lulu's dad wrote a book on reading machiavelli. i admit i have only read a few pages. i've gleaned enough to realize herr reiner my high school social studies teacher made him seem a monster of power when it was really just reiner strutting and bellowing like a class bully. it was probably all a show, and maybe he thought he was funny, maybe he thought he was satire. but it didn't feel like satire. anyway he failed to teach me about machiavelli. i think he taught fear, not what to fear, nor how to respect yourself and be strong or to defy injustice. i bet he was bullied as a kid. machiavelli is getting a fresh look now because the the bullies of empire america keeps producing, one after another, as the empire metastasizes. the prince wasn't like mein kampf. the prince was both satire of the corrupt power elite of the 15th century and a warning, teaching people to beware, to be aware, to look behind the pomp and bluster and cruelty of power, to see the sick fucks as they are. because it's happening again. 
i thought of lulu as machiavelli's dog. in the second picture she looks like a cartoon of il duce.