US Politics: Stamping out Chauvinism

[Mlle. Zabzie]

11 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

According to several advertisements I've seen, today (4/20) is Cold Brew Coffee Day.  I shit you not, apparently some corporate overlords are trying to make that happen

Go get your extra points at Dunkin.

[ljkeane]

I happened to be near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on the 20th of April one year. That was, er, interesting.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

6 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

I happened to be near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on the 20th of April one year. That was, er, interesting.

Automatic contact buzz?

[ljkeane]

2 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Automatic contact buzz?

I was mostly being pretty boring sat in a pub to watch a football game but the number of people completely off their faces at like lunchtime on a Wednesday was fairly impressive.

[Raja]

To be fair, Cold brew is fucking great.

[Werthead]

 

[Zorral]

"We are the Anglo-Saxon caucus! Let us have maethlfrith! Let us have drihtinbeage!" by Alexandra Petri

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/19/real-anglo-saxon-america-first-caucus-marjorie-taylor-greene/

I include the final part here because it contains my favorite lines:

Quote

 

....Paul A. Gosar lifted his long arm, making merry with his mead

And unlocked his word-hoard, the treasure of his mind:

“What culture could we crave beyond the Dream of the Rood?

The Bede is Venerable enough for me. What man speaks against him?

We must revive the ancient American art of sitting by the sea lamenting the passing of our lord.

What could be more American than alliterative poetry about tearing the arm off Grendel,

Writ in a tongue none has spoke for a thousand year?

My thews are weary. We must take down this obelisk of stone and heave up a barrow

To give glory to our great Founders who have passed.

Ea-la! My kinsmen! Ea-la! A spear-bearing host!

Of the Constitution writ upon much vellum, we seek to know nothing.

We gaze with dour eyes upon the land of freedom and opportunity

Where voting happened even a limited amount

And representative government rules wheat-lands and peach-lands.

We long instead to exult in battle with our hammered blades,

Those classic American things that are very American.

America first, obviously! This all follows!”

And they clashed shield on shield, and a great shout went up.

Mail-shirt and sword resounded with a clang, and the caucus roared,

And the roar echoed where the sea-birds

Picked the carcass of the Republican Party.

 

Further hilarity ensues as one observes auto spell check desperately alerts the cut-and-paster poster to innumerable unacceptable spellings in an Ænglish text!

[DMC]

2 hours ago, Fez said:

I'm glad they're being ambitious; but let's get the bill currently being talked about passed first.

They promised to roll out the second part of the plan "in a few weeks" when they rolled out the first part a few weeks ago.

2 hours ago, Ormond said:

It seems very odd that we would be going that far in criminalizing tobacco at the same time the nation is moving toward decriminalizing marijuana.

Always agreed with this, but considering Biden's near-reactionary positions on marijuana for a Democrat at this point, at least he's somewhat consistent I suppose.

59 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

According to several advertisements I've seen, today (4/20) is Cold Brew Coffee Day.  I shit you not, apparently some corporate overlords are trying to make that happen

These days I'm surprised the day isn't being marketed aggressively as celebrating Hitler's birthday.

10 minutes ago, Werthead said:

 

This is in anticipation of the House vote on Thursday.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

48 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

I happened to be near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on the 20th of April one year. That was, er, interesting.

I’ve heard some people joke that Central Park looks like it’s on fire now that it’s been legalized in NY. Should be quite the sight to see today.

[IheartIheartTesla]

3 hours ago, larrytheimp said:

People will just smoke more to get the same fix.

One of the drivers towards getting people to quit was increasing the price of cigarettes (I think), this would be similar in concept. Still, passing the burden on to the consumer always leaves one a bit queasy.

[Kalbear]

Oh @Yagathai would have loved this

Quote

My thews are weary. We must take down this obelisk of stone and heave up a barrow

 

[Maithanet]

1 hour ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

One of the drivers towards getting people to quit was increasing the price of cigarettes (I think), this would be similar in concept. Still, passing the burden on to the consumer always leaves one a bit queasy.

I do think that the price of cigarettes is a deterrent to teenage smokers.  When you're 15 years old, 7 bucks for a pack is a helluva lot of money.  As you get older and more addicted, it's less of a deterrent and more just a regressive tax. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

I don't think your going to see any smokers voting Democrat next cycle. That's a big hornets nest Biden is poking, not sure it's wise.

[Fragile Bird]

25 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I do think that the price of cigarettes is a deterrent to teenage smokers.  When you're 15 years old, 7 bucks for a pack is a helluva lot of money.  As you get older and more addicted, it's less of a deterrent and more just a regressive tax. 

A pack of cigarettes is $15 here and a carton is $120 or $125.

[Fez]

16 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I do think that the price of cigarettes is a deterrent to teenage smokers.  When you're 15 years old, 7 bucks for a pack is a helluva lot of money.  As you get older and more addicted, it's less of a deterrent and more just a regressive tax. 

No need to think, it's well established at this point. The price elasticity of tobacco products for youth is somewhere between -0.5 and -1.5; with recent studies generally finding higher amounts. Meaning that every 1% increase in price leads to a reduction in use by between 0.5% and 1.5%. Average retail price for a pack in the US is $6.65; increase it by a $1 and you'll see youth use go down by around 15%, give or take a bit. Price elasticity for adults is lower, but not non-existent.

 

1 minute ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

I don't think your going to see any smokers voting Democrat next cycle. That's a big hornets nest Biden is poking, not sure it's wise.

Even if that were true, which is unlikely. It probably wouldn't have much of an impact. Other than maybe Michigan: https://www.cdc.gov/statesystem/cigaretteuseadult.html

Current tobacco product use in the US is down to 22.8%, and, in addition to be mostly concentrated in red states, it's also more concentrated among people more likely to be Republican: men, ages 26-49, with less than a college education, who are White (or Asian American actually). That's from the 2019 NSDUH detailed tables.

[DMC]

6 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

A pack of cigarettes is $15 here and a carton is $120 or $125.

A carton costs me $90.74 right now in PA.

3 minutes ago, Fez said:

Current tobacco product use in the US is down to 22.8%, and, in addition to be mostly concentrated in red states, it's also more concentrated among people more likely to be Republican: men, ages 26-49, with less than a college education, who are White (or Asian American actually).

Plus, ya know, this is going to be an insanely low salience issue for most smokers. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

49 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

I don't think your going to see any smokers voting Democrat next cycle. That's a big hornets nest Biden is poking, not sure it's wise.

There is an unavoidable class element that comes into play with smoking... those who are heavy smokers tend to be in the Trumpanista demographic already.

[Jaxom 1974]

So wait, what is DC going to be called if it was the 51st state? Douglass? Washington Douglass?  

[DMC]

3 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

So wait, what is DC going to be called if it was the 51st state? Douglass? Washington Douglass?  

The proposed name is "Washington Douglass Commonwealth" so it can continue to be called Washington DC, or just DC.

[Fez]

49 minutes ago, DMC said:

Plus, ya know, this is going to be an insanely low salience issue for most smokers. 

Also yes.