Sunday Selections # 792 -- Colour of the Month: Gold.

For today's Sunday Selections,

a blog hop party of photography challenges

hosted by River of Drifting Through Life --

I'm fulfilling the Colour of the Month prompt

provided by Charlotte of MotherOwl's Musings.

This month's colour is Gold.

Here's a few photos of gold (or gilded) items

from my travels over the years --

1. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy (2008)

A corridor ceiling overflowing with

golden-framed Renaissance paintings.

2. Brooklyn Public Library, New York (2009)

On one of its entrance columns, the Goddess Athena

with the Python of Delphi at her feet.

3. Coronation Chair, Westminster Abbey,

 London, England (2009)

The ancient Chair itself is wood, but

the four Lions supporting it are gilded.

The empty space just above the Lions is

where the Stone of Scone is placed

for the Coronation ceremony.

4. Temple of the Golden Pavilion,

Kyoto, Japan (2012)

This photo was taken from the back,

on the shore of the lake

which the Temple overlooks.

5. Sweet Cake Plate, Uji City, Japan (2012)

I was served this sweet cake

on a golden glazed ceramic plate

at the start of a Tea Ceremony.

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2008, 2009 and 2012]

Sunflowers, Starry Night, And A Question

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This post is also being linked to

Sunday in the Art Room HERE

What's YOUR Footwear Fetish?

No disrespect to the King, but at first

glance I thought he was wearing

scuba flippers.

The Rude Awakening of Adulthood

Everyone's Favourite Word These Days

Okay, that's the end of the post.

Now . . . .

The Straight Line of Complicity

Authoritarian regimes need a complicit, corrupt judicial system to consolidate their antidemocratic power. As soon as MAGA Republicans secured a deeply conservative majority on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), it was clear to me that the conditions for this were in place and that the effects on American law would be severe, long-lasting, and dangerous. And indeed, Chief Justice John Roberts and the SCOTUS majority have wasted no time in aiding and abetting the ever-growing subverting of the American Constitution and the Rule of Law in the United States.

As a lawyer, it sickens me to watch this debasement of justice and legal principles. It disgusts me that it is being committed by a Chief Justice and his majority bloc of the Supreme Court, all of whom swore to uphold the Constitution. Yes, the Supreme Court's minority bloc and many lower court judges across the United States are doing their best to protect and apply democratic justice and the Rule of Law, but at the end of the day, they are not more powerful than SCOTUS. As the highest court in the land, SCOTUS is the one which shapes American law.

I saw this meme the other day --

It was accompanied by this comment --

"Roberts’ SCOTUS should be included."

Yes, yes, it should.