Potent Quotables:

“… all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

— HL Mencken in The Baltimore Evening Sun from july 1920
Mencken was early by almost 100 years. That “great and glorious day” came after the election of 2016 with Moron Don. What a colossal fucking douchebag.
Contrary to what you might hear on FOX News, two assholes are not better than one.

“Confrontational Art”

“The Hydrogen Man” (1954) by Leonard Baskin (photo at National Gallery West Wing in March 2024). Two young patrons appear undeterred by the grotesque visage. And to the woman on the right, perhaps something unintelligible was being conveyed.

MoMA Gallery Label (from website):

“In 1954, the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb—the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by the United States—was tested at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. That year, Baskin, who often explored the effects of mortality and destruction on the human form in his sculptures and works on paper, produced a monumental woodcut in response to this action, which generated vast and unanticipated radioactive contamination. The Hydrogen Man is an imposing figure that is, at the same time, mutilated and misshapen, composed of partial limbs and exposed blood vessels. Indeed, for Baskin, the human body was at once magnificent and deformed: ‘Our human frame, our gutted mansion, our enveloping sack of beef and ash is yet a glory.'”

“Gun Magnet”

A real-life demonstration of the natural attraction between magnets (MRI scanner) and metal (handgun). Walter Egan sang about it in his 1978 hit “Magnet and Steel.” In the parlance of hospital administrators, this is a “never event.” Ah, well, just add another training module and claim the credit. And with more guns than people in America, trouble like this is bound to bloom (photo from Chicago in 2015).

“Grass Mask”

Sometimes you land in clover. Other times in dog shit.
Hanging on by just a thread. “Zed’s dead, baby. Zed’s dead.”
A thinly masked warning on the dangers of tobacco.
Bad lies abound in Baltimore.
This one is buried in US Open rough.
Off the unbeaten path.
“Tommy can you see me?”
“Serenity now.” Photo shared by my friend JS, just prior to him being chased by a cocaine bear and jumping into the creek to escape.
Turf field at Harvard University. Photo taken by my friend JS, just prior to him running wind sprints and then puking.

“BIG NEWS!!”

A paparazzo documents our spending spree on the Rive Droite. We hired a second car for the luxury shopping bags.

Eat your cœur out, people. We are moving, part time anyway, to Paris! We took le plunge and bought a small (Ha! It’s 5000 sq feet with parquet floors and a private elevator, as well as a champagne fountain) pied-à-terre on the Rive Gauche with a view of the Eiffel Tower. It’s 3 BR, 3.5 bath (with 1.5 solar-powered bidets). To putter around, we bought a new car in statement gold (above), heralding our arrival. We celebrated at an intimate dinner with the Macrons before spending the weekend at Johnny Depp’s Provençal village amongst Catherine Deneuve, Gad Elmaleh, Idris Elba, Audrey Tautou, Awkwafina, the Cubes (Mark Cuban), super-chef Bobby Flay, Charo, and U2. It was almost too much. Once we get settled in — we are taking the air in Zermatt for a month — please come for a visit. We have more Beluga caviar than should be legal!

We have a private zip-line from top of the Eiffel Tower to our balcony.