The Mug shot story about a picture of a haughty head has legs. Is there a tear or drop of sweat in the viral version by graffiti artist Chris Veal? I have the answer!

 

Above from the artist, Chris Veal's Instagram:

I had to.....100 degrees and Muggy out. Such a fun morning getting into it. Thanks to everyone that stopped by @billyheath and @fox5atlanta. Wanna give a HUGE thanks to George Soros for the gig. You the man.
#trump #trumpmugshot #gop#libtard #sorosmoney#trump2024 #electionfraud#Maga #djt#donaldtrump#beltline

You can follow him on Instagram here.

Just before the painting was started:

Here's a short vidio of him painting the mural:

Clearly the mug shot has mutated. Here's another example from NewsCorpse:

Here's a verison from my Sept. 3rd blog:

I wanted to put this story to bed. I really did, three blogs about the damn thing seems plenty to me. 

The Meshugana Mug Shot Megillah Pt.2: Trump’s grift off mug shot may violate U.S. copyright laws

Hal Brown

Published

• Sep 3

Betsy RosenblattFulton County SheriffTaylor BruckTrump Fulton CountyTrump griftTrump merchTrump mug shotTrump mugshot

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Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall, Who Has The Most Menacing Mugshot Of Them All?

Hal Brown

Published

• Aug 26

MAGA mugshotMAGA mugshotsTrump BMITrump griftTrump mugshotTrump obesemus shot

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The Meshugana Mug Shot Megillah

Hal Brown

Published

• Aug 25

Fox NewsMurdochTrum Mug ShotTrump Fulton CountyTrump Georgia arrestTrump fatTrump lies

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But then this popped up on HUFFPOST this morning about one of Satan's fawning spawns:

Click above to read article

For those who aren't familiar with all the Fox News show hosts, Jesse Watters was competing with Tucker Carlson for who was the top smarmy sleaze ball even befor Carlson was fired.

He glommed onto this story demonstrating as I wrote the other day how the photo of a head really has developed (media) legs.

This is part of Watter's take on the mug shot and the rendition of it by artist Veal:

“The mug shot’s up on the side of buildings in the inner city. The 2016 phenomenon is happening all over again,” the prime time anchor, who has said Trump looked “good” and “hard” in the image, gushed over footage of Veal painting the piece.

“Trump won that election because of a laser-like focus on the forgotten man,” Watters continued. “A bond was formed back then that can never be broken.”

View by clicking above

From the article in HUFFPOST:

“When I saw how Fox spun my piece being painted I honestly thought, ‘Man, they’re good,’” Veal told HuffPost on Tuesday.

“I didn’t get mad,” he continued. “I was more interested to see firsthand exactly how they operate and take advantage of their viewers.”

Images of the unfinished artwork have since gone viral among conservatives.

“To see it spreading all over right-wing media is wild,” said Veal.

“Many people lack basic media literacy and these outlets know it and use it,” he added. “This is just another case of their propaganda and lying to their viewers. I hope one day people learn to see through it all.”

As for why he painted the piece?

“I honestly knew it would be an iconic image the second it was taken,” he said. “I just thought it would be funny to paint it with the quote.”

Chris Veal reacted on Instagram to how the far-right Trump cult and right-wing media is using his art:

Click above to enlarge image

Of course the finished artwork conatins the speech bubble:

I was wondering why Veal didn't show Trump with tears in his eyes or sweat on his face and then I look at the photo closely:

Could that be one tear or a drop of sweat added as a subtle editorial comment by the artist?  I don't see it in the original...

Update: I emailed Chris Veal to ask. Here's the answer from the artist himself: 

"Its actually the texture of the wall but that works haha"

My question: Could it be that the wall weeps for trump?

Here are some of the images posted on X in the replys to Acyn Torabi 's post (follow his thread here).  There are many more replies without illustrations. He is the Senior Digital Editor for MeidasTouch who put the Watter's mug shot story online. Torabi has become a major Internet influencer with 418k X followers (read about him here).

The Meshugana Mug Shot Megillah Pt.2: Trump’s grift off mug shot may violate U.S. copyright laws

 

Above and below are renditions of the Trump mug shot which I created using BeFunky.

Click above to enlarge

Read on single page here.

Here's a continuation of my previous Trump mug shot story. For a story about a picture of a head it sure has legs. 

I address what Dean Obeidallah wrote in the opinion piece below about the chance that the Fulton County Sheriff's Dept. could sue Trump for copyright infringement because of his making money off the use of his mug shot.

Click above to read article which is
 is by Dean Obeidallah who is a lawyer, radio host,
and comedian.

Read my first blog about the mug shot here.

Note: I am not a lawyer, I'm a retired psychotherapist, so any legal opinions here are based on my impression of the law. 

There are three short videos in this blog which I suggest you play.

Trump is notorious for playing music from artists who haven't given him permission to do so. In fact in 2020 22 musicians expressed their desire to have him stop using their musics at events.

Now he is making money off of a law enforcement agency booking photo, aka a mug shot, taken by a sheriff's department. For someone who claims he never heard the term "mug shot" because they never taught about it at Wharton he seems to have learned quickly the economics related to having had one taken of him.

Trump does have a feral instinctual intelligence for figuring out the best way to appeal to his cult. Showman that he is he made the best of the moment as the photographer snapped the shutter when he was being booked. You can't ask for a second chance the way you can when you get your drivers license photo taken. He gave good glower. You can almost hear him growling. Or maybe it's supposed to be a snarl. 

It's  not the MGM lion's roar.

Click above to play

I am sure if he could he would have had a video version of a mug shot where he could roar like the MGM lion or the Tarzan King of the Jungle he fancies himself to be. 

Click above to play

I assume he wants you to hear him vocalizing something as menacing a a wolf warning you of imminent attack:

Click above to play

I rather doubt Dean Obeidallah's pointing out that the Fulton County Sheriff's Department has a reasonable case for initiating a civil suit for monetary compensation for Trump's use of thier mug shot will amount to anything. 

The question of the legality of using the mug shot to make money was address on August 25th in a Spectrum News 1 article by Taylor Bruck here. Like me, she's not a lawyer, but she has done considerable research on this subject. (About her)

Here's an excerpt citing what Betsy Rosenblatt, a professor at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Law, said:

“You're prohibited from using it for a number of things without authorization,” Rosenblatt said. “You’re prohibited from reproducing it, making a derivative work of it, distributing it without authorization, or that is to say distributing anything that isn't the one copy you already lawfully have, and various other things. Making a public display of it, making a public performance of it, which opens up all kinds of fascinating possibilities here.” 

So will the potentially thousands of people who are already using the mugshot to make a profit get in trouble? 

Rosenblatt said in order to pursue a claim for copyright infringement, the owner of the copyright, who she said is likely the Fulton County Sheriff's Department, would have to be the one to sue. 

“Whether the Fulton County Sheriff's Department would decide to enforce its copyright is entirely up to them,” Rosenblatt said. “But it's also reasonable to think that the Fulton County Sheriff's Office might think, you know, this is a public document, it belongs to the world in a way, [the] copyright belongs to us. But the news about it belongs to the world. And we're not going to undertake the expense and trouble of hiring copyright counsel and sending out takedowns and cease and desist and letters, or in lawsuits.”

Can you legally use Trump’s mugshot on merchandise? Can you legally use Trump’s mugshot on merchandise? 2

Can you legally use Trump’s mugshot on merchandisWWWhile winning presumably would provide the county with much needed funds for jail renovation taking the case to court would require money, obviously with no guarantee they'd prevail in court. 

It would also take a long time to resolve. The best they could hope for might be a cease and desist order to force Trump to stop the mug shot grift. It might even be possible for a judge to order all American companies involved in selling mug shot merch to stop doing so. 

There would be a drawback to a judge ordering a cease and desist in that the more Trump makes from sales of mug shot merch the more money there would be if the sheriff's department ultimately wins.

While I'm not a lawyer my impression is that all things considered in Georgia the powers that be won't bother with a civil suit about Trump grifting off of the mug shot. 

Update: Jonathan Capehart interviewed his Aunt Gloria this morning about how Trump is supposedly gaining street creds with Black voters here.

Of course Jessie Watters above, is an expert on what Black convicted of felonies think about white colar criminals.

Addendum: Here's another mug shot version I made simply by darkening the original: