony is carried out each day with great pomp and enthusiasm at the Wagha Border attended by hundreds of spectators. The leadership of the Muslim League adopted the flag of the Dominion of Pakistan on 11 August 1947. The government of Pakistan has pronounced rules about the flying of the flag. It is to be displayed at full mast on 23 March of each year, marking the adoption of the Lahore Resolution in the 1940s and the Declaration of the Republic of Pakistan in 1956, and on 14 August in celebration of Independence Day, when Pakistan was carved out from British India as a home for Indian Muslims. The flag of Pakistan is also mentioned in Pakistan's own national anthem in the third verse reading "پرچمِ ستاره و ہلال رہبرِ ترقّی و کمال" which translates to "Flag with the Star and Crescent, the leader of progress and ascent".
Design of Pakistani Flag
With such similar flags, there is no doubt that there must be some sort of common origin. The truth is that the Pakistani flag has been inspired partly from the Turkish flag. The Pakistani flag was made by using the flag of the All-India Muslim League as a template. The reason for this being that it was the All-India Muslim League that actually formed Pakistan.
The flag of the All-India Muslim League. Notice how it's even closer to the Turkish flag.
The flag of the Muslim League was made by taking ideas and inspiration from three different flags. These being the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. The Mughal Empire was known to use several different flags during different time periods.
Some of the known flags of the Mughal Empire. Note the last flag and how close it is to the Turkish flag as well. This is the flag used by the Mughal in their later years. This flag is one that was captured in 1857, the very last days of the Mughal Empire and Emperors.
The Mughal flags greatly vary in design but one common feature is the green color. Similar to the flag of the Delhi Sultanate. The earlier Mughal flags seem to have used the imagery of a sun and lion commonly which is believed to have represented Hazrat Ali ibn Abi Talib and Karbala. The later flags seem to have used a crescent instead.
Reason behind theTwo colors of Pakistani Flag
So you might have noticed that Pakistans flag has two colors, so let me define
What do these two colors mean?
According to the specifications, it is a dark green rectangular flag in the proportion of length [A] and width [B] as 3:2 with a white vertical bar at the mast, the green portion bearing a white crescent in the center, and a five-pointed white heraldic star, what math to solve I'll explain in simpler words. Pakistans flag is rectangular and it has a proportion of ratio 3:2
The major color, Dark green that is represents the Muslim Majority like you and me or your family(if you're Muslim off course).On the other hand, the white color represents the Non-Muslim Majorities, for instance, Sikh, Hindu, Christians, Jews, and others. The flag symbolizes Pakistan's commitment to Islam and the rights of religious minorities. The most important thing i forgot to tell you is that the crescent represents Progress and the 5-edged star represents light and knowledge There's another thing to notice if you put both Flags of Turkey and Pakistan side by side you'd notice that there's only a difference of color, Turkeys Flag is Red whereas Pakistans flag is Green.
Quaid-e-Azam Quote on rights of Minorities
In his address to the first constituent assembly of Pakistan on 11th August 1947, Mr Jinnah said:
"You are free; you are free to go to your temples; free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in the State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or cast or creed that has Nothing to do with the business of the state"
Father of Pakistan
Pakistans National Anthem
پاک سرزمین شاد باد کشور حسین شاد باد
تو نشانے عزم عالیشان ارص پاکستان
مرکزے یقین شاد باد
پاک سر زمین کا نزام قوت اخوت عوام
قوم ،ملک ،سلطنت پائندہ تابندہ باد
شاد باد منزلے مراد
پرچم ستارہ وہلال رہبرےترقی و کمال
ترجمان ماضی شان حال جان استقبال
سایہ خداۓذولجلال
HadiaModerator
All explained hope to see you around
Wanna spread it
© 2021 - HistoPakistan. All rights reserved.


text:
How to cover the '16 campaign: follow the money, but few are, says one reporter
By: James Warren
(Image via Deposit Photo)
Shane Goldmacher, the senior political correspondent for National Journal, has a "totally selfish reason" for covering campaign finance that has little to do with high-minded notions of holding people to account.
No, it's got a lot more to do with this: the distinct lack of competition from other journalists, he told a boot camp for presidential campaign journalists last week.
Isn't this a seemingly golden age of political reporting, at least quantitatively, with high-traffic political sites like Politico and tons of cable TV and internet coverage? Even C-SPAN no longer has a de facto monopoly on bread-and-butter, off-the-beaten-track events.
And aren't giant salaries being paid to solid specialists like Mark Halperin and John Heilemann of Bloomberg News? And the ambitious folks at CBS News and CNN, among others, are ramping up and offering 24/7 news content on multiple vehicles.
So it would seem to follow that there's got to be far more campaign finance reporting. It is, after all, labor that's far easier these days with the demise of hard to find paper records in dusty file cabinets and the coming of online databases you can search while in your pajamas.
Goldmacher said no, there isn't any new rush, as he counseled those assembled by the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics and the Nieman Foundation. His particular session was on "How to Follow Money in Politics (And Why)" and included co-panelist and journalist Carrie Levine, of The Center for Public Integrity.
He noted that, on the very day he was speaking, there were at minimum a combined total of 150 reporters covering a conservative conference in South Carolina and a Jeb Bush speech in Virginia.
"Almost nobody is going to get something original out of that," he said. "But if you spent the same amount of time, you're probably the only person looking at X, Y, Z campaign filings."
His implicit and diplomatically phrased message was abundantly clear: Most political reporters go for the easy story and don't want to do the real work of inspecting, assessing and double-checking campaign finance data. Punditry is rather less arduous than mining and dissecting data, which can then actually bring real scoops.
It's a form of reporting, he said, that is also a "great equalizer," meaning anybody can go do it.
"You can play on the same playground as well as those people who are getting their phone calls returned."
"It's way easier to break a story on this beat because so few people are looking. And everybody is looking at (campaign) expenditures and expenses in aggregate. The stories are in the details." He meant that people tend to pluck and report simply the grand totals raised or spent by a campaign during a particular reporting period but don't really break down specifics and incongruities of donations and expenditures.
Those details include what he stumbled upon in simply preparing for the Chicago conference: Dissecting Sen. Rand Paul's expenditures, he found that Paul had paid $100,000 to procure the domain name RandPaul.com from a group of supporters who had previously set up the pro-Paul site.
Goldmacher and Levine gave lots of guidance on where to find information and how to take the time to read the reports carefully. Thus, $500,000 in political spending by Las Vegas mogul Sheldon Adelson got missed because his name was listed erroneously as "Sheldon Adelstein" on some federal records.
"Sometimes that data is wrong," said Goldmacher.
And while the Federal Election Commission's own website is "lousy," he said, including search bars that don't work, its press office could not be more helpful.
They're at 202-694-1220, he said, and "They will do your work for you if you are nice."
The A-list event played out over two days and offered a treasure trove of expertise. However, participants agreed that the first day was off the record, though several attendees later told me they didn't find that it proved to be terribly necessary.
Panelists that day included top Republican and Democratic Party officials, as well as journalists Chuck Todd of NBC, John Dickerson of CBS, Julianna Goldman of CBS, Peter Hamby of CNN/Snapchat, and Sasha Issenberg and Halperin of Bloomberg.
In addition, A-list political analysts, pollsters and consultants Amy Walter, Peter Hart, Kevin Madden, Stephanie Cutter and the institute's founder, journalist turned consultant David Axelrod, participated on the first day.
Videos of the second day's events, "Covering Campaigns," are available via Nieman.
Correction: The Bloomberg reporter is Sasha Issenberg not Sasha Goldman. Also, Carrie Levine is currently a journalist at the Center for Public Integrity, not a former journalist.
Tags: MediaWire, National Journal, Political and campaign reporting, presidential campaign, Public records
New York City native, graduate of Collegiate School, Amherst College and Roosevelt University. Married to Cornelia Grumman, dad of Blair and Eliot. National columnist, U.S.…


Join us! THIRD-Annual Kidoinfo Spooky (but Not so Scary) Storytime & Haunted Art in the Park!
Kidoinfo is teaming up again with Jen Smith (of Downtown Providence Parks Conservancy) along with the amazing Alison Paul and the rest of our awesome summer storytime gang to bring you Halloween fun in Burnside Park!
Join us in Burnside Park on Saturday, October 25 from 10:30 am-12:30 pm for a special fall Kidoinfo Spooky (but Not So Scary) Storytime & Haunted Art in the Park with author/illustrator guest readers Alison Paul and Jen Corace…and Ricky Katowics back at it in Art in the Park – Haunted Edition! Come in costume and get a special treat!
Hear guest authors & illustrators read their books and other spooky favorites: Author/illustrator Alison Paul's The Crow: A Not So Scary Story, an ode to Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven for kids is a not so scary story about a girl who sees a crow outside her window-and what happens when you let your imagination run away with you! Local author Jen Corace's Gibbous Moony is a young "fruititarian" vampire that is learning the power of his own bite! Guests will also read their other favorite spooky books, along with special guest, Anisa Raoof of Kidoinfo and Ricky Katowicz!
Following Storytime, at Haunted Art in the Park kids can explore Alison Paul's haunted house in Burnside Park, guest artist Ricky Katowicz returns to help kids spookify the park with Halloween art-making (pet bats & ghosts & more!). Also learn about anatomy with our life-size skeleton, Ms. Bones and guess the guts at the touch-and-feel Halloweeny table!
More fun: Explore our Spooky playground, FREE Halloween facepainting with artist Heidi Born, climb our haunted haystack, get down to our special Halloweenie sound-track, come in costume and get a Treat!
Sponsored by Kidoinfo & Greater Kennedy Plaza, a project of the Downtown Providence Parks Conservancy, RISCA, the City of Providence, Department of Art, Culture + Tourism, Department of Parks & Recreation.


In 2011, Colin Thompson and Samantha Ayers began the company as Custom Carpentry by CPT, a licensed millwork and renovation company. At the time, Colin was the youngest licensed contractor on the Big Island of Hawaii, at the age of 25. The company prided itself on modern construction practices coupled with old world knowledge. After 6 years of successful projects and one marriage, Colin and Samantha Thompson evolved the company into CPT General Building. The company continues to evolve and keep up with modern technology and building practices through continued education and by pushing the limits of whats expected from a construction company. The company pride it self on hands on management and a flawless end product.


text:
import requests

from django import forms
from django.utils.translation import ugettext, ugettext_lazy as _
from django_comments.signals import comment_was_posted
from django_comments.forms import CommentSecurityForm
from django_comments.models import Comment
from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
from django.utils.encoding import force_text
from django.utils import timezone
from django.contrib.auth.models import User

from mezzanine.core.forms import Html5Mixin
from mezzanine.generic.models import ThreadedComment, Rating
from mezzanine.utils.views import ip_for_request
from mezzanine.utils.email import split_addresses, send_mail_template
from mezzanine.utils.cache import add_cache_bypass
from mezzanine.conf import settings

from .models import UserProfile
from hs_core.hydroshare.users import create_account
from hs_core.templatetags.hydroshare_tags import best_name

COMMENT_MAX_LENGTH = getattr(settings, 'COMMENT_MAX_LENGTH', 3000)

# This form.py is added by Hong Yi for customizing comments in HydroShare
# as part of effort to address issue https://github.com/hydroshare/hydroshare/issues/186
# In particular, we want to remove name, email, and url fields and
# want to link comments to user profile
class CommentDetailsForm(CommentSecurityForm):
    """
    Handles the specific details of the comment (name, comment, etc.).
    """
    comment = forms.CharField(label=_('Comment'), widget=forms.Textarea,
                              max_length=COMMENT_MAX_LENGTH)

    def get_comment_object(self):
        """
        Return a new (unsaved) comment object based on the information in this
        form. Assumes that the form is already validated and will throw a
        ValueError if not.

        Does not set any of the fields that would come from a Request object
        (i.e. ``user`` or ``ip_address``).
        """
        if not self.is_valid():
            raise ValueError("get_comment_object may only be called on valid forms")

        CommentModel = self.get_comment_model()
        new = CommentModel(**self.get_comment_create_data())
        new = self.check_for_duplicate_comment(new)

        return new

    def get_comment_model(self):
        """
        Get the comment model to create with this form. Subclasses in custom
        comment apps should override this, get_comment_create_data, and perhaps
        check_for_duplicate_comment to provide custom comment models.
        """
        return Comment

    def get_comment_create_data(self):
        """
        Returns the dict of data to be used to create a comment. Subclasses in
        custom comment apps that override get_comment_model can override this
        method to add extra fields onto a custom comment model.
        """
        return dict(
            content_type=ContentType.objects.get_for_model(self.target_object),
            object_pk=force_text(self.target_object._get_pk_val()),
            comment=self.cleaned_data["comment"],
            submit_date=timezone.now(),
            site_id=settings.SITE_ID,
            is_public=True,
            is_removed=False,
        )

    def check_for_duplicate_comment(self, new):
        """
        Check that a submitted comment isn't a duplicate. This might be caused
        by someone posting a comment twice. If it is a dup, silently return the *previous* comment.
        """
        possible_duplicates = self.get_comment_model()._default_manager.using(
            self.target_object._state.db
        ).filter(
            content_type=new.content_type,
            object_pk=new.object_pk,
            user_name=new.user_name,
            user_email=new.user_email,
            user_url=new.user_url,
        )
        for old in possible_duplicates:
            if old.submit_date.date() == new.submit_date.date() and old.comment == new.comment:
                return old

        return new

class CommentForm(CommentDetailsForm):
    honeypot = forms.CharField(required=False,
                               label=_('If you enter anything in this field '
                                       'your comment will be treated as spam'))

    def clean_honeypot(self):
        """Check that nothing's been entered into the honeypot."""
        value = self.cleaned_data["honeypot"]
        if value:
            raise forms.ValidationError(self.fields["honeypot"].label)
        return value

# added by Hong Yi for customizing THreadedCommentForm
class ThreadedCommentForm(CommentForm, Html5Mixin):

    def __init__(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
        """
        Set some initial field values from cookies or the logged in
        user, and apply some HTML5 attributes to the fields if the
        ``FORMS_USE_HTML5`` setting is ``True``.
        """
        kwargs.setdefault("initial", {})
        super(ThreadedCommentForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)

    def get_comment_model(self):
        """
        Use the custom comment model instead of the built-in one.
        """
        return ThreadedComment

    def save(self, request):
        """
        Saves a new comment and sends any notification emails.
        """
        comment = self.get_comment_object()
        obj = comment.content_object
        if request.user.is_authenticated():
            comment.user = request.user
            comment.user_name = best_name(comment.user)

        comment.by_author = request.user == getattr(obj, "user", None)
        comment.ip_address = ip_for_request(request)
        comment.replied_to_id = self.data.get("replied_to")
        comment.save()
        comment_was_posted.send(sender=comment.__class__, comment=comment,
                                request=request)
        notify_emails = split_addresses(settings.COMMENTS_NOTIFICATION_EMAILS)
        notify_emails.append(obj.user.email)
        reply_to_comment = comment.replied_to
        if reply_to_comment is not None:
            notify_emails.append(reply_to_comment.user.email)
        if notify_emails:
            subject = "[HydroShare Support] New comment by {c_name} for: {res_obj}".format(
                c_name=comment.user_name, res_obj=str(obj))
            context = {
                "comment": comment,
                "comment_url": add_cache_bypass(comment.get_absolute_url()),
                "request": request,
                "obj": obj,
            }
            send_mail_template(subject, "email/comment_notification",
                               settings.DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL, notify_emails,
                               context)

        return comment

class RatingForm(CommentSecurityForm):
    """
    Form for a rating. Subclasses ``CommentSecurityForm`` to make use
    of its easy setup for generic relations.
    """
    value = 1

    def __init__(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
        self.request = request
        super(RatingForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)

    def clean(self):
        """
        Check unauthenticated user's cookie as a light check to
        prevent duplicate votes.
        """
        bits = (self.data["content_type"], self.data["object_pk"])
        self.current = "%s.%s" % bits
        request = self.request
        self.previous = request.COOKIES.get("mezzanine-rating", "").split(",")
        already_rated = self.current in self.previous
        if already_rated and not self.request.user.is_authenticated():
            raise forms.ValidationError(ugettext("Already rated."))
        return 1

    def save(self):
        """
        Saves a new rating - authenticated users can update the
        value if they've previously rated.
        """
        user = self.request.user
        rating_value = 1
        rating_name = self.target_object.get_ratingfield_name()
        rating_manager = getattr(self.target_object, rating_name)
        if user.is_authenticated():
            try:
                rating_instance = rating_manager.get(user=user)
            except Rating.DoesNotExist:
                rating_instance = Rating(user=user, value=rating_value)
                rating_manager.add(rating_instance)
            else:
                if rating_instance.value != int(rating_value):
                    rating_instance.value = rating_value
                    rating_instance.save()
                else:
                    # User submitted the same rating as previously,
                    # which we treat as undoing the rating (like a toggle).
                    rating_instance.delete()
        else:
            rating_instance = Rating(value=rating_value)
            rating_manager.add(rating_instance)
        return rating_instance

class SignupForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = User
        exclude = ['last_login', 'date_joined', 'password']

    password1 = forms.CharField(label="Password", widget=forms.PasswordInput())
    password2 = forms.CharField(label="Confirm Password", widget=forms.PasswordInput())
    Captcha = forms.CharField(required=False)
    challenge = forms.CharField()
    response = forms.CharField()

    def __init__(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
        self.request = request
        super(SignupForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)

    def verify_captcha(self):
        params = dict(self.cleaned_data)
        params['privatekey'] = getattr(settings, 'RECAPTCHA_PRIVATE_KEY',
                                       "6LdNC_USAAAAADNdzytMK2-qmDCzJcgybFkw8Z5x")
        params['remoteip'] = self.request.META['REMOTE_ADDR']
        resp = requests.post('https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api/verify', params=params)
        lines = resp.text.split('\n')
        if not lines[0].startswith('false'):
            return True
        return False

    def clean(self):
        if not self.verify_captcha():
            self.add_error('Captcha', "You did not complete the CAPTCHA correctly. "
                                      "Please try again.")

    def clean_password2(self):
        data = self.cleaned_data
        if data["password1"] == data["password2"]:
            data["password"] = data["password1"]
            return data
        else:
            raise forms.ValidationError("Password must be confirmed")

    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
        data = self.cleaned_data
        return create_account(
            email=data['email'],
            username=data['username'],
            first_name=data['first_name'],
            last_name=data['last_name'],
            superuser=False,
            password=data['password'],
            active=False,
        )

class UserForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = User
        fields = ['first_name', 'last_name', 'email']

    def clean_first_name(self):
        data = self.cleaned_data['first_name']
        if len(data.strip()) == 0:
            raise forms.ValidationError("First name is a required field.")
        return data

    def clean_last_name(self):
        data = self.cleaned_data['last_name']
        if len(data.strip()) == 0:
            raise forms.ValidationError("Last name is a required field.")
        return data

    def clean_email(self):
        data = self.cleaned_data['email']
        if len(data.strip()) == 0:
            raise forms.ValidationError("Email is a required field.")
        return data

class UserProfileForm(forms.ModelForm):
    class Meta:
        model = UserProfile
        exclude = ['user', 'public', 'create_irods_user_account']

    def clean_organization(self):
        data = self.cleaned_data['organization']
        if len(data.strip()) == 0:
            raise forms.ValidationError("Organization is a required field.")
        return data

    def clean_country(self):
        data = self.cleaned_data['country']
        if len(data.strip()) == 0:
            raise forms.ValidationError("Country is a required field.")
        return data

    def clean_state(self):
        data = self.cleaned_data['state']
        if len(data.strip()) == 0:
            raise forms.ValidationError("State is a required field.")
        return data

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Terms such as bigot, TERF, whorephobe and SWERF are hurled at women whenever they do not toe the line regarding essentialist definitions of femininity and sexual passivity. It's a means of discrediting arguments by suggesting that the subject is diseased, unable to think clearly due to multiple phobias. I think there's a direct line to this from the cults that Wolf describes. Women who threaten the misogynist status quo by being active and demanding have to be put out of service one way or another.
The pressure placed on women not to fall victim to a bigotry diagnosis is intense. The "treatment" is harsh: public humiliation, threats of violence, no platforming, rumour, libel, mockery. That this is often led by middle-class white males — positioning themselves as allies or growing their hair long and declaring themselves "non-gender conforming" — adds to the level of threat. These males, adopting a position of authority over "sick" women who cannot be trusted to speak, could not be more gender conforming if they tried. Gender conforming is as gender conforming does. If you're expecting women to be passive and silent, or to serve as mirrors, reflecting only your world-view, then all your claims to be challenging cis norms are meaningless.
1. Abase yourself. Make yourself into an empty vessel into which others can pour their superior ideas. Maintain some small degree of self-respect by telling yourself this isn't what you're doing and that actually, you are just checking your privilege, listening and learning, being receptive to other viewpoints (ignoring the fact that intersectionality has practical applications and contexts and that if all you are doing is absorbing without questioning, you are taking and not giving, to the benefit of no one).
2. Align yourself primarily with a form of discrimination which can affect males as well as females, and use this as a vantage point from which to deflect the bigotry diagnosis onto a caricature of the cis, middle-class, white feminist. This can be difficult if you yourself are white and middle-class but not to worry. Just say you're non-binary and if it turns out you conform to every gender stereotype going, just pass this off as being femme. Don't ever stop to consider that no woman conforms to the misogynist caricatures you're applying to her. Don't stop to consider that all women, growing up in a culture which equates innate femaleness with inferiority, should be granted the basic level of respect that treats them as non-binary. Convince yourself you are special and superior and others might go along with it, too (as long as we don't start running low on supplies of caricature women to abuse).
There is a degree to which being a feminist really can drive you mad.The disjuncture between what you know to be true (women are full, complete human beings) and what is broadly accepted as "the truth" in terms of how society functions (women are inferior beings, existing to serve the needs of men) can make you feel like the little boy in The Emperor's New Clothes. You're constantly asking yourself "is it me? Isn't it obvious? Why doesn't everyone else see this? Why aren't they as furious as I am?" The answer to that is surely that it's easiest not to feel angry. We all suppress it and become complicit in our own oppression to a greater or lesser extent. We wouldn't be able to get through the day otherwise and if you challenge too much, you put yourself at real risk. But the effect of the bigotry diagnosis is to knock feminists off balance and make them think that maybe they are deluded. Maybe women are just inferior. Maybe, sod it, we should embrace gender stereotypes and sexual compliance and all go home.
But I don't want to do that. I think we can do better. There just needs to be more of us saying that the emperor has no clothes because truly, he is naked and we need to say so.
You left out an option — ignore all the feminist chatter and just do something for the women around you. The people I know who are doing the most to make women's lives better think TERF is a lawn service and wouldn't know a hashtag if it sat on their lap.
It's time we recognized the feminism that's offline — on the streets, in the clinics and shelters, in the schools. Here's a challenge for all the online crusaders; for just one year, stop commenting on each other's comments about each other and report on the feminism that gets its hands dirty. Then see whether being a feminist still makes you crazy.
I'm with you Pat. So tired of all the Twitter arguments and endless blogs which don't seem to achieve much. Doing something practical is much more positive and very rewarding.
I like this very much as well, Pat. An older woman commented on a Canadian feminist blogger's site saying something quite similar, and the "feminist" blogger called her a man.
I don't care what people do, just do what you are able. Mentor a girl who needs attention, work at a shelter, work for welfare support for battered women, whatever! I am only online because I am severely disabled; the computer is the last place I would be if I could be active.
People call you a TERF because you've made statements on this blog which are transphobic. It has nothing to do with 'diagnosing you as sick'; people are attempting to call attention to your harmful behavior, but your particular brand of feminism is too self-righteous and petrified of anything even approaching trans-inclusivity to listen. It's frankly quite disgusting.


Convenience foods, they were my best friend back in the early days of my marriage. It started with my complete inability to cook, then just got worse when I was sentenced to months of bed rest with pregnancy complications. Confined to my bed, juice boxes, tiny boxes of raisins, and ever bar under the sun became my best friends. Any meals I actually cooked involved a helper, something boxed, or came out of a bag.
I vividly remember my grandparents coming to visit when Tristen was born. My sweet grandmother who made everything from scratch thought my Tuna Helper was the bomb! She was completely amazed that a box could help you make a yummy tuna casserole. At the time I thought she was just being polite, I so sucked at cooking back then. And this was coming from the woman who never used a convenience food of any type in her life! But when my wonderful Nanny was moved into a nursing home, we found boxes of every variety of Tuna Helper in her cupboards. Guess she really did like it!
Anyway, these foods are convenient, but most times are not cost effective, especially when you are paying full price.. I will say that with coupons you can often pick mixes, helpers, pastas, and well pretty much any type of quick food you can imagine for mere pennies if not for free. We would have them occasionally, hen I got them for a little of nothing. That is one thing the kids loved when I started couponing, suddenly mom was bringing home the expensive treats she always says no to. They had no idea that I had slashed our grocery bill and got these treats for a steal!
Since moving to Podunk, unless I go out of town to shop, I don't get great deals any more. This has forced me to better economize. Our ever present sodas have been replaced with tea. Juice boxes have morphed into juice made from frozen concentrate . We make our own peanut butter and crackers instead of buying them in packages. Lunch box snack cakes have been given up for homemade cookies. And the great part is that we really don't miss the "convenience" all that much. Today we baked the world's simplest peanut butter cookies to do in DH's lunch box and to serve as afternoon snacks. Spending quality time with my kids is a joy, one that a box of Ding Dongs can never replace.
So, I urge you to think about where you can cut cost by ditching convenience. Baking your own snacks, changing the way you do beverages, soups from scratch rather than cans, taking two minutes to cube some cheese instead of buying it already done, these are all things we've started doing. It make take just a touch of time, but it saves us real money. Think about what your family eats and I am sure you will find ways to save some cash.
My mom does it every time. She makes pickles, deserts and other good stuff at home to save money.


Erik Komendant is the Vice President of Federal Affairs at the Association for Accessible Medicines. He is AAM's senior strategist and lobbyist representing the generic pharmaceutical industry.
Recognized as a "Top Association Lobbyist" in 2015 by The Hill, Erik advanced the insurance industry's priorities through passage of several laws to fix the Affordable Care Act, including the PACE Act and a one-year suspension of the health insurance tax (HIT) that saved consumers more than $12 billion. Erik also played a pivotal role in building bipartisan support for the Medicare Advantage program, which culminated in more than 400 Members of Congress weighing in to protect and strengthen the program in 2016.
Prior to AHIP, Erik worked on Capitol Hill for more than seven years, including as Policy Director for the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 54 moderate members of the U.S. House of Representatives. As Policy Director, he helped to build consensus among Coalition members, establish public policy positions and represent the Coalition with Congressional leadership and the White House.


text:
Andreas Werner, Vienna/Lower Austria
»What I create are universes.«
Landscape is a central motif in the work and constructions of graphic artist Andreas Werner, who was born in the former GDR and grew up in Lower Austria. With influences from the 19th century conjoining with science fiction, he experiments with romantic ideals and utopian conceptions transferring landscapes into our present time. In the universes he creates, he explores the question of what has become of utopian ideals and whether the idea of future was once more optimistic.
Andreas, you first studied theater, film, and media science and then moved on to art. How did these changes come about?
I have always made art, but after having studied in these other areas, I am now making art seriously; this progression however, took some time. I decided to study theater, film and media science because I am interested in those fields, and during my studies I realized that I actually didn't want to lecture so much about the art of other artists, but that it would be more exciting to produce art myself. At first I attended the University of Applied Arts, but then I changed to the Academy of Fine Arts to study with Gunter Damisch and I graduated there in 2012.
Why did you choose graphic art?
That was not really a deliberate decision, since I have always been more of a draftsman. I liked the idea of creating something just with thoughts, that is, just taking a piece of paper and a pencil, material that is easily available, creating something special out of almost nothing. And so I delved further into pencil drawing in order to achieve an aesthetic or a possibility that I feel has something very special.
Has paper always been your preferred material?
Working with paper has a certain freedom for me, because it is simply a piece of paper and if a drawing doesn't work out, it doesn't matter, because then I just take another piece of paper and continue to work. This way of working has certainly changed for me over the years, because now I use a much higher-quality paper. But this lightness of paper has remained appealing to me because it has a coolness that canvas can never achieve.
You have one studio in Vienna and another one in Lower Austria. How does your day-to-day work differ here?
In Vienna, I work mainly with small formats and use the studio partly as a warehouse and showroom. In Lower Austria, out in the country, the space is bigger and brighter, and I have a garden. I am not the kind of person who works directly; I plan my work very carefully. Then I start and tell myself that the works need to hang a little while and I must think a little bit: does the work need something, or is it sufficient as it is. It is such a fine line between now it is right and now it is too much. And it is super nice to be able to take a walk in the garden or just sit under a tree and pause for a while and then go back to the studio. That is what I enjoy about the country studio. For me it is the perfect balance to the work in the studio, which is very structured and very concentrated. When I'm at work, I don't listen to music, but am almost completely meditative with my pencil and work in a concentrated way, in complete isolation and quiet. That can be very exhausting, and then it is refreshing to go out into the garden and take care of my vegetable patch.
How would you describe your creative work process?
I always work in series; I never perceive a work as just one work, there is always a sequence of works. I usually carry some pieces of paper or a sketchbook along. In the last few years, I have been fortunate enough to be invited to artist residencies in Ireland, Hungary, and Croatia. I have a passion for science fiction and archaeology. If I find some old stones or information about ancient cultures, I get excited and read up on it, do research and make sketches pertaining to it, and all of these sketches I later work with in the studio. I found this detail of a temple quite interesting and used it. Or I notice things in literature, like Stanisław Lem's descriptions of buildings, cultures, and planets, and I combine these elements like collages and draw them. My works emerge from roaming through all kinds of media, different eras, and places.
In general, you move between realism and abstraction. Has your work changed over the years?
It is more of a rotation. There are these realistic moments, and then there are moments where I move into the more abstract or the freer. This is all interdependent. For me it's a horror to repeat myself by painting the same picture, and it's boring for my development, because it predetermines what comes next. I make exact sketches and have my conceptions, but the creative process is almost like jazz music, one has an idea of how it works, but then I seek this freedom and let myself drift and the most exciting things result.
Landscape is one of your central motifs. You once described yourself as a romantic of the new millennium…
That's right. (laughs) Romantic landscape painting fascinates me. Looking at the paintings by William Turner or Caspar David Friedrich, they are about creating depth and atmosphere with color. During a residency in northern Germany I visited Kunsthalle Hamburg and saw Caspar David Friedrich's painting The Sea of Ice and was fascinated, seeing this ship that is bursting, sinking, and when you look closer you see the ship's name "Hope." It can't get more romantic than that; it is hope that is sinking there! Having seen this painting, I began occupying myself with landscape. What does landscape mean today? Is it still this romantic picture that we have in mind and did it ever exist? Even at the beginning of Romanticism … we were already in the middle of the industrial revolution. So the landscapes they were presenting to us no longer existed – it was escapism in the broadest sense. I began to pursue escapism in art, and over the years I compared these landscapes with other planets and their landscapes, because I am fascinated by science fiction and I asked myself: what is happening in these landscapes? And in the process I came up with these monuments, spaceships, and robotic figures that are never presented independently, as it were. What I create are universes.
You were born in the former GDR and grew up in Lower Austria. Has this past influenced you?
I come from Merseburg, the industrial area without parallel. I can remember that the landscape was covered with coal dust. My impressions of the architecture of that time as I persistently cite in my work today is partly about Brutalism, partly about prefabricated buildings. That is the origin of the aesthetic I work and play with on the one hand, and on the other it derives from film sets like Metropolis and Blade Runner. I play with these ideas people have about it. But basically I would say that over the years my aesthetic has developed in such a way that I fall back on my earliest childhood memories, for example visiting Berlin for the first time in the 1980s and I am standing in this gray Berlin in front of these huge monumental buildings on Karl-Marx-Allee. These sights were very formative and are biographical in that respect.
Caspar David Friedrich is a source of inspiration for you. Are there other 19th century or contemporary references that move you?
Yes, there is an insanely wide range. I love Caspar David Friedrich and William Turner. But I also like a lot of contemporary artists like Karla Black, and Sarah Morris, who has such a minimalist approach. I consider Per Kirkeby one of the best painters ever with his layering, which is more about geology, but should I name more? Perhaps not… (laughs) I have a more playful approach, I find things exciting that carry me along. When I go to an exhibition, something has to happen inside me; it can be video art, it can be performance or an installation. Carol Bove, and also the artist group Laibach, are super. I draw as much from art history as I do from popular culture, but in the working process one should free oneself from that.
Does that mean you react more to the work and less to the artist?
I do react more to the work. This discussion about artist and work and whether you have to separate them, yes, I think you have to separate them. One has nothing to do with the other. There are certainly things done by some people that are not okay and I would say that is now indisputable, without question. In this respect, I am less interested in the work than the person, if I'm honest.
Where would you place your art in the present?
I think my work is difficult to classify in terms of time, it's both romantic and utopian, although Romanticism underlies the entire thing. I certainly have views on world improvement, but for me it's about developing my own aesthetic and formal language. In a best case scenario this means that the work attains something approximating a unique selling point, it attains authenticity, as it were, which I find exhilarating and gratifying. But generally speaking, can art still be classified today? Perhaps to some extent fifty years subsequent to its engenderment, and then it's still inaccurate; but then, that's what we have art historians for.
In the utopias or landscapes that you create, man is absent, but we find traces…
Exactly. We find traces and vestiges of people and civilizations; it's not even clear if they are of people. The landscape is a construction. Landscape painting, both illusionist and romantic, has always been a construction or a kind of science fiction view of how we would like it to be, it has never actually derived from reality. Especially today, landscape untouched by man no longer exists in Central Europe. Landscape is subjected to exploitation and industrialization. Man strives to subordinate the planet, in the biblical sense as it were, but gradually people realize that it isn't working, and if we continue in this way, we will go beyond the point of the irremediable. If we are truly concerned, in what direction do we truly want to develop? And furthermore, what do landscape and nature mean to us on this planet?
Is there a claim for you as an artist or are there actions that you want to evoke?
Basically, yes, for myself I have a claim, but I do not demand its acceptance by the viewer. I try to organize my thoughts and formulate a utopia, an idea. Whether you are in agreement or see it differently is up to you. As an artist, I don't have to explain myself, those who want to accept it do so, and those who don't want to just don't, and that's perfectly legitimate, because everyone comes with their own biography, with their own history. Of course, not everyone will see the GDR past, but rather Greek temples and I would never say that's not the case, but rather that's cool, tell me more about it. The playful element is important to me. Pictures in the classical sense need quiet and contemplation. I have to be able to engage with them, because the medium works through silence, time, and in the best circumstance, discourse.
So you are offering levels of meaning?
Exactly. I consider that an opportunity for artists. I don't think you can give any answers as an artist, and I don't think it's the function of art, for that there are scientists and philosophers. As an artist, I see myself more as offering levels of meaning and formulating insights. Furthermore, I believe that art precedes science. Let's go back to science fiction like the Enterprise. Set designers and artists have always formulated a reality in advance of its actuality, like the flat for example, which was then realized because a lot of these scientists are nerds and into these series, saying: great, I want something like that, how could I build it, how can it work?
Do you wish that the utopias that you create could give rise to a new reality?
That would be asking too much. (laughs) Well, it would be cool, but I don't have that wish. But it would be great if such robotic creatures could be around.
Are there any prejudices or misconceptions about your work?
My aesthetic is deliberately unclassifiable at first glance, but I do demand something of the viewer. When I cite Brutalism or monumental buildings like the "Seven Heaviest" in Moscow, there is certainly something very charged about it, but nevertheless I am playing with it. It's a play with aesthetics and derives much more from Expressionist film and science fiction. I would rather locate myself there. I play, as it were, with pathos in a very reflective way, and pathos that is not deliberate is bullshit nonpareil, but when you take pathos for a ride, it's more to have fun with it, and not for it to be taken completely seriously.
In one artist's statement, you ask what happened to all the utopias and why is the idea of the future so unkind?
In my childhood, science fiction or ideas of the future had something of a new beginning or beauty, because humanity would have conquered all problems and we would live together in peace, and that's a beautiful idea. But the peace and love movement that underlaid hippie culture, which then found expression in science fiction, as it were, has been lost over time. When I look at science fiction today, it is really just dystopias. What happened? And one of the essential things, especially because of my GDR past, I think: With the collapse of the Soviet Union and of real existing socialism, the last utopia in this form unfortunately perished. Regardless of how it was realized, there was an idea of humanity and a better life for all but it failed and what is left is the capitalist system, which is basically not a utopia, but a continuation of our human history. Because with the collapse of the idea that the human condition could be different, a great deal was then lost, rather it bears resemblance to early science fiction like Metropolis, where everything is sad and gloomy, and you don't want to live in a world like that. That is one of the basic questions I often ask myself, what actually happened in those years of "it's all getting better." And today you feel like an anachronism; there is no alternative because it is not en vogue and the idea of the future is absent.
Exhibition view "we dreamed of a past future | Andreas Werner" VILTIN Gallery Budapest 2019, Photo: VILTIN Gallery / David Biro
Exhibition view "Obsession Drawing", Universalmuseum Joanneum – Neue Galerie Graz / Bruseum 2018, Photo: Universalmuseum Joanneum / N. Lackner
Exhibition view "Ticket to the moon", Kunsthalle Krems, Photo: Kunsthalle Krems / Redtenbacher
Your exhibition Galaktal at Kunsthalle Krems opens in November 2021. What can we expect?
It is a space focused on my present work process and I present my graphic work and also an installation. The works will hold a discourse with each other and span a universe, and viewers will find themselves in this universe; they can walk through it and gain their own insights, or rekindle thoughts, dreams, and fantasies, thinking "what if?" The title is a game, because I think it is terrible when titles explain something. "Galaktal" is a neologism and this composition explains nothing, you have an idea in your head, yet that is all you know.
Does that mean we are entering your universe?
Exactly. But as soon as you enter this universe, it is no longer my universe, but becomes yours. That will be the most beautiful thing, when we will fly through the stars together. (laughs)
Interview: Marieluise Röttger
Photos: Maximilian Pramatarov
Andreas Werner's website Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna VILTIN Gallery, Budapest @andreas_werner_artist
#drawing #fiction #narrative #landscape #vienna
Miriam Strobach and Gregor Einetter, Vienna