Greetings from the Midwestern Bureau of TWS. We’re dark this week, as regular readers know, but we’re not taking the week off! The website must go on. A number of Standard writers and editors are back in their non-swamp ancestral homes for the Fourth. I’m in Saint Louis, where I went to college (and wife is from) showing the twins how the nation’s birthday is observed in the Show-Me state. (Seven appeals were made to stop at fireworks stands between Pennsylvania and Illinois. All were denied.)
While we’re on the topic of Saint Louis… Good news! The Gateway to the West is shedding its small, pointless municipalities. You’ll recall in the wake of the death of Michael Brown, much attention was rightly put on how the 80+ municipalities in Saint Louis County make money: By ticketing the hell of people for moving violations, which has created a nasty relationship with police in a lot of places. There’s no reason Saint Louis County, which is slightly smaller than Fairfax County, Virginia, needs 80+ cities. (Fairfax has three incorporated towns, and two independent cities.) Hopefully, consolidation will continue.
And speaking of Fairfax County… The historic estate of George Washington, Mount Vernon, went to war with Dominion Energy over a facility planned across the river in Maryland. Both sides seem to have reached an armistice. For now.
About that special USPS / Amazon deal… President Trump loves to troll Jeff Bezos by suggesting (not all that accurately) that Amazon is getting a sweet deal from Uncle Sam. But what if Jeff Bezos had a plan in case Trump gets the USPS to go to war with him?
The Pappy Van Winkle heist that wasn’t. Fans of the brown spirit had their spirits dampened after news of a recent collapse of a storehouse in Kentucky. (I’ll be toasting the Fourth with Schnuck’s Private Stock, don’t judge.) Bloomberg BusinessWeek has an interesting look into how one of America’s most premier bourbons had a loss problem of their own, though not on such a scale as 9,000 barrels.
Every cruiser’s nightmare. I don’t like going on cruises because I’m a landlubber who gets seasick and taking a chance (even on a big ship) seems like a dumb gamble. But, I’d imagine for those who cruise—TWS or otherwise— you’ve probably worried about falling off the boat and drowning. Or getting eaten by a shark. But imagine if you fell off, neither of those things happened, and you survived for nearly a day. And were rescued by another cruise ship. Because that apparently happened.
Speaking of ships… Somebody in Maine is stealing bells and gongs from the buoys there. Not an easy feat. But why?
Another podcast? Yes. We have another one to recommend if you’re a big fan of the medium: AEI president Arthur Brooks has one now, where he breaks down the rise of incivility.
A handy guide to “Fake News” in the online right. Mediaite’s John Ziegler has created a non-scientific, though generally correct, guide to determining when something you see on or in the news is probably fake.
And while we’re on the topic of news… Europeans are getting their access blocked to certain U.S. publications which do not wish to comply with the E.U.’s new GDPR regulations. This is a good thing more publishers should do to thumb their nose at the E.U. If Europeans want to get around this, they can do what we do to watch the BBC. Use a VPN.
Afternoon Links are part of the Daily Standard newsletter, a free daily newsletter that goes out Monday through Friday. Sign up here!
