From the Notebooks Shortly after arriving as an exile in the United States in 1974, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn offended his American guests by bemoaning the weakness and spiritual torpor of the West. Although he had previously admired the West and looked to it for salvation from Communism, upon arriving here he

Dunkin' Donuts is partnering with Harpoon Brewery to release a coffee-infused beer. Not to be outdone, Four Loko is now partnering with heroin. Seth Meyers

Miscellaneous Rambling Hmmmmmm: "LaCroix, Sparkling Ice, Bai and beyond: Are fruit-flavored waters good for you? [https://flipboard.com/@flipboard/-lacroix-sparkling-ice-bai-and-beyond-ar/f-3c962de57b%2Ftoday.com] " I detest LaCroix, but my eldest daughter loves the stuff. Hi-Ball Energy is terrible. I like

Miscellaneous Rambling I hope my sardonic humor was evident Saturday. I don't really think my UP Michigan brethren are borderline retards. That was a joke. I was serious, however, when I said it's gorgeous, often unexplored, country, a land relatively untouched by human hands . . . or intelligence

While two of my boys and I slave away at the produce site and farmers market, the other family members live it up. I guess I'll get over it: > Family separated for the weekend. Eldest Alex looking after my girls. pic.twitter.com/ovHMTuDHrd [https://t.co/

The Weekend Rambler The picture accompanying this story [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/greenland-iceberg-innaarsuit-1.4744782] is pretty wild: huge iceberg threatens small Greenland village. The concern is that, if it calves, it could cause a tsunami. A pretty freaking cold one, at that. No word

Brews You Can Use Two funnies for the bar tonight: (1) "My girlfriend says I'm a stalker. Well, she's not exactly my girlfriend yet." (2) "#me too" traditionally translates to "pound me too." Always something new under the entrepreneurial sun:

Sign of the times: > New Game Show Gives Millennials A Chance To Eliminate Student Loan Debt https://t.co/Kp8YGCYFqK > — zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 12, 2018 [https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1017228306016595969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw]

The Rambler Extreme embalming [https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/body-dead-teen-honored-extreme-embalming-posed-video-games-sunglasses-snacks-182105773.html] . I can't even begin to get my head around this enough to form an opinion. "[T]he body of taxi driver Victor Perez Cardona, a

Miscellaneous Rambling It's Kavanaugh [https://spectator.org/judge-brett-kavanaugh-nominated-to-supreme-court/]. I told my son Jack when I first heard his name last week as the possible nominee, "I know nothing about him, but I can virtually guarantee you that he's a