Forget Detroit, let's all move to Italy. During the economic crisis, there were hundreds of stories written about distressed properties in Michigan. Now, in Sardinia, you can buy homes for $2. Of course, there are strings attached. As Thrillist reports: You can purchase one of the discounted homes as long as you commit to refurbish it within three years -- an undertaking that will likely set you back a cool $25,000. Still, good luck scoring a pied a terre of any kind and in any part of Italy for less than that. If you can work remotely, or want to retire, not a bad deal. Happy birthday Fred! Our esteemed executive editor turns 75 today. Read the write up at Politico on what Fred is doing to celebrate the big day. (Hint: basketball.) O Canada, our woke and native land ... Our neighbors to the north are making their anthem gender neutral. As my friend Chris Lawrence joked: "Canadian women and other non-cismale Canadians will now be required to have true patriot love." Out of order? Who the hell you think you're talking to? If Lt. Col. Frank Slade wanted to take a flamethrower to the Baird bums in 2018, Elon Musk would be there to help. The eccentric billionaire sold flamethrowers for $500 to raise money for his tunnel boring company. In just a few days, Musk sold all of them, raising $10 million. Called "The Boring Company", Musk joked “All flamethrowers will ship with a complimentary boring fire extinguisher." The horror of cell phones, predicted. Apparently, a 1920s cartoon predicted what mobile phones would be like. Minus, of course, the sexting. This is why Newsweek was busted. A few weeks ago, Newsweek was raided by the Manhattan DA's office. Now, we know why. They were buying internet traffic! Not only that, they had secured an ad deal with the embattled Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Raw uncovered meat sparks viral outrage. A grocer in San Diego is under fire after a photo posted by a customer went viral: A local San Jose grocery store is under investigation after a customer witnessed raw meat being transported in shopping carts. Loretta Seto happened to be on a routine shopping trip at 99 Ranch Market, a grocery store at Hostetter Road and Lundy Avenue in San Jose, hoping to pick up a few things for a weekend barbecue when she spotted two men delivering raw meat in Costco shopping carts at the front entrance. She says her initial reaction was to take photos of the incident which she later posted to Facebook as a warning to other shoppers. Of course, were the grocer a farmer's market, nobody would have batted an eye. In fact, it might have been Instagrammable. You never want to know how the sausage gets made, it seems. —Jim Swift, Deputy Online Editor Please feel free to send us comments, thoughts and links to dailystandard@weeklystandard.com. -30- |