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"Zealot" Illinois governor signs law raising buying age for nicotine products to 21

Jon Seide
Chicago Sun Times
Sun, 07 Apr 2019 15:31 UTC
Pritzker
© Jon Seidel/Chicago Sun-Times
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation Sunday, April 8, 2019, that will raise the buying age for nicotine products in Illinois to 21.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation Sunday that will raise the buying age for nicotine products in Illinois to 21.

The new law covers tobacco and vaping products, including cigarettes, chewing tobacco, e-cigarettes and vapes. It takes effect July 1.

Pritzker signed the bill at the Mile Square Health Clinic. He was joined there by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin and Senate President John Cullerton, as well as chief legislative sponsors Rep. Camille Lilly and Sen. Julie Morrison.

Before signing the bill, Pritzker noted that 1.5 million more young people used e-cigarettes in 2018 than in 2016. "We're dealing with an old problem in a new form," he said.


Comment: 'Popcorn lung': E-cigarette flavor chemicals linked to lung disease - study


Comment: Evidently reasoned thinking is becoming increasingly absent from lawmakers decisions, especially when it comes to nicotine. History has taught us that once particular kinds of people reach positions of power, and citizens stand idly by - or worse, cheer them on - while they target specific groups without just cause, it won't be long before they come for another group, and another, until everybody is at the mercy of their demented thinking. The fruits of the hysteria are already clear for all to see: And for information on the many benefits of tobacco smoking (for some people), see: And check out SOTT radio's: The Health & Wellness Show: The Truth about Tobacco and the Benefits of Nicotine

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Info

Athens, Greece opens its first mosque since 1830 but not everyone is pleased


RT
Tue, 09 Apr 2019 20:36 UTC
Greek protester
© Global Look Press / George Panagakis
A Greek Orthodox priest demonstrates outside the site of the Votanikos mosque, 2017
The Votanikos Mosque in Athens is set to open its doors to worshippers in the coming weeks, after years of backlash from the Orthodox Church and protests from locals.

Deputy Foreign Minister Marcos Bolaris confirmed on Tuesday that the mosque - financed by the Greek state at a cost of almost €900,000 - will open its doors in the coming weeks. Multiple applications to build the mosque had been debated and stalled since 2000, and construction on the current building finally began in late 2016, albeit after police had cleared protesters from the site.

Until now, Athens remained the only European capital without a mosque. While some Ottoman-era mosques still stand in the city, they serve as archeological monuments instead of houses of prayer. After almost 400 years of often brutal Ottoman occupation, the Greek government has not approved the construction of a single new mosque since Greece secured its independence in 1830.

Estimates of Athens' Muslim population range from less than 100,000 up to 500,000, when illegal immigrants and refugees are taken into account. Until now, these Muslims have been forced to pray in converted living rooms and basements dotted around the city.
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Heart - Black

Elderly in UK go blind as NHS ignores eye surgery rationing advice

Chris Smyth
The Times
Sat, 06 Apr 2019 18:38 UTC
surgery
© UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD/PA
Tens of thousands of elderly people are left struggling to see because of an NHS cost-cutting drive that relies on them dying before they can qualify for cataract surgery, senior doctors say.

The NHS has ignored instructions to end cataract treatment rationing in defiance of official guidance two years ago, a survey by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists has found.

The college said that refusal to fund surgery was "insulting" and called into question the entire system through which the NHS approves treatments. The comments came after guidance that said removing cataracts was almost always a good use of resources, and could even save money by preventing older people from falling, was largely ignored.

Cataracts cause blurry vision and removing them is one of the most common NHS procedures, with more than 400,000 carried out each year. In 2017 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) concluded that there was no justification for policies that denied patients cataract removal surgery until they could barely see.

Comment: Governments in Europe are typically held up as the example of what nationalized healthcare should look like in the US. What good is universal healthcare if it's going to lead to people going blind so the state can save money?

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Syringe

The unhappy anniversary of Obamacare

Ron Paul
Ron Paul Institute
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
stethoscope tangle
© Washington Post/KJN
Last month marked nine years since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (popularly known as Obamacare) became law. Obamacare's proponents promised that the law would reduce costs, expand access, and allow us to keep our doctors if we liked our doctors. The reality has been quite different.

Since Obamacare was enacted, individual health insurance premiums have more than doubled while small businesses have been discouraged from providing health insurance benefits. The increased costs of, and decreased access to, health care are a direct result of Obamacare's mandates - particularly the guaranteed issue and pre-existing condition mandates. Another costly mandate forces most plans to cover "essential health benefits." This mandate is why postmenopausal women must pay for contraceptive coverage.

The increase in health insurance premiums has not helped those who like their doctors keep their doctors. Instead, patients' choices of providers are restricted to ever-narrower networks. As leading health care scholar John C. Goodman observed, the result is that a cancer patient from my hometown of Lake Jackson, Texas who obtains insurance through Obamacare's exchanges cannot get treatment at nearby MD Anderson, one of the country's top cancer treatment centers. If health care were a true free market, insurance companies would compete for the business of cancer patients and others with chronic conditions by developing innovative ways to give them the best care at an affordable price.

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Day 2 of Sudanese sit-in, thousands outside President Bashir's compound


Reuters
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 03:23 UTC
Omar al-Bashir
© EPA
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir
Thousands of protesters held a sit-in outside Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's residence in central Khartoum on Sunday, and crowds chanting anti-government slogans filled several main streets, witnesses said.

Sudan has seen sustained protests against Bashir and his National Congress Party since Dec. 19. Security forces have fired tear gas, stun grenades and live bullets to disperse protesters and dozens have been killed during demonstrations.

Bashir has refused to step down, saying that his opponents need to seek power through the ballot box.

On Sunday evening, dozens of demonstrations took place in the Sudanese capital, eyewitnesses said. Protesters marched in several streets of central Khartoum, setting fire to car tires and blocking a main road, a Reuters witness said. Demonstrators also blocked a bridge that connects Khartoum and Khartoum North. No police officers or other security forces personnel could be seen, eyewitnesses said.
Khartoum protesters
© AFP/Getty Images
Protesters in Khartoum, second day of demonstrations

Comment: In addition to the protests, Reuters reports:
Sudan suffered a total power blackout on Sunday, the ministry of electricity and water said. The ministry gave no explanation for the blackout, but said in a statement that engineers and technicians were trying to restore power. It added that more information would be provided later.


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Dollars

World Bank statistics show India highest recipient of remittances at $79 billion in 2018


Hindustan Times
Tue, 09 Apr 2019 18:05 UTC
flood india remittances
© Reuters
“Remittances grew by more than 14 percent in India, where a flooding disaster in Kerala likely boosted the financial help that migrants sent to families,” the Bank said.
India retained its position as the world's top recipient of remittances with its diaspora sending a whopping USD 79 billion back home in 2018, the World Bank said in a report Monday.

India was followed by China (USD 67 billion), Mexico (USD 36 billion), the Philippines (USD 34 billion), and Egypt (USD 29 billion), the global lender said.

With this, India has retained its top spot on remittances, according to the latest edition of the World Bank's Migration and Development Brief. Over the last three years, India has registered a significant flow of remittances from USD 62.7 billion in 2016 to USD 65.3 billion 2017.

Comment: Remittances are often overlooked in assessing a country's economy. In excess, it can be a significant drain on the host country.

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Red Flag

The feminist attack on marriage continues: UK courts alter divorce laws allowing for easier splits with no-fault divorces


BBC
Tue, 09 Apr 2019 16:01 UTC
couple
© GETTY IMAGES
Divorce laws in England and Wales are to be overhauled so couples can split faster and, it is hoped, with less acrimony.

Under current rules, one spouse has to allege adultery or unreasonable behaviour by the other for divorce proceedings to start straight away.

In future, they will only have to state that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. It will also stop one partner refusing a divorce if the other one wants one.

Justice Secretary David Gauke said the changes would help to end the "blame game".


Comment: The UK courts may think they are "catching up to the times" and being all progressive, but no-fault divorces actually HURT women, children, men and the family unit. It's true that we have feminists to thank for no-fault divorces, but even they have come around to the fact that it actually doesn't benefit women:
Feminists like Betty Friedan even admitted, "I think we made a mistake with no fault divorce," recognizing that no-fault divorce had led to "unintended consequences" that adversely affected women. That same year, the president of the New York chapter of the National Organization for Women, founded by Friedan, made the case against no-fault divorce in the pages of the New York Times. New York was the last state where it had not been legalized. New York fell four years later, making our country a fully no-fault nation.

The reason for feminists' about-face on no-fault divorce has largely to do with the reality that no-fault divorce, especially unilateral no-fault divorce, has a disproportionately negative economic impact on women.

Often, men can use custody of the children as a weapon against women. In a perverse game of mental manipulation, the man will agree to forgo a custody battle if the woman agrees to a smaller financial settlement, leaving the woman torn between seeing her children or supporting her children.

[...]

By making it harder for a man to abandon his wife and children, eliminating no-fault divorce lowers a woman's odds of winding up alone and poor, fighting for the right to tuck her children into bed each night. But it also increases the odds that her husband will invest in her passions and interests outside the home, even as children make pursuing those passions more challenging.

Eliminating no-fault divorce laws increases women's wellbeing as well their spectrum of choices. It is the feminist thing to do.

Source

Comment: The UK courts seem to have a good understanding of the issues behind a fault-based divorce system, yet it seems they haven't bothered to look into the effects of no-fault divorce, of which there are many. The most serious issue is you can be forcibly separated from your children, your home, and your property through literally "no fault" of your own. Failure to cooperate with the divorce opens the innocent spouse to criminal penalties. No-fault divorce made divorce far more destructive by allowing the state to undertake court proceedings against innocent people, confiscate everything they have, and incarcerate them without trial.

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Yoda

Jordan Peterson on why socialism is so attractive

Genevieve Wood
The Daily Signal
Tue, 09 Apr 2019 17:39 UTC
Jordan Peterson
© David Gordon for The Heritage Foundation
Genevieve Wood and Dr. Jordan Peterson
Jordan Peterson spoke at a Heritage Foundation event in New York City. We discussed the rise of socialism in America, the importance of personal responsibility, and why his message is resonating with so many people. Peterson is a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, a clinical psychologist, and author of the book 12 Rules for Life. A lightly edited transcript is below, or you can listen to the interview on The Daily Signal Podcast.
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Robot

Unintended consequences: Wal-Mart rolls out robots after raising minimum wage

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Tue, 09 Apr 2019 16:28 UTC
Wal-Mart automated shelf scanners

One of Wal-Mart's automated shelf scanners
Offering yet another lesson in how raising the minimum wage can destroy jobs, particularly for the most poorly compensated workers whom activists had intended to help, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Wal-Mart is deploying robots to carry out mundane tasks like mopping its floors and tracking inventory as it seeks to cut down on labor costs after raising wages last year, while also expanding into new services like grocery delivery.

Wal-Mart, which is the largest employer in the US, said at least 300 stores will introduce machines that scan shelves for out-of-stock products. Meanwhile, so-called "autonomous floor scrubbers" will be deployed in 1,500 stores, and conveyor belts that automatically scan and sort products as they are loaded off of trucks will more than double to 1,200. Another 900 stores will install 16-foot-high towers that will allow customers to pick up their online grocery orders without interacting with humans.

Comment: Walmart of course presents this as progress



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Handcuffs

Maryland man accused of stealing U-Haul van to use in ISIS-inspired ramming attack

Matthew Stabley
NBC Washington
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 14:38 UTC
Rondell Henry
© Montgomery County Police Department
A Maryland man stole a U-Haul van with the intent of using it as a weapon in an ISIS-inspired plot against pedestrians at National Harbor, the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Rondell Henry, 28, of Germantown, harbored hatred of non-Muslim people for two years, according to prosecutors.


Comment: SJWs, alt-right ethnonationalists, Islamists and Zionists all have at least one thing in common: identity politics.


He walked off his job March 26 with the intent of driving in to pedestrians, prosecutors said. He drove around the D.C. area looking for a vehicle bigger than his to use and followed a leased U-Haul van into a mall garage in Alexandria, Virginia, where he stole it.

The person who rented the van reported seeing a car follow the van off Interstate 395, onto mall property and into the garage, parking a few spaces away, prosecutors said. Police learned that car was registered to Henry.

According to prosecutors, Henry drove the van to Dulles International Airport about 5 a.m. March 27 but didn't find a big enough crowd to satisfy his plot. Instead, he entered the terminal and tried to breach security by attempting to slip in behind a person who had been cleared and by studying a security checkpoint for weaknesses. He thought an attack there would get a lot of attention, prosecutors said.


Comment: A plausible inference, but prosecutors are not mind readers. Did he tell them what he was thinking?

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