IT TURNS OUT I'M THE GENTLEMANLY BEER SNOB.

I limit myself to referring to India Pale Ale as headache in a glass.  The notionally Christian Babylon Bee eschews any Christian charity.  "Popular New Craft IPA Just Bottle Of Pine-Sol."  It's a re-issue of an August 2019 post, which is really uncharitable, and yet, with Oktoberfest season winding down, it's worth re-issuing with elaboration.

A popular new craft IPA created by Stonemission Point Brewery is actually just a bottle of Pine-Sol, sources at the brewery admitted Thursday.

"Our new Pine-Sol IPA has that piney, hoppy flavor you love, plus it kills 99.9% of germs," said Paolo Antony, head brewer for Stonemission Point. "We source only the best cleaning agents, ethoxylated undecyl alcohol, pine oil, benzoic acids, and of course, way more hops than any beverage should ever have. Then, we brew it with care for several weeks before we serve it to our happy customers at any of our fine tasting rooms across the greater San Diego region."

When the beer was introduced, bearded hipsters across the city were seen lining up around the block for a taste of the coveted Pine-Sol IPA.

"I used to like Ballast Point's Grapefruit Sculpin IPA because I love the taste of Grapefruit with just a hint of Pine-Sol," said Aaron Balder as he twirled his mustache. "But when I heard that Stonemission Point was introducing a brew that was basically just pure Pine-Sol, I poured all that Scuplin down the drain. I'm a Pine-Sol man now, through and through."

Let's say that what America's Newspaper of Record^TM has Stonemission working on next isn't according to Reinheitsgebot standards either!

THE MAN OF SYSTEM CANNOT FLIP THE LEVER OF RICHES.

Marginal Revolution manager Tyler Cowen notes, "Nobel Prize in economics goes to Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt and Joel Mokyr."  It's encouraging to see the award recognizing something other than the technocratic Welfare Economics Paradigm.

Excellent choices.  Here is the press release with links to longer discussions of their works.

This is a prize for economic growth, and for the ideas of creative destruction.  Those are some of the most important ideas in economics, so I could not be happier with this pick.  Joel Mokyr in particular has been a long-time associate of GMU and Mercatus, so I would like to congratulate him in particular.

Aghion is at INSEAD in France, Howitt at Brown, and Mokyr at Northwestern.  It is also nice to see some people outside of “the usual schools” winning the prize.  Aghion and Howitt, of course, worked together to produce a model of creative destruction and economic growth.  Here are their key papers together.

Joel Mokyr is an economic historian, and best known for his pioneering work in explaining the Industrial Revolution in England.  Here are his best-known works.  Read The Lever of Riches and The Gifts of Athena and A Culture of Growth.  I have benefited most from The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain 1700-1850.  He has a new book coming out in November, with Tabellini and Greif.  It is correct to consider him as an “Enlightenment thinker.”  Brian Albrecht has a good thread on this.

Below you can find individual posts on Aghion, Howitt, and also Mokyr.  Here is Alex’s post on the prize.

By all means surf over to all the links!

WHEN AMERICAN FLYER OWNERS GET TENURE?

Years ago, the owners of American Flyer trains would slag on Lionel owners because the former had two-rail track in S gauge while the latter made do with the easier-to-wire three rail track in approximately O scale.  In public life, the most famous advocate for American Flyer is probably atheist libertarian tory George Will, who, along with the rest of Cub Nation, is dealing with their nine's exit from the major league playoffs.

FENCING DISCOUNT SNEAKERS.

That's one way to get inventory cheaply.

Authorities have arrested Adeel Shams, founder of popular sneaker resale platform CoolKicks, after discovering more than $500,000 in stolen Nike goods during a raid at the company’s Santa Monica warehouse.

Police said the merchandise — including 2,100 pairs of shoes and 150 cartons of apparel, some unreleased — had been stolen from an intermodal train in Southern California.

The Oct. 2 operation was conducted in coordination with the Union Pacific Railroad Police, Los Angeles Port Police, Los Angeles Airport Police, and the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation.

Shams, 34, was booked on suspicion of receiving stolen property and released the following day. Three others were also arrested.

We've long suspected that there's organized looting of container trains, possibly including insiders at the docks or railway billing departments tipping off the muscle to which trains to stop and which containers to pilfer.

CargoNet data shows theft activity reached a record 3,798 incidents in 2024, with rail thefts emerging as a growing weak spot. Overhaul estimated about 65,000 freight-rail thefts in 2024, a 40% jump from the prior year and more than $100 million in losses.

Though rail thefts remain a smaller portion of total cargo crimes, analysts warn that organized theft rings and underreported losses are driving risk higher across trucking, warehousing, and intermodal supply chains — particularly around major freight hubs such as Los Angeles.

Authorities also arrested 17 people after raids at three San Bernardino County locations last week, reportedly recovering more than $375,000 worth of merchandise stolen from BNSF Railway trains and more than $61,000, cash, according to a KTLA-TV report. The Victor Valley News reports another 14 people were arrested Monday (Oct. 6) by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in conjunction with BNSF police. In that incident, investigators said they recovered $42,500 in property stolen from BNSF, along with approximately $55,000 in cash.

The parcels tossed out of containers that don't have the sneakers and other items requested by the merchants are harder to recover, as those get picked over by individual scavengers.

NEITHER PATIENT PROTECTION NOR AFFORDABLE CARE.

Here I stand, I can do no other.  "I must continue to fight it out on this line.  'Is it that crazy to suggest that the Authority Figures back off and let emergence find a way?'  The current approach isn't working.  'How far must the unraveling go until our political masters consider trade-tested betterments?'"

The Democrats are currently refusing to pass a short continuing resolution in the hopes that the standoff will be painful enough to get a few Republicans on board with continuing the insurance premium subsidies that went into Dementia Joe's so-called "American Rescue Plan" by the margin of Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin.  All that seems to be doing is holding up the drafting of the regular order appropriations we were supposed to have by now and that might be deferred, again, to Christmas: which is to say, business as usual.

SHAKING UP THE RULES-BASED INTERNATIONAL ORDER?

This year's Nobel Peace Prize goes to Maria Corina Machado "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy."

Code Pink organizer for Latin America Michelle Ellner doesn't like it.

When I saw the headline “Maria Corina Machado Wins the Nobel Peace Prize,” I almost laughed at the absurdity. But I didn’t, because there’s nothing funny about rewarding someone whose politics have brought so much suffering. Anyone who knows what she stands for knows there’s nothing remotely peaceful about her politics.

If this is what counts as “peace” in 2025, then the prize itself has lost every ounce of credibility. I’m Venezuelan-American, and I know exactly what Machado represents. She’s the smiling face of Washington’s regime-change machine, the polished spokesperson for sanctions, privatization, and foreign intervention dressed up as democracy.

The lady is on a roll, keep reading her essay to see that she's not laughing, she's cursing the Establishment. "Real peace is built by women organizing food networks during blockades, by Indigenous communities defending rivers from extraction, by workers who refuse to be starved into obedience, by Venezuelan mothers mobilizing to demand the return of children seized under U.S. ICE and migration policies and by nations that choose sovereignty over servitude."

PRE-EMPTING THE GREAT PUMPKIN.

Last April, there were rumblings of a changing international trade environment affecting Christmas decorations.

The local home improvement stores start setting out their Christmas stuff sometime around Labor Day.  Yes, seriously, the Hallowe'en stuff is often marked down the last week of October.  We'll see how the Festive Season supply chain shakes out, and whether that will affect the blinging out of the houses nearby.

A week or so ago, one of the local home improvement center stores had the pre-decorated Christmas trees set up and positioned in front of the Hallowe'en house decorations, which are available in free-standing or inflatable versions, and very much popular with the neighbors.

THE HIAWATHA DIVISION SERIES.

The Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs are playing for the right to play in the National League's championship series, which for the moment still means representing the National League.  On Wednesday, the Brewers worked with Amtrak and the state operators of the Hiawatha to decorate train 332.  "The 8:05 a.m. departure train on Wednesday will be transformed into the themed Brewers Express, complete with the famous Racing Sausages, the Brewers 4-1 Force, and other members of the Brew Crew who will send off fans headed to this afternoon’s crucial game."

The stock of 332 turns as the 11.08 Borealis from Chicago to the Cities.  The game itself started at 4 pm, and no special return working was laid on.

Fans had to figure out their own transportation from Union Station to Wrigley Field.  Get to the L in the State Street subway and board a train signed for Howard.  Or, for that North Shore Line experience, get on a Ravenswood train at Washington and Wells and ride around the Loop.

Once upon a time, there was a North Shore Line experience on game day.

To the end, the North Shore Line's timetable noted that trains would set down southbound and pick up northbound at Addison on the days the Cubs or Bears played.  The five Electroliners each way (this is the 801-802 set northbound) featured a tavern-lounge section with beer and sandwiches.

LET'S START BY BUILDING CULTURAL CAPITAL.

Baa Ram sociologist Steven P. Dandaneau makes a suggestion.  "Stop Labeling Students ‘First-Gen’."

To put it bluntly, what business is it of ours, or anyone’s, what a student’s parents’ educational attainment happens to be? The usual answer is that we inquire because we aim to foster upward social mobility, and because we know from research that students who are the first in their families to attend college do not succeed at the same cohort rates as so-called continuing-generation students. But I emphasize cohort rates because we are not talking about a group, defined by self-awareness and interaction, but indeed a cohort, defined by impersonal and ill-defined criteria. At the level of individuals and families, first-gen discourse presumes deficits, is intrusive and can be off-putting and condescending.

Neither of your parents (you have two, right?) earned a bachelor’s degree?

I’d venture that most who work with first-gen students would agree that there are enduring questions about how best to define who is and is not first-generation using one of several plausible definitions. And even after four decades of promotion, I think it’s fair to say that few students arrive on campus as self-conscious “first-gens,” however defined.

Well, yeah.

Is it too much to ask that the people who want to influence higher education stop treating the nontraditional students as somehow less capable?  "It is a libel to think of first-generation or non-traditional as synonymous with less capable of handling college work."

Yes, there are students who hit college with less intellectual capital, but how often might that be the consequence of bad decisions they made earlier, or bad work beginning in grammar school?  Let's pay careful attention to the following descent from the lofty to the mundane.

In that "you have two, right" you get an idea where that essay might be going.  What is it about educated cosmopolitans that they might be down for the struggle in principle and yet live their lives according to the success sequence?

FIRE PREVENTION WEEK.

In the early days of Cold Spring Shops, we offered a trivia question borrowed from a newspaper Sunday supplement.  "Late in the 19th Century, a tragic fire occurred in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, in which more than 1,500 lives were lost. Yet this event was journalistically overshadowed by a simultaneous tragedy in which only 300 lives were lost. Where did this latter tragedy occur, and why is this question on the website today?"

Because we post out of Illinois, we had correct answers in the Haloscan comments the same day.

SURF'S UP!

I've had occasion to pass through Milwaukee a few times over the past few weeks, and the Second Summer that came in after the false fall of Labor Day weekend included a few days with high temperatures pushing ninety.

A Milwaukee booster called Isaac Rowlett had his drone up over Bradford Beach last weekend.  The volleyball nets were getting a lot of use two weeks previously, and, yes, there are people getting in another swim before the Gales of November come stealin', the lifeguards off duty after Labor Day notwithstanding..

REALITY ENTERS THE WASHINGTON BUBBLE.

The editorial board at Washington's Post offered thoughts on the federal government's fiscal incontinence.  Today, though, we'll mine the essay for a nugget toward the end.

Democrats have demanded that Republicans agree to extend the covid-era insurance subsidies without proposing any way to pay for it. The Congressional Budget Office estimates this will cost $350 billion over the next decade. These temporary benefits were included in the American Rescue Plan of March 2021 and extended the next year in the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act until the end of 2025.

The real problem is that the Affordable Care Act was never actually affordable. President Barack Obama’s signature achievement allowed people to buy insurance on marketplaces with subsidies based on their income. The architects of the program assumed that risk pools would be bigger than they turned out to be. As a result, policies cost more than expected.

To salvage the program, Democrats expanded subsidies to entice more people to buy plans. Many poor families wound up getting insurance for free, and the rolls grew.

Yes, just as regular readers of Cold Spring Shops have known for years.

HOW THE PALACE GUARD MEDIA LOSES ALL RESPECT.

Yesterday, we noted a fire at a house owned by a South Carolina judge that Yahoo News reported with a misleading headline.  We noted, "Let law enforcement and the fire investigators do their work. We do not yet know whether the judge's rulings or the husband's political affiliation caused somebody to take action."  The Militant Normals at Twitchy were, predictably, ready to rip Time a new one.  "Maybe we should wait and see what the investigators find."

None of which has stopped the social media True Believers from screeching at each other.

YOUR SCOLDING HAS NO POWER HERE.

The palace guard media's power to shame is finished.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins can’t believe the Trump admin is doubling down with memes and mariachi music in the WH briefing room:

“They simply don’t care about the criticism."

Correct — and that's exactly what’s driving the propaganda press insane. They're powerless. pic.twitter.com/hduEvgFT3q

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) October 2, 2025

A good tactic is one you enjoy.  Twitchy's Warren Squire is enjoying it.

When Democrats have said every insult, pushed every lie, and made every threat, there’s nothing left - the Democrat Party's power is gone. Irrelevancy is here for Hakeem Jeffries. He's weakness personified. Trump can destroy him or anyone in his party with a meme, even one featuring a sombrero and mariachi music.

Yes, and deplorable shaming people who are on the majority side when it comes to closing the borders, cracking down on urban crime, thinning out the Federal Register, and maybe, just maybe, throwing less money at failed projects, isn't going to change many minds.

Meeting the Militant Normals somewhere closer to the median might.

THANKS ANOTHER MILLION.

The Google page view counters recently rolled over to seven million views.  The six millionth viewer came early in July, and the five millionth in mid-May.  As I noted previously, I'm not sure how many of those hits are people engaging the posts; there are some days with tens of thousands of views and some with a hundred or so.

I surely do not lack for material to carry on about.  Thank you for looking in.

AFTER THEY'VE TRIED EVERYTHING ELSE, WILL THEY TRY SOMETHING THAT WORKS?

Early on in the implementation of the two lies for the price of one Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, I complained,  "There has to be a way to end the rigidities of in-network or out-of-network reimbursement, no matter what the insurance contracts are."

There also ought to be a way to end the to-ing and fro-ing over network memberships and reimbursement rates.

Springfield wanted to be reimbursed for offering high end services, while the Blues were trying to convince Springfield to accept Medicare reimbursement rates.  The article linked above does not mention that dimension, although it came up on the radio discussion.

Don't say I didn't warn you.  "Apparently, the government wishing that hospitals and clinics accept a greater discount, or requesting hospitals and clinics to lower their usual and customary charges, is by some magic transmuted into lower outlays for taxpayers. Whether fees rise for cash patients or for participants, if any remain, in private insurance plans, is apparently for another day."

Don't say I didn't call attention to what was likely to happen.  "Yes, and what happens when that Federal Insurance Provider takes sole control of the reimbursement rate to health care providers? Does anybody seriously expect that Wal-Mart-like methods to bend down the cost curves are going to work any better because it's Washington optimizing against the marginal factor cost schedule?

That was almost exactly three years ago, and what played out in Illinois then is playing out in Wisconsin now.  "Ascension Wisconsin facilities are no longer in-network for those on UnitedHealthcare health insurance plans after the two companies failed to reach an agreement over reimbursement rates."  What did I tell you, dear reader?  "Until there are more trade-tested betterments, there will be shenanigans."

MAXWELL SMART EIGHTY-SIXES THE HOUSE.

Late in her career, Margaret Hamilton assured viewers that Maxwell House coffee was good to the last drop, and although you could melt sugar in it, you could spill it and it wouldn't melt you.

Somebody at Kraft Heinz, the current owner of the label, must have decided that future buyers live on the other side of the yellow brick road.

Today, Maxwell House rebrands to “Maxwell Apartment” to meet the needs of today’s consumer and remind fans the brand is synonymous with great tasting, affordable coffee. In a time where value matters now more than ever, Americans seek value in areas of their everyday, including where they live with nearly a third opting to rent versus purchase a home.

Seriously? "What you're about to read might just be the most ridiculous thing you'll read all day."  That was Mike Miller at Red State, and the corporate boilerplate is, indeed, ridiculous.

As a real coffee for real people, with its “Good To the Last Drop” legacy, the name change celebrates the same principle that guided Maxwell House for more than a century – smart choices add up and choosing Maxwell House means enjoying a quality cup of coffee without the cafe price tag. To celebrate, the brand is offering consumers even more value with a 12-month “lease” of Maxwell Apartment, designed to stock up coffee lovers nationwide.

An 'extra discount' is an indication of a product's worth, and offering a twelve month subscription purchase seems pitched for the hoarder market.  Mr Miller continues, "I know, you can't make it up; the woke fools at Kraft Heinz already did."

Indeed they did.

Beginning on National Coffee Day (Sept. 29), Maxwell House’s 12-month “lease” offer of Maxwell Apartment coffee is available on Amazon.com, while supplies last. For under $40, fans can stock their pantry with a full year of coffee – designed to save coffee enthusiasts more than $1,000 annually, compared to daily café runs, which on average can add up to more than $90 per month. Along with the rebranded canisters, the year-long supply of coffee will come with an official Maxwell Apartment “lease” to sign.

Apparently, the hoarders have already subscribed all the subscription coffee.  Whether the repackaging for the next year will turn up in Cora's grocery store, and all the other grocery stores, and at what prices remains to be seen.  The company's release suggests some other foolishness is yet to drop.

The limited-time rebrand to Maxwell Apartment delivers the same delicious taste, aroma, quality and ingredients – in fact it’s all the same except the name. An extension of the brand’s “Good to the Last Drop” platform, Maxwell Apartment is one of two campaigns debuting from the coffee brand this fall as it continues to emphasize its dedication to rich, consistent flavor people can count on while doubling down on offering the best value in coffee.

Lost in the company's attempt to cater to whoever it wants to cater to, which itself could be a fool's errand: consider the urban gentrifiers filling up those four-story designer apartments that are ubiquitous these days, are they really going to forswear their Starbucks runs or their artisanal coffee, is that "Maxwell House" refers to a Nashville hotel that might have gotten good word of mouth for their coffee a century ago.  It's still operating, now part of the Millennium Hotels group, and they will continue to serve Maxwell House coffee under Kraft Heinz's temporary brand.

We'll see what the public reaction to this latest product degradation in the name of something is.

THE PUNISHMENT CYCLES CONTINUE.

House of South Carolina Judge Criticized by Trump Administration Set Ablaze.

The home of South Carolina Circuit Court judge Diane Goodstein was set on fire after she had reportedly received death threats.

State law enforcement is investigating the house fire on Edisto Beach which began at around 11:30 a.m. E.T. on Saturday, sources told local news outlet FITSNews. Goodstein was reportedly not at home at the time of the fire, but at least three members of her family, including her husband, former Democratic state senator Arnold Goodstein, and their son, have been hospitalized with serious injuries. According to the St. Paul’s Fire District, which responded to the scene, the occupants had to be rescued via kayak. Law enforcement have not disclosed whether the fire is being investigated as an arson attack.

Let law enforcement and the fire investigators do their work.  We do not yet know whether the judge's rulings or the husband's political affiliation caused somebody to take action.

Once the punishment cycles start, stopping them is hard, and waiting for the evidence to come in before denouncing the other side, even harder.

FEIGNING IGNORANCE WITH A SMIRK.

Kaitlan Collins is one of several CNN reporters the Militant Normals love to hate, and her countenance likely has something to do with it.  Delivering nitpicky Donk talking points only brings more fury.

Kaitlan Collins: People who are in the country illegally cannot get these subsidies.

Scott Jennings: Sure they can. Who do you think pays when they go to the emergency room?

Collins: Going to the emergency room is not getting an Obamacare subsidy.

Karen Finney: You're… pic.twitter.com/OxnInk2sgS

— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) October 2, 2025

Amid the frivolity, there is a serious conundrum.  Ethical medicine means treating the patient first.  In These United States, that's codified in Federal Law.

The way this operates is that illegal aliens use ER facilities, and the hospitals are bound by law to treat them. This is a result of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), passed back in 1986. The way this operates is that while at the hospital, the alien is placed on Emergency Medicaid, and then that program reimburses the hospital for the expenses.

All that process makes for some amusing nit-picking, which Nasty Smirky of the Expensive Fuchsia Dress, who came into political TV by way of Tucker Carlson, gets paid to do.

On the matter of illegals getting health coverage, she first tries to insist that it is illegal for non-citizens to get that coverage. She is trying to elide the fact that the Democrat proposal is looking to roll back that very detail. Then she tries to deflect by saying no illegals are covered by Obamacare.

That is a pure dodge on her part, as the issue concerns Medicaid coverage for illegals, which they do in fact receive. Jennings does not allow Kaitlan to slither with this maneuver, and he even ties up Collins ally Karen Finney, who at first denied conflating Obamacare and Medicaid, but then shortly after had to admit they are in fact separate healthcare operations.

It doesn't matter what account the federal money comes from: whether you call it Medicaid or it comes out of some assigned risk pool among the insurance exchanges, where policy holders might get a premium subsidy, ultimately the money is extracted from taxpayers, borrowed on the bond market, and printed.  It's a Samaritan's Dilemma.  "When I'm feeling provocative I sometimes suggest that claimants of gratis emergency room services be charged with theft."  The Twitchy types are more charitable, at least where illegal aliens are concerned.  "They should be stabilized and then returned to their own country."

That, though, is the other side of the conundrum.  Emergency room physicians and assisting staff have the obligation to serve.  Because rationing by price is not permitted, and people cannot be turned away, what remains is rationing by waiting time.  "Is there a more effective way than rationing by waiting time to discourage inefficient use of the emergency room?"

That brings us to another set of challenges for another day, involving adverse selection among people who might have the means to purchase coverage and see their primary care physician regularly, but who instead choose to do without coverage and hope for the best, or for the charity of the emergency room.  The so-called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was supposed to fix that.  It didn't.  "How far must the unraveling go until our political masters consider trade-tested betterments?"

NOTICE OF LINE RELOCATION.

Typepad, which was one of the early subscription web log hosting services, ceased business at the end of September.  Retired North Carolina State economist Craig Newmark, not to be confused with the Craigslist Craig Newmark, has moved to a new site and continues to post.  Looks like he's managed to move the older posts to the new host.