Free Republic

I'm turning my clock back to 1776

New findings by the American Cancer Society (ACS) found cumulative economic losses from cigarette smoking topped $891 billion in 2020, or 4.3% of the United States Gross Domestic Product. The economic loss significantly outpaced the cigarette industry's $92 billion revenue by nearly a ten-to-one ratio. The study was published today in the journal The Lancet Public Health. This economic modeling study is one of the first to provide a comprehensive measure of economic loss from cigarette smoking on a state-by-state level. On average, states lost $1,100.00 per capita income annually from cigarette smoking. Kentucky ($1,674.00), West Virginia ($1,605.00) and Arkansas...

Aug 26 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld a ban on smoking in federally subsidized public housing. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) properly enacted a 2016 rule requiring state and local public housing agencies to ban cigarettes, cigars and pipes inside housing units and indoor common areas, and outside within 25 feet of those spaces. Six tenants and a smokers' rights group, the New York City Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment ("NYC Clash"), challenged the ban, known as the Smoke Free Rule. They said it improperly invaded...

The Food and Drug Administration says it has ruled on whether some e-cigarette products can remain on the market, but that it's also delaying action on products made by Juul, which accounts for 40% of the e-cigarette market.The FDA said Thursday that it has issued marketing denial orders for more than 946,000 flavored vaping products because their applications "lacked sufficient evidence that they have a benefit to adult smokers sufficient to overcome the public health threat posed by the well-documented, alarming levels of youth use of such products."snip One in five high school students — and more than 6% of...

These days, Miriam Robles spends a lot of time on the phone. In between her day job as an environmental justice organizer at Mi Familia Vota, a Latino political advocacy group that opposes President Trump, Robles phone-banks to register new voters. One new voter she's worked with is her 18-year-old brother, Kevin. "I was super excited to get him registered," she says. "I helped him fill out his primary ballot and made sure that he applied for [Arizona's] Permanent Early Voting List. For him, he is looking at this fiercely as something that he could do for his family." Robles...

EXCLUSIVE: A network of left-wing groups with budgets eclipsing those of conservative powerhouses like the Heritage Foundation will likely “carpet bomb” the 2020 election with anonymous dark money, a new report obtained by Fox News warns. "If 2018 is any indicator, we should expect to see the Left carpet-bomb the 2020 presidential election with buckets of anonymous cash, while complaining about the evils of ‘dark money’ the entire time,” the report from conservative watchdog Capital Research Center says. snip

GPB's Ellen Eldridge reports on vaping associated risks to young people. Despite raising the age to buy tobacco and e-cigarettes to 21, teenagers and even preteens are still at risk of exposure and addiction to vaping, pediatric pulmonologist Dr. Christy Sadreameli of Johns Hopkins says. “(Vaping) is the most common way that young people are using tobacco products and getting hooked on nicotine, which can be a lifelong addiction,” she said. Georgia’s high school vaping rate is 17%, according to 2019 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is lower than the national average of 27%. One...

SACRAMENTO — California will ban the sale of flavored tobacco in retail stores, including flavored e-cigarettes that many blame for a sharp rise in vaping among youths. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Friday to outlaw the sale of fruit-, menthol- and mint-flavor cigarettes and vaping cartridges, effective Jan. 1. ~snip

Tobacco product use is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States. This report used data from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey to assess the following among U.S. high school students: ever use of cigarettes and electronic vapor products, current use (≥1 day during the 30 days before the survey) of tobacco products, frequent use (≥20 days during the 30 days before the survey) among current users of tobacco products, trends in use over time, and usual source of electronic vapor products among current electronic vapor product users. In 2019, a total of 50.1%...

Share Your Story | ADA — the ADA is asking for stories about diabetes. Let’s send them some keto4diabetes anecdotes. Lower your A1C by restricting carbs? Tell them!

To take control of the U.S. Senate, Democrats need to net three seats in November if former Vice President Joe Biden wins, and four if President Trump is reelected. That once looked like a near impossibility, but it's becoming a real possibility. Republicans hold a 53-to-47 majority in the Senate, with the Democrats' side including two independents who caucus with them. Five Republican incumbents are looking increasingly vulnerable, with their races labeled as "toss ups" by the Cook Political Report. Meanwhile one Democrat, Doug Jones of Alabama, is seen as being in real jeopardy. Those five Republicans are Arizona's Martha...

Last month during ESPN’s hit documentary series The Last Dance, State Farm debuted a TV commercial that has become one of the most widely discussed ads in recent memory. It appeared to show footage from 1998 of an ESPN analyst making shockingly accurate predictions about the year 2020. As it turned out, the clip was not genuine: it was generated using cutting-edge AI. The commercial surprised, amused and delighted viewers. What viewers should have felt, though, was deep concern. ~snip

On an average day last month, about 30 COVID-19 patients moved through the emergency room at Mercy Medical Center Hospital in Springfield, according to Miah DiGregorio, a physician’s assistant who helps staff the ER. The ones sent home with mild symptoms were in general good health. But few of the patients who were admitted were metabolically healthy, normal weight, or without a preexisting condition. Doctors and scientists are discovering two common characteristics among many of those who are losing their battle with COVID-19 — they are overweight or obese and suffer from a chronic disease. Ninety four percent of deaths...

A cardiologist has blamed the food industry for ‘normalising’ ultra-processed junk food as more evidence emerges suggesting poor diet is the root cause behind increased mortality from Covid-19. ~snip

High blood pressure, obesity and diabetes are risk factors for severe cases. People with obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure are at greater risk for complications from the coronavirus, according to a large study of patients hospitalized with the illness it causes. The findings, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, confirm what physicians nationwide have noted anecdotally. The study included data on 5,700 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the New York City area. Underlying conditions were common. The researchers found that, among all patients, 57 percent had high blood pressure, 41 percent were obese and just...

National Public Radio is planning significant cost cuts as the coronavirus pandemic hits sponsorship and donation revenue, the public broadcaster's chief executive, John Lansing, said in a memo to staff. NPR is facing a budget deficit of between $30 million and $45 million through its 2021 fiscal year, Mr. Lansing said in the Wednesday memo. Sponsorship money is drying up amid "a very tough marketplace," he wrote, and donations could also take a hit as foundations and individuals "will be thinking hard about gifts as they watch the swings in the values of their own portfolios." NPR will need to...

PBS NewsHour stands up to presidential diatribes and viewer complaints A global pandemic demands tough questions from journalists. Amid the coronavirus crisis, journalist Yamiche Alcindor has delivered robust and sober reporting that some PBS NewsHour critics mistake as political bias. On March 29th, in this Year of the Pandemic, the nation had ground to a halt. We were heeding orders and pleas to stay home and collectively disrupt deadly waves of COVID-19 infection. With the crisis deepening, President Donald Trump was on television, live, launching verbal salvos at the media. Once again, he’d been set off by a hint of...

Shower thoughts: Shouldn't congress and staff take a 50% pay cut? And the White House. In fact, shouldn't *most* of the government take a pay cut?? If that is a bridge too far, perhaps every government employee making more than $150,000 take a 10% pay cut.

As New York City's hospitals begin to buckle under the weight of the coronavirus crisis, two public spaces that are popular recreation spots in better times are being turned into field hospitals. One such facility has been set up in Central Park, in the East Meadow. It's a grassy space normally populated by sunbathers, but as of Tuesday it will be a 68-bed respiratory care unit opened in partnership between the relief organization Samaritan's Purse and Mount Sinai Health System. Another is about to be built at the home of the U.S. Open Grand Slam tennis tournament. The Wall Street...

THE CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 HAS UPENDED everything, including business as usual in Washington. In a matter of days, facing the reality of a nationwide shutdown and a worsening economic crisis, Congress got serious about spending money—a lot of it. A recovery package in the trillions of dollars is expected soon, and more stimulus bills are likely to follow. While the most powerful lobbies in Washington—the airlines, the oil companies, the chambers of commerce—are ready with their wish lists, the media and policymakers aren’t talking enough about how recovery and stimulus bills could help journalism. Free Press, the independent, nonprofit advocacy organization...