Sunday, June 7, 2026
Bad neighbors with no respect
This administration is full of so many assholes. Hegseth lecturing Europe on their "immigrant problem." The Trumpian embrace of the Hungarian nationalist Orban, gee that didn't work out. Vance lecturing the Pope on Catholicism. Today the Vice President was chided by the English Deputy Prime Minister for politicizing a crime that was way out of his lane. The list goes on and on.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a D-Day speech in France on Saturday to criticize Europe over its migration policies, saying that “dangerous ideologies” were storming the continent’s shores, in what he compared to an “invasion.”
“Today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies,” he said. “Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late?”
Be it Ukraine, or Denmark, Venezuela, England or Canada.
This administration projects the highest degree of asshole I have ever seen in my lifetime.
And we don't mind our own business.
During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Representative Sarah McBride asked Rubio if he was aware Greenland belongs to Denmark, to which Rubio replied "For now".
This smug attitude is what causes our allies to run in the other direction and search for new friends they can trust and rely upon.
He was trolling Canada along these lines this morning again.
Good luck with that.
It will take a long time to regain trust and decency in our country, not to mention our reputation.
Hopefully one day, the adults will once again be in charge.
May the trolls be forever banished and may all the facilitators of this madness meet their just ends one day.
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Hooked
Here is something I picked up recently. Not super valuable but lovely.
This is an American hooked rug from the 19th century.
Out here in California we do not see a lot of early American folk art. So I was happy when the couple from Redlands called me with this hooked rug, dated 1888. I assume that it is from the Ohio or Pennsylvania area but I have also seen a lot of them that were made in Maryland of all places.
What makes this piece noteworthy and I am in no way an expert is the sheer number of pictorial elements. I have a rough count of sixty.
I didn't think I saw a cat but now I see what might have been a cat, between the boot and the hookah bottom right.
In any case, this is the most crazy quiltish, densely populated hooked rug I have ever seen, by a long shot and I dig that.
I think it will probably find a nice new home in October when I go back to Texas.
People don't do Americana or folk art on the West Coast anymore, not Jetsony enough, it doesn't go well with plastic boomerang tables and you can't find it at Ikea. God forbid we try to warm up our spaces.
Sunday synopsis
This is the first month in maybe a year that I do not have a show. It is sort of strange, I am floundering a bit. I am a person motivated by stress and deadlines, perhaps the fear of failure, have been this way my entire life. I am super motivated by time and being punctual and crossing things off my lists. Getting shit done. Probably not all that healthy but what I do.
Comes from being an old project manager.
When there are no fixed deadlines to meet things get a little squirrelly.
I know I need to put my shop together but I am like, why bother? Lots of things to do here, a lot of clean up but lacking a designated endpoint I am having a hard time motivatiing.
Still I bit off a decent chunk this morning.
I am in a weird situation where the majority of the people I fraternize with are retired. I am still very much production oriented, has been a survival mechanism for going on sixty nine years. I think I would go crazy doing nothing, golfing or biking or maybe even becoming a serial alcoholic. People talk about a protestant work ethic but in terms of productivity they got nothing on the tribe.
I would be bored shitless going nothing, think it more probable that I get dragged out of a show or the shop with a toe tag some day. I love buying, selling not quite as much and I love decorative arts in general and seeing and acquiring beautiful things.
Don't think I could handle not working and it is a good thing because I need the money.
I have some amazing material for my shows in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, things I have been holding back.
Dixon stopped by today and I shared some of my new acquisitions with him.
It is titled The Acrobats or Saltembiques, from 1969.
It has twice sold for over 19k at auction.
I am going to send this one to auction as well.
We will see how it does.
I thought that it was toned but took it out of frame and Dixon noticed that it is actually the paper color.
Saves me money on restoration.
Yippee!
It was obvious from what I heard that she had an impact on a lot of people in a profound way.
We were friends but not close friends.
I loved her laughter, it was ever present and genuine.
A success in the corporate world, she turned her sights inward in some point and was a member of the Hilltop Center.
We saw a lot of old friends there.
Dave and Robin played and Mike, her boyfriend on nine years, gave a short speech.
I enjoyed talking to Reverend Guy, a fellow lover of Tolkien.
He is a very well rounded guy intellectually, we discussed Freemasonry and some other things. I asked him if he had hermetic training, one thing he said during his talk triggered me and he told me of his interest in Franz Bardon, who I know little of.
Guy is a deep well.
Going to be an interesting week. Cardiologist and then a new experimental cancer treatment later in the week.
Be well!
Saturday, June 6, 2026
Friday, June 5, 2026
Randle's Rides
My friend Paul Randle, reformed democrat and octagenarian hotrodder, is having a pretty good run. He won the best of show last Sunday at the Pauma 5150 Car Show for his super buff silver Chevrolet truck, now known as the Silver Dollar.
Note the friendly wave of appreciation from his good friend Jay, himself once a competition drag racer.
You're number one, Paul.
Great car, let me know if you want to buy it.
Friday rant and non sequitur
Well, where do I start? Housekeeping I guess. We have now hit fourteen million views as of last night. I get no great thrill from this at this point, honestly have no idea how many of these hits are search engines or AI straining the blog's innards for material to pulverize, steal and contort and how many are real live human beings?
After 14k plus posts, I have put a lot of material out there and I do see people hitting on old stuff every day, then reading the posts to and fro, so I know some actual humans do visit on occasion. Perhaps I have reached some critical mass tipping point?
In any case, on the apex of my twentieth year scribing said website, I am proud of my consistent production, while also conscious of how much more reader involvement I had way back once upon a time. Oh well.
And this last two million hits came awful fast, whether machine intelligence, monkey or homo sapien I am glad somebody is still checking in. Greetings, future robot masters, I swear I was only half kidding when I wrote that stuff.
I was thinking about some of the things I hate in this life, list really isn't that long. But I despise plastic fencing, at least until it melts anyway. Then it looks like something Dali did. Or Christo.
What else? I hate the smell of liver. Don't like the taste of Dr. Pepper. I hate looking at the names of dead people in my contacts list but somehow can't summon the strength to erase them. I hate looking at a sideview of my stomach in the mirror or the ever increasing difficulty I have in cutting my toenails. I hate waking up every morning with new pains in my legs, hips and feet. I hate opening bottles and potato chips and pretty much everything else that requires manual dexterity. If the generations are truly greying, why not give the arthritis ridden old folks like me a little break? Not content to have long white rope like hairs coming out of my nostrils, they are now sprouting on my arm. And I am getting so many spots and tags on my chest and neck I now look like a dalmatian. And don't even get me going on the prostate thing.
I hate that people are buying their clothes at Walmart and Amazon and anything hand crafted, expressive and colorful is now out so that we can all look the same and our homes can have the same boring furniture and decorative objects. I rue the death of brick and mortar. When will the mass produced mid century drek follow the K-mart brand mission furniture and all the other co-opted design fails right down the toilet hole? Heard the young are starting to look at Old Masters. Well, hallelujah for that. Unfortunately nearly all of the antique experts are expired now and their institutional knowledge lost to time and the wind, but I am sure that we can rely on these lovely young decorators and influencers who have never opened a book to adequately guide us through the upcoming design wilderness. Or better yet, let AI do it. It's always, sometimes, occasionally right.
I hate that my framer has abandoned me.
I hate not being able to speak to my late brother Buzz. Or Garry Cohen. Miss them deeply. Bob Teague too.
Miss the crunch of Peruvian flake but it's been 43 years, guess I should get over it. But if those Korean missiles were in the air...
What else do I hate? On account of my and my wife's health we don't travel and haven't together for a long while. I miss Kauai, want to hit the marble caves of Chile while I am alive and can still walk, probably won't ever happen.
Which brings me back to a much longer list, things that I love and things I have been able to see and do in my lifetime.
When I flip the last pages of life’s great book
Can I forget to mention the strange gerunuk?
A gigantic neck
With legs splayed akimbo
Part deer part giraffe, it’s taxonomy in limbo.
In far off Samburu I encountered the lair
Browsing the trees
Its branches laid bare.
One of the oddities I will never forget
It joins a camp memory
A pennsylvania red eft.
I swam with a ray
In Xelha near Tulum
Whose leopard spot body
Nearly caused me to swoon.
The fer de lance tree snake
Caused us both such a fright
You have twenty minutes to live
When you first feel its bite.
I’m sure there are others
Whose weirdness compares,
The gila monster maybe
or Malaysian sun bear
A crested eagle in Nairobi
It sat on a post
Of all of life’s birds
Its beauty hit most
I should not forget
The two headed snake
I once saw at the zoo
Going or coming
it gave me a shake.
So many creatures, so much sheer luck
But I will always remember that first gerunuk.
Wish I had a picture, I think my ex wife got that photo album. Glad I was able to see Africa, even with my companion at the time, it was an early bucket list item. Took a hot air balloon over the Serengeti, landed in a field of zebra and wildebeest for a catered lunch once the support team tracked us down. Treetops was epic. Ditto Masai Mara. The year before the latter a lion had crashed through a plate glass door and atee a zebra on the bed while his house guest cowered in the bathroom. Now that is action, folks.
I am happy for some of life' lucky chances. I visited Chichen Itza on the day of the Festival of the Serpent and celebrated with about 25 thousand Mayans. Epic. Woke up on the beach in Eilat, city of thieves, with my money artfully slit from the bottom of my sleeping bag and my throat not cut. Had a mom smart enough to lock up the television and make us read from a ten thousand book library. Skied expert runs my first day on the mountain. Had several multiple goal soccer games. Caught the Stones on Mick's birthday in 72. Saw Bowie on Broadway in Elephant Man. Caught Lightning Hopkins, Big Mama Thornton at the Academy. Mose Allison too.
Saw a double rainbow in Banff that is a picture that will remain in my mind til I die. Ditto the hike down Haleakala, Nueba on the Red Sea, Chief Joseph Scenic Highway, too many incredible places to list.
I am happy that I got to meet and befriend so many heroes, writers and artists. Zelazny, Sturgeon, Harlan Ellison, Griffin, Maloof, Allan Adler, Jack Kirby, S. Clay Wilson, Stan Sakai, Kalu Rinpoche, Yenur, Leary, Owsley, Arthur Lee, Jerry, way too many to list.
Happy that I got to eat a papaya king hot dog when they were great, truly the filet mignon of franks. Long time ago.
Happy for my old friends. The ones that stuck with me from New York, very few of those extant. Doug and Abby. The seventies crew, Dave, Jeff, Melissa, Ricardo, Kevin, Shawn, Lena, Ron, Pat, Jerry, Tom, Big Mike. Brett. The newer ones, Barry, Bill, Cam, Chip, Retha, Doug, Renee, Steve, Jim, Debbie, Michael, Steve. Kip, Peter, Mick, RoxAnn, Ken, Kent, Alyssa, James, Lois, Richard, Bob, Jeff, Phil, Paul, Dixon, who else?
Plenty more.
The peeps that are there with you every day. My wife, most of all. Send love her way.
Love to all my friends, family and readers. Keep living your life your way in spite of current trend and convention.
Peace.
Wednesday, June 3, 2026
Pro Life?
Hard to believe, let alone stomach, but a proposed new bill that would permit vigilante killings of abortion providers.
Another anti-abortion abolitionist proposal has been in the news. This time, conservative lawmakers in North Carolina have asked voters to approve a state constitutional amendment recognizing the personhood of embryos and establishing that anyone who ends an embryonic life is guilty of first-degree murder. Those penalties might also apply to people pursuing in vitro fertilization or using some contraceptives, given that abortion foes sometimes view either as requiring the taking of unborn life. And that’s the most ordinary part of the proposal: The bill also provides that private individuals have a right to use deadly force to prevent “the willful destruction of life.” House Bill 1232 isn’t clear about exactly who could exercise this constitutional right to vigilante violence. Would it just be available to those seeking to kill abortion providers and patients? Or might it apply even more broadly to those seen to aid them?
Tuesday, June 2, 2026
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Monday, June 1, 2026
6/1/2026
The son of a sabra, I am hesitant to condemn Israel. My father was born there, my grandfather's bones are buried there. They live amongst many enemies that have sworn to destroy them. It is hard for me to tell them how they should react to what they regard as an existential threat to their existence, living so many thousands of miles away.
Having said that, I honestly hate their leader, both for his affinity for an American President that I despise and for his policies towards Palestinians. I hate how they have given impetus to an Israeli right wing and dare I say evangelical settler's movement that treats the people on the West Bank and Gaza like animals, harasses children and uproots olive trees. I have lived through a couple wars there and it has definitely changed in time and become an apartheid state.
The response to the horrific October seventh attacks was so disproportionate that it was unrecognizable to me that my people could indiscriminately kill their neighbors like they were, in their own words, "mowing the grass."
I love most jews but I don't have a lot of love for Israelis at the moment, especially when I hear them utter things like, destroy ten buildings in Beirut for every Israeli child hurt or fifty to one, I have heard both from them.
I hate that Israel seems to have joined the Trump, Putin, North Korea wing and only paid lip service to Ukraine. It reinforces my belief that I may stand with Jewry but I don't stand in lockstep with Netanyahu and his supporters and I never will.
Two weeks ago Israeli Ambassador Leiter said this in condemning J- Street, the Jewish Pro - Peace organization;
“But when you come and say in such a two-faced manner, ‘We’re pro-Israel, we’re pro democracy,’ there’s a democratically elected government in Israel,” Leiter continued. “You don’t like Netanyahu, make aliyah, vote in the next election and express yourself. Don’t say you’re ‘pro-democracy’ and decry and defy the position of the democratic government of Israel.”
Leiter is saying something very interesting here. If you are a jew, you can't criticize Israel. Your only option is to become an Israeli and vote if you don't like us but keep your mouth shut.
To this, I say, go fuck yourself. Israel is not my kingdom, Netanyahu is not my king. I find the concept of a Jewish state as unlivable and torturous as a Christian state or muslim state. Israel's orthodox rabbis have recently derided reform jews as monkeys, they can kiss my ass too.
I believe in humanity and people in general, I don't have an overriding tribal fealty although I do have a love for them as I try to love the entire world. But they get no special dispensation. That is what it means for me to be a jew.
And if Israel is committing unspeakable acts it is my duty to condemn them as I condemn Hamas, Hezbollah, Putin and the Iranians.
Israel, try to be better than that.
Last week...
Well, where do I start? It has been a long tiring week.
Ran down Main Ave, more cars than ever.
I am glad I am no longer judging the Fallbrook Vintage Car Show, this one would have wiped me out.
I saw a lot of friends in both the Shafters and the 5150 Ratrod Clubs.
Wink is the guy with the long beard, a fascinating character and holder of over 60 Bonneville land speed records that still exist today.
Spent a long time in the hospital after a crackup.
More about Wink here.
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I got a great call Monday morning that allowed me to buy a really good painting at a really good price.
I made up my mind that no matter what happened the rest of the week I would be happy and feel blessed.
Of course, those promises to yourself are tough to keep, especially when you are sitting on your hands at the show and the people around you are raking in money.
Later Monday Leslie and I went to a great Memorial Day barbecue at Dr. Neon's. Saw a lot of old friends and mishpucha.
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As I mentioned in the last post, Palos Verdes started off with a whimper and then was fairly dead the rest of the way until an old client came by to rescue me from the doldrums.
I did buy a nice early painting of Diamond Head by the National Academy painter Carl Brandien (1886-1965.)
Here are some shots of my booth.
We all went out to dinner at one of our favorite Chinese seafood joints, Seashore.
It is nice to break bread with your comrades once in a while, lots of good vibes flowed at this meal.
Saturday was a brutal three hour packout and drive home.
Parking at the church is scarce and I was totally whipped.
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Yesterday I had to get up first thing and judge another car show at Pauma Casino.
My sciatica and leg pain was firing at every tendon and joint and I had to sit down a couple times.
Luckily my two judge comrades carried my sorry ass when I petered out.
The show was cool, first car show I ever judged with shade, the cars fitting nicely under the solar panels. Again a lot of cars. I must be slowing down because it killed me.
Paul Randle, Bill, Truman, Wagman, Jeff Waldron, lot of good folks showed up.
Loved this hood mount on a rat rod.
It was a good show but I was too tired and busy judging to take pictures and I went home and slept as soon as I could.
Supposedly I will have this month off but I may need to drive to Oregon to pick up a couple paintings, we will see...
