Old Bardstown Kentucky Straight Bourbon
...because with Bourbon comes good Sense
Joe Biden announced his candidacy for re-election in 2024 on the same date he announced for the 2020 election. I guess there is some good Gris-Gris in keeping the same date. Not that the President is superstitious – he is a devout Catholic except where it conflicts with his ability to get elected or re-elected. Principles are fluid for humans until confronted. Former President Trump immediately took to the air waves to declare that Joe Biden’s administration was the worse than the sum of bad for all top five bad presidents (does that include his own presidency?). I think you take the integral of bad with respect to politics “dp” for presidents from 1 to 5; the result is best understood using general relativity.
Both Tucker Carlson of Fox News and Don Lemon of CNN were terminated by their respective stations. In one case, it is expected that the venom rising out of the host’s mouth will now subside and the station will present a more even-handed reporting. In the other case, I think the fellow journalists will benefit from a more genteel station treating everyone, including the guests, with more respect. There is a lot of reporting and opinion pieces on the firing of Carlson, much less reporting on the end of Lemon. I think the former was much more out in front with his extreme-right thoughts compared to the latter’s story. Mr. Carlson’s metamorphosis from journalist for CNN and MSNBC to Fox warrior is replete with evidence from video, text messages, and articles. There is no denying that his efforts were to attract the right wing part of America to his camp (and Trump’s) no matter the cost to truth and Democracy.
A young, enlisted airman named Jack Teixeira has been caught leaking documents that are deemed highly classified. From what I read, Jack was trying to impress his posse with his “bravery” and access to important documents. His posse is a group of young men who communicate through some dark web chat rooms (or is it Instagram?) and share beliefs in government conspiracies. Marjorie Taylor-Greene supposedly supports what Jack did – one believer to another! I think Jack wanted to be caught, thrown in jail, and he will apply for gender-transition treatments just like Bradley Edward Manning did in 2013 when he released 750,000 documents to WikiLeaks and then had gender transition care at the support of taxpayers to become Chelsea Elizabeth Manning. It is a big coincidence but possible.
Is it any surprise that black people protest the constant shooting of their youth? The latest is a 16 year old (black) boy went to the wrong house to pick up a sister and was confronted and shot by a white homeowner. Not once, but twice the man shot the youth; once in the head and again in the arm. The man told him he didn’t want to see him again on his property and then tried to kill him. Do you think this homeowner would have acted so violently if the child at his front door had been white? There is the perception in the white community that most crime is initiated by black people. That is incorrect; I think the news media creates that misperception. I will find the facts.
The Facts
From the FBI website www.fbi.gov: Dec 6, 2021 · By gender, 72.6% were male; and 27.4% were female. By race, most arrestees (67.7%) were white; 27.1% were Black or African American; and 2.9% were of other races. The race was unknown for 2.2%. You can see the absolute numbers for every crime category at this site: FBI — Table 43 . So as I thought, our perception of who is committing crimes is skewed by what we see on television and it causes us to fear black people.
I have been watching the proceedings on and off today so I know the big headlines as evident in this title, but I don’t understand the 34 felony counts. It sounds like it is one count per check that was written to support former President Trump’s election. This must go way beyond the Stormy Daniels’ check or the monies that was paid back to Michael Cohen. I’m pretty sure this turn of events has taken everyone by surprise because it reveals purported felonies in election laws – not so much campaign finance shenanigans as was expected. But again, I’ve not been paying complete attention and will have to read or watch Newsmax to hear the “real” story.
It is a bold step by Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Alvin Bragg. I expect he is looking for respect and so, didn’t want to take to court only a case about a porn actress accepting hush money. But I worry that everything is based on the testimony of Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen who admitted to lying. The defense will cremate him.
Did you know that Mr. Trump is going to civil court for a rape case and again for playing loose with his assets’ values to lower taxes and increase bank loans. Both start in the fall of this year, also in New York City.
The House Representative from the great State of Georgia was interviewed on 60 Minutes this past Sunday. She called Democrats pedophiles because of their efforts to prevent legislation banning LGTBQ titles. That reference by MTG is a nod to the conspiracy theory that democrats were organizing the 2016 election from a pizza restaurant frequented by pedophiles and funded by George Soros. MTG is an admitted believer of conspiracy theories and was called out by the interviewer on Sunday for her statements supporting Q’Anon and Pizzagate. The question on how much should children be exposed to gender issues through library books or even educational resources is something that should be discussed and worked by parents and experts alike. But simplifying the culture wars into pedophiles versus patriots is stupid and doesn’t move the country or our culture forward.
Another school shooting occurred with three nine-year-old children killed and three over-sixty adults, also killed. Seventeen K-12 school shootings and 130 mass shootings this year. (Washington Post data) Of course, the Democrats are screaming to ban assault weapons and the Republicans are countering that they’ve done all that can be done. Their response is that criminals will always be criminals and banning weapons will not stop them from committing crimes. Maybe they are right, we just have to live with it, or more exactly, die with the fact that Congress is not going to do anything about it. Maybe because humans pull the trigger, we are the true reason this tragedy continues to occur – not the millions of guns which are in human’s possession.
This is another bourbon that uses the sour mash technique discussed in March. Old Bardstown is also under $25 and every bit as good as some the more expensive Old Forrester bottles tried in past months. I really worked (translation: drank a lot) to taste the orange peel one reviewer noted but no luck. The distiller says it has notes of caramel, oak, nutmeg, vanilla, grain, cocoa, char, herbs and sandalwood. I called the mashup as sweet and that was pretty good for me. Interestingly, the mash bill provided by thewhiskeyjug.com says 72% Corn, 13% Rye, and 15% Malted Barley. That might explain the sweetness I taste. Or it could be I am swayed by what another friend of mine said: they didn’t like Bourbon because it is sweet. I’m still looking for the bonded Old Grandad recommended in the Reader Comments by another friend. If someone has tasted it, please leave your comments.
These covid statistics come from The New York Times Data Source and show all the virus deaths reported in the U.S. since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
The first “fact” that stands out is that we have been at around 500 deaths each day since last April 2022; quite a reduction since the highest peaks of January 2021 and February of 2022. I should lay over the vaccination rate to maybe understand the benefit of the vaccines that were administered. Otherwise, like the flu, the peaks are in the winter months and occur after Christmas gatherings (my interpretation). That might say mask wearing is important during the holidays. What do you see?