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Presidential Peril
I recall watching many westerns and detective programs on TV where criminals believed in their own innocence and righteousness. They could justify why they took the law into their own hands to achieve social justice or their own objectives be it land grabbing from innocent farmers or a revenge killing.
Now we have a former empire state prosecutor using the permission of the sitting president of the United States to “defend his client” in the Ukraine? More likely, according to the testimony of several credible top-level career officials, it was to persuade a the newly elected president of a nation under attack, the Ukraine, from a hostile neighbor, Russia, to investigate a political rival in exchange for releasing tax payer paid and congressionally approved military aid and an important sit down meeting in the US White House (to show US support). This is political and social extortion at the highest level of the US Executive Branch of government.
Millions of US dollars of military aid was deliberately stalled until the Ukrainian president could support the US presidents need to “dig up dirt” on his potential electoral political rival, even it it did not exist. This was all concocted to create any false campaign narrative in a desperate attempt to win re-election in 2020.
Of course, I am referring to Mr Rudy Giuliani, also former mayor of New York City during the 9-11 attack, US President Trump with his perverted sense of transparency, the integrity of Hunter Biden and therefor his father Joe Biden. Donald Trump thought that he could create a narrative of political corruption and favoritism. All of which fell apart very quickly. —Let us not forget the favoritism, shown to Donald Trump’s sons Don Jr. and Eric ostensibly running the Trump Corporation, and his daughter Ivanka and Jared Kushner, who office in the White House. Have any of these used their position for economic gain? Ivanka still runs her clothing line (and Trump ties) currently being manufactured in the Peoples Republic of China.
Meanwhile Jared Kushner is trying to bring peace to the Middle East while meeting with Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, also traveling to Quatar and Kuwait for some negotiations of what? Arms, capital financing, favors. And let us not forget that no rebuke was ever given to MBS for murdering Saudi-American journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in Turkey most likely with the collaborative eye and tacit permission of Turkish President Erdogan.
This is the same Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that Trump called the day before he ordered American troops out of Syria and is now invited to the White House. The same man who has subverted democracy in Turkey to consolidate power in his own hands. The same man who is buying major arms systems from Russia. Has Turkey, a NATO member, gone rogue? Good Reasons to invite Erdogan to visit the Trump White House?
Now Turkish and Russian troops have taken over northern Syria. Our Kurdish allies, whose intelligence gave the US the location of the ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, The same Kurds who fought the ground battle for the US troops and sacrificed 11,000 lives, 20,000 wounded to defeat ISIS, our military partners, who must now flee their homes for fear of death over an ancient fight with Turkey.
Who wins in this withdrawal strategy? 1. Syria, 2. Turkey and 3. Russia, who now is the new major military and political power in the Middle East. What a gift to Putin. The US has now sent troops to protect Syria’s oilfields from ISIS. These Syrian Oilfields were once protected by the Kurds.. The Syrians and their protector, the Russians may have something to say about this US presence. This US action has no clear military direction or allied support.
What is the true US policy and direction in the Ukraine, with Turkey and Russia? How is that all working? Apparently the US Department of State has been deliberately kept out of the loop for much of this diplomacy. Where is Secretary Pompeo in all of this? We have witnessed Trump diplomacy with his favorite dictators: Kim, Putin, Erdogan and Chairman Chi. Call it Trumpian diplomacy. Diplomacy from the White House that is totally ego-centered and perverted by power. Power corrupts. Those who do not want to uphold the Law of the Land, the US Constitution, and the democratic will of Congress will be subject to consequences. The Impeachment inquiry is getting serious.
Conclusion: Faux paus in the Ukraine, Syria, his Russian business relations, Russian election interference in 2016, failed North Korean negations , China Trade War, business lawsuits, years of tax evasion, six bankruptcies, not to mention his personal affairs (not including his second wife), gropings, payoffs, NDA agreements this is the world of Donald Trump. His level of OBSTRUCTION has become monstrous in proportion when you combine his personal and political life. Why? What does does Trump have to hide?This president has little, if any, integrity, honor, or morality. His mendacity is matched only by his awkward demand for loyalty, when he is the least loyal individual in his own administration. He is only shows fake loyalty when he can leverage it in his favor. The only reality he knows is the one he fabricates for his own protection or aggrandizement like when he puffs out his chest and proclaims his own genius. He has lied to himself and all others in his sphere of influence. Those who kowtow to his persona, will eventually fall away when the truth is revealed.
I believe that President Trumps does operate out of his own created reality. This has resulted in many political distortions, almost all on his Republican followers. Who is determining the correct course for this country? —The USA will become a perverse shadow of a true democratic republic if this Trumpian trend is unchallenged. Donald Trump is an unprecedented threat to the USA and to the world. Perhaps, Trump is an unwitting pawn to the global political mechanizations of Russian President Putin. President Putin is an adversary, who is not above using “compromat”*or any other tool in his quiver to shift global power in favor of Russia (and possibly reconstituting the USSR). Putin has a longbow to target his objectives, Trump is asking for favors. Putin is playing three-dimensional global chess, while President Trump is still playing one- dimensional checkers.
Reference*FREE Penthouse, Part II, The Ringmaster.
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The State of the Union
I am tired of this great country having partisan middle school mindset about its politics and actions, name calling, exaggerated hyperbole, divisiveness, and intentional misinformation produced by the puerile consciousness of mainly one man.
Hopefully the past election will change the make-up and nature of present past politics. This country needs professional statesmanship, common sense, and humanitarian governance. Myopic national office holders should be a way of the past. The United States of America needs real dedicated patriotic, informed leadership.
It should not matter if one is a Republican, Democrat or Independent. Democratic governance in a Republic should be a cooperative dialectic process. A process where the people have a non-gerrymandered choice of their elected representatives in Congress. And Congress can work cooperatively among themselves and with an Executive Branch on behalf of all the people.
Congress should be as intended in the US Constitution a law making body that finds the better solution to social, economical, financial, health care and environmental issues.
During the Clinton Administration our country has run askew of these principles. Political party bickering has cost this country global respect, caused a recession in 2008, blocked budget confirmations, and much more. The Clinton administration left this country in the black, financially solid. Several Middle East wars later, and poor economic policy drowned the US in debt. Poor regulatory money management in an impending economic crises caused a recession. Fortunately, good economic policy under Obama led to a recovery.
However, once again, poor, myopic economic policy is starting to drain the fiscal life blood out this once great country. China own our debt, international trade, health care costs, and financial stress, are causing citizens to suffer. Our lives may be currently acceptable, but I fear, rising costs, increased poverty among millennials, retired middle class and home bound veterans. Inflation is coming.
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The State of the Union
I am tired of this great country having partisan middle school mindset about its politics and actions, name calling, exaggerated hyperbole, divisiveness, and intentional misinformation produced by the puerile consciousness of mainly one man.
Hopefully the past election will change the make-up and nature of present past politics. This country needs professional statesmanship, common sense, and humanitarian governance. Myopic national office holders should be a way of the past. The United States of America needs real dedicated patriotic, informed leadership.
It should not matter if one is a Republican, Democrat or Independent. Democratic governance in a Republic should be a cooperative dialectic process. A process where the people have a non-gerrymandered choice of their elected representatives in Congress. And Congress can work cooperatively among themselves and with an Executive Branch on behalf of all the people.
Congress should be as intended in the US Constitution a law making body that finds the better solution to social, economical, financial, health care and environmental issues.
During the Clinton Administration our country has run askew of these principles. Political party bickering has cost this country global respect, caused a recession in 2008, blocked budget confirmations, and much more. The Clinton administration left this country in the black, financially solid. Several Middle East wars later, and poor economic policy drowned the US in debt. Poor regulatory money management in an impending economic crises caused a recession. Fortunately, good economic policy under Obama led to a recovery.
However, once again, poor, myopic economic policy is starting to drain the fiscal life blood out this once great country. China own our debt, international trade, health care costs, and financial stress, are causing citizens to suffer. Our lives may be currently acceptable, but I fear, rising costs, increased poverty among millennials, retired middle class and home bound veterans. Inflation is coming.
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#Walled IN
Today, my wife asked me, “Why doesn’t Congress just solve two problems with one initiative? —Kill two birds with one stone.—Make the Chinese Trade War disappear and contract out the construction of a border wall. All with one stroke of the pen. Just ask the Chinese to build the Great Wall of Trump along the border of Mexico.”
Yes, it sounds preposterous and unrealistic, but no more realistic than adding to the existent 649 miles of fencing created by George W. Bush (43), who signed the #Secure Fence Act of 2006. Which secured all the critical areas of the border. However, from fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year 2015, the U.S.-Mexico border fence had been breached 9,287 times, at an average cost of $784 per breach to repair. People also used ladders, ropes and tunnels to circumvent the barrier. Some Mexicans swam the Rio Grande only to arrive at many miles of dessert and faced dehydration until they were rescued by the border patrol.
Agreed there are also some bad actors, most drug dealers, they have also used tunnels, submarines, public and private airplanes and helicopters, cargo ships. The vast majority of illegal drugs (an estimated 90%) come in through our sea and airports. In actuality our US-Mexico border crossings are well secured. Customs and border agents, drug dogs, electronic surveillance create a good net to catch and seize most drug and human trafficking.
Technology is the better answer to detect illegal border crossings. Tunnels can be detected using ground penetrating radar. Surveillance can be added with cameras and drones. Helicopter support over the desert regions is imperative. Most of this was put in place by Obama, "The Deporter in Chief"who humanely deported approximately 300,000 illegal aliens annually from Mexico than any previous president (and twice as much as President Trump.) However, currently 12,000 immigrant minors are still being held in detention.
The Republican Party's 2012 platform called upon the "double-layered fencing.” Alright, but at what cost. I have heard estimates from $4.1 Billion to $50 Billion for a 55 foot 2000 mile wall. Like my wife said the Chinese are good at building walls, but the US tax payer is going to pay for something that is of questionable necessity with current available and future technology. That money could be better spent on infrastructure, education, and disaster relief.
The US also needs to place more effort in utilizing North American resources and working with governments in this hemisphere to solve problems. Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have economic and political problems. Perhaps create a political alliances with those countries and a limited Marshall Plan to boost local economies would retain more of their people, who would rather make a good living in the place where they were born. And if gangs are a problem, lend those countries some of our police force as consultants. We need to solve the root cause and invest in alliances not build a wall to protect our differences. Meanwhile, the US could build a facility in Mexico that would enhance the facilitation of legitimate asylum seekers instead of criminalizing them.
Last February 2018, #Senator John McCain introduced a bill with bipartisan support, a coalition Democrats and Republican liked this bill. This bill offered $25 Billion as a package to build border fencing, strengthen border security, provide for immigration reform and provide amnesty for "Dreamers" (DACA), about 12 million individuals who were born in Mexico, but were brought up in the USA, educated in the USA, and often served in the US military. At the time it was rejected by resident Trump.
At this point, I believe that the White House needs to be figuratively Walled In. Constrained by the opinion of the people, the Congress and the Department of Justice. Our priority should be in getting the government running again. 35 government agencies, 800,000 loyal government employees, some of which could lose their homes, are at risk. The American public is at risk as The US Border patrol, TSA, and other parts of Homeland Security, Air Traffic Controllers, the Treasury Department (IRS and FBI), Housing and Urban Development, the FDA the Veterans Administration are all affected. ---The Trump Border wall MUST be considered and evaluated as a separate issue. Too many people, the elderly, farmers are feeling the ripple effect of this massive government shutdown.
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The Road to Geo Chaos
#Secretary of Defense James Mattis, a four star marine general with 50 years of military and government service to his country has resigned. While this might seem inconsequential it is not. He was a stand for working with our NATO allies and confronting our enemies. During Operation Desert Storm the US worked with 70 (including Russia, thanks to George H W Bush, 41) other countries to oppose Sadam Hussein. Now the US is alone in its military decision making. Who is in charge? Can we trust Vladimir Putin, the chess master?
This is a geo-political chess game. The Russians are masters at geo-political chess. Now the mantel has fallen to Vladimir Putin. His worst nightmare came in 1989 when the USSR crashed due to western economic pressure. The USSR lost all of its dominance over other countries and peoples. Who were they? A little history.
In March 1941, Josef Stalin had accepted about $130,000,000,000.00 (appx. $2 trillion in today's money, some of it repaid) from the US, Canada and UK in food, materials, American steel, sheet metal, artillery guns, and more under the Lend Lease Program, to start an Eastern Front to confront German aggression into Poland and Russia. Hitler’s German troops wearing Summer uniforms were defeated by the severely harsh Russian Winter. Stalin, armed his troops with US money, built tanks and howitzers and drove westward taking the people, their governments and cultures of several countries.
Since 1945, a Cold War was initiated by Stalin, an Iron Curtain went up to separate the countries called the Western Alliance that now included West Germany. The Baltic countries, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Eastern Germany, were held hostage and Stalin created the created the Iron Curtain, behind which was the USSR. A great coup for Stalin. Not so much for Eastern Europe. The Cold War, the risk of nuclear mutual annihilation ensued.
Additional changes were made to the Soviet Union group throughout the year, until the final group was announced in 1956. By then, 15 countries were annexed by Russia and became part of the USSR: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Russia was the most powerful of all the republics, and the one maintaining control over the territory and the main political decisions. The thirst for power and control perhaps started by Catherine the Great, then but continued with Lenin, Stalin and now Putin.
Back to the present. I ask again can Vladimir Putin be trusted. Today he stated the “Donald is doing the right thing” in removing US troops from Syria. Also, it no secret that Putin feels it his destiny and duty to reestablish the glory of the USSR. While Donald was playing Monopoly, building his failed casinos in Atlantic City, Putin's initiated his first chess move, he started with building up his own military. Then his second chess move in 2014, lost in 1856 following Crimean War, the reclaiming of port and shipyard of Sevastopol in the Crimea, (Catherine the Great's warm Black Sea southern port for the Russian navy.)
After 2009, after six (6) US bankruptcies The Trump Organization was desperate for money to maintain his empire and for expansion borrowed lots of money from Russian Banks that Putin has influence over. Putin's third chess move, a reversed Lend Lease program with the #Trump Organization. However, with the Russian banks holding the notes for many of his properties including very possibly, the Trump Tower in New York. Perhaps, #The Trump Organization. may even have been persuaded to do some money laundering through the Russian Real Estate Firm located just below the Russian Bank, which is just below the Trump Corporation in the New York Trump Tower. Putin’s fourth chess move, support Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Then Putin could influence American Presidential decision making in his favor. With geo-political disruption to distract the West, Putin would have less opposition to his ambitions.
Perhaps Putin was thinking that with a weakened NATO and the US looking the other way no longer supporting NATO. He could take the rest of the Ukraine. Also, with the US out of Syria he could create chaos in the Middle East. Syria has become part of the Russian sphere of influence with Bashar as its puppet dictator. This would allow Iran greater influence in Syria and threaten Israel within a matter of years.
Not only is pulling our troops of #Syria a military strategic folly, but like in Iraq, it will give ISIS, with a current estimated army of 20-30,000, a chance to regroup and threaten Iraq and the rest of the world. —It is also an extraordinary betrayal of the Syrian and Kurdish people. The often violent and radical dictator “President” Erdogan of Turkey (whom Trump admires)will be able to wipe out his Kurdish opposition. The same Kurdish people who fought so hard to support the US in fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria. This will be the third time that the US has betrayed the Kurds. This is also a betrayal of our NATO and regional allies. The US will also be drawing down troops in Afghanistan, allowing the Taliban and ISIS to grow and again topple the Afghani government. These actions are being taken without any NATO, Pentagon, or consultation with regional allies. We can not be globally, indifferent. That would be geo-politically and militarily ruinous to any future collaboration.
President Trump has not been taking advice from the Secretary of Defense or the Pentagon. President Trump is giving free hand to Russia in Syria and Iran’s shiite nation. Global chaos starting in the Middle East could be with us in a matter of two years. With Defense Secretary James Mattis leaving, a voice of reason will be absent. With John Kelly Leaving there is no limit to President Trumps whims based on “his gut” or the advice of the only global leader he is willing to give respect, Vladimir Putin. The only conclusion that can be reached is that President Trump has been compromised. With Mattis and Kelly gone, both the left and right rails beneath the Trump train of the Executive Branch of government have fallen off. Do you trust Putin? Do you trust Trump? SUPPORT #ROBERT MUELLER, WE NEED TO KNOW ALL THE FACTS.
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Paradise, California
Paradise, California, reduced to ash in deadly wildfire, was everything its name implies: charming, friendly and historic. Two of my best friends lived in Paradise since 1965, nestled in a valley between the Sierra Nevada and Coastal mountain ranges.
Here is a published article by the Associated Press.
By MARTHA MENDOZA - Associated Press
Friday, November 16th 2018, 09:56 am EDT
PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — There's a sweet legend about this town: On a blazing summer day in the 1850s, a lumber mill crew with wagon and ox took a break under a grove of tall evergreens. The air was cool, the pine needles fragrant. "Boys," said the team boss, "this is paradise."
Thus, more than 170 years ago, Paradise was born. From the start, it was enriched with gold mined from nearby hills and lumber harvested from the forests. Over generations, thousands lived and loved here; they built homes and businesses, schools and houses of worship, parks and museums that proudly honored Paradise's place in American history.
In a matter of hours last week, it all disappeared.
Nearly 9,000 homes. Hundreds of shops and other buildings. The Safeway supermarket. The hardware store. The Dolly-O-Donuts & Gifts, where locals started their day with a blueberry fritter and a quick bit of gossip.
This town of 27,000 literally went up in smoke in the deadliest, most destructive wildfire in California history. The death toll, for now, is 63, but many more are missing. And memories are all that's left for many of the survivors.
Driving past the smoldering ruins of downtown, Patrick Knuthson, a 49-year-old, fourth-generation local, struggled to make sense of what he was seeing. He pointed out places that once were, and were no more: a saloon-style pub, his favorite Mexican restaurant, a classic California motel, the pawn shop, a real estate office, a liquor store, the thrift center and auto repair shop, the remodeled Jack in the Box burger outlet, entire trailer parks.
At the ruined Gold Nugget Museum, the ground was crunchy and hot, a few birds chirped nearby, and a half dozen soot-covered deer stood eerily still under a blackened tree.
Paradise was a town where families put down roots, and visitors opted to stay. Children could bike to the park, go fishing in the town pond, shoot bows and arrows at the nearby archery range. As they got older, they'd kayak in the canyons or hike in the forests after school.
"We could tell the kids to go outside and play, and be back when the street lights come on," said Kaitlin Norton, whose uncle is still missing. She does not know if her home still stands.
Like all places, Paradise had problems. There were issues with addiction and poverty, but residents felt safe. And while prices were rising, it was still affordable for many in a state where housing costs have soared.
"You would never miss a meal here," said Terry Prill, 63, who often sought lunch and dinner at community churches. "The people are good people. They don't look down at you."
The pace was relaxed. Neighbors waved to each other in the morning, shouting hello as they headed off to work on tree-lined, winding streets and cul-de-sacs. Families kept tidy gardens and planted vegetables, trading their bounty up and down the block.
Louise Branch, 93, says Paradise was a lovely place to retire. "It's a slow town, really. People have yards and dogs," she said. "I especially liked it in the fall when the trees are full of color."
Parks burst with bright orange California poppies and wildflowers in the spring, and soften with light snow in the winter. At 2,500 feet, on a ridge that rises above deep canyons carved by the Feather River and Butte Creek, Paradise offers cool respite from hot, dry weather in the valleys below.
Spanning the creek was the Honey Run Covered Bridge, built in 1886. It was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 and was the only covered bridge in America with three unequal sections. It, too, is gone.
Glenn Harrington raised two sons in Paradise. He found it so picturesque he started the Visions of Paradise page on Facebook; image after image chronicles the town's history and spirit, its seasonal colors and its many festivals.
Each spring there were Gold Nugget Days, marking the discovery of a 54-pound lump in 1859. The Donkey Derby in nearby Old Magalia would get silly, as locals recreated how miners heaved the famous chunk of gold into town. The highlight was a parade of homemade floats.
"My daughter's going out for the Gold Nugget Queen this year," said Krystin Harvey, whose mobile home burned down. "Well, it's been going for 100 years, but we don't know — there's no town now."
In the fall they'd celebrate Johnny Appleseed days, gathering at the recreation center for a crafts fair and games. This is when Paradisians would feast on more than 1,000 pies baked with fruit from Noble Orchards, a nearly century-old farm on Paradise Ridge where trees were heavy with cherries, nectarines, pluots and 17 varieties of apples.
"Paradise is everything the name implies," said Tom Hurst, 67, who grew up there and raised horses at his 7-acre Outlaw's Roost ranch. He has relatives in the local cemetery dating back to the early 1900s, and he refuses to talk about the town in the past tense. In fact, some buildings still stand, among them the town hall, the 750-seat performing arts center, the Feather River Hospital, its newer sections damaged but intact.
"Don't use the word 'was,' use the word 'is,' because we ain't done, we're just getting restarted," Hurst said.
And yet, there's so much to mourn.
A month ago, the Paradise Symphony was rehearsing for the local "Nutcracker" ballet, and kids were pulling out their skates as the outdoor ice rink was set to open for the winter. The Paradise Post reported that fifth graders were building cardboard arcade games, and warned of backyard bats with rabies.
Now, crews search for live power lines and gas leaks. Rescue teams continue to pull human remains from cars and homes. Fire crews tamp out smoking piles, and a heavy layer of gray-brown haze hangs over the town.
The toxic, smoky air is a visceral reminder of what's missing in this place where the skies were so blue by day, and dark by night.
"The most cherished thing for me about Paradise were the summer nights my mother and I would sit out on the porch under the clear, starry night," said Harold Taylor, who moved to Paradise eight years ago, caring for his mother until she died.
Patrick Knuthson said visitors always were amazed by the glittering stars and the meteor showers, brilliant streaks of light that shot across the summer skies.
"We used to tell people all the time, 'We made sure to turn all of them on for you,' " he said. "It's going to take a long time to get that back."
___
Associated Press journalists Jocelyn Gecker contributed from San Francisco and Gillian Flaccus contributed from Paradise.
___
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Coffee Grounds
Charles Schultz, the author of “Peanuts” lived on Coffee Street in Sebastopol, California. So he named his home/estate “Coffee Grounds.” What to do with left over coffee grounds? Here are some more uses:
1. Mulch. Toss your used coffee grounds into you plant pots. The dark color soak up the heat like an insulator, the natural nutrients you placed in the soil will warm and disperse into the soil and absorbed into the roots of your plants. You will have healthier plants.
2. Deodorizer. Simply place your used coffee grounds and place them into your refrigerator or freezer. Works similarly to baking soda.
3. Repellant. I have not tried this myself, but it isworth trying. If you wish to keep cats and some other pests out of your garden, mix used coffee grounds with used orange peels and spread in your front planter. If you try this formula, I would like to hear from you.
Tags: Charles Shultz, Coffee grounds, deodorizor, mulch, pest repellant
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Battle Grounds on Main Street
The latest Battleground on capitalistic Main Street is what some people like to call the Coffee Wars. This divide is clearly more a battle about revenue brought in by frothed milk, whipped cream and syrup than about coffee. McDonald’s is promoting its McCafe line of espresso/milk-based beverages. While Starbucks, the coffee shop chain that brought the Mocha Latte to Main Street. They reminded me of Edusco Coffee Bars on the street corners of many European cities.
The battlefront that seems to have escaped much comment so far, however, is how the caffeinated beverages themselves stack up. Frothed milk can be frothed in different ways, some syrups are better than other syrups, and the drinks can be assembled differently. Finally, coffee is buried in the drink somewhere, and its character and quality does have an impact on how much pleasure we take in all of the milk and the syrups.
McDonald’s has even brought wireless Internet connections to their fast food venues. In my town McDonald’s and Starbucks are directly across the street from one another. Staring each other down across the double yellow line.
Compare The Favorites.
A sampling of hot, espresso/milk-based beverages in two McDonald’s locations offering the new McCafe menu, and the similar four beverages at two nearby Starbucks locations.
The choices: A cappuccino, cafe latte, cafe mocha (espresso, frothed milk and chocolate syrup) and caramel latte. Sampling the modest, twelve-ounce size of each of the four beverages (“tall” at Starbucks, “small” at McDonald’s). The assumption was that by attentively sampling the these four favorites one could get a general idea of how the programs generally compare for the man or woman on Main Street.
The trade-off is price. McDonald’s is less costly: about 16% to 19% less for the cappuccinos and cafe lattes that were sampled, 26% less for the cafe mocha.
So on to the test: Are you likely to find 16% to 27% more pleasure in your caffeine kick at Starbucks than you would in the less expensive versions at McDonald’s?
What Does It All Mean?
It appears that at this front of the war you get what you pay for, particularly when it comes to caffeinated drinks that include syrups and whipped cream.
Although we preferred the more intense Starbucks cappuccino to the milkier McDonald’s version, many consumers understandably may prefer the McDonald’s. The difference in cafe lattes was subtle, perhaps not worth fussing over for most taste buds, although we found the Starbucks version more palatable.
However, the superiority of the Starbucks versions of caffè mocha and caramel latte was dramatic, and significant, given consumer preference for espresso beverages involving added syrups. From observation, Starbucks simply used considerably better quality syrups and whipped cream and added them with a more gourmet-like hand.
Finally, are you buying the caffeine or that extra flavoring? It appears that the darker roasted, sharper Starbucks espresso blend would favor the caffeine addict. Starbucks contributed a tastier and more complex coffee flavor to the milk and flavorings than did the apparently sweeter, more syrup laden McDonald’s blend.
However, do not sell McDonald’s short. They have just begun their program and their flavorings or lower price points are appealing to many parents who pop in to give their youngsters a McBreakfast.
Tags: battle ground, caffe latte, caffe mocha, capachino, coffee wars, McDonalds
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