"The Raft of the Impeachment"

Long attributed wrongly to Gericault, this masterpiece has now been found to be an allegory of what may happen to political parties which try to impeach a president and fail.  pl

Comments

[ex-PFC Chuck]

Artemesia,IIRC Adm. John McCain II was instrumental in orchestrating the USS Liberty coverup.

[Ishmael Zechariah]

Colonel,
Happy birthday. Many happy returns.
Ishmael Zechariah

P.s: I really have no dog in this fight, but I am amazed at the level of mendacity in the US polity. It seems to be comparable to ours in Turkey almost. I'd still take Drumpf over tayyip.

[blue peacock]

Apparently both Lighthizer & Mnuchin opposed the tariffs on Mexican goods. If these tariffs remain in place for some months it could have a major impact on the profitability of the auto companies who are already sucking wind as sales slow.

I suppose this is an attention getter for AMLO to get his act together to reduce the flood of illegals attempting to cross the border.

[Bill H]

Another comment that makes me wish we still had the "like" button. I do admire an elegantly phrased comment.

[blue peacock]

Jack

It looks like Barr may mean business. He seems to be pushing ahead trying to get to the bottom of how the Russia collusion investigation began in the first place.

Listen to this interview of Barr. Very interesting. As someone who has always opposed the growth in the unfettered powers of the national security surveillance state, the fact that a sitting attorney general is using words like "praetorian guard" in an interview is of great interest. Let's see how this is going to shake out. There is a possibility that the tide is turning and the investigators may actually be investigated.

https://soundcloud.com/cbsthismorning/exclusive-ag-william-barr-on-special-counsel-mueller-and-the-russia-probe

[rho]

Since when is it the job of a branch of government to reprimand the conduct of members of a different government branch? Does the process work in any direction, i.e. Trump can also formally censure the behavior of judges and congress members if he considers their behavior "dishonorable"?

How incredibly petty this all sounds!

[English Outsider]

I saw the comment yesterday but didn't like to barge in. OK. Many happy returns of yesterday, Colonel, and grateful thanks for a unique website from one of your pilgrims.

[David Solomon]

Colonel Lang, It was your stand against the Iraq invasion that first brought you to my attention. To the detriment of this country and much of the world, your advice was not taken. I have seriously wondered since those days, if this country will ever recover from the damage done by following Cheney and gang.

[Anon]

4 years and 2 day equals 1463 days.no more and no like less

[joanna]

makes a lot of sense, Barbara Ann

The arts and their umbilical cords. Irony alert.

[joanna]

The fact that is was painted by a Frenchman at all at this time says a lot to me about French cultural robustness.

I love France, in fact I am a bit sad we lost our French correspondent here on SST: P.B. Never mind how badly reflected and thus somewhat challenging I received him at the time. I seem to remember.

But, admittedly I occasionally wondered how France was folded into grand narratives. I surely do understand the US France links. ....

[turcopolier]

joanna - Good for you! Few Americans understand or appreciate US-France links.

[Patrick Armstrong]

Dick Morris agrees that impeachment will destroy the Dems "what will destroy them is that they apparently have nothing else to say"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnI64DKD6o0

[divadab]

"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

What better dream for a nation? SO what that it has been corrupted and abused by profiteers and warmongers and those wishing to exercise unjust dominion - the ideal still shines forth, enshrined in the fundamental laws of the nation. Dreamers, awake!

[joanna]

John Marlowe

curious, gotta think about that. Kit or Christopher of cause.

dedicated to John Williams, not the guitar player, but the unpublished poet:

if the vertical meets the horizontal they sometimes form a cross

[DH]

Always had a soft spot for Morris, thanks for the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRYE85AgiYo&feature=youtu.be&t=369

[DH]

On the other hand, he exemplifies the principle that jaw jaw is better than war war.

[Mark Logan]

Barbara Ann,

The history of square riggers from the 14th through their end is a minor fetish of mine. In the days of that wreck colonization had become a "thing", and a big one. All sorts of people were considering embarking on a ship, and those who weren't were interested in those who did. The adventures provided a market for journalism for the stay-at-homes and disasters were far from uncommon. Those ships were easily wrecked and as with all fads there came rookies. Not enough experienced skippers and even the best got in trouble.

It was all fascinating for the public. This was into the outer space of the times. Into the places on the charts where the makers wrote "And Thar Be Dragons!"

Digression-plug for HBO's "Chernobyl" here. Just watched the second episode and they set the hook in me. Deep. Now thar BE a dragon!

Back on topic, I'll cast a doubt on political motivations. The artist could have been engaging in simple sensationalism. First rate sensationalism IMO, I love it.

[Anonymous]

Just don't get us politics.clinton was impeached for monica and trump now for stormy ?.Sounds more like a class war.

[turcopolier]

anonymous

No. It is revolution and counter-revolution. The women mean nothing in this struggle.

[joanna]

Compared with Bush and Cheney, Trump is a minor sinner.

I agree, I also think "the buffoon" was a bit wishy washy on matters, fully understanding well, what exactly, he couldn't have demanded to lock them up, for instance.

That may be one of the reasons, why the whole swamp discourse bores me to tears.

[bob randolph]

I first laid eyes on "The Raft" in Byers and Badgett's humanities course. Same for You?

We got a fine liberal arts education at our institution.

Happy birthday and keep up the fight!

[turcopolier]

bob randolph - You were five years behind me? Major Bill Byers then taught the handful of English majors his two semester course on the Fine Arts; music, painting, sculpture, art history, etc. The lab was the best part. I learned to paint passable well. I even sold a few things to BRs who wanted them. We were very lucky young people to have a teacher like that.

[bob randolph]

I created Collages and German expressionist knock-offs (Die Brucke) passably well, but got no customers. Lucky, indeed.

[turcopolier]

bob randolph

I was a mediocre copyist of Expressionists; Soutine, Modigliani, etc. Lots of emotion and color, not too much drawing.