A while back Mr. Beagles mentioned his surprise at the high cost for a carton of smokes, more than seventy dollars, but at our age just about everything was much cheaper back in the day. Seventy dollars isn't that bad when you consider the cost in other parts of the world. An article I found compares the cost of a pack of Marlboros around the world and the price range is staggering, from a low of $1.50/pack in Manila to $22.70/pack in Melbourne; that's more than a dollar per cigarette so you can literally see your money go up in smoke.
Mr. Beagles might be out of luck buying Salems in some parts of Chicago. I was at the local supermarket today and since they sell cigarettes I asked if they sold tobacco for rolling your own. They don't, the lady said, only packs but not menthol cigarettes. Apparently the sale of menthols is banned within a certain distance of schools. That's a new rule that I've never heard of before.
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Before we close out the "chicks up front" topic I'd like to mention a couple of other references I've found. The first is an article from a conservative website and the second is a YouTube video of a lady reciting her poem "Chicks Up Front," which touches on her participation in demonstrations and protests. Neither site delves very deeply in the subject but I thought it should be included in the record.
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Election Day, whoop-de-doo! Regardless of the results I think Trump will come out ahead. If the Republicans get clobbered Trump will find new people to blame and further rile up his core group of supporters. If the Democrats get hosed they they will find other parties responsible for their loss, adding to the divisive game that is being played by both sides. As long as the Democrats continue to get bamboozled into playing Trump's game they will lose; he is the Grand Master and they need a different game to play if they want to bring him down.
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Unless Mr. Beagles is referring to Señor Mendoza at the local body shop Jesus never said "Better the evil you know than the evil you do not know." In fact, Google came up with only one hit for that phrase, leading to a lady named . But when I removed the quotation marks and tried again Google changed it to "Better the devil you know..." and had a lot more hits. The best info I've found traces it back to a collection of proverbs by R. Taverner, in the year 1539, and is of Irish origin.
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Uncle Ken has a good memory; I found that New Yorker article from twenty years back. It isn't just the birth of the red heifer that's the big deal; it has to be sacrificed and the ashes used to rebuild the Temple. Details, details...unless a major construction project is announced in Jerusalem I don't think we have anything to worry about. And the recently born red heifer probably came from a herd that originated in Nebraska. Small world, isn't it?
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Rachel Maddow has an ongoing podcast series entitled "Bagman" which chronicles the downfall of Spiro Agnew and it's fascinating. The parallels to the modern day are striking, especially in the Republican modus operandi of undercutting the media and the Justice Department. Some things just don't change and we know how well things turned out for them. Will history repeat itself?
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