Why cigarette sales rose last year for
first time in two decades
Posted By: NorthernDog, 10/27/2021 6:08:37 PM
New government data shows that sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products increased last year for the first time in two decades, raising concerns that pandemic-related stress spurred an uptick in smoking. Sales of the addictive, cancer-causing products have been trending downward for three decades amid an array of government anti-smoking programs. (Snip) Tobacco executives believe that stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment benefits have made a difference as well, as lower-income smokers have been able to buy in bulk when they go to the store. “Fewer social engagements allow for more tobacco-use occasions,” Billy Gifford, chief executive of Marlboro cigarette
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Why Patty Murray is irate at Joe Manchin
26 replies
Even in this white-hot partisan moment, the Senate is a pretty genteel place. Senators view themselves as part of a very elite club -- and tend to treat fellow members with kid gloves. Which is why what Washington Sen. Patty Murray (D) said on Wednesday about fellow Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin all the more eye-opening about the current state of affairs in the world's greatest deliberative body. "We're not going to let one man tell all the women in this country that they can't have paid leave," Murray said. What she was referring to was the apparent decision by the White
NAACP urging pro athletes in free agency
not to sign with teams in Texas over voting,
abortion laws 19 replies
not to sign with teams in Texas over voting,
abortion laws 19 replies
The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) issued a letter Thursday to all major players' associations calling for athletes in free agency to avoid signing with teams that are in Texas in response to the state's recently enacted voting laws and new restrictions to women's reproductive freedoms. "In response to the most recent attacks on voting rights and reproductive care, the Association sent an open letter to the National Players' Leagues, urging free agents to reconsider moving their families to a state that is not safe for anyone," said the NAACP in a press release. The two-page
Dock workers have long been working day and night to keep the supply chain running. But, since the pandemic started, COVID-19 shutdowns and surging demand have cast the ports into chaos - and workers say there's no end in sight. Insider spoke with 12 dock workers from across the US, including seven that work at ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach - locations responsible for over 40% of the nation's imports. The workers asked to remain anonymous to speak freely about their jobs, but their identities have been verified by Insider. Four longshoremen with more than 20 years of experience at
Economy grew just 2% in third quarter
as COVID-19 raged, supply chain snags
slowed deliveries 13 replies
as COVID-19 raged, supply chain snags
slowed deliveries 13 replies
The U.S. economy slowed substantially in the third quarter amid an armada of obstacles, including a surge in COVID-19 cases, supply-chain bottlenecks, rising consumer prices and the fading effects of federal stimulus measures. But with COVID cases now tumbling and vaccinations rising, most economists are branding the weak showing a soft patch in a still-robust recovery from the pandemic -induced recession, with a healthy rebound projected in the final months of the year. The nation’s gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S., increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2% in the
Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema sent political observers on the internet into a frenzy on Tuesday when she presided over the upper house of the United States Congress wearing a casual denim vest. The moderate Democrat who's been frustrating progressives and even her own party leadership over her opposition to parts of Joe Biden's Build Back Better agenda appeared in the Senate chamber yesterday afternoon in a black t-shirt dress and denim combo, surrounded by fellow lawmakers in suits and ties. Sinema is known for wearing eccentric outfits ranging from colorful wigs to a backpack and schoolgirl ensemble that she donned
New government data shows that sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products increased last year for the first time in two decades, raising concerns that pandemic-related stress spurred an uptick in smoking. Sales of the addictive, cancer-causing products have been trending downward for three decades amid an array of government anti-smoking programs. (Snip) Tobacco executives believe that stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment benefits have made a difference as well, as lower-income smokers have been able to buy in bulk when they go to the store. “Fewer social engagements allow for more tobacco-use occasions,” Billy Gifford, chief executive of Marlboro cigarette
MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan supports segregating those who are unvaccinated against the coronavirus and denying them access to basic goods and services. Remember, folks: It’s about public health. It’s definitely not a new-age religious cult whose most zealous adherents believe the path to salvation is through punishing the wicked “unbelievers.” Hasan’s comments in support of isolating the unvaccinated came this week in reference to public remarks made by left-wing luminary Noam Chomsky (he’s still alive, by the way).
Chomsky said this week during an interview with Curt Jaimunga that the issue of vaccine mandates — that is, forcing the unvaccinated
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is spinning a convoluted tale of an Amtrak conductor who congratulated him during his vice presidency for logging more miles riding the train home to Delaware than by flying on Air Force Two. “I apologize because some have heard this,” Biden told a crowd Monday in New Jersey, starting up a story he has repeated in various forms at least five times, dating back to the 2020 campaign. “I swear to God. True story,” he said Monday, for emphasis. But it’s a mangled one. By his own accounting, Biden’s Amtrak miles over the years only
Democratic leaders scrambling for an infrastructure vote this week to boost two Democratic gubernatorial candidates hit a brick wall Tuesday, when the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said liberals will oppose the popular public works bill until a larger benefits package is finalized. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) emerged from an hourlong meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) amplifying her long-held position: Progressives won’t support the bipartisan infrastructure bill, known as the BIF, before there’s agreement on every detail of the social spending package at the heart of President Biden’s domestic policy agenda. “Let’s vote both of them out at
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., blamed police for the recent rise in crime in Minneapolis, accusing the city's officers of not fulfilling their oath of office. "What we must also recognize is that the reduction in policing currently in our city and the lawlessness that is happening is due to two things," Omar said during a town hall event Saturday in Minneapolis. One of them, she said, is that "the police have chosen to not fulfill their oath of office and to provide the public safety they are owed to the citizens they serve." (Tweet) The lawmaker's comments come as violent
Release of Alec Baldwin-narrated Flint
water crisis doc postponed after fatal
prop gun shooting 16 replies
water crisis doc postponed after fatal
prop gun shooting 16 replies
FLINT, MI -- A British production company behind an Alec Baldwin-narrated documentary on the Flint water crisis is postponing a planned U.S. theatrical release after the actor shot and killed a cinematographer with a prop gun on the set of the film “Rust” last week. “FLINT: Who Can You Trust?” was scheduled to open in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, Oct. 29, followed by screenings in additional selected cities, and finally a Flint debut at the Flint Institute of Arts in mid-November. (Snip) Baxter, who also made the film “You’ve Been Trumped” about former President Donald Trump’s controversial
Biden released a 'National Gender Strategy,'
and it is every bit as ridiculous as it sounds 13 replies
and it is every bit as ridiculous as it sounds 13 replies
If the Babylon Bee had been asked to write a “National Gender Strategy” to be posted on the White House’s website, it wouldn’t look any different than the document the Biden administration actually released last Friday. The “fact sheet” contains every buzzword and policy that you would expect to hear from a progressive activist with a degree in gender studies. The four-page document begins by identifying “gender equity” as a “moral and strategic imperative.” Thanks to COVID-19, “we are at an inflection point,” the statement reads, as the pandemic has “magnified the challenges” that women and girls face — “especially
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
The Biden administration is considering paying out a whopping $450,000 per person to families separated at the southern border as it tries to settle lawsuits with migrants who say the policy caused them lasting psychological damage. Officials from the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services are considering the payments that could total close to $1 million for two people within the same family, people familiar told the Wall Street Journal. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the separated families, has identified about 5,500 children separated from parents at the border during the course of the Trump-era policy.
Breaking: Vatican Abruptly Cancels Live
Broadcast of Biden Meeting with Pope without Explanation 34 replies
Broadcast of Biden Meeting with Pope without Explanation 34 replies
President Biden had dropped everything, including dealing with multiple crises at home, to jet abroad to Europe for summits in Rome, Italy and Glasgow, Scotland, where presumably would be more popular than he currently is at home.But a strange thing happened on Thursday when the Pope suddenly canceled a live broadcast with the U.S. president without providing an explanation. The Washington Post reported on the odd occurrence:The Vatican on Thursday abruptly canceled the planned live broadcast of U.S. President Joe Biden meeting Pope Francis, the latest restriction to media coverage of the Holy See.
A Silicon Valley venture capitalist says that men who take six months of paternity leave are ‘losers’ and that ‘in the old days men had babies and worked harder to provide for their future’ which was ‘the correct masculine response.’Joe Lonsdale weighed into the raging debate sparked by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s decision to take paternity leave after he and his husband, Chasten, welcomed adopted twins into their family. Buttigieg was criticized for taking paid time off while the country continues to suffer from the effects of a major logjam at ports that has exacerbated the supply chain crisis.
Facebook changes company name to Meta
32 replies
Facebook on Thursday announced that it has changed its company name to Meta.
The name change, which was announced at the Facebook Connect augmented and virtual reality conference, reflects the company’s growing ambitions beyond social media with the metaverse, a classic sci-fi term Facebook, now known as Meta, has adopted to describe its vision for working and playing in a virtual world.
“Today we are seen as a social media company, but in our DNA we are a company that builds technology to connect people, and the metaverse is the next frontier just like social networking was when we got started,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.
The Trump effect is gathering steam
29 replies
As retrospection becomes ever more clear, knowledge of the impact of the Trump presidency has been taking form — especially when compared to the bunglers who came next. Perhaps most importantly, and without obvious intent, he managed to bring out the worst in his enemies. The U.S. will never be the same again.
For starters, let's look at Adam Schiff and Gerald Nadler. Once just off-the-rack hack politicians, now they're cartoons...of sleaze-ball villains. (snip) By provoking his opponents on the left into recklessly exposing themselves as the true villains they are, he has vaccinated the nation from becoming ever more infected with their nonsense.
President Joe Biden has postponed his flight to meet the Pope so that he can stay in Washington DC several hours longer, and try and convince his own party to back his infrastructure bill.Biden was due to fly to Rome early on Thursday, ahead of his Friday audience at the Vatican.The president, a lifelong Catholic, has pushed his flight back by several hours to try and secure a deal. He is still expected to meet Pope Francis on Friday, and hold a meeting with Emmanuel Macron, the French president.World leaders are gathering in Rome for the G20 meeting on the weekend. Biden will then travel to the UK for
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) touted Florida’s milestone of reaching the lowest coronavirus case rate in the nation on Wednesday, highlighting the “overreach” of vaccine mandates.
“Without mandates or lockdowns, COVID-19 cases in Florida have decreased 90% since August,” DeSantis said in a press release. “In addition to cases, hospitalizations have plummeted in our state.”
“This has been accomplished by making monoclonal antibody treatments and vaccines widely available throughout our state while protecting Floridians from government overreach,” he added.
t's been known for awhile that the honeymoon between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris has pretty much congealed.
In August, Kamala Harris was reportedly asking about how to get rid of failing old Joe: Jack Posbiec tweet: "Hearing K discussed the 25th tonight in a non-joking way for the first time" Now in October, Jill Biden, who's Joe's gatekeeper and Mrs. Wilson, reportedly is asking the same of Kamala (snip) If the report is true, that's some White House they've got there over in the Biden administration.
Biden Administration Denies Biological
Reality, Issues First Passport with ‘X’
Gender Option 27 replies
Reality, Issues First Passport with ‘X’
Gender Option 27 replies
The U.S. Department of State, which recently admitted to stranding even more Americans in Afghanistan than previously reported, proclaimed on Wednesday that the United States issued its first passport with an “X” gender designation. According to a report from the Associated Press, the action marks a “milestone” for the “rights of people” who do not identify with their biological reality. The “X” gender designation feature is expected to be offered on a wider scale by next year. (Tweet)“@StateDept continues to take steps to demonstrate our commitment to promoting the freedom, dignity, and equality of all people – including LGBTQI+ U.S. citizens,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price tweeted on Wednesday morning.
Why Patty Murray is irate at Joe Manchin
26 replies
Even in this white-hot partisan moment, the Senate is a pretty genteel place. Senators view themselves as part of a very elite club -- and tend to treat fellow members with kid gloves. Which is why what Washington Sen. Patty Murray (D) said on Wednesday about fellow Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin all the more eye-opening about the current state of affairs in the world's greatest deliberative body. "We're not going to let one man tell all the women in this country that they can't have paid leave," Murray said. What she was referring to was the apparent decision by the White
The Mankato, Minnesota school board is outrageously requiring parents to doxx themselves by stating their home address before they can speak at a meeting and they have, in essence, banned all criticism of school board officials as well.The chair of the board for Mankato Area Public Schools Jodi Sapp made the new rules crystal clear before calling on parents at an Oct. 18 forum. Parents were told they could speak for three minutes only if they gave their name and full address. They were also advised that they were prohibited from addressing individual school board members.“I just want to remind everybody this is a business meeting of the school board,
Minnesota suburb residents required to
disclose home address to speak at school
board meeting 21 replies
disclose home address to speak at school
board meeting 21 replies
The chairwoman of the Mankato, Minnesota, school board went viral earlier this week for a video in which she is seen telling parents who wish to speak that they are required to first announce their home address. The chairwoman, Jodi Sapp, is seen at an Oct. 18 meeting telling a man he will not be allowed to speak unless he announces his home address. The man first objects, citing security concerns, but ultimately agrees to the demand. The address cannot be heard in the video, but Sapp notably repeats the address to be sure that it is heard by the entire room.
Comments:
As suspected, lots of that stimulus money went for smokes and booze.