All the news, views, and filtered excellence fit to consume during your morning grumpy.
1. 4/20 is not just a big day for people who smoke weed, it’s also a big day for people who like beer. More specifically, for people who like Community Beer Works beer. Why? Because it’s the one year anniversary of the opening of Buffalo’s first nanobrewery! (of which I am a part-owner). To celebrate a very successful first year in business, we’re hosting an anniversary party on 4/20 starting at 6PM at both Cole’s and Mister Goodbar on Elmwood Avenue. Along with the regular beers that we have on tap at these two fine establishments, we’ll be bringing some special one-off anniversary beers for you to imbibe.
- A Belgian tripel
- A double IPA with amarillo, cascade and zeus hops
- A porter made with hops from McCollum Orchards in Lockport
- A barrel-aged Imperial Stout that has been resting comfortably in rye whiskey barrels we procured from the fine folks at Finger Lakes Distilling
As loyal readers of The Morning Grumpy, I’d like to extend to you an invitation to the pants party, err, the anniversary party. See you there! If you can’t make it to the party, you can find us at many fine drinking establishments around town or you can stop down to the brewery to pick up a growler on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
2. An interview with a retired police officer from WGRZ’s “2 Sides” program from a few months back has picked up some national steam and has turned into quite a viral hit. Captain Peter Christ (Vice-Chair of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) from Tonawanda makes a very clear, concise, and simple case for legalizing drugs.
He destroys every argument for continuing our policy of prohibition and instead wants to treat drug addiction as the public health crisis that it is. We’ve spent over $1 Trillion on the “War On Drugs” and President Obama is spending more in actual dollars and percentages on interdiction and enforcement than any President who has come before him. In 2010, half of all federal prisoners in the U.S. were serving sentences for drug offenses. It’s time to rethink the policy.
3. The pervasive influence of social media is now even changing how law enforcement investigates crimes. The investigation of Monday’s bombings in Boston will rely to an extraordinary extent on crowdsourced surveillance, provided by Marathon spectators’ cellphone photos, Vine videos, and Instagram feeds. However, combing through the massive amount of digital data is a huge challenge for investigators.
4. The connection between the grotesque rise in baseball salaries and our ailing financial system.
5. Did you know there is a growing number of men who are giving up on masturbation? They claim it makes them healthier, happier, and better men. What this means for the porn industry is still…insert your own pun, I’m tired.
6. The hell of the barely regulated and often unsafe American day care industry.
7. Retired Army General Stanley McChrystal on the domestic ramifications of foreign drone strikes: “…we should not be upset when someone responds with their equivalent, which is a suicide bomb in Central Park, because that’s what they can respond with.”
8. The Great Debt Delusion: How Math Keeps Proving Austerity Wrong
Fact Of The Day: 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement.
Quote Of The Day: “Worry is a misuse of the imagination” – Dan Zadra
Video Of The Day: The first commercial cellular phone in the US is put to the test in front of the world’s media.
Song Of The Day: “North American Scum” – LCD Soundsystem
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