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Nothing can eclipse the horrific tragedy and toll on people’s lives in Turkey and Syria due to the magnitude 7.8 earthquake on February 6th. The death toll in the Turkey-Syria earthquakes has passed 22,000 as of this morning. NPR reports here on how to make sure your donation will do the most good for earthquake survivors.
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The nutzoid factor of the Republican Party are all in for No Taxing Billionaires and More AR-15s. They booed as much on Tuesday night. And my personal favorite—Biden said “Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset,” causing the redneck faction to go berserk, which allowed him to follow up with “So folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare, off the books now, right? All right. We got unanimity.” The face of the GOP is now the gaping pie hole of MTG all wrapped in snow-white furry goodness. (He was referring to Rick Scott’s 12 Point Plan which includes a proposal to “sunset” all federal programs after five years, meaning they would expire unless renewed) “Joe Biden doesn’t know anything he’s talking about. That’s the state of our union,” brayed the book-banning, bellicose, bellyacher.
Read Heather Cox Richardson’s take on the whole affair. In the No Taxing Billionaires category she penned To pay for this investment in the future, Biden called for higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy. He noted that “in 2020, 55 of the biggest companies in America made $40 billion in profits and paid zero in federal income taxes.” “That’s simply not fair,” he said. He signed into law the requirement that billion-dollar companies have to pay a minimum of 15%—less than a nurse pays, he pointed out—and he called for a billionaire minimum tax. While he reiterated his promise that no one making less than $400,000 a year would pay additional taxes, he said “no billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a school teacher or a firefighter.” He also called for quadrupling the tax on corporate stock buybacks.
But the best ‘review’ of the evening came from Esquire’s Charlie Pierce. Since it’s behind a paywall, here are some highlights: He (Biden) wrapped them in a bear hug so warm that they didn't realize they were being smothered. He took on hecklers like a veteran of a Catskills resort. He smiled, he laughed, he bellowed when it was called for. He had the only microphone in the room, and he used it like a hammer. Predictably—and laughably—the Republican opposition walked right into every clout. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, dressed (as a friend of mine said) like the White Witch of Narnia, howled from the backbenches. Speaker Kevin McCarthy was on camera as often as the president was, and we could all watch as the vice grips got progressively tighter. As for the rest of the Angry Children's Caucus, they hit all their marks and delivered their lines perfectly as the president led them merrily over the falls.
On infrastructure Biden said, Projects that are going to put thousands of people to work rebuilding our highways, our bridges, our railroads, our tunnels, ports, airports, clean water, high-speed internet all across America. Urban, rural, tribal. And folks, we’re just getting started. We’re just getting started. And I mean it sincerely. I want to thank my Republican friends who voted for the law. And my Republican friends who voted against it as well. But I’m still — I still get asked to fund the projects in those districts as well, but don’t worry. I promised I’d be a president for all Americans. We’ll fund these projects. And I’ll see you at the groundbreaking.
Pierce wrapped it in a bow by writing There were very few oratorical bells and whistles. Instead, it was something akin to FDR's fireside chats: colloquial and intimate. It was the best speech Joe Biden ever has given because it was the most Joe Biden speech anyone ever has given. It was all him, aimed right at all of us, addressed to all of us—you know, the folks.
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A quick balloon update as I know it’s on your mind. Mommy, that Biden man is demonstrating that U.S. posture and policies are not deterring China! Waaahhhh. Once again, Heather digs up the goods: The Chinese apparently sent at least three of these balloons into U.S. airspace when Trump was president, but we didn’t know it until the Biden administration tightened security. Sullivan said that the surveillance improvements enabled the U.S. to “go back and look at the historical patterns” and uncover “multiple instances” during the Trump administration when similar things had happened. During the balloon saga, Republicans complained that Biden didn’t shoot the balloon down earlier than he did, but defense officials said that they were collecting intelligence from the device (of course they were!) and that they made certain the Chinese could not get information from it. Time to get back to Hunter’s laptop.
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For your relief, the rest of today’s post will be about art. Or maybe it’s Art. Or ART. Or even ART!
If you can't tell one universe from another, that's your problem, but not an unusual one, since art and money are very much alike, in both embodiment and conception. To put it simply: Art and money are cultural fictions with no intrinsic value. They acquire exchange value through the fiduciary investment of complex constituencies – through overt demonstrations of trust (or acts of faith, if you will) of the sort we all perform when we accept paper currency (or, even more trustingly, a check) for goods or services. This is the act of faith that I performed when I traded the Kenny Price for the John Baldessari – but with a difference, since, even though I sold the Baldessari for more that I paid for the Kenny Price, I still want both of them back, because I prefer the universe of art to the universe of money.
The point, however, is that the issuing institution or individual can never guarantee the value of art or money sent forth into the world. It must be sustained through investments by complex constituencies of individuals, public institutions, and private corporations. The government may say a dollar is worth a dollar. Fiduciary investment tells us it's worth thirty-five cents. The Whitney Museum may say that Wanda Whatzit is the next big thing, but only the sustained investment of money, journalism, exhibition space, scholarly prose, foundation awards, loose talk, and casual body language can maintain Wanda's work in public esteem. So it helps to remember that the language of external investment extends this far – all the way from the casual shrug at a gallery opening to the gaudy résumé on some bureaucrat's shiny desk.
— "Air Guitar" Dave Hickey
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Live near Pomona? California women artists have made groundbreaking contributions to ceramic arts for over 100 years. "Breaking Ground: Women in California Clay," an exhibition at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, highlights and celebrates 44 artists who have defined and redefined California ceramics across three generations — from early trailblazers like Beatrice Wood and Vivika Heino to distinct artists like Judy Chicago and Viola Frey to contemporary ceramicists like Keiko Fukazawa and Kim Tucker. In this video, AMOCA executive director Beth Ann Gerstein walks us through the gallery rooms and Fukazawa discusses her "Peacemaker" series on display in "Breaking Ground."
"Breaking Ground: Women in California Clay" will be on view at the AMOCA from Sept. 10, 2022 to March 12, 2023.
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Then there’s this guy I just found out about last week…Ron Mueck. He makes realistic humans, small and gigantic.
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I put aside time in December and most of January to reboot my studio space, reroof my storage shed, and to reorganize said shed with my considerable collection of art fodder. Now I have work in progress on the table and just finished my first piece for 2023. I’m making a series of work roughly modeled after a couple pieces I made in 2016 titled Folk Trio and the Baby and Bluegrass Buddha. You can see those those at the bottom of the page here. This newer series will be going to the BoxHeart Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA.
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Last minute music news: Kevin is out with Covid so the Morpholinos (with special guest Clay Koweek) will be covering this weekend. Saturday (Feb 11) we’ll be at Monterey Court from 7-10 and then Sunday (Feb 12) afternoon we’ll be covering the Sunday Sessions at Borderlands from 2:30-5. Let’s all hope for a quick and healthy recovery for Kevin, and Patti, who is also recovering from it.
And now…