Off with his head!
Oh, wait, wrong country. To the brig with him.
Ben, Ben, Ben. You were a man of so many random skills and interests. We were lucky to have you around.
Not far off the mark. Ben Franklin as American Ambassador in France prior too the French Revolution enjoyed his position of crapulence as they (France) intended too emulate Americaâs Revolution from Monarchy.
I could say more but I fear the internetâs supercilious trolls. Although the one book I read (joke) about it is Jay Winikâs The Great Upheaval. An insightful read.
Fair point - though by and far they had no quarrel with us and were more interested in antagonizing the British in supporting our revolution.
{shakes some troll-b-gon for good luck}
Did our so-called leaders read some history books and think âthis time round, we can totally pull it offâ?
Plus ça change, indeed.
Pretty sure âcrapulenceâ doesnât mean what you think it does.
Ben Franklin acting on those 13 letters later left (arranged) America for France after the Privy Council hearing, and beyond Englandâs reach too pursue support against England.
That 2 âinnocent gentlemenâ were escape goats is not unusual, set as examples against the âfree thinkersâ.
Tangent warning; While in France he may have articulated said letters too revolutionary factions or inadvertently spelt out intentions of âThe Englishâ for repression and the whole of France went up in fire as the kindle was dry and right for a spark. Called the âprime moverâ of Bostonâs insurgents and charged with being a âtrue incendiaryâ. Perhaps the grand old man had a silver tongue (good media) having a hand in two countries revolutions.
I intend too mean living an excessive life style, compared too the average individual, the man was in the 1 per cent. But that is only based on what I have read.
Iâm surprised thatâs actually a cromulent word. Learn something new every day.
Ben Franklin was deeply involved in the espionage of the American Revolution.
He fed both sides intelligence. Only Ben knows why.
His own son was a loyalist, and Ben knew his son was spying on him.
He was also a music and literature pirate, and made a fortune off that.
Yep! Ben was the first Snowden. And Jefferson the first secessionist. Everything they intended and did and fought for was the precise antithesis of this that we see now. This isnât about finding parallels or making comparisons - itâs a continuation of that very same story. Some government establishment dust-up hasnât simply interrupted our comfy lives - their whole point was that actual armed conflicts will come and go, but the Revolution is never supposed to be over.
Not one of us chose to be surveilled and spied upon, not one of us voted to allow secret courts. Thatâs how you can tell. Itâs one thing when we simply disagree, but another when we were given no choice.
Heh, yeah guess so. But when they land they esplode.
Many things can be said about Ben Kranklin. I like his kite/key string routine. Of course its shocking. W/E.
What can we presume about whistle blowers? Well, if you are well off and have the backing of the Free Masons in 18th century America, you were good to go.
I keep my escape goats with my unicorns. Takes symbiosis to a whole new level.
Franklin on his security strategy during the negotiations with the French (source The First American; The LIfe and Times of Benjamin Franklin by H. W. Brands
New York: Doubleday, 2000):
"As it is impossible to discover in every case the falsity of pretended friends who would know our affairs; and more so to prevent being watched by spies, when interested people may think proper to place them for that purpose, I have long observed one rule which prevents any inconveniences from such practices.
âIt is simply this: to be concerned in no affairs that I should blush to have made public, and to do nothing but what spies may see and welcome. When a manâs actions are just and honourable, the more they are known, the more his reputation is increased and established. If I was sure, therefore, that my valet de place was a spy, as he probably is, I think I should probably not discharge him for that, if in other respects I liked himâŚâ
âIf the rascals knew the advantage of virtue, they would become honest men out of rascality.â
Mr Franklin was really cool 
Iâm still willing to bet he would object to his enemies collecting, say, video of him getting intimate with the missus.
The word I think youâre looking for is opulent. âExcessiveâ in the case of crapula means âenough to make the person indulging sickâ - as opposed to âcausing moral outrage on the part of observersâ.
Other people may envy an opulent lifestyle; a crapulent lifestyle evokes pity at best.
Considering that he and his Deborah spent about 18 years of their marriage apart from each other, Franklin might have enjoyed having some remembrance of his sex life, even if it came from a spy. Although Franklin was notorious for flirting with women throughout his life. Whether he went any farther than flirtation is a very open question.
I think it was BF who said, âAll cats are grey in the dark.â
I remember we had a record album that was all theatrical readings of classical erotica. That was where I heard it.
Anyway, olâ BF certainly had a functional libido!
