| second: Brenda: Similar law suits in the US were settled for $246 billion—of which $206 billion came in one large settlement by 46 states—which will be paid by smokers through higher prices. [Repeat: paid by smokers through higher prices] The settlement came after the collapse of an effort to write federal legislation [Repeat: collapse of an effort to write federal legislation] that would have substantially increased the cost of cigarettes through taxes and would have restricted the marketing of tobacco. [go to link] Despite all those law suits, tobacco is still a very profitable business that kills millions of the dumbest people, the ones who can't spell "emphysema" so they changed the name to COPD, which is real easy to spell: [go to link] |
| Brenda: Second, Canada has successfully sued tobacco companies because they lied about the health risks of smoking. |
6ixStringJack: Really?  Nobody cares. |
| THG: Trump family crypto project quietly sold as holders got stuck |
| second: On April 14, 1994, CEOs from seven major U.S. tobacco companies testified under oath before a House Subcommittee that they did not believe nicotine was addictive. This landmark, televised hearing featured executives denying the link between smoking and health issues, contradicting internal industry documents. [go to link] |
| second: Trump’s supporters have constructed an elaborate double standard to ignore his fire hose of lies and incendiary rhetoric, which they dismiss as “mean tweets” or otherwise inconsequential. They have justified doing so in large part by turning Obama into a chimerical monster who supposedly launched the racial war that Trump must now win.
Yet the strongest evidence they can marshal for Obama’s alleged provocation is rhetoric that is more thoughtful, dignified, and presidential than anything Trump has said in his entire time in the White House. [go to link] |
| second: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise declared that gas is much cheaper than it was “two years ago,” when, he claimed, it was $6 a gallon. The average price then was actually $3.66.
And Pete Hegseth, the Defense secretary, told Congress that gas prices in California were $8 a gallon on the eve of the Iran war; the average was actually $4.64.
What’s striking about these efforts to create an alternate reality isn’t merely the fact that politicians are lying. It’s the fact that they’re lying about a subject in which the truth is more or less literally in everyone’s face every day. Lies about, say, immigrant crime are difficult for ordinary Americans to check. But gas prices are displayed on giant signs all around America — and drivers face a reality check on fuel costs every time they fill their tanks.
Why, then, do Republicans believe that these lies will work for them politically? [go to link] |
| Brenda: But maybe they've been having getting on SIX. |
| Brenda: Never know. People pick things up and then drop them with no rhyme or reason. |
| 6ixStringJack: They sound like High School girls. |
| second: "Donald Trump was the dumbest goddamn student I ever had." - William T. Kelley, former Wharton Professor. Now he's the dumbest President America has ever had.
It’s rare for a professor to disparage the intelligence of a student, but according to attorney Frank DiPrima, who was close friends with professor William T. Kelley for 47 years, the prof made an exception for Donald Trump, at least in private. “He must have told me that 100 times over the course of 30 years,” says DiPrima, who has been practicing law since 1963. “I remember the inflection of his voice when he said it: ‘Donald Trump was the dumbest goddamn student I ever had!’” He would say that [Trump] came to Wharton thinking he already knew everything, that he was arrogant and he wasn’t there to learn.” Kelley, who passed away in 2011 at age 94, taught marketing at Wharton for 31 years, retiring in 1982. [go to link] |
| 6ixStringJack: They've been pretty quiet for most of the day though, huh? I think some serious things just hit home for them today. |
| 6ixStringJack: Look at those crybabies cry... |
| Brenda: Wow! That is shocking. Never thought that would happen SIX. |
| second: On Wall Street, TACO — Trump Always Chickens Out — has abruptly been replaced as a favorite meme by NACHO — Not a Chance Hormuz Opens. As a result, oil futures have soared.
I never bought into the TACO meme, which was initially about tariffs: Trump did not, in fact, reverse his destructive tariff policy, although he blinked in his confrontation with China. But NACHO looks right. Hormuz won’t open until the economic damage to the US from its closure becomes much more severe. More at: [go to link] |
| THG: lifted from SECONDS post; I've seen like 50 of these GOP Senators say they're working on a ballroom bill. Not a single one working towards stuff normal people care about. |
| second: Senator Rand Paul @SenRandPaul tweeted "I'm dropping a bill tomorrow. Let's build the [Trump] Ballroom."
[go to link] I've seen like 50 of these GOP Senators say they're working on a ballroom bill. Not a single one working towards stuff normal people care about. Cheaper healthcare? Not in a million years. By the way, improvement would be easy because the U.S. healthcare system is a extreme global outlier, spending roughly $14,885 per person (2024), nearly double the cost of the next highest-spending country, Switzerland. While the U.S. pays significantly more, this high spending does not result in better outcomes, often trailing other wealthy nations in life expectancy and disease prevention. [go to link] |
| second: "You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." – Marcus Aurelius
“If a man knows not which port he sails, no wind is favorable.” – Seneca
“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.” – Epictetus
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor Frankl
[go to link] |
| 6ixStringJack: Wow, Brenda. You were publicly acknowledged by the most important man alive in Second's universe! All it took was me telling you that you would be ignored and he sure proved me wrong again! |
| second: Trump has long compared himself to America’s two greatest presidents. But recently he told two people who are in a position to know such things—a senior administration official and a longtime Trump confidant—that he is now greater than George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
“He’s been talking recently about how he is the most powerful person to ever live,” the confidant told us. “He wants to be remembered as the one who did things that other people couldn’t do, because of his sheer power and force of will.”
[go to link] |