Day: October 28, 2021

Covid Side Effect

Closing Thought–28Oct21

I know….I know…..there has been TMI on the pandemic….I mean ….really?

I decider that this side effect should be reported since the government spent decades convincing the public that this ‘addiction’ was ruining our health…..

The side effect I speak of is smoking.

The pandemic wasn’t good for America’s lungs in more ways than one. CNN reports that cigarette sales ticked up for the first time in two decades, per the FTC’s annual Cigarette Report. The increase was a nominal one—just 0.4%—but it marks a reversal in the downward trend we’ve been seeing since 2000. In 2020, some 203.7 billion cigarettes were sold to wholesalers and retailers in America, up by 8 million from 2019. Smokeless tobacco sales also inched up, from 126.0 million pounds in 2019 to 126.9 million pounds in 2020.

The FTC report didn’t provide any theories on the uptick, but CNN reports the rise aligns with other changes in consumer behavior during the pandemic, such as increased consumption of alcohol. NPR flags an April 2020 report from Bloomberg that noted Q1 sales for Marlboro-maker Altria were up due in part to “bulk purchases—what the company calls ‘pantry loading,'” suggesting consumers were stocking up on more than toilet paper. But NPR reports the trajectory isn’t likely to stay upward. Nielsen data suggests that is the case, with Bloomberg reporting that for the four-week period ending Oct. 9, cigarette volumes were down 9.4% as compared to the same time last year.

Booze and smokes are a side effect that for me is understandable.

Be Well……

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

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“Looters” Not “Victims”

Yesterday the news was a buzz from something a federal judge instructed a jury in the thug Rittenhouse’s trial…..

Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial starts Monday, and you won’t hear the two men he fatally shot during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, referred to as “victims.” The judge in the case has a standard policy barring people from being called “victims” until an actual conviction, USA Today reports, and he said that using the term in this case would be “loaded,” per the Washington Post. However, when prosecutors asked that defense attorneys be prohibited from referring to the two men as “looters, rioters, arsonists or any other pejorative term,” the judge declined to make such an order.

“Let the evidence show what it shows,” was all he said. Prosecutors argued the terms should not be used unless there’s specific evidence Joseph Rosenbaum or Anthony Huber engaged in those activities. Rittenhouse, who was 17 when the shootings took place last year, has pleaded not guilty to homicide in both of their deaths as well as not guilty to attempted homicide of Gaige Grosskreutz, who was shot and wounded. His lawyers are expected to argue he acted in self-defense amid protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Columnist Will Bunch runs down the judge’s controversial history in a Twitter thread (that ultimately calls for his removal) here.

Seriously?

The dead will be put on trial to save the life of a murderer?

This sounds a lot like one of those ‘activist judges’ that conserv are so worried about…..

This should be sound grounds for an appeal to overturn the ruling…..

Does anybody ever heard of judge Hoffman?  Think Chicago 7 trial and the total bigotry of a presiding judge.

Let’s be honest….this is a judge wanting to effect the outcome of the trial….time for this slug to go!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”