Free Republic

From “Mystic River” to mystery meetings. Sean Penn was spotted linking up with first son Hunter Biden at Soho House in Malibu, Calif., Wednesday. The “I Am Sam” star was photographed with a cigarette in his mouth, wearing a plaid blue shirt, a pair of cargo pants and holding a tan jacket as he exited his vehicle. Biden, meanwhile, kept a low profile in a black baseball cap, aviator sunglasses, a dark denim jacket and a pair of gray slacks. The two men were seen chatting casually while posted outside the swanky members-only club. We’re told Penn, 63, and Biden,...

WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) – As millions of Americans head to their local gas station or store to purchase a new pack of Marlboro’s or Newport’s, they may soon see that their favorite type of cigarettes are no longer available for purchase. According to an announcement made by the Food & Drug Administration back in 2022, the agency had begun planning to “propose product standards to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and prohibit all characterizing flavors (other than tobacco) in cigars,” due to “menthol being a flavor additive with a minty taste and aroma that reduces the irritation...

The mother of Eric Garner sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Thursday asking him to oppose the Biden administration’s proposed ban on menthol cigarettes, which she says could lead to “increased negative encounters with police in communities of color.” “Senator Schumer, you have been a longstanding advocate for the people of New York and have shown a commitment to tackling tough issues with both courage and compassion,” Gwen Carr wrote in a Nov. 9 missive exclusively obtained by The Post. “It is with respect for your role and faith in your leadership that I urge...

A stranger pummeled a 70-year-old Manhattan straphanger in the face so badly that he had to be hospitalized — all because the elderly man complained about him rolling a cigarette in the station, cops said Friday. The senior was getting off a southbound C train at the 145th Street station at the corner of St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem around 7:15 p.m. Wednesday when he spotted the cigarette-roller in the station and confronted him, police said. It’s not clear whether the attacker actually got to smoke his cigarette, which is against transit rules, but the elderly man was apparently making...

A passenger on an El Al flight to Bangkok, Thailand, lit a cigarette in the plane's bathroom during the flight, and threw it into the bathroom garbage when he had finished, Israel Hayom reported. Other passengers, who smelled the cigarette, alerted a stewardess, who entered the bathroom and found the cigarette in the trash. The staff used the fire extinguisher, even though a fire had not sparked in the bathroom. The incident took place 1.5 hours before the flight landed in Bangkok. Flight crew confiscated the cigarettes and cigarette lighter, and El Al has promised to take action against him,...

On April 28, the Food and Drug Administration proposed a ban on menthol cigarettes, which are smoked by more than 18.5 million people ages 12 and older. More than 85% of menthol smokers are African American. By comparison, 30% of menthol smokers are white. Menthol cigarettes are also more popular in the Latin and Asian communities. From that date in April, the public, including the tobacco industry, has 60 days to make comments.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 480,000 Americans die from tobacco-related disease, every year. This is including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from...

An EgyptAir flight that crashed en route to Cairo, killing all 66 people on board, was brought down by a pilot who had a cigarette in the cockpit and started a fire, a new report found. EgyptAir flight MS804 was traveling on May 19, 2016, from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Cairo International Airport when it fell out of the sky between the Greek island of Crete and northern Egypt. France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) has since concluded that pilot Mohamed Said Shoukair’s mid-air smoke break led to a fire onboard the Airbus...

Thought New York City’s Pizza Rat was majestic? Enter cigarette cockroach, a bodacious bug that was observed scurrying about an undisclosed residence in the Big Apple with a cancer stick in tow, smoking out all vermin competition. A video of the tiny tobacco toker is currently blowing up on Instagram as urban wildlife enthusiasts marvel at what could be the animal kingdom’s newest celebrity sleazeball. “Roach just trying to have a smoke in peace,” reads the caption to the uproarious clip, which was uploaded a day ago by the popular Instagram account WhatIsNewYork.

Crows are considered to be some of the most intelligent birds around and some will be trained to pick up litter in exchange for food, potentially saving the Nordic country millions in street-cleaning efforts.videoA start-up in Sweden has begun recruiting crows in a pilot project to assist in cleaning up the streets of the city of Södertälje in Greater Stockholm.Crows are among the most intelligent animals in Sweden and can learn to pick things up in exchange for food, something that the local company Corvid Cleaning aims to benefit from. In particular, the birds will be taught to pick up...

A suspected drunk driver asked New Mexico police if she could “smoke a cigarette” just moments after she allegedly caused a crash that killed a mother of four, bodycam video shows. Jennifer Munoz, 26, is accused of crashing into and killing 41-year-old Janelle Katesigwa in Albuquerque in May, KRQE reports. According to bodycam video released Wednesday, the first thing Munoz said to police after the fatal crash was: “Can I just smoke a cigarette?” Munoz’s friend could be heard screaming in pain in the passenger seat. “I would not do that right now … Let them try to help your...

Were you aware that cigarette butts are the category of waste that is least disposed of? Every year, no fewer than 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are found in the wilds, even they can take up to 14 years to decompose... It’s enough to make you see red. To fight against this plague, Dutch engineers working with Delft University of Technology have invented the BeachBot, an autonomous robot capable of picking up cigarette butts from the ground. Tired of seeing their children find cigarette butts on beaches, Edwin Bos and Martijn Lukaart, Dutch engineers from TechTics, set out to create the...

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — More than two dozen people were arrested last week in connection with a $12 million cigarette smuggling operation based in Fayetteville, authorities said Monday. U.S. Attorney Robert Higdon said Justin Brent Freeman and his wholesale business, FreeCo Inc., at 231 Williams St., served as a hub for the illegal operation. People would pay cash for large quantities of cigarettes at FreeCo and other retailers in North Carolina, including Sam's Club stores in Raleigh, Fayetteville and Goldsboro, and would then pack the cigarettes into rental cars for shipment to Virginia, Higdon said. In Richmond or Alexandria, Va., the...

Sen. Mitt Romney is pushing legislation to raise the federal legal age to buy tobacco to 21, an effort backed by the tobacco industry and that health advocates hope will curtail younger Americans from smoking. Romney, a Utah Republican, said the bill was the first step in addressing an avoidable health crisis of young Americans taking up e-cigarettes as well as traditional tobacco products. The legislation would raise the age to buy any tobacco product to 21 as well as allow the Health and Human Services Department to conduct undercover compliance checks, retail inspections and enforce the law with fines.

We are just over a month into the new Disney/Fox status quo. The Mouse House has become the industry’s first mega-studio by absorbing one of its biggest competitors in a deal that has had massive repercussions, already, with thousands losing jobs and films suddenly finding themselves without a studio. But there is a lot more at play in the merger than what many were probably considering, such as Disney’s morals. Everyone knows that Disney doesn’t make films the same way that everyone else does. The films under the Disney banner have a certain limit on how far they can go....

HONOLULU (KHON2) - Hawaii could be the first state in the U.S. to ban the sale of cigarettes, if a current proposal becomes law. Adults younger than age 30 could be legally prohibited from buying cigarettes in less than a year's time -- and all cigarette sales would be banned in Hawaii in five years -- under a bill by State Representative Richard Creagan. The bill was co-signed by Representatives John Mizuno, also a Democrat, and Cynthia Thielen, a Republican. "We're taxing them, that did decrease use somewhat, but we still have 140,000 people in our state that smoke cigarettes....

Video from Atlanta shows store employee assaulting customer for wearing pro-Trump shirt This brand new video from Atlanta, Georgia, shows a store employee assaulting a customer for wearing a pro-Trump shirt. The assault occurs at 0:36https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65b7YuGOYMw

SANTA ANA A carjacker from Orange has been sentenced to three years in prison after authorities identified him through DNA he left on a cigarette in the recovered car. Gary Munoz, 30, was arrested, charged and convicted in less than two months, thanks to the county’s RAPID DNA program, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said in a Tuesday statement. On March 9 at about 3:30 p.m., Munoz approached an idling car in a parking lot off of Imperial Highway in Brea, prosecutors said. A woman was in the passenger seat while the driver was out looking for an ATM...

LONDON — British American Tobacco has offered to buy out Reynolds American Inc. for $47 billion in an attempt to gain a strong presence in the U.S., a lucrative market where sales of electronic cigarettes are booming as traditional smoking fades. The takeover would create the world's largest publicly traded tobacco company and combine BAT's presence in developing countries, where anti-smoking campaigns are not as strong as in the U.S. and Europe, with Reynolds' almost exclusive focus on the U.S. BAT already owns 42 percent of Reynolds and sells Dunhill, Rothmans and Lucky Strike cigarettes. Reynolds controls about a third...

There had also been an eye-opening moment on the streets of Cleveland during the Republican National Convention, when [Johnson and I had] been walking behind a cigarette-wielding Ohioan. As the smoker’s exhaust wafted in our faces, I remarked offhand that—with the advent of e-cigarettes—I thought there was a good libertarian case for banning regular cigarettes. “I do too,” replied the health-obsessed triathlete, recounting his support for anti-smoking efforts in New Mexico.

Electronic cigarettes, which do not require a flame but heat tobacco leaves to create a vapor that is inhaled, are so popular in Japan these days that demand cannot keep up with supply. The e-cigarette boom was triggered by iQOS, a product released by Philip Morris Japan K.K. Rather than burning tobacco leaves, the iQOS heats cigarettes in a small cylindrical device — all designed exclusively for each other — so that nicotine and vapors are inhaled together. Sales of iQOS began in Tokyo in September last year, before expanding nationwide in April. Even though the kit is priced as...