The stainless steel sculptures of South Korean artist Sun-Hyuk Kim – human anatomy traced by root systems.

Metaphorically: the incompleteness of existence, the fragility of the human state, the doomed hubris of the Tower of Babel or indeed whatever you’re having yourself..

colossal

This Christmas.

Give pot a chance.

Brian Colhoun writes:

My uncle Jim Behan from Carlow is a pure craftsman. He has been, for the 35 years I remember, making pottery. His dedication to it is astounding.

His kiln in his garden in Carlow is one of the most amazing places you could be, 1000s of items created there. A staple of his nieces’ and nephews’ childhood visiting Carlow.

He now, finally, has it available online. The work is intricate as it is beautiful.

In fairness.

Dolmen Pottery

Irish-Made stocking fillers to broadsheet@broadsheet.ie marked ‘Irish-Made Stocking Fillers’. No fee.

 

Incidents of spitting and the use of anti-spit hoods (top) as used by An Garda Síochána

This afternoon.

Ahead of a report by the Policing Board of Northern Ireland on the PSNI’s use of spit hoods expected at Midnight…

Via RTÉ:

…Gardaí have used anti-spit hoods 118 times while policing during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report from the Policing Authority.

The hoods, the use of which has been criticised by both the Authority and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, have been used 100 times on males, 18 times on females and six times on children.

They have been deployed mainly in Dublin (on 51 occasions) and mostly during assaults and public order incidents – 54 times for public order offences and 34 times during an assault.

In 79 cases, the person appeared to be intoxicated, while in 16 cases the detainee was believed to have a mental health issue. In one case, the person was perceived to have “obvious signs of a learning disability“.

Report in full here

Policing Authority report finds strong compliance with virus restrictions (RTÉ)

Above from left: Minister for Housing Darrah O’Brien TD, Peter McVerry, and Pat Doyle, CEO of Peter McVerry Trust,

This morning/afternoon.

Haddington Road, Dublin 4.

Minister for Housing Darrah O’Brien helped launch the Peter McVerry Trust annual report and announce a ‘major new construction programme of social housing units’ by the charity at the construction site of 18 new housing units.

Annual Report (Peter McVerry Trust)

Leah Farrell/RollingNews

Joe Biden (left) and Donald Trump

This afternoon.

Via CNN:

Biden is taking calls with leaders of the country’s top allies and appearing on camera, which reflects the inevitability of his ascent to power. Meanwhile the President is staying behind closed doors, tweeting in wild block capital letters and unleashing a purge of the Pentagon’s civilian leadership in what one current defense official called “dictator moves.” And William Cohen, former Secretary of Defense and Republican senator, told CNN’s Don Lemon the administration’s conduct is “more akin to a dictatorship than a democracy.”

Meanwhile…

RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel Says She Has 500 Sworn Affidavits on 11,000 Incidents of Voter Fraud (Gateway Pundit)

Pennsylvania is ground zero for President Trump’s efforts to establish that he won the 2020 presidential race with all legal votes counted. While it is not the only state where Trump is contesting the results, without Pennsylvania, he has no viable path to a majority in the Electoral College.

Lawyers for Trump’s reelection team have raised several issues with how the commonwealth conducted the 2020 election, alleging voter fraud, a two-tiered system for mail-in and in-person voting, a lack of meaningful access for Republican poll watchers, and the acceptance of ballots after Election Day in violation of Pennsylvania election law.

Meanwhile…

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar revealed  that roughly 10,000 mail-in ballots were received between when the polls closed on Nov. 3 at 8 p.m. and Friday at 5 p.m., the time window considered a grace period after a controversial state Supreme Court ruling.

Many of the 94,000 provisional ballots also mentioned by the Democratic official are still being counted, according to PennLive.com, and 49,000 ballots cast by mail and arrived before polls closed have yet to be tallied.

Alarm grows over Trump administration acting ‘more akin to a dictatorship’ as he denies election defeat (CNN)

Pennsylvania received 10,000 mail-in ballots after polls closed on Election Day (PennLive)

A user’s guide to Trump’s Pennsylvania election challenges (Washington Examiner)

Meanwhile…

VOIGHT! FIGHT!

Soda Blonde – Love Me World

It begins with singer Faye O’Rourke ( top second right) cleaning house before transforming into a brilliantly staged epic live performance of both released and unreleased songs.

The band say they have been influenced by Jonathan Demme’s iconic Stop Making Sense (1984) live film and Lila Avilés’ The Chambermaid (2018).

Nick says: Blonde ambition.

Soda Blonde

Broadsheet.ie