Free Republic

When politicians have trouble spinning their own glories, that’s a problem. So it was bizarre that Hillary Rodham Clinton, asked at a forum in April about her legacy at the State Department, had trouble articulating it. That feeds into a narrative — awaiting her memoir on Tuesday — that she may have been glamorous as secretary of state but didn’t actually accomplish much. In fact, that’s dead wrong, for Clinton achieved a great deal and left a hefty legacy — just not the traditional kind.... No, her legacy is different. For starters, Clinton recognized that our future.... More fundamentally, Clinton...

Thank you for your petition on premium cigars. First, it's important to remember that regulating a tobacco product isn't the same as banning it. FDA is not proposing a ban on all cigars or on any type of cigar. Second, although all tobacco products are harmful and potentially addictive, FDA has heard the input from stakeholders about the possible differences in the public health impact of premium cigars compared to other cigars. We are taking this into account as we consider potential regulatory options around the categories of cigars. In the proposed rule, the FDA has suggested two different ways...

https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2014-09491.pdfThis is the docket reading

Fewer American high school students smoked cigarettes in 2012 compared to 2011, according to a study released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But, at the same time, more high school students were smoking cigars, pipes, electronic cigarettes and hookahs. Overall, 23.3 percent of high school students (grades 9-12) said they had used a tobacco product at least once in the 30 days before they were surveyed in 2012, said the study published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. That was down from the 24.3 percent who said they had used a tobacco product at least...

Veterans Day will be bit different for Richard Overton. The man believed to be the nation's oldest living veteran spends most days smoking cigars and enjoying his whiskey. But today? He's spending Veterans Day with President Obama. Overton, 107, enjoys up to 12 cigars a day and likes to enjoy his morning coffee with a little whiskey, a beverage he credits in part with his long, healthy life. The Austin, Texas, resident still drives, walks without a cane and regularly attends church. He said he was taken aback when he got the invitation to the White House.

Pablo Escobar was loose. He darted across a noisy warehouse, searching for a corner to loom in. He’s “kind of a bully,” said Duke Riley, the Brooklyn artist who trained him, watching Pablo flit around before landing on a ledge near the ceiling. Pablo Escobar is a homing pigeon, and an accessory — or an accomplice — to the latest exhibition by Mr. Riley, whose work often flouts both laws and common sense. “Generally, I do things that don’t really seem that feasible,” Mr. Riley explained, “and then they tend to work out.” But even by his standards, the pigeon...

Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri, according to the 9-11 commission report, was the mastermind of the Oct. 12, 2000, attack on the U.S.S. Cole that killed 17 U.S. sailors. Nashiri was also the target of an "unauthorized" CIA interrogation technique (that had not been legally vetted by the Justice Department) that is described in a May 7, 2004, CIA inspector general's report that was partially declassified by the Obama administration this week. CIA officers blew smoke in Nashiri's face, according to the report, and they used cigars. The IG's office described this smoke-blowing as one of several "unauthorized or undocumented techniques"...

While more Americans than ever before are quitting their cigarette habit, a growing number are also turning to large cigars and pipes, suggesting that gains in curbing tobacco consumption may be more elusive than previously thought. The findings were outlined in a report released on Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall consumption of smoked tobacco products declined 27.5 percent between 2000 and 2011, but use of noncigarette smoked tobacco products increased by a whopping 123 percent in that same time. One major culprit for the trend is likely price, particularly in the latter part of...

We're making great progress, but there's still much work to be done. So if you've contacted your elected official, thank you, but please continue to make your voice heard. And if you haven't, we greatly need your help to protect the future of premium handmade cigars. It's easy to sit back and imagine that this problem will fix itself, or that enough others will act and your single support is unnecessary. But the truth is, this battle is far from over. The threats are real and the potential outcome is frightening. Cigars, premium cigars, the which you regularly enjoy are...

The Little Rock Airport Commission has scheduled a discussion at its meeting Tuesday to rename the airport the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport. The idea has kicked around for years, with varying amounts of cheering and jeering. Hillary Clinton served for a time as legal counsel to the airport. I'm guessing the votes are in hand now to honor Arkansas's native son president and his wife, the secretary of state. It's better than a guess. Our FOI request early today produced 1) renderings of various proposed sign treatments including the one above; 2) the resolution the commission has up...

ANNAPOLIS — Maryland health advocates are lauding Gov. Martin O'Malley’s proposal to increase the state’s cigar tax, but critics say such an increase would create another financial burden for consumers and business owners. Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, proposed a state budget Wednesday that would raise the 15-percent excise tax on cigars, smokeless tobacco and other noncigarette tobacco items — a group collectively known as other tobacco products (OTP) — to 70 percent. The OTP tax has gone unchanged since 1999 while the cigarette tax has gone from 36 cents to $2 a pack during that period. Health advocates argue raising...

Cigar smokers are mad as hell, and they aren’t going to take it anymore. Faced with an unprecedented assault on their guilty pleasure from President Barack Obama's Food and Drug Administration, aficionados and industry insiders told The Daily Caller that they’re picking up their torch lighters and revolting. Usually divided by their preferences for mild, medium and full-bodied smokes, they're uniting against regulations that threaten to make cigars prohibitively expensive, shut down scores of small cigar shops, jeopardize tens of thousands of jobs and erase the traditionally bright line between Camels and Cohibas. Cigar lovers are also recruiting members of...

PER WEBSITE: FDA regulations will force manufacturers to spend upwards of six-figures just to get new a blend approved. Your favorite boutique cigar brands will wither and die, leaving only the largest manufacturers to introduce a new blend or two per year. Don't expect to sample those new blends, either: free samples will be illegal, as well as cigar events. And even if you're brave enough to buy a box sight unseen, the FDA is likely to mandate near-zero levels of nicotine. How do you suppose THAT cigar will taste? Surely the Founding Fathers are spinning in their graves! When...

Just got an email from Famous that is essentially reproduced at the link. Basically they say the FDA is looking to get into the business of "regulating" cigars and legislation is needed to prevent this. I followed their link to a CRA (Cigar Rights of America) site which allows one to craft messages to be sent to your Senators and Congressman. I just did this. If you agree with me that the FDA shouldn't be regulating cigars I urge you to do the same. ML/NJ

FRANKFORT — Revenue from Kentucky's cigarette tax is in free-fall, but more Kentuckians kicking the unhealthy habit isn't the only reason for the decline. State officials say more and more people are turning to cheaper alternatives — little cigars and roll-your-own cigarettes — that aren't covered by the state's 60-cent-a-pack tax. The little cigars look much like cigarettes but are wrapped in brown paper. They cost about $1.25 a pack, compared to about $3.25 for the cheapest pack of cigarettes. The move to small cigars and roll-your-own cigarettes is a national trend. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that states...

If you plan on smoking in a New York City park today, bring an umbrella and $50. Showers are expected in the area, and today Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ban on smoking in public parks, beaches and elsewhere goes into effect. This new law casts a wide, anti-smoking blanket over much of outdoors New York City. It bans smoking in all New York City parks (except median strips), on all the city's beaches and boardwalks, its public golf courses, the grounds of its sports stadium complexes and pedestrian plazas such as those at Times Square and Herald Square. While the ban...

Hialeah businessman Jose Oliva beat two other Republicans to fill a vacant seat in the Florida House in Tuesday’s special election. Technically, the race on Tuesday was a special primary election. But the results are considered a de facto victory because there is no Democrat on the ballot in the general election on June 28. Citizens for a Reality Check — sent a mailer blasting Oliva as a Sandinista sympathizer because his family business grows tobacco in Nicaragua.

SPOKANE, Wash. | As quests for freedom go, it’s not exactly the fight against apartheid in South Africa. But cigar smokers around the country are fed up with smoking bans that prevent them from enjoying stogies in cigar bars with friends. A rising number of states have moved to exempt cigars from indoor smoking bans, often by establishing cigar bars or smoking lounges inside cigar stores. Pro-cigar groups have sprung up nationally and in most states, spreading a message that their product is fundamentally different from cigarettes. Cigar smokers are not interested in exposing the general public to their pungent...

The other day my wife and I were eating dinner outdoors at our favorite Italian restaurant down on Lincoln Road in South Beach. As usual, we sat down, took in the fabulous Miami weather and commenced to watch the human freak show unfold. If you’ve ever been to Lincoln Road then you know what I’m talkin’ about. It blows away Miami’s Metro Zoo. Hands down. Bar none. Anyway, while I was taking in the bizzaroland that is SoBe, I began to feel better about my life, that although it has its trials, at least I wasn’t the over-tanned guy who...

$2,000 Fine For Each Cigar Smoked Published on February 25, 2011 by NewsDesk - iWireNews ™ A New York man settled a lawsuit by agreeing to pay $2,000 to his neighbors if he is caught smoking a cigar inside his apartment in the future. The $2 million lawsuit, filed in city Supreme Court by Russell and Amanda Poses, claimed next door neighbor Harry Lysons was stinking up their apartment by smoking cigars inside his domicile, the New York Post reported Thursday. Lysons settled the lawsuit by agreeing to pay a $2,000 fine for each future incident involving indoor cigar smoking....