-
Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Dec 7, 2016
December 7, 2016
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. -
It's Pearl Harbor Day
Know who your friends really are at 7:55 am. Today marks 75 years since the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941... "a day which will live in infamy" as then-President Roosevelt called it. The attack killed 24-hundred people and wounded another 12-hundred, while destroying eight of the battleships and a bunch of the cruisers in the Pacific fleet.
Nowadays, Japan is our fourth largest trading partner; they sell us around $129 billion worth of products including vehicles, machinery, electrical machinery, optical and medical instruments and Organic Chemicals (in 2011, the latest year you can get the data for). We sell them around $66 billion bucks worth of products.
As for Pearl Harbor, the oil is still bubbling out of the hull of the USS Arizona. More than one million people still visit the memorial annually, and the 45-hundred tickets available each day through the US National Park Service are often gone by mid-morning, so if you're headed out there, make sure you buy 'em early.
And by the way, earlier this year, PRESIDENT OBAMA traveled to Japan, marking the first time a US President has visited the city of Hiroshima since the US dropped an atomic bomb there in 1945.
Yesterday, Japan's Prime Minister SHINZO ABE said he plans to take a trip to Pearl Harbor later this month with President Obama. This would be a similar historical highlight, since it'll mark the first time a Japanese leader has visited Pearl Harbor since Japan's sneak attack there.Sweetening the Pot:
Coffee addicts might soon be able to satisfy another addiction at the same time.
A California company called Brewbudz says they're developing single-serving coffee pods that also contain marijuana. The $7-dollar pods will contain 10-milligrams of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. A stronger version of the pod will have as much as 50-milligrams for medicinal purposes.
The "West Coast Roast" will reportedly allow users to "wake and bake." BrewBudz Vice President JEFFRY PAUL says, "It's an opportunity to bring together two different rituals in life."
The company plans to launch the product in Nevada and Colorado starting in January. They'll expand sales California, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona in Spring. (Still)Using negatives as a positive:
You knew this was coming --the Hollywood Reportersays the realtors in charge of selling and renting out properties in the New York White House --Trump Tower-- are now advertising the Secret Service agents (which must clear everybody who goes into the building) as the hot "new amenity" there.
The listing it appeared in was an e-mail to prospective buyersfor a one bedroom, 1.5 bathroom condo on the 31st floor that is currently for sale for $2.1 million dollars. (cough, cough!).
And don't think this will change when Trump moves to the White House in Washington, DC, since The Donald's wife, MELANIA, and their son, BARRON are reportedly staying at Trump Tower so that Barron can finish school in the Big Apple.Grace notes from Vinny Marino:
OK, headbangers, your gravelly voices have been heard! Say hello to the Hall of Heavy Metal History! The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame tends to ignore anything that goes to 11, so a bunch of metalheads got together and started up the non-profit organization.
The Class of 2017 has nine inductees: the late RONNIE JAMES DIO; OZZY OSBOURE, WHITESNAKE & QUIET RIOT bass player RUDY SARZO; Quiet Riot drummer, FRANKIE BENALI; the late LEMMY of MOTORHEAD; MANOWAR guitarist ROSS "The Boss" FRIEDMAN; BLACK SABBATH and DIO drummer, VINNIE APPICE; DEEP PURPLE and RAINBOW keyboard player DON AIREY; the late Ozzy Osbourne guitarist RANDY RHODES; and, ANDY ZILDJIAN, President & CEO of Sabian Cymbals.
Quiet Riot's "Metal Health" album will be honored on its 33rd anniversary for being the first metal album to top the Billboard 200 Albums chart. The induction ceremonies will happen January 18th at the Anaheim Expo Center in Anaheim, California. (Marino) -
-