"Woman Accused of Stealing Nancy Pelosi’s Laptop Appears in Video Making Nazi Salute"

That's the article banner from Bellingcat(.com) but it doesn't do full justice to this Capitol rioter's "dance" video. It's not just her moves. It's the lighting, stage props and special effects. Here's a screen grab:

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Richard Engel reports for NBC News in this brief (100 seconds) online video segment.
https://www.nbcnews.com/nig...-laptop-101541445903

That's the short of it, but here's the full report, including her dance video ("director's cut"), a veritable gallery of photographs and the story of the tech savvy detective work that linked U.S. Capitol Building insurrectionist Riley Williams with this strangely evocative video which her lawyer is now trying to explain as a joke on her part--a comedic sendup of the accelerationist idea that's taken hold among various alt-right circles these days.

"Woman Accused of Stealing Nancy Pelosi’s Laptop Appears in Video Making Nazi Salute"
Robert Evans for Bellingcat; February 24, 2021.
https://www.bellingcat.com/...-making-nazi-salute/

NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel has been working directly with Bellingcat's investigative reporters to help me bring you this story.

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 02-25-2021).]

original affidavit

quote Originally posted by sourmash: Sounds scary, or maybe just an excuse to troll her at her job, home and anywhere the establishment's antifa criminals can get at her.

quoting from the Bellingcat report

quote This photo, enlarged and detailed on the top right of the composite image below, allows us to definitively link Riley Williams to the “Heil Hitler” video. In the top left corner of the enlarged photo, we see a distinctive blue lamp. This lamp is also visible in the reflection on a mirror to Williams right in her Nazi salute video, as shown in the images below.

That is just one of the clues that were fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, leading the Bellingcat investigators to the conclusion that the person in the "Heil Hitler" video was Riley Williams.

This is the photographic evidence that is referenced

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The circumstance that it's a blue lamp and not one that creates reflections of red light or light of some other coloration may seem inconsequential, but in the narrative framework of Big History it links backwards in time some 5200 years ago to Pre-Pharaonic Egypt. This is when Egyptian blue first appears in the archaeological record. For the first time in history, decorative artists and painters had an artificially created and truly synthetic pigment at their disposal. It was transformative.

quote For the ancient Egyptians, blue was a very important colour. It was associated with the sky and the river Nile, and thus came to represent the universe, creation and fertility. However, in ancient times, only the earth colours (colours provided by the surface soil) were used as pigments--blue could not be easily obtained by Egyptian artists. Indeed, the only natural source of blue was the rare and expensive mineral lapis lazuli, which was mined in what is now Afghanistan. However, at around 2600 BC, Egyptian blue enters the historical record, and use of the pigment gradually spread across the ancient world as far as Mesopotamia and the Roman empire before being apparently lost in the dark ages. Sadly no Egyptian recipe for the pigment remains, but Vitruvius, a Roman writer in the 1st century BC, stated that sand, copper (from a mineral such as azurite or malachite) and natron (a naturally occurring mixture of sodium compounds, including sodium carbonate) were the ingredients. Modern experiments show that Egyptian blue (chemical formula: CaCuSi4O10) can be obtained by heating these chemicals to 800–900°C with the addition of lime, a calcium-containing material, which must have been present in the ancient method, probably as an impurity in the sand. Whether its discovery came about by design or chance, the synthesis of Egyptian blue was a seriously impressive accomplishment. Achieving the necessary temperature control for a successful reaction would have been a major challenge, as indeed would the correct addition of oxygen. Another testament to the skill of Egyptian chemists is the consistency of the pigment throughout history. The composition in artworks such as the mastaba (or tombs) of Mereruka, from the Old Kingdom (~2600–2100 BC), is almost exactly the same as that found in a mummy coffin dating from the Greco-Roman period (~330 BC–AD 400), and there are other examples dated between these two that show similar compositions.

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Egyptian blue brought "life" to wall paintings inside funerary chambers.

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The faience technique was a ceramic glaze for decorative objects like amulets and figurines.

Big History takes us forward again, to just over a decade ago.

quote In an exciting development for chemists and artists, it was reported in 2009 that Egyptian blue shows exceptional luminescence in the near-infrared region. This means that the pigment can be easily detected in a completely non-destructive fashion simply by illuminating ancient works of art with near-infrared radiation. The luminescence is so strong that the presence of minute amounts of Egyptian blue can be detected even when no blue colour is visible to the naked eye. The British Museum was able to use this technique to provide the first proof that the Elgin Marbles had once been painted, finding the pigment on several sculptures from the Parthenon. This technique has also been used to detect Egyptian blue in works of art dating to time periods when it was thought the ability to synthesize the pigment had been lost. For example, a group of Danish scientists found Egyptian blue in a painting by the Italian artist Giovanni Battista Benvenuto dating from 1524. Understanding how Benvenuto managed to come across a pigment, whose method of manufacture had been ‘lost’ for so long, is a matter for art historians but chemistry has provided them with a tantalizing challenge. Though this property of luminescence was initially exploited by those interested in the history of art, chemists are now realising that Egyptian blue could have other important applications. For example, the long luminescence lifetime and the greater penetration depth in human tissue of infrared compared to UV or visible photons raises the possibility of obtaining more detailed and highly resolved biomedical images by using the pigment as an imaging agent. Egyptian blue also represents an attractive alternative to the expensive lanthanide compounds currently used in security inks.

Big History sees even more. In 2016, interest emerged in the forensic application of Egyptian blue to reveal latent fingerprints on surfaces where other fingerprint lifting techniques have not been successful.

quote Egyptian blue pigment was found to be a promising candidate as a luminescent fingerprint dusting powder. Under visible light it lit up the fingerprints in the near infrared against non-porous or patterned surfaces, such as polymer [bank] notes or soft drink cans, outperforming commercially available fingerprint dusting powders.

Big History jumps forward again, to 2020.

quote An Australian research team has managed to improve the so-called Egyptian blue powder and enhance its efficacy to help detect criminals' fingerprints on surfaces and floors. . . . "coating the Egyptian blue powder with cetrimonium bromide molecules could enhance the contrast that reveals the fingerprints traces." A human fingerprint contains sweat and oils secreted by the skin, and the added cetrimonium bromide molecules would improve the powder's reaction with these oils when brushed on the surfaces, which will enhance the revelation of fingerprints, [said Dr Khalid Mohammadi, a chemistry professor at Egypt's South Valley University.]

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Latent fingerprints dusted with micronized Egyptian blue.


Big History credits these reporters and publishers:

"Egyptian blue: more than just a color"
Paul Brack for Chemistry World; October 1, 2015.
https://www.chemistryworld....-colour/9001.article

"Ancient Egyptian pigment provides modern forensics with new coat of paint"
Ivy Shih for The Conversation; May 29, 2016.
https://theconversation.com...-coat-of-paint-60037

"Egyptian blue powder to help detect fingerprints"
Hazem Badr for Asharq Al-Awsat; March 25, 2020.
https://english.aawsat.com/...-detect-fingerprints

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 03-02-2021).]

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 02-28-2021).]

The fact that some mentally challenged, sexually frustrated, neo-nazi, woman/child was swept up in the riots is a non-story. (Unless of course you happen to be a mentally challenged neo-nazi.)

Pelosi said that the laptop was stolen. Williams' alleged "former romantic partner" said Williams stole the laptop. Is there anything to corroborate either claim?

On a side note: She looks exactly like a girl I knew in high school. Her name was Becky, but everyone knew her as "magic fingers".

[This message has been edited by williegoat (edited 02-28-2021).]