Daily Archives: December 10, 2021

Gus Van Sant: Mona Lisa, an exhibition of new paintings by the Los Angeles-based artist and acclaimed American filmmaker – FAD magazine

Posted: December 10, 2021 at 7:11 pm

Vito Schnabel Gallery is to presentGus Van Sant: Mona Lisa,an exhibition of new paintings by the Los Angeles-based artist and acclaimed American filmmaker. Opening December 27th, 2021, at the gallerys St. Moritz space, the exhibition will be Van Sants first in Switzerland.

Mona Lisawill debut a series of large-scale canvases, executed in gold leaf, crayon and oil, that take as their subject Leonardo da Vincis Renaissance masterpiece created during his second Florentine period the celebrated, ubiquitous cultural iconMona Lisa(La GiocondaorLa Jaconde),ca. 1503- 1519. An artwork whose own mysterious legend continues to beguile the imagination, Leonardos enigmatic portrait is an archetype of beauty that has become ingrained in collective consciousness as an object of widespread veneration. Its hierarchical ranking as the most well-known painting in the world has bestowed upon the work the status of immortality.

In Van Sants new paintings, the elusive narrative of LeonardosMona Lisais appropriated and subverted, as the image of a smiling Giocondais deconstructed through formal experimentation. Van Sant deploys a technique reminiscent of pointillism to render large expanses of color as a series of small blocks exactingly constructed, thereby dissolving the sitter into an obscure grid of broad, tactile brushstrokes and assiduous dots of pastel crayon. The viewer observing at close range becomes enveloped in abstract color and shape, only to discover that Van Sants fractured surfaces materialize at a distance into a coherent, legible personage a smiling woman. Thus the artists newMona Lisapaintings invite meditation on the space that exists between pure optical experience and the realm of imagination in which we fabricate and assign meaning, projecting our dreams and desires onto what we see.

Van Sant is a creative visualist whose proclivity for storytelling is elemental to his modus operandi. The artists work in different mediums including painting, photography, and film is united by a single overarching interest in portraying the narratives of marginalized individuals and reverence for the dislocated protagonists living on the fringes of society. With the same sensitivity and observational prowess that he lends to his films, Van Sant calls upon the viewers sense of perception and proximity in his studio art practice, to engage with the emotional distance and dislocation that shroud the real history of theMona Lisa.Whether real or imagined, Van Sant gravitates towards the idea of the lost mother; Leonardo fulfilled the request from the Medici family to make a painting for an illegitimate son estranged from his mother, and asked his favored assistant Salai to sit as his subject, his beauty and the artists affection for him inspiring Leonardos vision of his own unknown mother.

Van SantsMona Lisaworks have developed slowly over the course of many years, arising from the artists longstanding fascination with digital printing as a means for exploring the myriad minute, layered elements that render the colors we see. Inspired by a LEGO advertisement that translated theMona Lisaand other renowned paintings into the companys famous plastic blocks, Van Sant began to isolate and partition hues. The palette of Van SantsMona Lisapaintings ranges from soft, pale pastels to bold, vivacious techno-colors, and even embraces reflective, metallic surfaces of gold, silver, and bronze. Punctuated by heavily worked and expressionistic surfaces, the near imperceptible brushstrokes of Leonardos sfumato become in Van Sants canvases a landscape of loose, thick smears of paint and layers of built impasto in oil, or the pure hues and regimented marks of crayon. He muses over the curious notion of subject or non-subject, and of the figurative and the abstract, as he questions what it is that one paints. Van Sants focus wavers between material, color, and form, while Mona Lisas watchful gaze dissolves into the vast pictorial field of his surface.

About the Artist

Gus Van Sant was born in 1952 in Louisville, Kentucky. He received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence in 1975, where he studied painting and film. Admired internationally as a filmmaker, painter, photographer, and musician, his studio painting practice has moved in and out of the foreground of a multi-disciplinary career through the years, becoming a priority again in the last decade.

Van Sants work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Muse de lElyse in Lausanne, Switzerland; Le Case dArte in Milan, Italy; and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon in Eugene, among others. Vito Schnabel Gallery presented Van Sants first solo show in New York in 2019,Recent Paintings, Hollywood Boulevard.A series of Van Sants watercolor portraits were presented at Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills, California in 2011. Van Sant has participated in numerous group exhibitions since the 1980s, presenting drawings, paintings, photographs, video works, and writing. Among Van Sants many internationally acclaimed feature films areMilk(2008);Elephant(2003);Good Will Hunting(1997);My Own Private Idaho(1991); andDrugstore Cowboy(1989). In 2021, Van Sant debuted his first musical theater show,Andy,at the Dona Maria II National Theatre in Lisbon, Portugal. Inspired by the early life of pop art icon Andy Warhol,Andywas featured in the programming of the BoCA Biennial of Contemporary Arts (2021). A European tour of the musical will follow in 2022.

Van Sant lives and works in Los Angeles.

Mark Westall

Mark Westall is the Founder and Editor of FAD magazine Founder and co-publisher of Art of Conversation and founder of the platform @worldoffad

Beginning February 25th, 2021, Vito Schnabel Gallery will presentRobert Nava: Angels,the first New York solo exhibition for the Brooklynbased artist.

Ariana Papademetropoulos: Unweave a Rainbow is the first New York City solo exhibition for the Los Angeles-based artist. Unweave a Rainbow will debut a new series of large-scale works by the artist

Vito Schnabel Gallery is to present 1 + 1 = 1 Million, an exhibition organised by artist Tom Sachs to spotlight significant works by American Conceptual titan Sol LeWitt (1928 2007)

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Gus Van Sant: Mona Lisa, an exhibition of new paintings by the Los Angeles-based artist and acclaimed American filmmaker - FAD magazine

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The Late Juice WRLDs Fighting Demons Has Doom, Death and Duets With BTS Suga and Justin Bieber: Album Review – Variety

Posted: at 7:11 pm

Sandwiched between Dec. 9s inaugural Juice WRLD Day in Chicago and the premiere on the 16th of HBO Maxs Into the Abyss documentary, the next chapter in Juice WRLDs melancholy story unfurls mirthlessly, but melodically, with Fighting Demons. As far as a packed, posthumous promotional schedule goes, this December is further proof that its Juices WRLD, even if the Lucid Dreams hitmaker isnt here to live in it.

What the emo-inspired rapper-crooner would have thought of this collection, which includes laconic leftover freestyles and unused vocal tracks rewound to fit fresh beats, is a mystery. As far as posthumously released albums go, though, the dreary-dreamy Fighting Demons aptly shows off Juices penchant for disconsolate lyrics and dimly lit but infectious hooks. The tracks on this, this second of Juices posthumous releases (after 2020s Legends Never Die),range from dully repetitive to dynamically adventurous, and include some surprisingly jazzy vocal tricks. The collection holds surprisingly (and happily) few features, the evil hallmark of too many post-mortem albums.

Juice, who died in Dec. 2019 due to an accidental drug overdose, had long-documented struggles with drug addiction and mental illness. This seeps through every pore of Already Dead, its lean vocal melody slithering insidiously through his angst-driven lyricism like a snake. Here, Juices desires and prayers to remove himself from that cycle are as evident (All my suffering / Is really getting under my skin / Maybe I should try to pray again) as his resignation (Lost my heart, lost it all). A lonely floating piano, played in what sounds like an imaginary distance from the singer, only bolsters the tracks empty feeling.

The Metro Boomin-produced Burn, featuring an AutoTuned Juice, isnt as gloomily poetic as Already Dead or as illustrative of a life in decline as Feel Alone, with its Losing my mind / But its okay, its fine, refrain. With Burn, the tracks producer and its vocal centerpiece seem to have a different mission: to drill its repetitious whistling effects and Juices maudlin, mantra-like lyrics into your head so that they bounce like balloons, then pop when exploded at the songs finale. Another name-above-the-title producer, Dr. Luke, attempts a similar brand of hypnosis with Not Enough, by lifting Juices flat, but breezily melodic vocal tones through heavenly, upwards-moving chord changes you know, like every Dr. Luke tune. Here, however, despite its inventive vocal, the vibe feels forced, and Not Enough is, indeed, barely sufficient.

Finding new versions of Juice WRLDs steady baritone is what makes a cut such as Wandered to LA with Justin Bieber so delicious. Co-produced and co-written by Louis Bell and Harv (both of whom work with Biebs on the regular), the gently jiving and soulful track is there to support Juices jazziest-ever vocal line, with Bieber offering up a similarly slippery sing-song-iness. As a guest shot, Bieber and Juice sound as if theyre playing off one another the very point of what a dynamic feature should sound like, whether or not its host is living or deceased.

Eminems appearance here, flinty and staccato as it is, also fits, albeit oddly, as Juice and his mellow flow were part of Godzilla from Ems oft-ignored 2020 album Music to Be Murdered By.

This brings us to the most talked-about collab on Fighting Demons, Girl of My Dreams, with Suga of BTS. BTS has been hot to collaborate in 2021 with everyone from Coldplay to Megan Thee Stallion, and pairing Sugas baritone with that of Juices is synchronistic.

Like the aforementioned Dr. Luke track, Girl of My Dreams is, yes, fluffily produced, but more potent and reliant on Juices preferred instrumental break from past recordings the clicking, metronomic guitar. So, although downy and flossy, Girl of My Dreams works as its reiterative instrumentation and Sugas looped lower-octave rap-sing wrap around Juices cut-and-pasted croon like a an elegantly fancy ribbon.

Not every collab on Fighting Demons works as well for Juices doom-drive lyrics and insistent, cantabile vocals. The remaining feature, Feline, is Juices wordiest rap, but its Police-like guitars and pairing with Polo G and Trippie Redd is merely OK. Alone, and on his own, Juices flanged, guitar-filled You Wouldnt Understand is a lazy track across the board. Relocate, a ruminative tale of the singers Chicago life before fame, could have done with an arrangement beyond its simple burnt-rubber electronic squelch. So Fighting Demons, is, by far, not perfect.

Yet, as far as telling sad stories goes, the curation of this album comes with a final, dynamic one-two punch in Feel Alone and My Life in a Nutshell. While the former features Juices signature mellifluous moan and self-destructive solitude at the heights of his prowess, My Life in a Nutshell closes out the package with a harshly prescient and self-aware soliloquy dedicated to the game, and how its played.

They say livings harder than dying/ Im willing to gamble thatFind me unresponsive in a hotel room / girl, can you handle that?Worst case scenario / You still hear my songs on the stereoYou still hear my name on the radioSo Ill live forever

If the high-quality craft of Fighting Demons is proof, there is no doubt of Juice WRLDs immortality.

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Local wins Food Network competition; opens bakery in Waveland

Posted: at 7:09 pm

In addition to celebrating her big win on the Food Networks Halloween Baking Championship, Waveland resident Renee Loranger last week opened Sugar Pop Baking Co.

The California native moved to Waveland in 2000.

Loranger said baking wasnt her first choice of career.

I actually wanted to be an actress, she said. But I kind of fell into the job of baking and I just really liked it and picked it up really fast. It was a way for me to still be artistic. So I stuck with it and mostly self-taught. If I want to learn it, I look it up and figure out how to do it.

Loranger said she began baking in California at grocery stores. When she moved to Waveland, she started working at Casino Magic now Hollywood Casino and built its baking program.

After Hurricane Katrina, the bakery program was closed and Loranger returned as a restaurant manager.

However, in 2010, the program was reinstated and Loranger worked as a pastry chef and then promoted to executive pastry chef in 2012.

Loranger described working at the casino as hectic.

Its very busy and very fast-paced, she said. The grocery store was, too, and its good practice for this (Sugar Pop).

For season six of Food Networks Halloween Baking Competition, Loranger said, she kept an eye on the networks casting program.

She won second place that year.

For the seventh season, Loranger said, the network asked her back.

She said that she always wanted to be featured on one of the Food Networks baking shows.

Id love to host my own show, Loranger said. I love being on camera and I do not mind being the center of attention.

The series has a pre-heat and main heat phase, the thriller challenge and the killer challenge, Loranger said.

For the thriller challenge, participants made a smaller treat, she said. For the killer challenge, it was something larger.

A participant was eliminated each week, she said, by the judges who are Carla Hall, Zac Young, and Stephanie Boswell. John Henson is the host.

The first time Loranger appeared on the show, she took home second place.

During her last appearance, she took home the $25,000 prize.

For the final challenge, participants were tasked with making a 24-inch stacked, tiered cake in five hours, she said.

The flavor Loranger chose was devils food cake with a sour cherry filling, hazelnut buttercream, and a hazelnut crunch.

The show was based on camp killer films from the 1980s, she said. The designs of the cakes were meant to take a look inside the mind of the killers.

They had to tell that story as you looked at the cake, Loranger said. And it had to have a brain on top, an exposed brain on top.

Lorangers cake took home the $25,000 grand prize, which gave her the jumpstart she needed to open her own bakery.

Loranger said she always wanted to branch out on her own and do my own thing.

When COVID-19 began, Loranger said, she was laid off from her job at the casino.

So theres just no other time to do it, she said. I had to figure it out. So, I was baking at home for quite a while.

But after she saw the location, she thought it would be a good idea to utilize the kitchen and space inside Wavelands LiLi Stahler-Murphy Ground Zero Hurricane Museum, located at 335 Coleman Ave.

I just love this building, she said.Its got so much history. Everybody that comes in, they remember being here and watching somebody on the stage or being on the stage themselves or they know somebody that came here and went to the school.

Loranger opened the bakerys doors on Oct. 25 and she said she hopes that it will help bring more traffic to the area.

I really hope that it brings more business to Coleman Avenue, Loranger said. I think that Coleman really needs to be brought back to life and I hope to be a part of that.

Sugar Pops menu includes a variety of daily baked fresh items such as muffins, turnovers, danish, cookies, cakes, cupcakes, eclairs, and more. There is also a pastry of the day as well as packaged items for the holiday.

She said some of the current customer favorite selections include the orange cranberry muffins, the cinnamon pecan muffins, the danish, and her winning devils food cake.

Right now, the bakerys hours are Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Lorangers husband Darren also helps out at the bakery. The pair have a son and a daughter.

Loranger said she does take special orders such as cakes and cookies. People can order online or order in-person at the bakery, she said.

Learn more through Facebook at Sugar Pop Baking Co. and http://www.sugarpopbakingco.com.

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Did Trump Say ‘If You’re Innocent, Why Are You Taking the 5th Amendment?’ – Snopes.com

Posted: at 7:08 pm

In December 2021, former U.S. Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and lawyer John Eastman appeared prepared to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights based on the constitutional provision that specifies, in part, that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself as they defied a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. As this news circulated on social media, so did a quote from former U.S. President Donald Trump:

This is a genuine quote from Trump.

Trump made this remark during a September campaign rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa during the 2016 presidential election campaign. At the time, Trump was attacking his political opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, after some of her staff members took the Fifth Amendment while being questioned by the House Select Committee during their investigation into the 2012 attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi.

Trump said: So there are five people taking the Fifth Amendment. Like you see on the mob, right? You see the mob takes the Fifth. If youre innocent why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?

You can see a video of Trumps remarks below:

While Trump equated taking the Fifth Amendment to a sign of guilt during this speech, that hasnt always been his position. In fact, Trump has used the Fifth Amendment himself. Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment right during a divorce deposition in 1990 to avoid answering nearly a hundred questions.

Trump has changed his position on the Fifth Amendment a few times over the years. In 1998, after former President Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath about an affair, Trump suggested that Clinton would have been better off if he had taken the Fifth Amendment. But in 2014,after a number of women came forward accusing comedian Bill Cosby of rape and sexual assault, Trump tweeted some free advice, saying that if Cosby was innocent, he shouldnt remain silent because it makes him look guilty.

Trump wrote: I am no fan of Bill Cosby but never-the-less some free advice if you are innocent, do not remain silent. You look guilty as hell!

Sources:

Sheth, Sonam. Key Witness in Congress Capitol Riot Probe Says He Intends to Plead the 5th Amendment. Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffrey-clark-january-6-committee-plead-5th-amendment-2021-12. Accessed 8 Dec. 2021.

If YouRe Innocent, Why Are You Taking the Fifth? Trump Said Years after Invoking It Himself. Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/23/if-youre-innocent-why-are-you-taking-the-fifth-trump-said-years-after-invoking-it-himself/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2021.

Trump and the Fifth Amendment: Its Complicated. https://gulfnews.com/world/americas/trump-and-the-fifth-amendment-its-complicated-1.2031688. Accessed 8 Dec. 2021.

United States of America 1789 (Rev. 1992) Constitution Constitute. https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/United_States_of_America_1992?lang=en. Accessed 8 Dec. 2021.

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Jan. 6 insurrectionists seek protection from the Constitution they tried to destroy – The Arizona Republic

Posted: at 7:08 pm

Its an irony those caught up in their alleged participation in the Jan. 6 insurrection either wont admit or, even sadder, dont even recognize.

Jan. 6 committee: What we know about the panel targeting Trump aides

House investigators are subpoenaing aides that were part of former President Donald Trump's inner circle. Here's what we know.

Just the FAQs, USA TODAY

Trump supporters and members of Trumps inner circle are actively proclaiming their love and appreciation for the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the one that protects individuals from having to testify if they believe what they have to say might incriminate them.

Its a shame that many of them didnt show the same love and appreciation for the other nine amendments in the Bill of Rights, or the other 17amendments to the Constitution, or the original seven articles, or the lovely preamble.

But, that is the irony of the Jan. 6 insurrection, something that those caught up in their alleged participation either wont admit or, even sadder, dont even recognize. Its coming out more and more as the House committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 issuesmore subpoenas to potential witnesses.

We live in a country where those suspected of attempting to destroy our Constitution have the ability to seek and receive the protections afforded there.

This is why America is great.

I wonder if any of those who stormed the Capitol in January, or any of those who attempted to overturn the results of the election, understand that.

I doubt it.

And even if they did, I doubt theyd admit it.

Theyd invoke their right to ignorance.

Most recently it has been former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and lawyer and Trump confidant John Eastman who have said they will take the Fifth.

Trumps longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone also announced that he would be invoking his right against self-incrimination.

There already have been many others, and there most likely will be more to come.

The attack on the capital left a police officer and four others dead.

The attacks on the Constitution also included attempts by elected officials to overturn the election. Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar and Debbie Lesko voted to decertify results from Arizona and Pennsylvania. Arizona Rep. David Schweikert voted to decertify Pennsylvanias.

What would they say under oath about their behavior in the dark days leading up to the insurrection?

Or would some of them also seek refuge under the blanket of protection provided by the Constitution?

And what about Trump himself?

It doesnt seem that many of his friends or followers share the former presidents opinion of the Fifth Amendment.

He said of it, You see the mob takes the Fifth. If youre innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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Former Trump officials’ coming contempt highlights need for Protecting Our Democracy Act | TheHill – The Hill

Posted: at 7:08 pm

Seemingly unrelated events this week and next are connected in ways that shed light on a path forward for our democracys future. Yesterday, the House passed Rep. Adam SchiffAdam Bennett SchiffHouse goes after Trump with bill to curb presidential abuses of power Roger Stone to plead the Fifth in Jan. 6 investigation Jan. 6 panel faces new test as first witness pleads the Fifth MOREs (D-Calif.)Protecting our Democracy Act (PODA).Next week, former Trump acting attorney general Jeffrey Clark and former Trump adviser Stephen MillerStephen MillerChristie says Trump, Meadows should have warned him of positive COVID-19 test The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - Biden to tackle omicron risks with new travel rules Midterms are coming: Will we get answers on Jan. 6 before it's too late? MORE are scheduled for depositions with the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6.

Whats the link?

Among PODAs key provisions is one that calls on federal courts to expedite to the greatest possible extent the disposition of civil law disputes over compliance with Congressional subpoenas.

On Dec. 1, the eve of the Committee citing Clark for criminal contempt for having frivolously asserted executive privilege last month, Clarks lawyer wrote the Committee that Clark would re-appear and assert his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent on a question-by-question basis. That appearance will occur on Dec. 16.

Given Clarks prior baseless assertions of privilege, there is every reason to expect a legal fight to arise if Clark asserts Fifth Amendment rights to questions whose answers could in no way incriminate him. The Committee could proceed with its criminal contempt referral, but with Clark having appeared and made claims that may be arguable, the Committee would be well advised to consider going to court to obtain a judgment of civil contempt. That would oblige Clark to answer questions previously stone-walled in bad faith or go to jail until he does.

As for Miller, his appearance is set for Dec. 14. He may followthe now-indicted Steve BannonStephen (Steve) Kevin BannonAppeals court rejects Trump effort to deny records to Jan. 6 panel Jan. 6 panel threatens Meadows with contempt Judge sets July trial date in Bannon case MOREs path and refuse to cooperate, in which case he will be cited for criminal contempt. Or he may follow Clarks new path and take the Fifth. Alternately, having served as a White House adviser to Trump, he may assert a claim of executive privilege that is a more defensible, at least for the time being, than Clarks. In that case, a civil law dispute is sure to occur over former President TrumpDonald TrumpOn The Money Senate risks Trump's ire with debt ceiling deal Bank regulator erupts in partisan split as Democrats go rogue Biden to appear on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' on Friday MOREs instruction to assert the privilege.

On Dec. 9, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Trumps executive privilege claim, as a former president, is invalid because the current president, Joe Biden, and Congress agree as to its compelling need for the evidence in the Select Committees investigation of the Capitol attack.

By now, we are well familiar with Trumps recurring strategy of running out the clock by filing actions aimed at delaying resolution until after the current session of Congress expires, mooting the case. Enacting PODA with its civil enforcement expedition provision would counteract that cynical tactic.

Notwithstanding current Congressional standoffs between the parties, there are reasons to hope for bipartisan support for such measures in the Senate. The current administration is Democratic, and with history suggesting a change of party control in Congress next election, Republicans may be anticipating their committees subpoenas to Biden administration officials.

In the past, resistance to Congressional testimony has not been limited to Republican administrations. In 2017, Republicans themselves proposed similar acceleration of Court actions to enforce Congresss subpoena power.

This correction is just the beginning of PODAs provisions to rein in presidential abuses of power and to root out corruption. As the New York Times put it, PODA is a point-by-point rebuke of the ways that President Donald J. Trump flouted norms.

The bill would help block presidential interference with the Department of Justice via requirements ensuring transparency and accountability for White House-DOJ communications.

PODA would also help protect our elections from foreign interference. The bill requires that political campaigns be informed of the laws prohibiting foreign support and be obliged to report any attempts of such involvement.

Its hard to imagine any reasonable objection to such provisions.

Similarly, the act would prohibit presidential self-pardons and increase transparency around the presidential pardon process.

Again, both parties have reason to support such a measure. While Trump stretched abuse of the pardon power to the near-breaking point, hes not the only one to have abused it. On his way out the White House door, President Clinton famously pardoned Marc Rich, a fugitive indicted for $48 million in tax evasion and for trading with Iran during the hostage crisis, after his ex-wife had contributed generously to the Clinton Library.

While most modern presidents have done all they can to expand executive power, President BidenJoe BidenNicaragua breaks diplomatic relations with Taiwan, recognizes Chinese sovereignty Biden reassures Ukraine's Zelensky of U.S. support amid Russian aggression On The Money Senate risks Trump's ire with debt ceiling deal MORE, to his credit, has collaborated with Congress on PODA measures that he can live with and that would help limit such expansions going forward. That fact, combined with the many provisions that have attracted bipartisan support in the past, opens a unique door for rebuilding the guardrails of our democracy.

And if Senate Republicans eventually use the filibuster to block reforms they have previously sought, that would add one more reason to reform Senate rules to allow for passage of democracy-preserving legislation by majority vote. In any event, yesterdays vote in the House is a critical step toward restoring our Constitutional system of checks and balances.

Dennis Aftergutis a former federal prosecutor.

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Remember those amendments | Letters To The Editor | thecentralvirginian.com – The Central Virginian

Posted: at 7:08 pm

We honor our veterans, as we remember why they were willing to risk their lives for our freedoms. Lets reference some of those freedoms from specific amendments in our Constitution:

The First Amendment protects our religions, freedom of speech and the press, and the right to peacefully assemble and address grievances. The Fourth Amendment protects Americans against unreasonable searches and seizures. Our Fifth Amendment states no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.

Therefore, we raise a crucial and fundamental question about maintaining those freedoms. How can the party of progressive socialist Democrats honor our amendments, as they fully endorse governmental control over individual constitutional freedoms? Additionally, their biased progressive media previously informed us our Constitution is outdated and not valid. Really! American politicians are sworn into office to protect our Constitution, although progressives have conveniently forgotten that our government derives its power only from the consent of the people.

But where was our constitutional protection in Loudoun County schools, when parents spoke up against cruel indoctrination of their children and strongly opposed school books containing pornography? Those parents were immediately silenced by progressive socialist school officials and their media! Include the further weaponization from top progressive government officials, as they declared American parents to be domestic terrorists! What about the arrested father, who protested the school rape of his fifth-grade daughter, which was deliberately hidden by progressive administrators!

Parents from all parties are not afraid of repercussions for refusing to remain silent; if that were not true, we would no longer live in a free country. Such progressive politicians brag about their so-called free stuff, but what have they personally accomplished to secure your freedoms? Will the cost of losing our Constitutional liberties be worth their free stuff? After the Loudoun County debacle, many are now aware that those progressive attacks against parental rights bear no resemblance to the former John F. Kennedy moderate Democratic Party.

It was Benjamin Franklin who said, Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature. Consequently, based upon a brave unprecedented human experiment, our Constitution was created for this juvenile nation, by courageous but imperfect Founding Fathers, and humbly provided to us. It allowed extraordinary new freedoms for Americans, while maintaining the rule of law. But it was up to European aristocrats, indentured servants and slaves to understand and institute those Constitutional liberties. Generations of Americans gave of their blood and flesh for their freedoms.

Conversely, why would any current politician, media, or school administrator, ignore or blatantly violate the unparalleled efforts of historical Americans for Constitutional sovereignty? Current Virginians of all parties and races have proven they still have the fortitude to protect such freedoms with their votes, as they loudly rejected the bullying and unlawful Constitutional intrusions of progressive school board members, government officials and media into the education, and liberties of their families. Hopefully our country is listening.

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Nippon Chemi-Con’s Ex-CEO Takes The Fifth In Price-Fix Trial – Law360

Posted: at 7:08 pm

By Hannah Albarazi (December 8, 2021, 10:47 PM EST) -- The ex-CEO of capacitor manufacturer Nippon Chemi-Con Corp. invoked his Fifth Amendment right in declining to answer questions about his involvement in a decadelong global conspiracy to fix capacitor prices, a California federal jury heard in a video deposition played Wednesday in a trial over claims U.S. companies overpaid $427 million for the devices.

Lawyers for a class of about 1,800 U.S. companies which claim that NCC, its U.S. subsidiary United Chemi-Con Inc. and other capacitor manufacturers overcharged them as a result of a price-fixing conspiracy between 2002 and 2014 played for the jury the videotaped deposition testimony of...

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Former top defense aide Kash Patel, three other witnesses appear before January 6 select committee – CBS News

Posted: at 7:08 pm

A former top Trump administration defense aide was among four witnesses to appear Thursday before the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Kash Patel, the chief of staff to Christopher Miller, who was the acting Defense secretary when the Capitol assault took place, met with the committee behind closed doors for around four and a half hours. CBS News was first to spot Patel and his team as they arrived on the Hill and were greeted by a committee staffer. Though Patel did not respond to reporters' questions, he later issued a statement saying he had answered the panel's inquiries to the best of his ability.

"I have always been willing and able to share with the Committee, and the American people, the truth about the events of January 6including the Department of Defense's preparation for and response to unrest at the Capitol," the statement read, later adding: "The DOD Inspector General, under the Biden Administration, found no wrongdoing in its report on Jan. 6, as I shared with the Committee."

Patel is considered a major figure in the House select committee investigation, which is examining how the federal government including the Defense Department and the White House prepared for and responded to the events of January 6. The former aide to Republican congressman Devin Nunes was among the first set of witnesses to be subpoenaed by the committee in September.

On Thursday, the panel also questioned Stop the Steal organizer Ali Alexander for up to eight hours. The rightwing activist sought to persuade the committee he had "nothing to do with the violence or lawbreaking that happened on January 6," according to prepared remarks obtained by CBS News.

He told reporters as he arrived at the committee's offices that he would provide "thousands of records" to the committee, including evidence that would "exonerate" him and former President Donald Trump.

The committee also met with conservative law professor John Eastman and former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Christopher Krebs, a source familiar confirmed to CBS News.

Politico first reported Eastman's appearance. The select committee subpoenaed him for records and testimony in November, and its interest in him stemmed from post-election memos Eastman is said to have written that proposed ways former Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the 2020 presidential results on January 6 and throw the election to Trump.

It's unclear how much information Eastman gave to the committee on Thursday. On podcasts earlier this month, Eastman slammed the panel and vowed to assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Meanwhile, Krebs is not among the 45 witnesses who have publicly received subpoenas from the committee. The former cybersecurity official was fired by the Trump administration last November after his agency issued a statement declaring the 2020 presidential election was secure. CNN first reported his appearance before the committee.

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Former top defense aide Kash Patel, three other witnesses appear before January 6 select committee - CBS News

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What exactly does it mean to defend the Fifth Amendment? – BollyInside

Posted: at 7:08 pm

When someone invokes the Fifth Amendment in American law, they refuse to answer a question if they believe it will reveal that they are guilty of a crime. The Fifth Amendment is also referred to as being invoked, pleaded, or claimed. The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution stipulates that no one can be forced to divulge damaging information about herself by the government the so-called right to be silent. When a person takes the Fifth, she exercises her right to remain silent and refuses to answer questions or offer information that could lead to her being indicted. The Fifth Amendment can only be used in specific circumstances.

Cop dramas and crime shows have made most people aware of the term I plead the fifth, but few actually know what the phrase refers to. It comes from the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, which outlines several laws regarding due process and how an individual should be charged with a crime. When someone declares they are pleading the fifth, they are specifically referring to how the Constitution states that no individual shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself. For many, pleading the fifth is shorthand for refusing to answer a question, however it is significantly more complex than that. Pleading the fifth only applies to specific scenarios and has its own benefits and costs to defendants.

A person can only use the Fifth Amendment in response to a legally compelled communication, such as a subpoena or other legal procedure.It is also necessary for the communication to be testimonial in nature. In other words, it must be related to factual assertions, either explicitly or implicitly.

I plead the fifth often follows a question that could lead to an individual incriminating themselves in a crime. Based on the fifth amendment, this is referred to as the right against self-incrimination and protects you from accidently confessing to a crime. However, while it is a constitutional right, that does not mean it is universal.

The language of the fifth amendment is very specific and only allows an individual to refuse to testify against themselves during a criminal trial and when they are on the witness stand. While its concept may overlap with your Miranda Right to remain silent when in police custody, it does not apply to police investigations and interrogations. In addition, like Miranda Rights, it is not automatic. You must expressly state that you are pleading the fifth for the court to uphold your right.

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What exactly does it mean to defend the Fifth Amendment? - BollyInside

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