• Hungry for Paris By Richard C. Young
• Accuracy is Everything By E.J. Smith
• Can Organic Replace Conventional Agriculture? By Richard C. Young
• The Day Dylan Went Electric By Debbie Young
• The Armed American Family, Part VI By Richard C. Young
• The Cage-Free-Egg Sham By Debbie Young
• The Real Jeb Bush? By Richard C. Young
• Trump off the Rails By Richard C. Young
• How High are Gas Taxes in Your State? By E.J. Smith

This is the name of the first book Debbie and I pull out in advance of each trip to Paris. A few years ago we went on a very special food and wine tour in Paris and Switzerland. The once in a lifetime gastronomic adventure was organized and led by internationally acclaimed cookbook writer and pastry chef David Lebovitz (author of My Paris Kitchen)(See David on a culinary adventure in Paris in the video below). On our opening night in Paris, David’s friend Alexander Lobrano, former European correspondent for Gourmet and author of Hungry For Paris, joined us for dinner.

I had recently finished reading Hungry for Paris and wanted to be specific in telling Alec about my favorite vignette in his book.  That night the name of the, “snug Latin Quarter brasserie” escaped me (Le Balzar) but most of Alec’s incredible description of an “ unabashedly privileged creature” at a nearby table did not.

In Hungry for Paris Alec describes the scene. You will soon see why Alec is one of the most distinctive and humorous writers and critics in the world of French dining. Alec writes:

And most memorably, a solid woman in a marled tweet suit of autumn colors-pheasant, maize, vermillion, scarlet-who ate every scrap on her plate, burped deeply and proudly without excusing herself, and paid only the most occasional notice to her faded-looking husband. After a coffee and a small Cognac, the unabashedly privileged creature belched again and then bid the waiter adieu, while loudly noting that she would certainly return again soon in the hope of eavesdropping on such an astonishing conversation, ours, a remark of such cunningly serrated snideness it took one’s breath away with admiration and horror.

Absolutely vintage Lobrano, and the perfect introduction to a writer whose books you will just not be able to put down and will, through the years, return to often, as Debbie and I have. Before Debbie and I return to Paris this fall, I will have completed another in-depth reading of Hungry For Paris, scribbling dozens of more red ink notations through it’s revealing pages. Tops on my red ink notations list, this read through, is a reminder to not miss booking (a must) at Le Florimond which Alec describes as offering a stunning “signature dish,” stuffed cabbage with lush brown gravy.

Alec concludes his most compelling introduction to Le Florimond writing “ In a word: Aristocratic loden-coat-wearing locals with dachshunds tucked under their tables mix it up with the occasional well-advised tourist, UNESCO types and top military brass with intimidating posture (Ecole Militaire is just down the street) in this warm, welcoming neighborhood bistro.”

What a terrific book!

When it comes to using your firearm, accuracy is everything. There’s nothing more important than where your bullet ultimately ends up. Here’s a great drill from my favored training school, Sig Sauer Academy, to increase your accuracy with a pistol.

This WSJ article offers answers on both sides of the organic/conventional picture noting, “Sales of organic food and beverages grew fivefold between 1999 and 2013.”

Not long ago, the founding owner of one of the most successful organic growers and markets in south Florida told me a compelling organic lettuce story. Through the years, I had seen beautiful, huge heads of lettuce piled high at his market, each retailing for about $2.99. Frank told me that he devoted about and acre to planting organic lettuce and was able to turn his field over a number of times per year harvesting tens of thousands of heads during each harvest. The cost of goods sold? Well, minimal, as no big farm equipment was involved and no commercial fertilizer was necessary.

Frank gave me specific numbers during our discussion, which I now forget but do remember as being some staggering math. Frank assured me that the organic agriculture story was indeed far stronger than presented in the media.

This past weekend, the 2015 Folk Festival took place once again in Newport, RI. July 25 also marks the 50th anniversary of Bob Dylan’s plugging in his guitar at Freebody Park in Newport and blasting out “Maggie’s Farm” before introducing “Like a Rolling Stone.” To many in the audience—folk purist and political activists—it was an outrage of unthinkable and unforgiveable proportions. Without question, writes NPR, it was a turning point in music history.

In Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night that Split the Sixties, music historian Elijah Wald explains that it was more complicated than Dylan just going electric.

There always was friction in the folk scene between the people who really believed that this music should be done authentically, should be done right, and people who just thought, “You know, this is fun music, let’s do it however we want. Let’s do it in ways that are fun.” There were a lot of people on the purist side who thought the pop-folkies were taking great music and turning it into tripe. And there were plenty of people on the other side who thought the purists were being, you know, a bunch of silly prigs.

Dylan had come to Newport like he always did, with an acoustic guitar, planning to sing his songs and go home. But, as it turned out, the Butterfield Blues Band was there, and Al Cooper (sic) was there, and Al Cooper (sic) and Mike Bloomfield — who had just joined the Butterfield band — were the main players on “Like a Rolling Stone.” He pulled it together at the last moment. They did one rehearsal the night before. It was a complete surprise. Dylan thought of it maybe 24 hours before everyone else heard it, but it was a surprise for him, too.

That was the weekend that Lyndon Johnson fully committed the United States to victory in Vietnam. The civil rights movement was falling apart. SNCC [The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee] — which was the group that had brought all the kids down for Freedom Summer the previous year — now was throwing all the white members out, and the new chant was “black power.” That communal feeling of the first half of the ’60s was getting harder and harder to feel like it was all going to work and the world was going to be a better place.

It’s easy to forget that what most of us think of as seminal events of the sixties—the Vietnam War, the hippies, the drugs—happened after 1965. Read more of Arun Rath’s interview with Elijah Wald on how Dylan’s going electric was the defining moment for the birth of rock and of clashing cultures in America.

“We’re bringing back the One Million Gun Challenge with a twist,” says Ruger CEO Mike Fifer. Between the 2015 and 2016 NRA Annual Meeting, Ruger’s goal is to sell 2 million firearms. As part of the challenge, Ruger will donate $2 to the NRA for every new firearm sold during the time.

Ruger and the NRA are looking ahead to the 2016 elections with the goal of electing a president and congress that support and respect our rights to firearms.

Did you know that in 1861 the seven original confederate states ratified the Constitution of the Confederate States of America? And it had much of the look of today’s U.S. Constitution, including a Bill of Rights. No. Thirteen in the Bill of Rights reads: “A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

The original seven Confederate states were South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

In the 11/04/201 issue of Michigan Open Carry Newsletter, editor Dan Griffin told readers, “There were over 47 million guns imported, manufactured, and sold between 2008 and 2012. Add another 15 million in 2013—conservative guess based on what we know—and we’re well over 60 million new guns in the hands of gun owners since 2008. That means we have averaged over ten million new guns sold per year for the last six years alone. Fully one-third of new guns in recent years have been imported into the United States from other countries.”

Dan continues, “Republicans own guns more than two-to-one over Democrats. 36% of men own guns. … Conservatively, we probably have well over 350 million guns in this country right now (2014).”

Every member of our extended family has either a Henry Survival AR-7 .22 rifle or a Lever Action .22 Youth Rifle. CCI Long Rifle Stinger ammunition is our ammunition of choice.

My strongest advice regarding firearms is to take the NRA’s excellent handgun safety course and, of course, to become a Second Amendment supporter by joining the NRA.

The pecking order of eggs: All-Natural, Cage-Free, Free-Range, Farm Fresh, Organic, No Hormones, Omega-3? Confusing, isn’t it? The truth is about 95% of eggs in the U.S. come from chickens raised in cages allowing about 67 square inches floor space per bird (about the size of an iPad). From NPR, here’s a guide to what you are buying.

Cage-Free: No, the chickens are not in a bucolic red barn. They usually live in aviaries: massive industrial barns that house thousands of birds. Each bird has, on average, 1 square foot of space. A common cause of death? Being pecked by other chickens.

No Hormones: It’s like saying “no toxic waste” in a box of cereal. It’s illegal to give hormones to poultry.

No Antibiotics: Again, misleading. Antibiotics are usually not used in the egg industry. Chickens raised for their meat, however, are often given antibiotics.

Free-Range: Yes, chickens do have access to the outdoors, but giant industrial fans that suck ammonia out of the commercial egg facilities create “hurricane winds,” which make the birds unwilling to walk through the small doorways. Free-range means pretty much the same as cage-free.

Vegetarian Diet: Let’s see… in the wild, chickens are omnivores, getting their protein from worms and insects. Vegetarian diet most likely means they are being feed corn that is fortified with amino acids.

Omega-3: Some flaxseed is mixed in with the corn feed, possibly leading to higher levels of omega-3s in the chickens’ eggs.

Organic: These eggs are much like “free-range” eggs, coming from birds that live in crowded, industrial aviaries.

Pasture Raised: These birds spend most of their life outdoors, in a fair amount of space with access to a barn. Most likely these chickens are able to eat a diet of worms, insects and grass, along with corn feed, which may or may not be organic.

Certified Humane: What may be “humane” treatment in one farm may not be the same in another farm. “But the third-party auditing organizations Certified Humane, Animal Welfare Approved and American Humane Certified assess egg farms according to a robust set of animal welfare guidelines.”

The bottom line? Buy pastured-raised eggs from your local farmers market.

Bon appétit.

Writing in The American Conservative, founding editor Scott McConnell offers some interesting perspective on Jeb Bush. Among Scott’s highlights are the following.

• Jeb has now reversed himself on Iraq, saying that he would “not have gone to war.”

• Jeb has added both leading neocon Paul Wolfowitz as well as “realist” James Baker to his list of foreign advisors. When Baker was scheduled to speak at J Street, the liberal Zionist pro-peace organization, billionaire Sheldon Adelson reportedly demanded that Bush force Baker to cancel. Bush did not follow up, which angered Adelson.

• Was Bush about to hire respected realist foreign policy intellectual Eldridge Colby as a foreign policy coordinator before having the hiring “nixed” by the political wing of Jeb’s campaign?

• Brother George, by the middle of his second term, had ceased pursuing a neoconservative foreign policy, letting go Donald Rumsfeld, along with Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith and replacing Rumsfeld with foreign policy realist Robert Gates.

• Jeffery Goldberg reported in the Atlantic that by the end of his second term Bush had begun referring to Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer as “the bomber boys.”

• Bush is married to a Catholic Mexican woman. Bush “proposed in Spanish; when she accepted, she gave him a silver ring with a peace symbol.” Bush converted to Catholicism in 1995.” He speaks Spanish at home and supports vouchers.

• As Florida governor, Jeb was “a forceful hands-on-tax-cutting and bureaucracy shrinking conservative, with a particular interest in education reform. “

Jeb Bush did a fine job in many areas as Florida Governor. As to foreign policy, however, I want nothing to do with neocon Paul Wolfowitz nor the bullying tactics of Sheldon Adelson and his ilk.

Were Jed Bush to simply allow Mr. Wolfowitz to seek greener pastures and stop attending Adelson get-togethers, he would be on the right track. I think Jeb could quickly cement his position as front runner in the Republican Party. This would be especially so if Mr. Bush would commit to junking the tax code, and instead introduced a 10/10/10 simple, flat tax plan for personal and corporate income as well as final sales.

Writing in National Review, Jim Geraghty tells readers that Trump’s populist appeal tends to “fall apart on closer inspection.”

“Case in point: American policy in the Middle East, where Trump has in recent years repeatedly endorsed the bizarre, bellicose fantasy that the U.S could and should seize oil fields in Iraq and Libya.”

In 2007, Trump said that the U.S. should “declare victory and leave” Iraq, “because I’ll tell you, this country is just going to get further bogged down.” Four years later, as Obama prepared to withdraw U.S. troops from the country, Trump was more or less getting his wish. But by then he appeared to be arguing that the U.S. should maintain its troop presence simply to seize Iraqi oil fields.

“So you would keep troops in Iraq after this year?” asked Wall Street Journal reporter Kelly Evans.

“I would take the oil,” Trump responded.

A confused Evans responded, “I don’t understand how you would take — does that mean keeping troops there, or staying involved in Iraq?”

“You heard me, I would take the oil,” Trump insisted. “I would not leave Iraq and let Iran take the oil.”

About a week after his interview with Evans, Trump elaborated, suggesting that America’s losses in Iraq deserved compensation in the form of Iraqi oil. “In the old days, you know when you had a war, to the victor belong the spoils,” he told George Stephanopoulos in 2011. “You go in. You win the war and you take it. . . . You’re not stealing anything. . . . We’re taking back $1.5 trillion to reimburse ourselves.”

A few days after his interview with Stephanopolous, he suggested that U.S. policy toward the uprising against Moammar Qaddafi in Libya should also focus on “taking the oil.”

Related video:

Richard Borean of the Tax Foundation recently updated the organization’s Gas Tax Map. Take a look at just how much per gallon you’re paying to your local governments. In some cases it’s a hefty proportion of the price.

Borean wrote:

Pennsylvania has the highest rate of 51.60 cents per gallon (cpg), and is followed closely by New York (45.99 cpg), Hawaii (45.10 cpg), and California (42.35 cpg). On the other end of the spectrum, Alaska has the lowest rate at 12.25 cpg, but New Jersey (14.50 cpg) and South Carolina (16.75 cpg) aren’t far behind. These rates do not include the additional 18.40 cent federal excise tax.

Gas taxes are generally used to fund transportation infrastructure maintenance and new projects. While gas taxes are not a perfect user fee like tolls, they are generally more favorable than other taxes because they better connect the users of roads with the costs of enjoying them. However, many states’ and the Federal government’s gas taxes are not adjusted for inflation and therefore do not respond to price changes. Over time, a nominal gas tax rate will decline in real terms, while the costs associated with funding roads will increase with inflation. This has been a contributing factor to the insolvency of the federal Highway Trust Fund, which runs out of funds at the end of this month.