Patriotic Interlude

I had another theme/story in line for this posting. But then I realized that it's the Fourth of July and extreme times call for us patriotic artists to do our duty. Therefore, I shall rant and wax leftist on this Independence Day.
We forgot to get hotdogs so we will be dining on hot Italian sausages and baba ganoush this holiday. I think mixing things up and exploring the diversity of our American food heritage is a healthy way to celebrate the Fourth. And what more perfect way to wash down all this Internationalism than with (British Imperial) Gin and Tonics?
Oh, and the piece above? This is what The Orange Menace calls "never trump" republicans. And also the occasional (lucky) member of the press corps. Hahahahahaha! Human Scum? I got news for you: all the "human scum" we'll ever need resides in The White House! And very happy to report that this brand-new piece is in an exciting and important on-line exhibit! (*1)
So here we are, with 60+ % of Americans thinking the country is a mess- and a fine mess it is! A death toll over 125,000, Corona Virus, high unemployment (due to the COVID 19 pandemic), a racist xenophobe in the White House... the only bright spot is the rethuglicans cozy with The Orange Menace giving into the hoax and coming down with COVID 19. (Thank you Kimberly Guilfoyle!) And then we have the charming, newly-arrested Ghislaine Maxwell. Where do these people come from? Human Scum to be sure! For some reason (several hundred really big ones) she disgusts me even more that Jeffery Epstein; perhaps because she referred to the young women (girls!!) that she procured for Epstein as "nubiles". Yeeeeeech!! What kind of miscreants are these people? Of course everyone is placing bets on how Ghislaine commits "suicide"...
Oh please! I don't seem to have a single good thing to say; everything seems pretty messed up out there. But have a safe and healthy holiday! Don't attend any suspicious political rallies, especially ones thrown by science-denying, no mask-wearing, non-social distance-keeping thugs who've been sprayed odd colors. I think you know who I mean... Human Scum!!!!

(*1) https://sites.google.com/…/artistsreacttothepandemicge…/home
A wonderful show full of the work of amazing artist activists! Can only imagine what The Orange Menace thinks of artists like us!

13, 14 and 14 (Pretty Cryptic, No?)

In honor of July the 4th, I have presented a numerically cryptic posting. And I have thoughtfully illustrated this blog with images from my beaded Credit Card series. What could possibly be more patriotic than images of credit cards? Money and flags, united in one iconic artwork.
The "13" in my title refers (of course) to the 13 original colonies that caused a revolution and broke away from England. This is why we celebrate the Fourth of July and why the more reckless among us celebrate by blowing off a digit or two after a few brewskis and the old chimpanzee and dynamite conundrum. Happy fireworks to you too!
The first "14" in the title references the 14 idiots that are currently running for the republican nomination for the next presidential cycle. What could be more worthy of the next revolution than to consider that Donald Trump actually thinks he'd make a "good" president.  Can you name all of them? Several are so damned peculiar that it's nearly impossible to forget them, no matter how hard we try. Bobby Jindal anyone? Governor of a state that he has done nothing to help and boy does it need help. Low wages, no health care, the attractively named "Cancer Alley" running through it, poverty just to name a few issues that might hurt his chances. Rick Perry? How about nominating a guy already under indictment? Or Chris Christie who has staked out a platform based (so far) on making pot totally illegal again. Ad his approval rating is in the single digits in his own state. (There are those pesky digits again. I guess you can count Christie supporters on one hand...) Or Rick Santorum? Please. Carly Fiorina? She seems to have announced and then disappeared. I suppose it does help the republican cause to have a woman hanging around. Again, the number of digits on one hand can be used to account for all the woman the republicans have welcomed into that big ol' tent. Not to mention that her record seems based on taking jobs away from people. do I really need to go on? Stop me!!! (Although I should mention that we're all waiting with the proverbial "bated breath" for number 15 and 16 to throw their hats in the ring.)

Okay the last number "14" is the number of acupuncture needles I had inserted into my head, ears, hands, feet and neck this morning. What a way to start the Fourth of July! But I have to say I feel really good and the sitting still for forty minutes this morning was probably the most inert and restful I've been in ages. I seem to have less discomfort and more energy so God Bless Chinese medicine!