Yes and getting more cruel by the moment.
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Apathy fuels the crueltyâŚ
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We struggle with that everyday with the ensuing bans and restrictions. The only thing we can do is reiterate endlessly hoping for some tiny lightbulb to go off.
ETA: And donât forget that a blind eye is turned because of all the money being reaped in by the Big Tobacco Settlement fund. If they start seeing a profit off of the taxes theyâve imposed on ecigs/juice maybe theyâll change their tune. Not sure if thatâs going to happen, though.
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I hear you. And I know a lot of Americans see the benefit. The media have been so either bamboozled or briefed / paid off that they have absolutely brainwashed everyone. Itâs crazy.
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Yes, the media part, thatâs what ticks me off. It compels me to contact them with the truth and ask if they feel any iota of remorse for misinforming the masses. Hah, I dream. Never know though. If you get the right journalist who is interested in crossing the grain it could happen. Just donât know if it would make an impact. I imagine a good journalist would have to investigate the underpinnings of Big T and Big P and dig up documents.
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Dealt with that last week here in Northern California. It was frigging BRUTAL. Itâs since cooled off a bit, thankfully. When we moved from the Bay Area, it was a toss up between Paradise and Sedona, AZ(Back in the early 80âs before all of the hippies drove the property values through the roof) SO glad G-ma and G-pa decided to buy a motel in CA instead of a trailer park in AZ! After staying for a week, my grandfather remembered why he left the copper mines in Jerome for the Navy!
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âMany people would rather die than think; in fact, most do.â
Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth â more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible; thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. ~ Bertrand Russell (âWhy Men Fight: A Method of Abolishing the International Duel,â pp. 178-179)
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I mean if they ignore the ONLY guy doing research in Dr Farsilinos (sp?) then I canât think theyâre interested. Though I read some concern about his funding maybe - Iâd have to check. Everyone has funding issues who researches. Thereâs no such thing as funding thatâs âcleanâ. Just funding people donât disagree with.
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Excellent quote. Thanks for sharing.compels me to read that now.
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Youâre welcome.
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My personal fantasy is to have John Oliver cover it on âLast week tonightâ, get the âOliver bumpâ. Lets face it, he has covered seemingly more mundane subjects and made them entertaining and informative. With his crack team of investigators and a nudge from some of the influencers in the vape world, I think he could grab some attention.
And I can almost hear him in his English accent saying, âYou might think your brother in law STEVE is vaping clouds of buttercream blueberry nipples just to annoy you, and because it matches his samurai swords over the mantel and his pet ferret, but the truth in the matter is, as obnoxious as he may seem, he might just stick around longer because he switched from combustible cigarettes to halloween fog and small doses of nicotine. And there are are bigger forces at play here⌠Every state receives payments in the millions from big tobacco, etc etc etcâ.
A fella can dream.
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You got the Oliver-speak DOWN! 
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Poifect! I think you should call John 
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It would be great to see John Oliver do a segment on vaping. A wonderful suggestion !!
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Where can we compile all of the information in a ready to peruse, easy to get to the meat and potatoes format?
Iâd be happy to try and contact him.
I thought the doc âyou dont know nicotineâ was quite informative, would like more comprehensive coverage on the money states receive, could use a reminder of what that B.S. is called.
Charts on how much each state gets.
I can handle the PACT act part, oh heck any help wouldnât hurt nuthinâ.
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Oooh!
Joel hits it pretty hard right hereâŚ
You know what? The compilation of facts just might be right here on ELR.
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@Dardy I believe it was predicted in this historical document âŚ
Or wait, maybe it was THIS one âŚ
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Itâs called the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement
You can google what each state gets each year from the fund. The part that enrages us is that the states are supposed to use that money for smoking cessation and damages done to smokers but the states are using it for their own greedy needs.
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One thing to keep in mind about the MSA is that most of the states immediately issued bonds for that money. Many of those bonds are coming up for payment soon with interest. The money allocated was based on packs sold so vaping cut into that pile of cash in a big way and the crooks are pissed off about that. On top of that is the money lost on taxes for each pack so states are losing money on two ends.
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Whatâs worse is that some states(Including my home CA) have leveraged bonds on the future potential earnings from MSA payments. That means that they have a vested financial interest in making SURE THAT PEOPLE CONTINUE TO SMOKE TOBACCO. If that isnât blood money, I donât know what the hell is!
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