"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:
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.
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).]
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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
Sounds scary, like taking a pic wearing a scary mask. It's obviously very triggering. And also looks like a selectively edited dance move captured in a snap. Scary.
There is probable cause to believe that RILEY JUNE WILLIAMS violated [as specified]
18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(1) and (2), which makes it a crime to (1) knowingly enter or remain in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do so; and (2) knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or within such proximity to, any restricted building or grounds when, or so that, such conduct, in fact, impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions or attempts or conspires to do so. For purposes of Section 1752 of Title 18, a “restricted building” includes a posted, cordoned off, or otherwise restricted area of a building or grounds where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service, including the Vice President, is or will be temporarily visiting; or any building or grounds so restricted in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance;
40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(D) and 5104(e)(2)(G) which make it a crime to willfully and knowingly (D) utter loud, threatening, or abusive language, or engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress, or the orderly conduct in that building of a hearing before, or any deliberations of, a committee of Congress or either House of Congress . . . and (G) parade, demonstrate, or picket in any of the Capitol Buildings;
18 U.S.C. §§ 641, 2, which makes it a crime for a person to, or to aid abet others to, embezzle, steal, purloin, or knowingly convert to his use or the use of another, or without authority, sell, convey or dispose of any record, voucher, money, or thing of value of the United States or of any department or agency thereof, or any property made or being made under contract for the United States or any department or agency thereof; or receive, conceal, or retain the same with intent to convert it to his use or gain, knowing it to have been embezzled, stolen, purloined or converted;
18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2), which makes it a crime to obstruct, influence, or impede any official proceeding, or attempt to do so. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1515, congressional proceedings are official proceedings.
An FBI affidavit filed with U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather on January 19, 2021.
Filed with Judge Meriweather--and reported by Big History.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 02-28-2021).]
You don't understand, though. She was photographed holding her hand in the air. Do you know how scary that is?! This isn't something trivial like placing a crucifix in urine presented as an art display.
So, all this nonsense aside... I'm very interested to learn what they found on the laptop. Was any group able to forensically scrape the laptop for e-mails and search history?
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).]
I'm still wondering what happened to Pelosi's laptop. That link that cliffw posted gives me a "404."
NBC News' Richard Engel reported that the "Heil Hitler" video was part of an "encrypted online chatroom" and that the video was brought to his attention, but between that brief video report from Richard Engel and the longer article that I posted, from Bellingcat(.com), I don't see any suggestion that this is a code-breaking episode, where an encryption system was defeated.
There are no "non stories" when Big History takes charge.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 03-01-2021).]
She is nothing but a mentally challenged neo-nazi (is that redundant?) who wants her 15 minutes of fame (you can post your soup cans now). She is probably goose stepping around some trailer park in Tennessee at this moment.
The allegedly stolen laptop, if it even exists, is likely to contain nothing of interest, much like this yawn of a yarn.
[This message has been edited by williegoat (edited 03-01-2021).]
The laptop will surface in some future news report, and Riley Williams' fingerprints will be detected on it, but not without difficulty. The FBI will fail at first, but then lift her fingerprints successfully from its surfaces, using Egyptian blue.
11 Reply messages, not counting the garbage that just fell off the collection truck.
"Works for me."
You post a thread about someone who collects antique fly swatters. 35% of the posts are from you. 30% are from one guy who also collects antique fly swatters. 20% are people saying nobody cares. One person asks "What is an antique fly swatter?"
Riley Willams is (likely) just going to be a footnote, but the Capitol Building incursion continues to be news (of a kind.)
Six (I think) Proud Boys just got hit with federal conspiracy charges.
I hadn't thought about "Big History" since that small series came to its end on the History Channel like a couple or three years ago. (Or was it even farther back than that?)
So, I was thinking "What can I do with this Riley Williams story?" and then it "hit" me.
It had its "points." Big History. I like the way they promoted it. The brashness and pretentiousness of it. "A veritable revolution in Historiagraphy."
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 03-01-2021).]
