Vintage Everyday: When Photos Looked Like Paintings: 27 Dreamy Landscape Photographs Taken by Leonard Misonne

Belgian photographer Leonard Misonne (1870-1943) trained as an engineer before discovering photography. Raised in Gilly, Belgium, the photographer traveled throughout his homeland and beyond to capture the landscape and people of Europe in the Pictorialist style. Photographs, characterized by soft, painterly scenes, were created through alternative printing processes that utilize materials such as oil and gum bichromate. The Pictorialist movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries sought to elevate photography to the level of other fine arts such as painting and sculpture. 

Misonne said, "The sky is the key to the landscape." This philosophy is clear in many of Misonne's images, often filled with billowing clouds, early morning fog, or rays of sunlight. The artist excelled at capturing his subjects in dramatic, directional light, illuminating figures from behind, which resulted in a halo effect. Favoring stormy weather conditions, Misonne often found his subjects navigating the streets under umbrellas or braced against the gusts of a winter blizzard.

Misonne's mastery of the various printing processes that he used is evidenced by the fine balance between what has been photographically captured and what has been manipulated by the artist's hand in each print. To perfect this balance, Misonne created his own process, called mediobrome, combining bromide and oil printing.

The artist's monochromatic prints in both warm and cool tones convey a strong sense of place and time, as well as a sense of nostalgia for his familiar homeland. Whether the subject is a city street or a pastoral landscape, the perfect light carefully captured by Misonne creates a serene and comforting scene reminiscent of a dreamscape.

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America Magazine: Pope Francis: The death penalty is contrary to the Gospel

When St. John Paul II published the catechism in 1992 it still admitted the use of the death penalty (No. 2266). But strong reaction from bishops and the faithful in many countries led him to revise the text in 1997, with the help of then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The revised text (No. 2267), however, still did not exclude the death penalty on moral grounds as Pope Francis did today; it said that given the possibilities the modern state has of rendering the criminal incapable of doing harm again, then “the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity ‘are very rare, if not practically non-existent.’”

Several times since becoming pope, Francis has made clear his total opposition to the death penalty, including in his speech to the U.S. Congress and to the United Nations in September 2015. But today he took a much greater step than any of his predecessors by declaring publicly on a solemn occasion, directly related to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, that the death penalty is “contrary to the Gospel” and “inadmissible,” making clear that the catechism must address the question in this more complete way. [...]

“Sadly, too,” he said, “also in the Papal State there was recourse to the extreme and inhuman remedy, ignoring the primacy of mercy over justice.” Speaking as the Successor of St. Peter, he said, “We assume responsibility for the past, and we recognize that those means were dictated more by a legalistic than a Christian mentality. The concern to fully preserve the powers and the material riches led to an overestimation of the value of the law, preventing a going in depth into the understanding of the Gospel.” [...]

Clearly anticipating objections of a theological nature from some quarters, Francis explained, “Here we are not in the presence of any contradiction with past teaching, because the dignity of human life from the first instant of conception to natural death has always found in the church it coherent and authoritative voice.” Indeed, he said, “the harmonious development of doctrine requires putting aside positions in defense of arguments that already appear decidedly against the new understanding of Christian truth.”

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Haaretz: Gender Wage Gap in Israel Among Highest in the West

The survey, released last week, showed that women in this country working full-time jobs earned on average just 78% of what their male peers earned in 2015, making it the fourth-widest gap among 15 countries surveyed. The average for countries belonging to the OECD – the club including most of the world’s wealthiest economies – was 86%. 

For the countries that had made the most progress toward gender equality on pay, the gap was nearly nonexistent. In Belgium, women earned 97% on average of what men earned, in Slovenia 95% and in New Zealand 94%. On the other hand, Israeli women were earning close to their American sisters’ 81% and were ahead of Japan’s 74%. [...]

The stagnation in progress toward wage equality isn’t unique to Israel, though. Only a small number of countries succeeded in reducing it, among them Ireland and Mexico. For most it remained unchanged and in a few, such as Switzerland, Japan and Brazil, the gap even widened. [...]

While Israeli women earn relatively little compared to Israeli men, their rates of education are now higher. In 2014, 19.5% more women complete high school than men, much wider that the 11.9% gender gap on average for OECD countries. Women account for 59.5% of all Israelis awarded bachelor’s degrees, compared with 58.2% on average for the OECD. At the Ph.D. level, women make up 49.8% of the degrees granted in Israel, compared with 47.4% across the OECD. [...]

In the political sphere, Israeli women are also faring poorly. They account for just 26.7% of all members of the Knesset, under the average of OECD legislators of 28.7%. Iceland, which has the most gender-balanced parliament, is close to 50-50 while in Finland and Mexico, 45% of the legislators are female.

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The Guardian: 'The referendum was like flipping a coin, it didn’t make sense' | I am Catalan

As the north-eastern Spanish region continues the debate over its independence, we are in Catalonia hearing from people worried that mainstream media are not representing their voices.

The Guardian: 'It's about building a new society for all' | I am Catalan

As Catalonia continues to debate independence from Spain, the Guardian has been hearing from people in the region who worry that their views have not been represented in the mainstream media. 

Haaretz: In Israel, Religion Is Only the Hammer

Is this part of a move to increase religion in the public sphere? No. To Netanyahu and to the right in general, the Bible is basically seen as a combination property deed and writ of absolution: It all belongs to us, it always has, and therefore we have the right to do as we please. In fact, this is the main use that Israeli public schools makes of Judaism.

As Prof. Moshe Halbertal has noted, no matter how despicable the deed, a Bible verse will always be found to justify it. But meanwhile, secular and leftist parents, who are currently poring over their children’s textbooks in search of prayers that have infiltrated math exercises, are more afraid of some imaginary plot to turn their kids religious and are ignoring what’s right in front of their faces: an organized effort to introduce right-wing political messages. [...]

Religion is only the hammer with which the sole truth is pounded into the heads of high school students and soldiers — the holiness of the mission, that is, military rule over the Palestinians. If somebody decides to start wearing a kippa, that’s a bonus, but that’s not the real goal. If it were really about religion, the students and soldiers would be shown other aspects of it that don’t automatically support the occupation and justify that support with a divine imperative. 

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Politico: Italy’s electoral law puts government at risk — this one and the next

Lawmakers from the anti-establishment 5Star Movement — which has criticized the proposed electoral system as a plot to suppress their numbers in parliament — reacted with fury, declaring the confidence vote an “attack on democracy” and an “emergency,” and promising to take to the streets. [...]

If an election were held under this mix, polls indicate it would result in either no viable coalition in parliament; or an alliance of populist, Euroskeptic and right-wing forces that would cause international markets to tremble. One Italian official described any election as a “blind gamble.” [...]

The problem is not that an electoral law is difficult to design in itself, but that parties appear unable to put aside their own interests to agree on one. The biggest change in the new electoral law is that it would allow parties to contest seats as coalitions: a change that the 5Star Movement sees as a direct attack on its electoral chances.  [...]

The Porcellum made voters pick only between parties, with no candidates named on the ballot, giving party grandees a power of patronage they have since been loath to give up.

It also granted a 55 percent majority to the most successful alliance in the lower house. But proposed curbs on the power of the Senate meant to accompany it were rejected in a referendum the following year.

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Politico: Hail Schäuble!

Investors are also cheering Schäuble’s exit. (He’ll now preside over Germany’s Bundestag.) They hope that whoever replaces him will be more willing to spend the country’s large surplus, to the benefit of all eurozone members. Yet if anything, Schäuble’s departure introduces substantial risks. [...]

Despite his reputation, Schäuble is staunchly pro-European. The Liberal Free Democrats (FDP) — now most likely to claim the finance ministry given the recent election result — support more pan-European security and defense cooperation. But under its new leader, Christian Lindner, the party has veered sharply to the right on issues related to the eurozone, performing well with parts of the electorate as a result. [...]

Schäuble knew how to manage his troops and keep them in line, even as his government supported three bailouts for Greece and one each for Spain, Ireland and Cyprus. He was also able to keep an even keel when European Central Bank President Mario Draghi turned his institution into a fiscal backstop with his commitment “to do whatever it takes” to keep the eurozone intact in 2012. This went well beyond what most Germans believe the bank’s mandate should be.

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Politico: Air pollution linked to nearly 400,000 premature deaths

Fine particulate matter pollution caused 399,000 premature deaths in EU countries in 2014, according to the most recent estimates on the health impact of air pollution published Wednesday by the European Environment Agency (EEA). That is an 8 percent decrease compared to the previous year. The data was submitted by national authorities and analyzed by the EEA, which came up with the estimates of premature deaths. [...]

Bulgaria had by far the highest rate of premature deaths attributable to particulate pollution, according to EEA data crunched by POLITICO. Next was Poland, where more than a third of the population heats their homes with polluting coal-fired furnaces. Sweden and Ireland had the lowest rates.  [...]

Most countries had lower health impacts in 2014 than in 2013, but premature deaths rose in Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden.

The picture looks grimmer for specific air pollutants. Premature deaths linked to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is closely linked to diesel vehicle exhaust, increased to 75,000 in 2014 from 68,000 in 2013. Breaches of EU legal limits were reported in 22 of the 28 EU countries in 2015.  

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