[PRESSTV] Health experts in the United States are warning that under the recent tax cuts on alcohol for the first time in decades, the country may witness more alcohol abuse and drunken driving.
The Republican tax overhaul, signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 22, makes alcohol cheaper, which could make people drink more.
“The cheaper alcohol is, the more people drink and the more they have alcohol problems, and there is a huge international literature that has shown that over and over and over,” David Jernigan, the head of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Johns Hopkins University, was quoted as saying in a Politico report on Sunday, “The public health ramifications of this continue to be invisible to policymakers.”
The US congress actually slashed taxes on various forms alcoholic drinks, including wine, beer, whiskey, vodka and tequila by 16 percent.
“It’s not helpful in terms of fighting drunk driving,” said J.T. Griffin, the chief government affairs officer at Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Beer and spirits operators, which were actually behind the Republican plan, can consequently enjoy an extra $1.6 billion in savings next year.
Still some Republicans, including Ohio Senator Rob Portman, believe that the cuts would have no effect on alcoholism in the US.
“I don’t think it will have that effect,” he said. “All it does is help small craft breweries and small distillers.”
The last time the US lawmakers touch the alcohol taxes was in 1991, when they increased them.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
the tax decrease is from $18/barrel to $16/barrel so about $2/barrel which comes to about a penny per 16 ounce glass of beer - and that decrease is only on the first 100k barrels
the measure was designed to help craft beer manufacturers (although big producers get the decrease also)
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/01/2018 0:38 Comments ||
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#2
If you give these helocopter grannies an inch, they will run the entire block with their stupid pet peeves. They become useless as that watchdog"" that barks all the time.
#4
When the Dims raised taxes on alcoholic beverages in 2014 they did so in a manner that made the accounting process to determine taxes owed by restaurants, bars, etc far too complicated. Point of Sale systems had to altered to compensate for the changes. It was a nightmare for the hospitality industry.
[Daily Beast] Lawyer Lisa Bloom, representing the woman accusing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of sexual misconduct in 1994, when she was 13 years old, speaks to media in Woodland Hills, California, U.S. November 2, 2016.
Former Clinton nemesis turned Clinton operative David Brock was reportedly behind a six-figure effort to identify and bring forward victims of sexual misconduct by Donald Trump before Election Day. Brock’s American Bridge 21st Century Foundation reportedly spent $200,000, and one of his major donors, Susie Tompkins Buell, gave $500,000. Both sums went to the firm of Lisa Bloom. However the efforts did not meet with success, and Bloom claims most of the money was refunded.
[Townhall] On Sunday evening, President Donald J. Trump took to Twitter to slam the Iranian government and to remind the world that the Islamic Republic is the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism, something President Obama's State Department reported in 2016.
Indeed, President Trump is correct. A 2016 State Department annual report said Iran "remained the foremost state sponsor of terrorism in 2015, providing a range of support, including financial, training, and equipment, to groups around the world." The report also said that Iran was providing arms and cash to terrorist groups like Hezbollah, notes CNN.
That report came after then Secretary of State John Kerry admitted that some of the money provided via economic sanctions relief to Iran - nearly $150 billion ‐ would end up in the hands of terrorists. "I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists," he said in the interview in Davos, referring to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. "You know, to some degree, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that every component of that can be prevented."
#1
So hang them for treason everytime shia terrorists kill Americans. You might have to dig Lurch's body up a couple of thousand times But I'm sure he'll eventually get the point.
[Townhall] Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen appeared on ABC News "This Week" where he voiced concern that President Barack Obama was not as supportive of anti-government Iranian protesters as he should have been in 2009. He told ABC News that he hopes President Donald J. Trump is "supportive of more freedoms in that country."
Host Martha Raddatz asked Mullen his opinion regarding President Trump’s response to the recent Iranian protests. Mullen was supportive and made key distinctions between how President Obama handled the situation in 2009 and how President Trump is in present day.
Skipping down:
Mullen began his tenure as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in October 2007 under President George W. Bush and continued under President Obama until Sept 2011.
In 2012, GOP candidate Mitt Romney harangued President Obama’s tepid response at the time to the 2009 Iranian protests.
Romney gave a blistering speech against President Obama saying, "When millions of Iranians took to the streets in June of 2009, when they demanded freedom from a cruel regime that threatens the world, when they cried out, 'Are you with us, or are you with them?' -- the American president was silent," Romney said.
#7
Sorry g(r)omgoru, he's already passed the first tests of sainthood by healing the sick (Obamacare), Feeding the poor (Moochelle's school lunches) and bringing world peace (by rolling over for Iran, China, Russia and Norkland.)
#8
Check my internet accounts. Hell, check the Burg. I made it very explicitly clear and Crystal I wanted Persia back and instead you did the exact opposite of everything I asked you to do and shored up the Mullahs and paid them off and ..worse you fucker bitch.
Adultery applies to false doctrine in some cases.
Did you not hear me down here screaming at you to stop this madness and spiteful work?
What is it about you that refuses the reality that if you stand for what is Correct, one day you will be accepted in a better way?
It's a popularity contest for well spoken tokens or bad ideology to stick it to "The Man"
#9
#2 But imagine the fights among future historians re "Why Americans elected Obama - twice", Besoeker.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru
Easy answer, there was no other suitable candidate from any political party that appealed to the American people.
Really the primary democrat candidates in 2008 were Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, Gravel, Kucinich, Obama and Richardson. (Among other lesser known candidates.)
#10
Given the republican choices, it's really no surprise that Obama won.
So basically Obama won because his opponents sucked big time, some would say that they were kinda toxic.
(Both major parties apparently still have not learned from the 2016 elections why Trump won. So far Trump has been a spectacular success and this will shape future presidential elections.) (Maybe, if anybody bother to learn from this election.)
Most were long time Washington politicians and frankly, people were tired of the same ol', same ol'. Obama at the time seemed like fresh perspective and eventually won the election.
In 2012, on the democrat side, there basically was Obama and um, Obama. the others were mostly fridge candidates who never really had a chance of winning. Ed Cowan who came in second on the democrat ticket only got 1.56% of the votes.
#13
While the three top Republicans were Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman. Ron Paul got 3.77% of the votes, the rest even less. (Same source as above.)
Word limit messed up the order of my posts.
Suggested reading, #9, then #11 followed by #12 with #10 at the end.
#18
But imagine the fights among future historians re "Why Americans elected Obama - twice", Besoeker.
"When millions of Iranians took to the streets in June of 2009, when they demanded freedom from a cruel regime that threatens the world, when they cried out, 'Are you with us, or are you with them?' -- the American president was silent," Romney said.
That bastard didn't say anything until that young lady was shot dead cold by the regime police, and only then when the story couldn't be suppressed any long did that bastard endorse dinner jacket and the election results. Silence, then back to attaching the colon hooks on once a future obamacare.
[WASHINGTONPOST] Nearly a year into his takeover of Washington, President Trump has made a significant down payment on his campaign pledge to shrink the federal bureaucracy, a shift long sought by conservatives that could eventually bring the workforce down to levels not seen in decades.
By the end of September, all Cabinet departments except Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs and Interior had fewer permanent staff than when Trump took office in January ‐ with most shedding many hundreds of employees, according to an analysis of federal personnel data by The Washington Post.
The diminishing federal footprint comes after Trump promised in last year’s campaign to "cut so much your head will spin," and it reverses a boost in hiring under President Barack Obama I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody... . The falloff has been driven by an exodus of civil servants, a diminished corps of political appointees and an effective hiring freeze.
Even though Congress did not pass a new budget in his first year, the drastic spending cuts Trump laid out in the spring ‐ which would slash more than 30 percent of funding at some agencies ‐ also has triggered a spending slowdown, according to officials at multiple departments.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2018 00:00 ||
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Among them is Noah Kunin, the former infrastructure director for 18F, the high-profile office created in the General Services Administration in 2014 to boost the government’s digital services.
When he heard former FBI director James B. Comey tell Congress in June that Trump had asked him for his personal loyalty, Kunin said his red line was crossed.
Stating one's loyalty to the President of the United States was too much to ask eh? Would you mind reciting the Pledge of Allegiance? Or would that be a "red line" as well ?
#2
..can change all that with the repeal of the Civil Service Act. Not loyal, hit the road. Works every four to eight years. Screw up and your boss might actually hold you accountable rather than take the blame.
#3
Just think of the boom in the private sector that will happen when these highly motivated and talented federal workers hit the street. Former employees of the Department of Agriculture will start massively efficient farms; former Department of Energy employees will show oilfield roughnecks how the job should really be done "move aside, Butch..."); former Department of Education employees will... well, I'm sure they'll do something. It's a shame that McDonald's has picked this time to start automating. By popular demand, snark of the day.
Posted by: Matt ||
01/01/2018 12:25 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Daily Beast] Lawyer Lisa Bloom, representing the woman accusing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of sexual misconduct in 1994, when she was 13 years old, speaks to media in Woodland Hills, California, U.S. November 2, 2016.
[Townhall] On Sunday evening, President Donald J. Trump took to Twitter to slam the Iranian government and to remind the world that the Islamic Republic is the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism, something President Obama's State Department reported in 2016. 
[Townhall] Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen appeared on ABC News "This Week" where he voiced concern that President Barack Obama was not as supportive of anti-government Iranian protesters as he should have been in 2009. He told ABC News that he hopes President Donald J. Trump is "supportive of more freedoms in that country."
Not exactly 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma' now is it ? 
[WASHINGTONPOST] Nearly a year into his takeover of Washington, President Trump has made a significant down payment on his campaign pledge to shrink the federal bureaucracy, a shift long sought by conservatives that could eventually bring the workforce down to levels not seen in decades.
