Monday, January 30, 2017

And you may ask yourself, Well...How did I get here?

Executive Order from the Tangerine Tyrant
 Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States
What about the terrorists that are already here?
Internment Camps anyone?

Beers in the Fridge:
No beers today, just a Hot Toddy recipe using Aperol (orange/rhubarb/herb concoction) that I got from our neighbor. Trying to drown my disgust.

Aperol Hot Toddy
in a very large mug
1/2 oz Aperol Aperitif (FYI website will not let you use 1901 for your birth year, it replies that you are too old to drink)
1 oz Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey (Jack don't care how old you are)
teaspoon honey
lemon wedge
2.75 Allspice Berries (whole)
28.4mm diameter clementine peel studded with 3 cloves
top off with just off the boil water

It was very good, I had thought of using a smokey scotch, but the Honey Jack was a much better choice.

Estate Staff Update:
Just added Peg XXXXXX (name redacted because she comes from a war torn country and I don't want to lose her even though she is a US citizen) to the Estate Staff. I like the idea of smoking a pipe, it smells nice, it is relaxing because you have to concentrate to keep it lit, unfortunately, it doesn't taste as good as it smells. Here is where Peg comes in, she will be following me around the place smoking a pipe. Peg and I plan to start with Borkum Riff Black Cavendish (a hint of prune and plum), move on to Captain Black Cherry (Laced with a unique and robust “very cherry” flavor) and then traverse through the Dunhill Collection. We are still selecting Peg's pipe, I am leaning towards a Churchwarden style, she seems to prefer a 1/2 bent bulldog. Further updates to follow.


Sunday, January 22, 2017

Not Normal #1

This administration is Not Normal and deserves all the respect it gave to the previous President.

Plutocracy
    Government by the wealthy
    A state or society governed by the wealthy
   An elite or ruling class whose power derives from their wealth

While Putin's Puppet claims his cabinet picks have the highest IQ ever (an unsubstantiated claim, but aren't they all), it is easy to see that his picks are very rich.

The picks include Betsy DeVos, education secretary ($5.1 billion), Wilbur Ross, commerce secretary ($2.5 billion), Steve Mnuchin, treasury secretary ($40 million), Ben Carson, housing secretary ($26 million) and Andy Puzder, labor secretary ($25 million). [MarketWatch]

His cabinet's wealth exceeds Obama's cabinet by 60%.[Forbes]

The amount of wealth possessed by the 17 picks, at least $9.5 billion, is greater than the 43 million least wealthy households in America. [The Hill]
There are about 117 million households in the US [us census]

Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th US President (1877 - 1881) had concerns about excessive wealth and governance over 100 years ago.
Some interesting and timely quotes;

"Abolish plutocracy if you would abolish poverty. As millionaires increase, pauperism grows. The more millionaires, the more paupers."

" Free government cannot long endure if property is largely in a few hands, and large masses of people are unable to earn homes, education, and a support in old age."

" No person connected with me by blood or marriage will be appointed to office." 
This one was not really about wealth, well maybe a wealth of character, something quite lacking in the Orange Oompa Loompa.

The three quotes above found here [azquotes]

And a long one
“In church it occurred to me that it is time for the public to hear that the giant evil and danger in this country, the danger which transcends all others, is the vast wealth owned or controlled by a few persons. Money is power. In Congress, in state legislatures, in city councils, in the courts, in the political conventions, in the press, in the pulpit, in the circles of the educated and the talented, its influence is growing greater and greater. Excessive wealth in the hands of the few means extreme poverty, ignorance, vice, and wretchedness as the lot of the many. It is not yet time to debate about the remedy. The previous question is as to the danger—the evil. Let the people be fully informed and convinced as to the evil. Let them earnestly seek the remedy and it will be found. Fully to know the evil is the first step towards reaching its eradication. Henry George is strong when he portrays the rottenness of the present system. We are, to say the least, not yet ready for his remedy. We may reach and remove the difficulty by changes in the laws regulating corporations, descents of property, wills, trusts, taxation, and a host of other important interests, not omitting lands and other property.”
[Good Reads]


Will this rich cabinet do anything other than what is in their best interest or the best interest of the shareholders to whom they are beholden?

Not to be all piss and gloom, I wrote this for your enjoyment.

Quite Short Story: #273
Randy backed out of the driveway while texting he would be late, yet again.
The cement mixer couldn't stop in time and the collision burst Randy's undiagnosed aneurysm.
He was dead, unlike his cell phone which just received its last text from his girlfriend "sick of ur excuses, drop dead".