There are 13 works of art hanging on the walls of our guest room. Most are prints of various sorts, two are original oils, and three are posters. We moved into our house in 1981, and two of our posters are from National Gallery shows of 1980. This one is from a showing of the collection of Martin Neuman. I have no idea who that is.

But……this 1938 painting by Paul Klee, titled Capriccio in February, has to be one of the cleverest and most appeal work of art since those cave dwellers painted those animals in the south of France.

So if you come to visit us, and just don’t feel like getting out of bed or socializing, you can stare at it all day. Just saying.

Before I forget, I want to congratulate Rupert Murdoch on his engagement. It’s his second engagement since he turned 90, and if this one goes through, he will have married his fifth wife. I wish him well. Maybe this is the relationship that will last the rest of his life.

I saw this morning a poll that said that 60% of those who watched thought that Biden gave a first class State of the Union address last night. And I saw that Marjorie Taylor Greene was not in the 60%. She seems to think that Biden should be arrested for the tragic murder of that University of Georgia student, who was killed presumably by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela. If Trump had been president, she is sure that this guy would be killing people in Caracas, not Athens. Of course, his clone might be coming in right now, since the Republicans won’t bring the border bill that their Senate negotiators designed and approved. Shame on them.

And then there was Mike Johnson, smirking behind the President after having admonished the GOP to behave. Watch what I say, not what I do? (I know, he didn’t physically rip the speech up as Nancy Pelosi did in her worst moment)

And then there was expelled ex-Congressman George Santos, who watched the speech from the floor of the House (that’s his privilege I am told) and then announced that he is going to run for Congress again!!

Let’s see. What else? The Republican response, delivered by Alabama Senator Britt. I don’t know anything about her, but I have to say that she sounded like she was trying to sell me her favorite brand of dishwasher soap, not GOP policy. Speaking of that, did she mention even one GOP policy? I don’t think so. And that’s in part because they have none.

Besides his age, which he can do nothing about, Biden has two problems. One is obviously the border as I have repeatedly told him to no avail. It’s too late to do anything about that. The other is inflation and interest rates. I think the Dems can have a message here,a threefold message. One, a comparison of inflation here and in the rest of the world. Two, the independence of the Federal Reserve, led by Republican Jerome Powell, appointed by one Donald J. Trump. Three, the rate of inflation today, compared to when it was at its highest. Are you listening to me, Joe?

As to the overall speech,I thought it was OK. I liked last year’s better, as I remember. But I do think the Biden campaign can use some clips to their advantage.

Now what do we have to worry about? Jill Stein, Cornell West, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., No Labels, and all those Democratic voters who have to be convinced not to stay home and not to throw away their votes.