*** “When is conduct a crime, and when is a crime not a crime? When Somebody Up there – a monarch
a dictator, a Pope, a legislator – so decrees.” [ Jessica Mitford ]
YOU tell me, after reading excerpts from this article: “Trump budget cuts hobble efforts to support antismoking education?” [ Christina Jewett; New York Times; 5/18/25 ]
1] “Experts on tobacco control said the Trump administration’s funding cuts would set back a quarter-century of public health efforts that have driven the smoking rate to a record low and saved lives and billions of dollars in health care spending.”
2]. “The decimation of antismoking work follows a year of lavish campaign donations to tobacco and e-cigarette companies to President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans..”
*** “You cannot serve God and money.” [ Matthew 6:24 ]
3] “At the Food and Drug Administration, officials fired many staff members who levied fines on retailers that sold tobacco to minors or marketed illicit vapes. Some scientists who were experts in addiction and toxicology lost their jobs. The agency also fired the team that wrote proposals to ban menthol cigarettes and to reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes, efforts the Trump administration has abandoned. Most staff members who review new tobacco products for approval kept their jobs.” [!!!!!!!!!!]
*** “Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things.” [ Terry Pratchatt ]
4]. “Kennedy has made chronic disease his top priority, taking aim at artificial colors in food and unproven theories about vaccines. Yet decades of data show that smoking is a top driver of cardiovascular disease, cancer and premature death.”
5] “We”re at an inflection point,” said Mitch Zeller, a former director of the FDA’s tobacco center. He likened the cutbacks to “kneecapping” the agencies’ mission.”
*** “Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in th liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.”
[ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]
6] “The tobacco industry, meanwhile, has heavily supported Republican politicians and introduced new products. In 2024, Reynolds American, which makes Newport cigarettes and Vuse vapes, gave $10 million to PACs supporting Trump and $4.6 million to support Republican leaders in Congress.”
“Altria, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes and NJOY vapes, contributed $6.4 million to congressional Republicans and $1 million to the Trump inaugural committee. Breeze Smoke, a vape company, and the Vapor Technology Association each contributed at least $1 million to the inauguration.”
[ NOTE: This is part of a PATTERN. See the following stories:
– ” Biggest Donors Expect Returns On Investment…Moguls look to Lifting of Regulations” [ Eric Lipton; New York Times; 11/7/24 }: Among other things, it mentions “The to-do list for President-elect Donald J. Trump from M.A., the venture capital billionaire..” {!!! – a “to-do list” for a president ???????? ]
– “Trump asks Big Oil for $1 B, vows to undo climate rules”. [ Josh Dawsey, Maxine Joselow; Washington Post; 5/10/24 ]: “Trump’s response stunned several of the executives..according to people with knowledge of the meeting…he has turned to the industry to help shape his environmental agenda…”
SO – is this corruption, is it “quid pro quo,” is it “freedom of speech,” is it legalized bribery, is it “good lobbying,” is it “democratic government in action,” ????? YOU. tell. me…..
*** “Corruption is never an individual act. It always involves groups of people bound by one fundamental rule of
association: an exchange of favors.” [ Roberto da Matta ]
How is this going to “benefit” OUR children??? Is this going to make OUR children healthier??? Would YOU want YOUR child to know about the risks of smoking???
*** “I am not sure how many “sins” I would recognize in the world. Some would surely be defused by changed circumstances. But I can imagine none that is more irredeemably sinful than the betrayal, the exploitation, of the young by those who should care for them.” [ Elizabeth Janeway ]
With Justice For All 