Free Republic

Journalist Jenan Mousa translated highlights from the new rules set forth by the ISIS in the Nineveh province the northwest of Iraq: • "For women, dress decently and wear wide clothes. Only go out if needed." • "Our position on Shrines and graves is clear. All to be destroyed basically." • "Gatherings, carrying flags (other than that of Islamic State) and carrying guns is not allowed. God ordered us to stay united." • "For the police, soldiers and other Kafir institutions, you can repent. We opened special places that will allow you to repent." • "No drugs, no alcohol and...

PHILADELPHIA — DINNER with your children in 19th-century America often required some self-control. Berry stains in your daughter’s hair? Good for her. Raccoon bites running up your boy’s arms? Bet he had an interesting day. As this year’s summer vacation begins, many parents contemplate how to rein in their kids. But there was a time when Americans pushed in the opposite direction, preserved in Mark Twain’s cat-swinging scamps. Parents back then encouraged kids to get some wildness out of their system, to express the republic’s revolutionary values. American children of the 19th century had a reputation. Returning British visitors reported...

The disastrous smoking habits of the Irish have been highlighted in two new studies—we are far more prone than other Europeans to continue smoking after suffering a stroke and one in 10 of us cut back on food to fund our craving. […] Just what lengths smokers will go to to feed their habit is borne out in a separate study by Pfizer Ireland, which found: 10% cut back on buying food35% said they cut down on eating out24% pulled out of social engagements22% also said that they cut back on holidays to avoid cutting their smoking budget.More than half...

London - A group of 53 leading scientists has warned the World Health Organisation not to classify e-cigarettes as tobacco products, arguing that doing so would jeopardise a major opportunity to slash disease and deaths caused by smoking. The UN agency, which is currently assessing its position on the matter, has previously indicated it would favour applying similar restrictions to all nicotine-containing products. In an open letter to WHO Director General Margaret Chan, the scientists from Europe, North America, Asia and Australia argued that low-risk products like e-cigarettes were "part of the solution" in the fight against smoking, not part...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Despite the well-known risks, rates of smoking have remained stubbornly high in Missouri – about 25 percent of adults, compared with 18 percent nationally. In Kansas City, Mo., public housing, the problem is even worse, with smokers comprising 40 percent of all tenants. That high rate is especially disturbing to health advocates because of the high numbers of vulnerable people - particularly children, the disabled and elderly - who live in public housing. A new policy aims to do away with smoking in city-owned housing, but many residents are not pleased. On a breezy Friday afternoon...

The Obama administration clarified rules Friday regarding plans covered under ObamaCare to help people quit smoking. Group health plans and health insurance issuers under ObamaCare must provide free tobacco use screening and offer smokers at least two tobacco cessation attempts each year. Each attempt should also include four tobacco cessation counseling sessions and 90-day prescriptions for approved medication to help patients break the habit. The clarifications were posted on the Department of Labor's website but were drawn up in collaboration with Health and Human Services, and the Treasury Department. While ObamaCare requires most health plans to cover tobacco cessation services,...

The Food and Drug Administration announced Friday it will convene a public meeting in October to review the risks of psychiatric and behavioral side effects with Pfizer’s anti-smoking drug Chantix. […] Since 2009, Chantix has carried the government’s strongest safety warning—a “black box” label—because of links to hostility, agitation, depression and suicidal thoughts. The warning was added after the FDA received dozens of reports of suicide and hundreds of reports of suicidal behavior among patients taking the smoking-cessation drug. …

Fox Host Bill O'Reilly on Wednesday claimed that he could have been the Marlboro Man. "While I was covering the News in Denver, I was approached by a modeling agency to be the Marlboro guy dressed as a cowboy," he said on the "O'Reilly Factor" while lamenting the lack of a public health campaign warning about the dangers of weed. He lauded the U.S. government's campaign against smoking tobacco, but said that the U.S. has taken the opposite approach to pot. "Smoking marijuana is quite the opposite. That’s on the rise, as pot use is considered cool in many...

This past week’s second mass shooting at the Ft. Hood Army base may finally stir the Department of Defense into action. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is reportedly ready to ban smoking by military personnel. “While some are using this tragedy to urge that military personnel be allowed to carry weapons for self defense, I am not going to be stampeded into a move that runs counter to the President’s philosophy on guns,” Hagel declared. “These shootings are tragic, but the toll from smoking is far larger.” “Even if we were to come up with a successful counter to these...

A dangerous new form of a powerful stimulant is hitting markets nationwide, for sale by the vial, the gallon and even the barrel. The drug is nicotine, in its potent, liquid form — extracted from tobacco and tinctured with a cocktail of flavorings, colorings and assorted chemicals to feed the fast-growing electronic cigarette industry. These “e-liquids,” the key ingredients in e-cigarettes, are powerful neurotoxins. Tiny amounts, whether ingested or absorbed through the skin, can cause vomiting and seizures and even be lethal. A teaspoon of even highly diluted e-liquid can kill a small child. But, like e-cigarettes, e-liquids are not...

In a letter to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus last week, five Democratic senators urged him "to increase smoke-free areas on bases" and give sailors more access to programs to stop smoking. "We urge you to do everything in your capacity to address this issue for our military men and women, including moving forward with the proposal to stop the sale of tobacco aboard all naval bases and ships," said the letter from Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Sherrod Brown D-Ohio.

The British Medical Association (BMA), the trade union representing all National Health Service (NHS) doctors, has said that the sale of cigarettes should be banned "to anyone born after the year 2000". In a new policy position of the organisation which claims to lobby Parliament in its members' interest, the BMA has stated that "humanity has never developed anything more deadly than the cigarette". Dr Crocker-Buqué, a "London research assistant in academic public health" reportedly told last week's BMA annual public health medicine conference that eight in 10 smokers started in their teenage years and that someone who started smoking...

Since the court failed to prove that Mr. Dewing was using a cell phone, they went after him for using the electronic cigarette. “The judge asked me if I know what the ‘e’ in e-cigarette means,” said Jason. “I told him it means electronic.” At this point the judge told Mr. Dewing that he was using a portable electronic device which is a violation of New York traffic law 1225-d. Jason, refusing to let the court off that easy, told him that an electronic cigarette was not classified as a portable electronic device under the law. He says, “They were...

A majority of the cigarettes for sale in New York are illegally smuggled into the state, according to a report out Wednesday from the conservative research group the Tax Foundation. According to the report, 56.9% of the cigarettes sold in New York—the highest importer of smuggled cigarettes—originated from out of state. Since 2006, cigarette smuggling in the state has risen sharply, by 59%, in tandem with a massive hike in cigarette taxes of 190%. New York state now has the highest cigarette taxes in the country, at $4.35 a pack. Residents of NYC must also pay an extra $1.50 per...

<p>FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- A contentious Kentucky bill that would enact a statewide ban on smoking in shared public spaces and places of employment is dead, the sponsor says.</p>

Leave it to a bunch of Democrats from typically liberal states to take aim at healthy alternatives to cigarette smoking. Democrats from California, Illinois, Connecticut, and Massachusetts have decided that because e-cigarettes vaguely resemble puffing on an actual stick of cancer, they should be the target of heavy regulation and criticism. Instead of embracing a technology that aids in smoking cessation efforts, and greatly reduces health complications associated with traditional “smoking”, these Nannycrats have decided that these non-cigarettes should be the target of ridicule and government regulation. And, of course, it’s all for the “children”. According to the Washington Free...

Lawmakers in Utah and Colorado are promoting legislation to raise the legal age for tobacco use to 21, a higher standard than imposed by any other state, saying they want to discourage young people from picking up a lifelong smoking habit. Supporters say keeping tobacco out of the hands of young adults will save thousands of lives, even as critics complain that Americans who are old enough to vote and serve in the military should not be deemed too young to decide on their own if they should smoke. In a dramatic display of the risks of smoking, lawmakers in...

David Cameron is backing a ban on smoking in cars carrying children, but will miss today's crunch vote. The Prime Minister is to visit flooded communities across the South West as MPs vote on plans to make it a criminal offence to light up in a car in England, punishable by a £60 fine or points on a motorist’s licence. Three years ago the Prime Minister said he was 'not sure whether it is possible to legislate in that area' and called for a 'change in attitudes'. But today the PM's official spokesman said Mr Cameron now supports a ban....

A Times editorial about the decision by CVS to stop selling tobacco products speaks of the need to "drive home the message that the availability of this lethal consumer product should be curtailed as much as possible and that tobacco use is socially unacceptable." Contrast that with the Times' much more permissive attitude toward smoking marijuana, which a January 30 Times editorial recommended as a pain treatment for football players, and which a January 7 Times editorial recommended making widely available in New York even to non-football-playing customers. The distinction seems to be that marijuana has magical elixir-like qualities on...

Health officials have begun to predict the end of cigarette smoking in America. They have long wished for a cigarette-free America, but shied away from calling for smoking rates to fall to zero or near zero by any particular year. The power of tobacco companies and popularity of their products made such a goal seem like a pipe dream. But a confluence of changes has recently prompted public health leaders to start throwing around phrases like “endgame” and “tobacco-free generation.” Now, they talk about the slowly-declining adult smoking rate dropping to 10 percent in the next decade and to 5...