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18th Amendment

One of the best anecdotes I've read lately, in the literary-drunken vein:

"Mencken responded to Prohibition by selling his car and using the proceeds to purchase a large stock of 'the best wines and liquors I could find,' stored in a homemade basement vault whose door bore a custom-painted sign emblazoned with a skull and crossbones: 'This Vault is protected by a device releasing Chlorine Gas under 200 pounds pressure. Enter at your own Risk." Terry Teachout, The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken (Harper Collins, 2002), p. 144.

He sold his car to stock up on booze: ditching the "mechanical Jacobin" for liquor and wine. That man has my respect.

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