Watch “This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous – FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY” on YouTube

Watch “Tchaikovsky The Seasons Чайковский Времена года Valentina Lisitsa” on YouTube

„Nu recunosc alt semn al superiorității decât bunătatea.” – Ludwig van BeethovenNatasha Milashevich Art

„Nu recunosc alt semn al superiorității decât bunătatea.” – Ludwig van Beethoven

Natasha Milashevich Art

Mottled Wood Owl at Tadoba National Park India

Mottled Wood Owl at Tadoba National Park India

We’re never alone…someone’s always watching! 

Liceul Radu Negru, Făgăraș

Liceul Radu Negru, Făgăraș

Cetatea FĂGĂRAŞULUI

Cetatea FĂGĂRAŞULUI

Leonard Cohen: The Immortal Mortal

Leonard Cohen: The Immortal Mortal

Phoebe–Tonkin–B&W–Sketch

Phoebe–Tonkin–B&W–Sketch

Popcorn time is movie time: “The Originals” are in town

Popcorn time is movie time: “The Originals” are in town

Motel Oak Tree: Welcome!

Motel Oak Tree: Welcome!

Bună dimineața, din Breaza de Făgăraş !

Bună dimineața, din Breaza de Făgăraş !

Bun rămas, Iarnă!La revedere, Țară a Făgărașului! Bun venit, Primăvară!

My Duck Today

My Duck Today

My Chakra Today

My Chakra Today

SPRING FLOWERS engraving

SPRING FLOWERS ENGRAVING

The lovers

The lovers

‘I’m Running Late’ – Purple Clover

http://www.purpleclover.com/blog/7542-im-running-late/

what’s goin’ on

‘I’M RUNNING LATE’

Watch a son’s video tribute to Leonard Cohen

Three months after Leonard Cohen’s death, a poignant new video for one of his final songs, “Traveling Light,” serves as a fitting memorial to the singer-songwriter whose cagey wisdom enlightened audiences for 50 years.

The black-and-white video was co-created by Adam Cohen, the 44-year-old son of the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, who was 82 when he died November 7.

Adam Cohen, who co-wrote “Traveling Light,” splices together vintage clips of his father as a young man with family photos and home video to create a moving montage of poetry in motion. The song itself, a reflection on impending mortality, is preceded by a brief scene of Cohen lounging on a balcony as he discusses his failing health. “I feel a lot stronger,” he says, “but I’m actually a lot weaker.”

The self-assessment segues into the four-minute ballad from Cohen’s last album, “You Want It Darker,” which was released less than three weeks before he died.

“I’m traveling light/It’s au revoir,” he talk/sings in that familiar craggy voice as the lyrics fade in and out on screen. “My once so bright, my fallen star/I’m running late, they’ll close the bar/I used to play one mean guitar.”

Today’s Holiday:Battaglia delle Arance (Battle of the Oranges)

Today’s Holiday:
Battaglia delle Arance (Battle of the Oranges)
The highlight of the annual pre-Lent carnival—held every year for generations in Ivrea, Italy—is the massive orange-throwing battle that involves thousands of combatants in the town’s streets and squares. The battle evokes key insurrections that the townspeople launched against undesirable leaders. On the Sunday before Lent, the battle is pitted between throwers on foot, who represent the townspeople, and others on decorated horse-drawn wagons, who represent the tyrants’ officers. The fight rages all over town, continuing through the Tuesday before Lent.: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Today’s Birthday:Christopher Marlowe (1564)

Today’s Birthday:
Christopher Marlowe (1564)
A shoemaker’s son, Marlowe attended Cambridge University and then became an actor and dramatist in London. His plays, such as Dr. Faustus and The Jew of Malta, often center on a heroic personality ruined by his own ambition. Most critics hold that the poetic beauty of his language elevates his plays’ violence to high art, and many believe that he influenced Shakespeare’s work. At 29, he was stabbed to death in a tavern brawl, possibly due to his involvement in what covert activity?: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

This Day in History:Grand Teton National Park Established (1929)

This Day in History:
Grand Teton National Park Established (1929)
Before US President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill creating Grand Teton National Park, the National Park Service and homesteaders around Jackson Hole, Wyoming, fought for decades about the best way to preserve the landscape there. Much of the steep Teton Range lies within the boundaries of the park. Its peaks rise above deep valleys, called “holes” by the first white trappers and traders in the area. It has been suggested that early French trappers named the Teton Range after what body part?: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Quote of the Day:Joseph Conrad

Quote of the Day:
Joseph Conrad
The sea—this truth must be confessed—has no generosity. No display of manly qualities—courage, hardihood, endurance, faithfulness—has ever been known to touch its irresponsible consciousness of power.: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Article of the Day:Scorpions

Article of the Day:
Scorpions
There are approximately 1,300 known species of scorpion, and they are all venomous. Scorpions have two types of venom: a translucent, weaker venom used to stun and an opaque, more potent venom used to kill heavier threats. Although their venom is optimized to affect other arthropods and is relatively harmless to humans, a few species have venom potent enough to be lethal. What scientific fact challenges the ancient belief that scorpions sting themselves to death when surrounded by fire?: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Word of the Day:banneret

Word of the Day:
banneret
Definition: (noun) A knight honored for valor, entitled to display a square banner and to hold higher command.
Synonyms: knight of the square flag
Usage: The banneret proudly led his troops into battle and pressed forward unafraid.: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

” Portrait of a Young Man ” 1495 ( detail )Artist : Pietro Perugino Period : Italian RenaissanceLocation: Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy

Băile Herculane, Caraș-Severin Foto: Sebastiaenwww.facebook.com/Sebastiaen.Photography/timeline

Casinoul din Băile Herculane

Casinoul din Băile Herculane 💙💛❤

Ipolit Strambu – Maternitate

Ipolit Strambu – Maternitate

Cucurigu boeri mari:Dați punguța cu doi bani!

Cucurigu boeri mari:Dați punguța cu doi bani!

France 24 : New IS group call to violence sparks panic among Copts

New IS group call to violence sparks panic among Copts

http://f24.my/2lGUGn6

An IS group video targeting Coptic Christians, the discovery of a shoulder-fired missile launcher near Cairo airport and recent killings have raised fears of widening terrorist activity in Egypt and resulted in Sinai Copts fleeing their homes.

The Islamic State group released a video last Sunday declaring it would specifically target Christians in Egypt.

The recording featured the final statement of a man they said was responsible for theDecember 13 suicide bombing of Egypt’s main Coptic Christian Cathedral in which nearly 30 people—mostly women and children—were killed. Calling Copts their “favourite prey,” the video called on IS group sympathisers to attack them on sight, and pledged to bring the fight to the streets of Cairo.

The next day, a man posted a video on Facebook of a shoulder-fired missile launcher he said he found in a garbage dump near Cairo International Airport while on his way to work. If functional, the weapon has the capacity to bring down a commercial aircraft.

And in the last four days, three Christians have been brutally murdered in Sinai, an Islamic State group stronghold that has been a battleground between the Egyptian military and Islamic militants since 2011. On Wednesday, the bodies of a father and son were found in Sinai’s capital city Al-Arish, the father’s body riddled with bullets and the son’s body with signs of being burned alive. The following day, Islamist militants stormed the home of a Coptic plumber and shot him to death in front of his wife and children.

The spate of killings—at least six Coptic Christians have been murdered in Sinai in the past month—set off a wave of panic that prompted hundreds of Copts to flee the area out of fear that they could be next.

Copts, Egypt’s orthodox Christians, make up about 10 percent of the Egyptian population and are the largest Christian community in the Middle East.

IS Group expansion

The IS group video was different from previous ones in that it was labeled “Islamic State in Egypt,” as opposed to bearing the “Sinai Provence” logo that the group usually uses, highlighting the expansion of their operations into the Egyptian heartland. In addition to claiming the attack on the cathedral in Cairo, in late January the group posted online the pictures, names, and addresses of hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police officers and urged their followers to hunt them down and kill them. Some of those on the list were located outside of Sinai.

“ISIS [the IS group] is constantly trying to plant its foot on the Egyptian mainland,” said Mokhtar Awad, research fellow in the Program on Extremism at George Washington University.

With its promise to take the fight to Cairo, the video was restating a tactic already in effect and did not mark a significant shift. The IS group has claimed responsibility for seven attacks in Cairo in 2016, and four in 2015, Reuters reported.

“ISIS is not just a Sinai issue,” said H.A. Hellyer, senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council and the Royal United Services Institute. As fighters return from Iraq, Libya and Syria, bringing with them know-how from the battle field, they may become active at home.

Nor is targeting Christians, by itself, new. The Coptic Pope raised the ire of Islamists in Egypt when he appeared on stage next to then-General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during the announcement that Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, who hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood, had been deposed. In the days following, scores of churches throughout the country were vandalised and burned.

More significantly, it marked Christians throughout Egypt as legitimate targets for anyone with the means to attack them.

“They’re trying to do this France-like, Europe-like activation of lone-wolf cells to create havoc,” Awad said, referring to the call to arms that IS group chief strategist Abu Mohammed Al-Adnani issued to his followers last May saying that, if they couldn’t make it to Syria to fight, they could be just as useful to the movement by striking in Europe and the US.

An alarming discovery

It was against this backdrop that the mysterious saga of the SA-7 anti-aircraft missile launcher discovered within shooting range of the Cairo airport unfolded. A man called the police after finding the device lying in a trash heap less than a mile from the runway, and made a video of them discussing what to do with it, which he posted on Facebook. The video made the rounds on social media, included being tweeted by Awad.

Almost as quickly, the veracity of the account came under fire. A pro-government website reported finding the same video online, and said it dated back to 2011. The military issued an order calling for the original Facebook post to be deleted. And Awad claimed he was attacked by pro-government twitter trolls—leading to the perception that the find was significant enough for the government to want to hush it up, and thus piquing the interest of some very skilled citizen journalists.

One of those was Christiaan Triebart, a researcher with the open-source journalism site Bellingcat. He used the buildings in the background of the video to geo-locate the place where the video was taken. He then found a satellite image from August 2016 in which a building that is completed in the video was still under construction, meaning the video had to have been shot in the previous six months.

Intelligence site IHS Jane’s lends further credibility to the claim that the video is more recent than 2011 by pointing out that the improvised battery pack shown in the video were not developed until 2012 or 2013.

The clear effort by the Egyptian authorities to discredit the find raises suspicions, said Wassim Nasr, FRANCE 24’s expert on jihadist movements, but without knowing how and why the weapon got there—and even if it was functional—it’s difficult to draw conclusions. Was it left there for someone to pick up and use to shoot down a plane, or had it simply been discarded because it no longer worked? After the breakup of Libya, such weapons were smuggled out of the country in large numbers. They are notoriously unreliable.

In terms of its effect on the already-tense Egyptian populace, though, the weapon’s functionality scarcely matters. In the current context of government information blackouts, IS group videos and terror attacks, finding a missile launcher so close to the airport certainly feeds public fear, Nasr said.

Destabilizing Egypt

That kind of insecurity is what the IS group hopes to fuel in Egypt as it tries to destabilize the country by increasing tensions between different societal factions, most notably Christians and Islamists.

“The church bombing was a calculated step toward inciting sectarian violence in Egypt,” Awad said. “They are trying to up the ante and create as much violence and anarchy as they can.”

Their efforts seem to be working, if not yet on the mainland then certainly in Sinai.

“The reality on the ground has changed,” said Mina Thabet, a researcher with the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms who is currently in Ismailia to help those arriving from Sinai. He said as many as 50 families arrived yesterday and still more are coming today.

Some Christians have received death threats on their phones, others say that kill lists are being circulated among Islamist militants.

“ISIS is now following a strategy of targeting individuals,” Thabet said.
 

BBC News: President Trump to skip White House correspondents’ dinner

I saw this on the BBC and thought you should see it:

President Trump to skip White House correspondents’ dinner – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39093434

Misu Teisanu – Lectura

Misu Teisanu – Lectura

Arikara girl. 1908. Photo by Edward S. Curtis. Source – Library of Congress.

Arikara girl. 1908. Photo by Edward S. Curtis. Source – Library of Congress.

Eu am cu mine trei comori şi le păzesc cu străşnicie; cea dintâi se cheamă blândeţea, a doua se cheamă cumpătarea, iar cea de-a treia – modestia.________Lao Tse

Come to me

Come to me

France 24 : Mexico rejects ‘hostile’ Trump immigration rules as US talks loom

Mexico rejects ‘hostile’ Trump immigration rules as US talks loom

http://f24.my/2lxb1cn

Mexico reacted with anger on Wednesday to what one official called “hostile” new U.S. immigration guidelines as senior Trump administration envoys began arriving in Mexico City for talks on the volatile issue.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security unveiled plans on Tuesday to consider almost all illegal immigrants subject to deportation, and will seek to send many of them to Mexico if they entered the United States from there, regardless of nationality.

The tension over the timing of the rules mirrors an outcry when President Donald Trumptweeted that Mexico should pay for his plannedborder wall shortly before Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto was due at a Washington summit in January.

Trump, who took office last month, campaigned on a pledge to get tougher on the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, playing on fears of violent crime while promising to build the wall and stop potential terrorists from entering the country.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson landed in Mexico City on Wednesday afternoon.

He was due to be joined by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly later for talks the White House said would “walk through” the implementation of Trump’s immigration orders.

Kelly signed the guidelines issued by his department on Monday.

Mexico’s lead negotiator with the Trump administration, Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, said there was no way Mexico would accept the new rules, which among other things seek to deport non-Mexicans to Mexico.

“I want to say clearly and emphatically that the government of Mexico and the Mexican people do not have to accept provisions that one government unilaterally wants to impose on the other,” he told reporters at the Foreign Ministry.

He said the issue would dominate the talks, taking place on Wednesday and Thursday. Mexico will insist that the United States proves the nationality of any person it wants to deport to Mexico, he said.

“We also have control of our borders and we will exercise it fully,” he said.

Roberto Campa, who heads the human rights department of the Interior Ministry, said the plan to deport non-Mexicans to Mexico was “hostile” and “unacceptable.”

‘Phenomenal’ relationship

White House spokesman Sean Spicer described U.S.-Mexico ties as healthy and robust and said he expected a “great discussion.”

“I think the relationship with Mexico is phenomenal right now,” Spicer told reporters.

Homeland Security’s guidance to immigration agents is part of a broader border security and immigration enforcement plan in executive orders that the Republican president signed on Jan. 25.

In Guatemala on Wednesday, Kelly told Guatemalans the immigration crackdown ordered by Trump meant undocumented immigrants would be caught and sent back quickly, advising them to stay at home.

He denied the administration was embarking on mass deportations.

Mexico’s agenda at the talks on Thursday includes border infrastructure, deportation strategies, Central American migration, narcotics, arms trafficking and terrorism, and the North American Free Trade Agreement, a senior official with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

(REUTERS)

BBC News: Adopted Romanian orphans ‘still suffering in adulthood’

I saw this on the BBC and thought you should see it:

Adopted Romanian orphans ‘still suffering in adulthood’ – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39055704

Watch “O Brother, Down to the river to pray” on YouTube

Two beauties: one more alive than the other…

Two beauties: one more alive than the other…

France 24 : French anti-terror police arrest three over ‘advanced’ plot

French anti-terror police arrest three over ‘advanced’ plot

http://f24.my/2lrDUGR

French police on Tuesday arrested three men suspected of planning a terror attack in raids in the Paris area, Marseille and the central city of Clermont-Ferrand, legal sources said.

In Clermont-Ferrand, a bomb-disposal operation was called in to sweep the home of a 37-year-old suspect for explosives, a source said.

“The suspects had a plot that was sufficiently advanced for the police to decide to arrest them,” another source said.

The raids were ordered by anti-terrorism prosecutors in Paris, according to a judicial source.

France, which has been rocked by a wave of deadly jihadist attacks from January 2015, remains on high alert.

On February 3, a 29-year-old Egyptian armed with machetes lunged at four soldiers on patrol outside the Louvre museum, crying “Allahu Akbar” (God Is Greatest).

He was shot and seriously injured by one of the soldiers.

A week later, police arrested four people in southern France, including a 16-year-old girl near Montpellier, on suspicion they were planning an “imminent” attack.

During the raid, the officers found ingredients used to make TATP, a highly unstable homemade explosive used in the November 2015 attacks in Paris.

The teenage girl, her partner and an older man described as their mentor were charged with terrorist offences.

(AFP)

Watch “George Enescu and Dinu Lipatti – Enescu Violin Sonata no.3 – I” on YouTube

Watch “Elgar – Cello Concerto – Jacqueline Du Pre (Cello)” on YouTube

Queen Elisabeth of Romania with George Enescu and Dimitrie Dinicu at Peleș Castle.

Queen Elisabeth of Romania with George Enescu and Dimitrie Dinicu at Peleș Castle.

Queen Elisabeth of Romania with George Enescu and Dimitrie Dinicu at Peleș Castle.

Masquerade

Masquerade

France 24 : Years of war bring ‘man-made’ famine to South Sudan

Years of war bring ‘man-made’ famine to South Sudan

http://f24.my/2m0dWxj

South Sudan’s government said Monday that more than three years of war have led to famine in parts of the nation, a tragedy aid agencies criticised as “man-made”.

Isaiah Chol Aruai, the chairman of South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics, said some parts of the northern Greater Unity region “are classified in famine, or… risk of famine”.

A joint press statement from aid agencies said 100,000 people were affected by the famine, which threatened another one million people in the coming months.

“A formal famine declaration means people have already started dying of hunger. The situation is the worst hunger catastrophe since fighting erupted more than three years ago,” said the statement signed by the World Food Programme (WFP), UN children’s agency UNICEF and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).

South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, wasengulfed by civil war in 2013 after PresidentSalva Kiir accused his rival and former deputyRiek Machar of plotting a coup against him.

An August 2015 peace deal was left in tatters when fighting broke out in Juba in July last year.

Violence — initially between ethnic Dinka supporters of Kiir and ethnic Nuer supporters of Machar — has since spread to other parts of the country, engulfing other ethnic groups and grievances.

The United Nations has warned of potential genocide and ethnic cleansing, and there is no prospect of peace in sight.

Humanitarians under attack

Unity State, a traditional Nuer homeland and birthplace of Machar, has been one of the flashpoints in the conflict.

“The convergence of evidence shows that the long term effects of the conflict coupled with high food prices, economic crisis, low agricultural production and depleted livelihood options” have resulted in 4.9 million people going hungry, Aruai said.

That figure represents 42 percent of the country’s population.

The famine classification is according to an internationally recognised sliding scale of hunger in which an extreme lack of food has lead to starvation and death.

“The main tragedy of the report that has been launched today… is that the problem is man-made,” said Eugene Owusu, the United Nation’s Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan.

“The underlining drivers have been there for some time and we have all known that we have a major food crisis.”

He said conflict and insecurity for humanitarian workers, who had suffered attacks while carrying out their work, and the looting of “humanitarian assets” had exacerbated the crisis.

“I would like to use this opportunity to call on the government, the warring parties and all actors to support humanitarians to provide the necessary access so we can continue to bring lifesaving services to those in need,” he said.

Agriculture disrupted

According to the joint press statement, the number of people facing hunger is expected to rise to 5.5 million at the height of the lean season in July if nothing is done to curb the spread of the food crisis.

“Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive,” said FAO Representative in South Sudan Serge Tissot.

“The people are predominantly farmers and war has disrupted agriculture. They’ve lost their livestock, even their farming tools. For months there has been a total reliance on whatever plants they can find and fish they can catch.”

While the famine in South Sudan is man-made,millions more across the Horn of Africa are going hungry due to a devastating drought following two failed rainy seasons.

Famine early warning system FEWSNET has warned that if 2017 rains were again poor in Somalia — as forecast — “famine would be expected.” 

(AFP)

France 24 : Anti-terror police arrest three over ‘advanced’ plot

Anti-terror police arrest three over ‘advanced’ plot

http://f24.my/2lrDUGR

French police on Tuesday arrested three men suspected of planning a terror attack in raids in the Paris area, Marseille and the central city of Clermont-Ferrand, legal sources said.

In Clermont-Ferrand, a bomb-disposal operation was called in to sweep the home of a 37-year-old suspect for explosives, a source said.

“The suspects had a plot that was sufficiently advanced for the police to decide to arrest them,” another source said.

The raids were ordered by anti-terrorism prosecutors in Paris, according to a judicial source.

France, which has been rocked by a wave of deadly jihadist attacks from January 2015, remains on high alert.

On February 3, a 29-year-old Egyptian armed with machetes lunged at four soldiers on patrol outside the Louvre museum, crying “Allahu Akbar” (God Is Greatest).

He was shot and seriously injured by one of the soldiers.

A week later, police arrested four people in southern France, including a 16-year-old girl near Montpellier, on suspicion they were planning an “imminent” attack.

During the raid, the officers found ingredients used to make TATP, a highly unstable homemade explosive used in the November 2015 attacks in Paris.

The teenage girl, her partner and an older man described as their mentor were charged with terrorist offences.

(AFP)

BBC News: Trump administration widens net for immigrant deportation

I saw this on the BBC and thought you should see it:

Trump administration widens net for immigrant deportation – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39042712

Water, daylight and beautiful flowers

Water, daylight and beautiful flowers

Watch “Johnny Cash – God’s Gonna Cut You Down Lyrics (HQ)” on YouTube

France 24 : Staten Island, the New York borough where Trump is a hero

Staten Island, the New York borough where Trump is a hero

http://f24.my/2kTBnU8

Chaotic press conferences, questions over Russia and an aborted attempt at an immigration ban: For many observers, President Donald Trump’s first month in office has been a bumpy ride. But many in the New York borough of Staten Island disagree.

In this corner of New York City, Trump‘s nascent presidency has been nothing short of a triumph for many of the Republican billionaire’s loyal supporters.

“We love him and he’s doing a great job!” says Aiman Youssef, a resident of Staten Island.

New York’s least and most sparsely populated borough, Staten Island can seem like a world away from the glitz of Manhattan or the brownstones of gentrified Brooklyn. Largely residential, blue-collar and white, the island has a distinct identity – something that remains true when it comes to politics.

While traditionally Democratic New York City voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton in November’s election – with the former secretary of state and first lady winning 79 percent of the vote overall – Staten Island very much bucked the trend, with 57 percent of the borough’s residents backing Trump.

Law and order

Among them was Youssef. As a Syrian-American who moved to the United States in the 1980s seeking better opportunities, he may seem like an unlikely supporter of a president who has attempted to halt immigration, including refugees from Syria like himself.

However, Youssef believes Trump is simply providing the security that the country needs.

“Mr. Trump is imposing law and order. And some people, they just want the wild wild west,” says Youssef. “He’s protecting the country.”

So far, he is more than happy with Trump’s record since taking office in January.

“Everything he said he’d do during his campaign, he’s now doing it.”

In 2012, Youssef lost his home when Hurricane Sandy tore through Staten Island. The experience inspired him to start his own disaster relief charity, Half Table Man, which provides food, clothes and other goods and services to those in need.

But he sees no discrepancy between his own charity work and his support of Trump’s attempted immigrant and refugee ban.

“Let’s cover the needs in this country and then we cover the needs in other countries,” he says, as he delivers donated goods to a Staten Island church from where they will be distributed locally.

Families to feed

There is, however, a group of people on Youssef’s own doorstep who fear Trump’s policies could have a very real and damaging impact on their lives. Although Staten Island is New York’s only borough where non-Hispanic whites are the majority, there is still a sizeable immigrant population here.

Some of them have already felt the wrath of Trump’s presidency. Earlier this month, local media reported that five Mexican residents of Staten Island had been arrested in raids by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Luis, 23, works for an organisation that helps immigrants in Staten Island find work, including those who are in the US illegally.

“Usually, you’d see people waiting here and here,” he says, pointing to empty street corners known for being areas where illegal workers line up, hoping to land a job as a day labourer.

“Maybe it’s just the cold weather, but there haven’t been many since Trump.”

People in Staten Island’s immigrant community are scared for their livelihoods and over whether or not they will be able to stay in the United States.

“The fear is [of] impacts at so many levels – they rely on this. They have families to feed.”

At 4.6 percent, Staten Island’s unemployment rate hit a 10-year low at the tail end of 2016.

Nevertheless, it is fear of the effects of cheap immigrant labour on jobs and the economy that led many in the borough to back Trump at the ballot box last November, says Sal Oliva, 32.

The long-time Staten Island resident works at a hotel not far from Trump Tower in an upscale neighbourhood of Manhattan while making extra money as a painter and decorator.

“It affects me economically because I have to compete [with] cheap labour,” he says. “Illegal immigration is stealing American jobs and driving wages down. A lot of people [in Staten Island] are impacted by illegal immigration.”

Saving the country

Oliva does not shy away from showing his support for a president he believes is going to “save the country”: he even has a tattoo of Trump’s face on his arm.

“I got it done after he signed the executive order to start building the wall with Mexico. I was just so happy that he’d kept that promise,” he says. “The guy who did it was a Mexican; I think he ripped me off on the price.”

As a gay man, Oliva is aware that his support for Trump’s conservative administration might surprise some. But for him there is no dichotomy, particularly when it comes to taking a tough line on immigration from largely Muslim countries.

“I think gay people have a kind of Stockholm syndrome with Islam, always trying to defend it. But these people burn gay people in the streets in their countries,” he says.

Even in Staten Island, being an outspoken Trump supporter can come with a cost.

“I’ve lost friends, I’ve had people stop talking to me who I’ve known for years. It’s been harder to be a Trump supporter than a gay man, can you believe that?”

A beautiful flower today no.2

A beautiful flower today no.2