Open Thread 11-17-15

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 7:40am

Good morning 99percenters!
How about a little comic relief this morning?

I love Photoshop, I've made many photo mashups over the years, mostly political. I don't do them much anymore but I used to crank them out regularly. So, excuse me while I indulge myself on this rainy Tuesday morning.

I did this one back when Assange was big in the news. This photo was all over the web at that time. I added the milkshake with the pentagon logo and the straw and the text. I used this as a comment at DKos and it immediately went to Top Comments.

This one is one of my favorites. Several years ago a blogger named Night Owl posted a nightly caption contest at Docudharma and later moved it from there to a blog named writing in the raw, some here may remember his contests. Night Owl called the essay The Overnight Caption Contest, he would pull an image from somewhere off the web, usually political in nature, and the folks at the site would have a grand old time captioning them in the comments. Eventually myself, Knucklehead, Night Owl and occasionally a few others, started photoshopping the source photos and submitting those in the comments as our captions. It was really great fun and some awesome work came out of it by the shoppers.

I did this shop job for Night Owls' Overnight Caption Contest, or OCC as I'll refer to it from here on. The source image was just the the photo of the dude dressed as Superman in the middle, I added everything else.

This one I did as a comment for The Evening Blues a couple of years back. I added the extra tube going to the NSA and the text.

This one is from an OCC at writing in the raw, I added the puppet and the text.

This one is a mashup I did for general comments at Docudharma, I added the panhandler, the unicorn image on the wall and the text.

Another one for general comments, that's Tony Hayward from the Gulf oil spill fame. I added the oiled pelican and the oil/poop on his head and the text. It is fashioned after the famous "What Me Worry" cover from Mad Magazine.

This is another OCC, this time it was for writing in the raw. The source image was just the diver entering the water and the MadBull sign behind him, I added everything else.

This was from an OCC back when Rand Paul was running for office in 2010 and the infamous incident where one of his campaign workers, Tim Profitt, stomped a protester on the ground. The original source image was Rand and his buddy in the middle, I added everything else.

This one was from an OCC at writing in the wall, I believe. The source photo is of Dub at a book signing event, I added the phone, text, and of course, the crayon. I use this one occasionally, you may have already seen it.

I did this one for The Evening Blues a couple of years ago. It's a stock photo from the TV show Star Trek. I switched Spock's face for Obama's and used a filter to change it to black and white to match the stock photo.

This was from an OCC at Docudharma. The source image was of Obama staring into a mirror, I flipped his mirror image upside down.

This is from an OCC at writing in the raw. The source photo was of Prince Charles and Camilla being protested in England. I added the Grey Poopon jar, the splashed mustard on the car and the text.

I did this as a general comment at writing in the raw. Of course you'll recognize this as the famous photo of Elvis from the movie Jailhouse Rock, I added bin Laden's head and filtered it black and white, it was back when Elvis bin Laden was all the rage.

I did this a couple of years ago for Joe and The Evening Blues. It's all my original creation.

This is one of Knucklehead's photos that he took a couple of years ago and posted in the comments at The Evening Blues. I added the monkey silhouette and with Knuck's permission I use it as my avatar at DKos.

Another one from an OCC at writing in the raw. I added the orange tears. I did the tears trail down his face with the dodge tool, it was tricky. I use this mashup quite regularly, I usually add some pertinent text to it, you may have already seen it.

I did this one for general comments at Docudharma right after the 2008 election. It was my way of explaining the Obama/Kos symbiotic nexus.

This one I made for general comments a couple of years ago, it is self explanatory.

Thanks for letting me indulge myself this morning!

Tags:

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Comments

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 8:18am

JtC, this is more than adequate

I have posted here before and will say it again. The Open Thread is just a meeting room for us to post. This is a perfectly fine Open Thread.

I hope everyone is having a great day. I will post more thoughts later.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 8:50am

Thanks gg...

i had a lot of fun doing this one and besides it's a rainy day in the neighborhood. No biggie!

Note to folks just tuning in: I originally just posted a quick blurb that I was doing the OT today and that I'd have it up shortly and posted it as an essay, this was gulfgals comment to that blurb. I just wanted to explain so gg's comment made sense to those that didn't see my original blurb.

Submitted by DonMidwest on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 8:42am

Agree with GulfGal that this is enough

Posted another tough comment to the BNR diary

The Republicans are calling the CFPB communist which is along the lines the corporations and oligarchs have been using to bring us a corporate coup d'etat

The Bernie movement HAS to be much more than an election, it has to be a movement to reclaim our democracy

The current outcry about terrorism is part of the fear used to keep the people away from the causes like

In my comment I came right out and said that Bernie is a communist by supporting financial legislation to help us stand up to corporations

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/17/1450977/-BNR-Sanders-Gets-A-R...

Reading how the FBI and CIA infiltrated and tried to destroy left wing movements over the decades, it is naive to think that it is not going on now. We have seen how socialists were treated in the past in our country and now that there is a WAR ON CIVILIZATION going on, time to get dangerous people in jail.

The odds that Bernie will be taken out go up every day. They have done it before.

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 9:49am

Morning Don...

I was making the exact same point in this comment I made in OPOL's essay here at c99p last night, only more subtle.

Submitted by DonMidwest on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 8:48am

double standard - killing Europeans vs killing muslims

So, this kind of dehumanization is nothing new. It’s been the constant fearmongering by the media since 9/11 whether it’s in the United States or in any NATO country that has been involved very heavily in destabilizing the Middle East.

The fact of the matter is ISIS, for the last couple of years, has killed over 100,000 Muslims because Muslims are the inhabitants of the Middle East for the most part. The media has been absolutely silent so it’s really hypocritical for the media to suddenly react and act like only the lives of Western nations matter. Really, it’s all lives matter if that’s how we should present it.

With this attack in Paris, for example, we have eight to ten people, who perpetrated this attack, and now all of the refugees have been demonized and dehumanized. So that’s eight people out of the millions of people that have been running away and escaping war-torn Syria, war-torn Libya, two countries that have been destabilized because of direct NATO intervention by countries like the United states, like France.

We like to think of France as this socialist nation, but in reality, France, just like the United States, has a very strong war machine. It has a lot of influence in the destabilization of the Middle East. So, when the media goes on to target and attack all of these refugees, there is a political agenda behind it and that is to ensure these wars and military presence in these countries can be justified. Because when thousands upon thousands of people get killed because of these rebels that are being armed by these NATO members and these Western nations, the only way to justify that is if we dehumanize the victims of these wars and that’s exactly what’s happening.

I believe it was gjohnsit who wrote about the double standard a couple of days ago

this is from an interview by Kevin Gostzola. I added the bold

INTERVIEW: MINTPRESS NEWS’ MNAR MUHAWESH ON PARIS ATTACKS & RESPONSE OF WESTERN COUNTRIES

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 9:55am

It's...

institutionalized national racism, brought to you since 1620.

Submitted by mimi on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 2:00pm

and fought against since 1492

Submitted by gjohnsit on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 12:24pm

This meme has caught on

I believe it was gjohnsit who wrote about the double standard a couple of days ago

I've seen this meme getting picked up on DKos and even in the mainstream press.
finally people are waking up to the fact that this GWOT is racist.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 10:00am

Cool photoshopping!

I am so technologically deficient, that my seeing how you wizards of the computer do these things just fascinates me. These are GREAT! And by that, I do not mean just technically, but creatively!

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 10:14am

Thanks gg...

the trick to good shopping is not to get in a hurry. Although back during the Overnight Caption Contest days, i cranked them out after about an hour's work each, the more complicated ones took a couple of hours, some just a few minutes.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 10:13am

Cool stuff, Johnny, thanks for sharing. That's a skill I

completely lack and sometimes could really use. Impressive as hell.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 10:16am

Thanks el...

the hard part is learning the photoshop program, once you know the tools and practice a bit, it really isn't that hard to do.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 10:16am

anyone see this?

The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation and an associated charity refiled tax returns for six years with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to amend their reporting of donations from foreign governments and other errors, the charities said on Monday.
Her critics, especially political rivals in the Republican Party, have said the charities' reliance on millions of dollars from foreign governments creates conflicts of interests for a would-be U.S. president. They have also criticized the charities' admitted failure to comply with an ethics agreement Clinton signed with Barack Obama's incoming presidential administration in 2008 in order for her to become secretary of state.

Again she didn't follow the rules she agreed to. I can't wait to see the ads if she beats Bernie

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/clinton-foundation-tax-forms_564ae72...

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 10:21am

Morning sd...

the Republicans will chew her up in the general, if she makes it.

My mind keeps going back to an interview with Bill Clinton right after 9/11, it was on one of the late night talk shows, I'm thinking it was Jay Leno. He was bragging up about Chelsea's job that she had just gotten with a hedge fund, did anybody else see that? Just one of the perks that comes with the territory.

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 10:33am

BTW...

this Tuesday morning OT slot is open if anyone would like to take it.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 11:47am

Open Thread diaries can be a little as you wish

just as long you head it Open Thread. There is no rule that you have to write a long diary or what the content thereof should be. That is the beauty of to the Open Thread diaries. Draw up a header, add a tag "open thread," cue that baby up, and you are ready to go. And another cool thing is you do not even have diary sit an Open Thread diary. What could be easier?

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by triv33 on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 10:37am

Morning~

Great stuff, jtc! And what a coincidence--last night I went and signed up for a year of the creative cloud (on sale) for my boys. That comes with photoshop, which I have no idea how to use, but they will. My oldest really wants photoshop, and the younger one has wanted flash pro for a long time. It may seem crazy on a tiny fixed income, but with what I think they'll get out of it, I don't think there's a better investment of 16 bucks a month out there.

—

I shave my legs with Occam's Razor~

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 10:47am

thaks triv...

tell your son to concentrate on learning the tools in the left toolbar, that's where the heavy lifting is done. There are many great tutorials all over the web that will walk him through just about any task he wants to perform. If I can help him in any way or give him some tips, just give me a shout.

That investment could reap big dividends, folks make big money with Photoshop and Flash Pro.

Submitted by triv33 on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 11:09am

thank you

I feel pretty good about it, I know my younger son needs to see a viable future for himself, and I think this could help. He's very talented, artistically, he's quick to pick up how to use computer programs, being on the spectrum he can be almost too focused on things like that, but I can't stifle the artist in him. I won't.

—

I shave my legs with Occam's Razor~

Submitted by gjohnsit on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 11:28am

Iraqi Kurds Shia conflict becoming a big deal

link

A 14-year-old boy was reportedly killed Sunday following continued clashes between Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi militiamen in the town of Khurmatu in Diyala province 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Kirkuk.
According to witnesses who spoke to Rudaw inside Khurmatu, “the young boy was killed by a Hashd al-Shaabi sniper.”

Negotiations to end the violence in the disputed territory are underway between Kurdish and Shiite factions, but Shiite militias continue arresting civilians, according to the town’s Kurdish administration.

Many shops are closed and districts are empty, according to security sources inside Khurmatu. During the last four days at least seven Kurdish civilians were killed, some 20 injured and seven others arrested by the Shiite militia.

"Sixty-nine Kurdish people were taken captive by the Hashd al-Shaabi, 59 of them are rescued so far and 10 are still left," Khurmatu Mayor Shalal Abdul told Rudaw on Sunday.

A Kurdish official told Rudaw Sunday that the Hashd al-Shaabi had arrived in the town of Saadia with heavy weapons and intended to enter by force the Kurdish-controlled town of Jalawla.

link

Shi'ite militia group Hashd al-Shaabi has blocked the main road between Kurdish city of Khanaqin and Saadia town in Diyala Province, northern Iraq.
Samir Muhammad Anwar, the head of Khanaqin City Council told BasNews on Monday that the Shi'ite militia are preventing residents from travelling between the Kurdish-majority areas.

The reason behind the latest action is unknown, Anwar said, although it comes after recent clashes between Hashd al-Shaabi and Kurdish security forces, which have claimed 18 lives.

This could erupt into open war between Erbil and Baghdad.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 12:03pm

Foreign fighters still flocking to ISIS

link

Up to 30,000 foreign fighters from as many as 100 countries have travelled to Syria and Iraq since 2011, according to an independent analysis.
Half came from neighbouring countries and north Africa, and a quarter from Europe and Turkey, says the Global Terrorism Index, drawn up by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) thinktank.

The flow of foreign fighters does not appear to be diminishing, with more than 7,000 arriving in the first six months of 2015.

Submitted by cybrestrike on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 11:44am

The SEIU just endorsed Clinton.

Got the news on one of my Politico alerts. Ugh.

Well, they just pissed away whatever credibility they had in my eyes.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 11:50am

Disappointing

I suspect that it was NOT by a vote of the membership, but by the leadership. No wonder unions continue to get screwed.

If ever an election was rigged, it is this one.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 11:55am

Morning cs...

I wonder if they based their decision on all the wonderful work Hillary Clinton did for labor when she sat on the Board at Walmart? Sheesh!!

Submitted by JayRaye on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 1:42pm

Not surprised, I used to be a shop steward during the time

I was a member of SEIU in Minneapolis. The rank and file don't have much power within the SEIU.

We won our safety fight, thank goodness, but it was NOT because of the support of our Local officers.

In fact it was despite them.

There are rank and file still valiantly striving for union democracy within SEIU, but, sadly, not strong enuf to stop the national officers from kissing up to Hillary.

Her connection to Walmart should automatically disqualify her for any union endorsement ever.

This is another example of why the union movement is dying in America instead of thriving.

—

Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons

Submitted by JayRaye on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 1:56pm

And none of us connected with Labor Notes will ever forget this!

SEIU International Attempts Disruption at 2008 Labor Notes Conference
March 13, 2008 / The Labor Notes Staff
- See more at: http://www.labornotes.org/2008/03/seiu-international-attempts-disruption...

—

Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons

Submitted by mimi on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 11:59am

Good Morning, JtC, and thanks for being such a good sports,

wow, I like your work and am amazed how much I missed over at DK through the years. I never was aware of a Night Owl and "The Overnight Caption Contest". I admit also to not have followed the Docudharma project. Though it felt I scanned dkos it all the time over the years. So glad, to be allowed to be here just as a reader and commentator. I have tons of stuff to learn and am not up to the task to contribute. All the more happy I am tolerated here as a guest. Thank YOU!!

I wanted to learn Photoshop and Video Editing software for years, but I guess, I am too impatient, was too busy and and something over the last nine years in my mind finds ways to circumvent it. I still haven't given up hope, as I have a personal project what I want to tackle.

So many things I don't understand. For example what "BitCoin" is all about. While browsing the news this morning I ended up here:
Bitcoin: Islamic State's online currency venture -
Between bitcoin and gold, the "Islamic State" is experimenting with currency, marking a new step in its state-crafting ambitions. But will the latest move further embed it amid international efforts to uproot the group?
I feel so discouraged and like I will never "get it". When I realize how much I missed on DK during the years, I wonder how much more I miss to grasp all the time. It's amazing and troubling how much confidence in myself I have lost over the years. I "get" a lot of stuff, but in very unprofessional ways. My instincts save me a bit. Sigh.

You are very funny with your photoshop artistery. Repost your work, it's always new to me.

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 12:11pm

Afternoon mimi...

I did very few of those images for DKos. Docudharma is a website that was started by buhdydharma and is now run by The MomCat and ek hornbeck. writing in the raw was a website started by pfiore8 and is now gone from the web. Night Owl was a very early member at DKos but I don't think he did any Overnight Caption Contest there, he started them at Docudharma and then moved them to writing in the raw. Photoshop is an overly complicated program, there are much easier ones out there, although none are as powerful as photoshop.

Submitted by mimi on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 12:53pm

Oh, thank you, I remember

ek hornbeck and MomCat, but admit I had a lot of difficulties to understand ek hornbeck's comments and I gave up on reading them. (I guess that's a language and culture problem I have often, especially with "techie nerds and the revolutionary kewl guys" - that is not meant as an insult, I just often can't follow what they mean with their comments). Yes I never read Docudharma as well. My fault.

With regards to Photoshop, at my last job before retirement, we had a crew of three video editors, all using Avid (on PCs, not Apple), and all of them and one sound technician girl were supposed to be good in photoshop too, though it was rarely needed for "hard news" TV news production. They used it, when there was a need, but then they got paid to do so as part of their jobs. They always told me, that they got trained in it in Germany for a long time and it's not easy. I tried to bug them all the time when I wanted to edit a video or photo, but none of them including me had the time to teach or learn it, both ways. I bugged them so often, that they wrote on my "Good Bye" retirement card, that they'll miss "my many nagging questions"...

Getting impatient I bought both software packages and installed it on my PC. Then I found in my neighborhood even a little non-profit local TV news producer, who tries to help ordinary folks in the neighborhood to use video editing software, but they are dedicated to Adobe Premiere on Apple and are hopelessly lost with Avid on PCs. Since I hate having to buy software over the cloud subscriptions, I am now stuck with mine. Meanwhile Microsoft has upgraded their operating system, what usually means that you have bugs with your existing video editing software, like for example Sorenson squeeze, which is an awesome thing to have, if you have TV quality videos and want them to post online and are up to learn it. So, I am just stuck, something always doesn't work, because of upgrades.

Then life got me distracted. In any case, it's a lot of work to learn Avid on your own. But I haven't given up on it. In Germany I could find places to be trained in it without having to spend thousands and thousands of dollars. But I know there are very good tutorials online. So, once my mind is clear ... one day ... I hope... I concentrate on it.

Submitted by shaharazade on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 12:36pm

I like this OT

it's fun. I missed a lot of your mash ups at the time don't know how. I really laughed at the Elvis bin Laden. Back in the height of the Bushies scary fake? Bin Laden and stock footage endless loops of 'terrist's who are gonna kill yer family', we would laugh at the crude editing and splicing of these fear inducing videos. What a crazy ass world where nothing is what it seems and the psychos are working hard to create hell on earth. Not funny at all but hey better to mock the ministry of fear then to fall for the dark side nightmare they have created. Found your mash ups today a timely reminder that it's good to look behind the curtain. Humor has always been a good way for people to keep the boogie men who spew hate and fear out of your head and soul.

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 12:46pm

Thanks shaz...

I remember you well at Docudharma, I was gotterdammerung there, gotter for short, named after my favorite opera, Gotterdammerung being the fourth and final opera in The Ring Cycle. Most of the images I did was for Night Owl's Overnight Caption Contest, surely you remember that? I have many more doctored images that if I ever posted some of them at DKos I'd be banned instantly, heh.

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 1:46pm

Like this one...

I once posted this in the comments at DKos, it was right after Rahm's infamous quote about "F'ing liberals". I can't remember for sure, but I think it was Miss Blue got all up in my face about it, asking "Where did you get that at, Redstate"? I didn't get any HRs but I did get several recs.

Submitted by shaharazade on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 3:15pm

I do remember

Night Owls cation contests. I am a nightowl but I blog day times and mornings and turn back into Cinderella in the evenings. I remember you, gotter. A rose by any other name. Speaking of gotter, I gotter go and actually get some work done. Be back later. Photoshop is complicated and I'm off to use a simpler version, student grade Corel for my monthly Constant Contact spamming. Speaking of crude graphics CC is really hard to use unless you want to use their stupid templates as is.

Back to the grindstone. E marketing does seem to be working as Shahyar is now so busy doing tables and stats his hair is standing on end. The joys of self employment but these days in some ways it's more 'secure' then working for the man as the too bigs eat their own and the pay is terrible for the math head in the backroom. Too much work is better then no work. I like this place, seems like a small oasis of sanity and humanism even when the world goes dark. yep you would get banned so quick if you put these images on dkos. Fuck em on dkos if they can't take a joke. I really want to post the funny video altered of Hillary in Bosnia. Maybe when I get so sick of the propaganda and fear over there I will.

Submitted by dancingrabbit on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 12:57pm

I ran across this interesting tweet

while wandering about the Twittersphere:

U.S. Dept. of Fear @FearDept

Military - stirs up stuff to fear
Media - shows you what to fear
Congress - turns fears into laws
Surveillance - tells us who's not afraid

_____________

Hmmm.

(Not being on Twitter, I'm not able to
screencap older (by minutes) tweets,
so I copied-and-pasted.)

—

Only connect. - E.M. Forster

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 1:00pm

Afternoon dr...

Oh, I like that, that says it all in a nutshell, thanks.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 1:03pm

Who are the biggest thieves? Cops

link

Between 1989 and 2010, U.S. attorneys seized an estimated $12.6 billion in asset forfeiture cases. The growth rate during that time averaged +19.4% annually. In 2010 alone, the value of assets seized grew by +52.8% from 2009 and was six times greater than the total for 1989. Then by 2014, that number had ballooned to roughly $4.5 billion for the year, making this 35% of the entire number of assets collected from 1989 to 2010 in a single year. According to the FBI, the total amount of goods stolen by criminals in 2014 burglary offenses suffered an estimated $3.9 billion in property losses. This means that the police are now taking more assets than the criminals.

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 11/17/2015 - 1:07pm