The State Department is investigating the whereabouts of a $5,800 bottle of whiskey the Japanese government gave to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2019, according to two people briefed on the inquiry and a document made public on Wednesday.
It was unclear whether Mr. Pompeo ever received the gift, as he was traveling in Saudi Arabia on June 24, 2019, the day that Japanese officials gave it to the State Department, according to a department filing on Wednesday in the Federal Register documenting gifts that senior American officials received in 2019. Such officials are often insulated by staff members who receive gifts and messages for them.
American officials can keep gifts that are less than $390. But if the officials want to keep gifts that are over that price, they must purchase them. According to the filing, the State Department said the bottle was appraised at $5,800.
The department also took the unusual step of noting that the whereabouts of the whiskey is unknown. Similar filings over the past two decades make no mention of any similar investigations.
First - a bottle of booze that costs $5,800? WTF are we doing? Seems like maybe there's a whole class of hucksters huckstering the hucksters - the parasitic rich are infested with parasites looking to get rich off the rich. That's one fuckin' ugly process.
Second - of course somebody pinched it. The Trump "administration" was a criminal enterprise and we can't reasonably expect that somebody wouldn't take advantage of an opportunity to steal something. It was not for nothing that Pompeo got the State Dept Inspector General fired.
Third - I get the appreciation for fine sprits. Some whiskeys are pretty amazing. But I think keeping a real-world perspective is kind of important. In the end, it's poison. The high end stuff can be a very pleasant way to toxify your brain, but it's still poison.
And in the morning, is there a big difference in the quality of your hangover?
No comments:
Post a Comment