Jasper Johns Fiesta

Cover of the October 24, 1977 issue of Newsweek featuring pop art icon Jasper Johns. The magazine wrote letters to subscribers stating that its article on Johns had produced more negative feedback than any other article they had ever published.

The Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles, CA is exhibiting a selection of more than 120 works in various media by Jasper Johns, as presented by the museum's web page.



John's "Flag", painted in 1967.

Map, 1961

A loving review of the exhibition by New York artist Peter Plagens was published in the Wall Street Journal. One paragraph:

"The formidable catalog for the formidable exhibition "Jasper Johns: 'Something Resembling Truth," at the Broad museum, calls the artist the "painterly champion of fundamentally conceptual practices." He could also conceivably be called the conceptual champion of fundamentally painterly practices, which might make him the artistic equivalent of the world's shortest giant or tallest dwarf.It would if Mr. Johns (b. 1930) didn't make such a masterly art that combines the best of both head and hand."

 
A painting by Peter Plagens. One might easily come to the conclusion that he and Mr. Johns are members of the same artistic brotherhood.

Do You Know These People?

MIKHAIL IVANOVICH BYSTROV
 MIKHAIL LEONIDOVICH BURCHIK
ALEKSANDRA YURYEVNA KRYLOVA
ANNA VLADISLAVOVNA BOGACHEVA
SERGEY PAVLOVICH POLOZOV
MARIA ANATOLYEVNA BOVDA
ROBERT SERGEYEVICH BOVDA
 DZHEYKHUN NASIMI OGLY ASLANOV
VADIM VLADIMIROVICH PODKOPAEV
GLEB IGOREVICH VASILCHENKO
IRINA VIKTOROVNA KAVERZINA
VLADIMIR VENKOV
YEVGENIY VIKTOROVICH PRIGOZHIN

These are the Russians that have been indicted by a US grand jury hearing evidence from US Special Counsel Robert Mueller in regard to the illegal influence they might have had on the US presidential election. None of these people are in US custody. Presumably US Marshals will be dispatched to Russia with instructions to slap some handcuffs on them and drag them back to the land of liberty.

Many photos are available of the craggy Robert Mueller, who appears to be a relative of John Kerry, but we have none of the assorted Russkie individuals that managed to steal the presidency from the beloved Mrs. Bill Clinton.

 In the absence of photographic evidence to their identities it might be possible for the US government to hire actors with Russian accents, prosecute and try them, then sentence them to prison for inflicting Donald Trump upon the nation. Later on, they could be secretly released with generous pensions or even well-paid positions in the FBI itself. Such things have happened in the past. 

Update from the AP: March 4, 2018

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia will "never" extradite any of the 13 Russians indicted by the United States for election-meddling, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, even as he insisted they didn't act on behalf of his government.

Putin's comments in an NBC News interview airing Sunday illustrated the long odds that the Russian operatives will ever appear in U.S. court to answer charges of running a massive, secret social media trolling and targeted messaging operation to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. The United States has no extradition treaty with Moscow and can't compel it to hand over citizens, and a provision in Russia's constitution prohibits extraditing its citizens to foreign countries.

"Never. Never. Russia does not extradite its citizens to anyone," Putin said.

Even if the Russians never face justice in the United States, the sweeping indictment served the added purpose of increasing the public's awareness about the elaborate foreign campaign to meddle in American democracy, legal experts have said. For years, the Justice Department has supported indicting foreigners in absentia as a way to shame them and make it harder for them to travel abroad.

The detailed, 37-page indictment from special counsel Robert Mueller last month alleges Russian operatives working for the Internet Research Agency used fake social media accounts and on-the-ground political organizing to exacerbate divisive political issues in the U.S. Posing as American activists, the operatives tried to conceal the effort's Russian roots by purchasing space on U.S. computer servers and using U.S. email providers.

Yet Putin argued his government has little to answer for until the U.S. provides "some materials, specifics and data." He said Russia would be "prepared to look at them and talk about it," while repeating his government's insistence that it had no role in directing the operatives to act against the United States.

"I know that they do not represent the Russian state, the Russian authorities," Putin said. "What they did specifically, I have no idea."

Super Bowl LII Opportunity Cost $9 Billion

Since the most promoted and observed sporting event in the US is held on a late afternoon Sunday, most football fans probably aren't ditching other duties in order to watch it on television. It is, however, the television program that entices the largest audience of the year.

The 2018 Super Bowl LII, held in Minneapolis, MN on February 4, didn't set any viewer records but still managed to lure an audience of 103.4 million, according to the Nielsen people that determine television ratings.

Advertising on the 3 hour and 46 minute production cost a total of 414 million dollars. The commercials and other scenes not related to the actual game itself took up 49 minutes and 35 seconds of the program, 22% of the total broadcast time.

On the basis of these numbers, and the average American hourly wage, we can speculate that in order to watch this classic of athletic excellence viewers willingly gave up on an income of a little less than $9 billion. That represents only money that wasn't made. It doesn't include the cost of beer, chips, guacamole and chicken wings. Expenditures unrelated to opportunity cost, law enforcement overtime and trash clean-up, are not included.