Winner Winner....

Chicken Dinner.....

I happen to believe that the bone-in, skin-on, chicken thigh is a thoroughly underrated menu item.   Excellent dollar value too.

Season only with fresh-cracked pepper and sea salt. 

Start skin-side down in a cold skillet. Cook 40-50 minutes on medium or until browned. Flip and cook 15 minutes more or until 160F.

Set aside on a plate to rest and make pan gravy from all of the deliciousness in the skillet. 

Serve with some mashed baby reds and fresh frozen whole kernel sweet corn.

Elegant chow in a simple way.  

Perfect when you’re snowed-in…..

Notable Quotable

Some people think of God as an outsized, light skinned male with a long white beard, sitting on a throne somewhere up there in the sky. Baruch Spinoza and Albert Einstein considered God to be essentially the sum total of the physical laws which describe the universe. I do not know of any compelling evidence for anthropomorphic patriarchs controlling human destiny from some hidden celestial vantage point, but it would be madness to deny the existence of physical laws.

 Carl Sagan ; Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science

Stay Back 100 Feet

Best tailgate message seen in a long time...

 

February Night Sky

Native Americans have long grown familiar with this moon.  Members of the Cherokee nation refer to this month’s full moon as the Bone Moon.  This was a consequence of depleted food stores and the necessity of cracking-open bones to access the marrow for survival food. 

NASA image

Those of the Kalapuya nation referred to this as the Out of Food Moon.   For others it was the Little Famine Moon or the Hunger Moon.  For the Cherokee the association with hunger and starvation also included a brush with death.  And the people use this as an opportunity to communicate with dead ancestors during the Bone Moon.   

Indeed, these ancient native tribes named this moon after the way trees cracked in the cold, or how people had to huddle around a fire for warmth.  My own people – the ancient Celts – remember this as the Moon of Ice as it is associated with the coldest month of the year. 

On a more upbeat note it is the Hopi tribe of the southwest who call this the Moon of Purification and renewal. 

This close association with the renewal that is marked by the arrival of spring is much more appealing to me than bones and death.  We have modern refrigeration, canned vegetables, grocers, central heat, wood stoves, Merlot and streaming internet television.  Starvation is rare and the entertainment possibilities are endless. Nevertheless, turning your eyes to the heavens is a delight all its own.   

 

February's full Moon  - called the Full Snow Moon - reaches peak fullness tomorrow evening February 12 although it will appear full tonight and Thursday evening.  For the best view of this Moon be sure to watch for it to rise in the east and reach its highest point in the sky around midnight.   

Fingers crossed for cold, clear winter sky gazing.

 

Monday Morning Visitor

24F and sunny. 

One of the simple things that brings me joy is grabbing some fresh air while walking the doggo. 

Bonus today makes an appearance at the 30 second mark. 

Thanks for dropping-by Philly……

DOGE Update

In the aftermath of the inauguration of Donald Trump we've witnessed the exiling of DOGE Bro Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk's waffling on his promise of $2 trillion of government spending cuts.   

I have two DOGE updates:  Privacy and Theatrics.

Last week we learned that a federal judge halted access to the US Treasury's payment systems by Elon Musk's team of DOGE apparatchiks. The order came in response to a lawsuit filed by 19 state attorneys general accusing the president of failing to faithfully execute the nation's laws when he granted DOGE unfettered access to the federal payments system.

The White House had previously defended the DOGE's access as READ-ONLY, yet in the ruling the judge specifically invoked the Watergate Era Privacy Act of 1974, which states:  no agency shall disclose any record which is contained in a system of records by any means of communication to any person or to another agency.  

Let me begin by making abundantly clear I'm all about rooting out waste, fraud and abuse.  I embrace audits that adhere to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. I believe in accountability. I place a high value on transparency. I hold close Reagan's admonition to Trust, But Verify.  Privacy is at the top of my list; which happens to be why I applaud the court ruling.

I would not voluntarily release my tax returns, charitable contributions, investment account and banking information, social security records, medicare details (including health records) or any other personal identifiers or privileged information to anyone without my prior written consent and assurance this information would be safeguarded.  

Rooting out fraud while simultaneously erecting appropriate firewalls to protect the integrity of a citizen's privileged personalty are not mutually exclusive. In my previous life my employer guarded this same information on behalf of their clients as if it were the Crown Jewels.  A security breach was always on the short list of of existential risks facing any financial services firm.  

To-wit, a couple of my MAGA pals think I'm nuts.  I'm overreacting.  Between you and me, for a couple of guys who howl at every opportunity about their impeccable conservative credentials; privacy ranks close to the bottom of priorities.

Go figure.  

Considering that Mr. Musk hasn't passed senate review or approval, has not received a security clearance, issued written ethics guidelines, or defined for anybody what he and his team intend to do with this data; naturally many of us have concerns.  Will they safeguard your identity?  Share it with whomever they please?  Retain it indefinitely?  Sell it?  Blackmail people with it? 

The question to you, dear readers, is the defense of personal information unreasonable?  

Would YOU voluntarily release the foregoing to Elon Musk without reservation?

Ponder that.

Meanwhile, DOGE has dismantled a Federal agency - USAID.  I've substituted a WIKI web link as the official .Gov website has been disappeared.  Meanwhile the name of the agency has been stricken from the building.  

Image - NBC

To be clear, the loss of USAID has no direct impact on my life so I don't have a dog in this fight.  Although I wonder if this signifies that we've thrown-in the towel on soft-power influence in response to stuff like Communist Red China's Belt and Road initiative, or North Korean and Soviet designs on African natural resources. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, I want to highlight the messaging power of what is known in political vernacular as a Play to the Base*  

Both Democrats and Republicans engage in these dramatic flourishes; and in this instance Elon Musk is championed for slaying the Great White Whale of foreign aid corruption.  Apologies for the Herman Melville metaphor but Trump is a master of this sort of theater.  

Consider this:

As crazy as it sounds opinion polling suggests that a plurality of Americans believe anywhere from 25 to 31 percent of the entire federal budget is foreign aid.  Wasteful fraud and abuse.  Every last damn dollar going to ungrateful heathens.  Naturally, that belief is fallacious because it is opinion and not fact.  US foreign aid (economic, nutrition, health and military) has historically hovered around 1% of the entire US budget; with USAID a small part of that total.  I've blogged about this before.

2023 aid managed by USAID totaled about $40 billion. You and I would likely agree that this sounds like a king's ransom to an average American; correct?  Yet in the grand scheme of our federal budget it is pocket change in the government's couch cushions.

If you unpack the numbers in the context of the entirety of the federal budget the savings amounts to 2% of Elon Musk's $2 trillion savings boast. 

Considering the context of erasing an entire agency; and assuming Washington never feeds another hungry Sub-Saharan child, vaccinates any heathens suffering an epidemic or offers any similar disaster aid these savings become basically permanent.  I take no issue that they are savings.  They are permanently exceedingly small.  

Even so, in the eyes of Trump supporters Musk is a Giant Killer.  

The melodrama of sweeping furloughs of slothful and ungrateful government workers, the erasure of an entire agency along with the trope of chiseling the name from the facade of the empty building is as close as you can get to modern-day angry Jesus giving the money changers the heave-ho from the temple.  

The theatrics are priceless.

So, let's agree this scalp in Musk's belt in only the first three weeks of the administration is yeoman's work. Or is it like the Battle of the Greasy Grass?  Spoiler Alert: The plains Indians took many scalps and still lost the war.

Ask yourself this:

Is the DOGE willing to hunt and scalp the prize 800 pound gorilla?

Or the administration to settle on collecting some small scalps for Reality TV* and forfeit the war?

Only time will tell.

Pro Tip Alert!  Be sure to stock-up on popcorn and adult beverages.  Both a Budget Reconciliation and the Debt Ceiling are in the on-deck circle.  I'm told it's gonna be easy peasy as Trump controls both Houses of Congress.

 

The Bitter End

The 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on January 16, 1919 and went into effect on January 17, 1920.  This amendment prohibited the production, sale and transportation of alcohol in the United State.  This dry spell lasted from 1920 to 1933.

Naturally, prohibition didn't sit well with Wisconsinites and it was a clever tavern owner from the peninsula who found a legal work-around that kept him in business throughout the prohibition years right up to modern times.

Tom Nelsen operated Nelsen's Hall, a dance hall and saloon on remote Washington Island, thinly populated by people who referred to themselves as islanders.  Isolated from the mainland it was a terrific location for a scofflaw.   

Nelsen recalled seeing bitters for sale at a local drug store in Sturgeon Bay.  Bitters are a 90-Proof beverage.  During the prohibition years a doctor could prescribe the dispensing of alcohol for the treatment of various medical disorders.

It was a German physician, Johann Siegert, who would become a pioneer in the bitters industry.  Dr. Siegert lived with his family in the town of Angostura, Venezuela having moved from Germany in 1820 to serve as the Surgeon General of the Armies of Simón Bolívar. By 1824 he perfected the formula for Amargo Aromatico used in his medical practice as a medical elixir for the troops.  Angostura Bitters were born and eventually branched-out to the mixology surrounding the consumption of adult beverages.

Firm in the knowledge that 90-Proof bitters were used to treat digestive disorders the enterprising Nelsen applied-for, and received, a pharmacist license for purposes of dispensing medicinal alcohol.  He prescribed shots of bitters to his regulars and was able to keep the doors of his watering hole open.  Unfortunately, even very distant Washington Island eventually drew the attention of federal agents who charged him with violating the Volstead Act.

At the County Seat in Sturgeon Bay, the state made what they considered to be a straightforward case that Nelsen was selling alcoholic beverages and operating a speakeasy.  As the story goes Nelsen, testifying in his own defense, claimed that bitters were medicinal and could be purchased at any pharmacy.  Arguing that the taste was so foul the concoction couldn't possibly be anything but medicine he invited the judge to take a sip.  Recoiling from the taste the judge ruled in favor of Nelsen agreeing that no beverage served in a bar could taste so bad.

Consequently, Nelsen continued to legally serve his island customers their bitters and remained in business until prohibition was subsequently repealed making Nelsen's Hall the oldest legally continuously-operated tavern in Wisconsin.  Reputedly, Tom Nelsen consumed a pint of bitters a day (16 shots) until he passed at age 90.

Nowadays, Nelsen's Hall and Bitters Club is the world's largest purveyor of Angostura Bitters.  The pub sells 1.5-oz. shots of bitters - more than 10,000 shots a year.  Enjoy a shot and you are inducted into the club and receive an official membership card. 

Located at W19 N1205 Main Road, Washington Island, WI 54246 - at the very end of the peninsula.

Story, historic photos and more about this here. 

 

 

Nelsen's Hall Bitter Pub Review Washington Island, WI  6-15-24