A Thief, Is A Thief, Is A Thief - and - Mercury's Message

                                    Mercury's Message  (Carnival No. 15 - obverse view )

                                   An original acrylic painting, on stretched canvas

                                   24" X 18", unframed

                                                                   ( click on image to enlarge )

     The messenger god, known as Mercury to the Romans, has often been used

as a symbol of the fourth estate, which includes the honest journalists, and the

members of the press, and watch-dog agencies, who expose the corrupt politicians

in our government.  But the honest messages which these dutiful workers deliver 

to us are all too often disbelieved and rejected by an ignorant populace, who

plug up their ears to the truth, and accept the lies offered by dishonest sources.

When that happens, the dutifully exposed, criminal politicians in our country 

can go unpunished for their crimes.

     In the Past week, The Department Of Justice announced that the FBI had

finally retrieved numerous, illegally held, secret government documents from 

Donald Trump, documents which he had tried to conceal and prevent from 

being safely restored to the National Archives.   Trump had illegally taken 

these important files from the White House to his resort, and then held on to 

them for over a year and a half, despite the repeated efforts of the National 

Archives and federal agencies to get him to return everything he had stolen.  

     As soon as the news of the FBI's valid, legal  search, and the discovery 

of the purloined federal documents became known, a great cry erupted from 

the ignorant populace, that we should kill the messengers, and ignore the truth 

of their message.  Why is the outrage so stupidly misplaced?

     Trump's casual exposure of these top-secret, highly-classified documents, 

may well have compromised the security of our nation, endangered the lives 

of many secret operatives, and revealed sources and methods of acquiring 

important secret information, which our enemies are eager to know.  But 

none of that maters to the loyal followers of the big lie.  They refuse to accept 

the truth, even when it is right in front of their eyes, in all of the black and white 

evidence laid out by honest journalists. They still prefer to get their information 

from the fraudulent sources, which support their own prejudices.

     Donald Trump is continuing the same assault on truthful journalism, that

Richard Nixon used, to try and conceal his crooked dealings. He is telling 

his believers that the press is the enemy of the people.  Trump repeats this

despicable propaganda so frequently, that it has become the gospel belief

of his gullible followers. They continue to ignore facts and the truth, while

they rely instead on rumors, hear-say, conspiracy theories and bizarre,

political fantasies.

     Mercury wasn't merely the messenger god.  He was also the god of

trickery and thieves, which makes him the perfect, fraudulent messenger

for Donald Trump.  Perhaps Trump will erect a statue of Mercury at 

Mar-a-Lago.  Or perhaps he already has.

     And so, the carnival continues.

                                                   Eugene P. McNerney   

      In the above painting, the carnival goer seems to be asking the other

revelers if they know who pilfered his caduceus.  You know how it is at

carnival, as the wine and spirits flow, bits and pieces of costumes go. 

And as the GOP carnival goes on, the truth gets lost amid the growing

 refuse and the fading fantasies.