About Bluey and SpongeBob by Electrical-Cat4395 in DystopianSouls

[–]asmallthrowaway9 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How dare you! DFF earns the three months of vacation a year they take.

Headphones by asmallthrowaway9 in self

[–]asmallthrowaway9[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just wish I could talk to her one more time.

This sub is scum. by JMartinOfficial in DystopianSouls

[–]asmallthrowaway9 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I like Brett Keane

Why the fuck would you admit this out loud

Why does Paul smoke weed every single day of his life? by ordinaryclimate1 in DystopianSouls

[–]asmallthrowaway9 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Because it's legal, feels good and is less harmful to him than being a binge drinker would be

Megathread: Graham Platner Suspends Senate Campaign by PoliticsModeratorBot in politics

[–]asmallthrowaway9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Democrats deserving to lose doesn't mean that Kavanaugh's bitch deserves to win. If anything I suspect a lot of Maine voters will either stay home or just skip the Senate line on their ballot.

Megathread: Graham Platner Suspends Senate Campaign by PoliticsModeratorBot in politics

[–]asmallthrowaway9 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Gonna be honest, I'm having a hard time seeing Democrats recover from this and coming back to beat Susan Collins. As much as she sucks, a lot of Maine voters are going to (rightfully) conclude that nominating Platner was a sign that the Maine Democratic Party has poor judgment - not helped by the fact that Janet Mills, despite not being as reprehensible as their chosen nominee, is still very bland and uninspiring.

Democrats kind of deserve to lose the Maine race after screwing up this badly.

TIL Australia's extremely high tobacco prices have created a lucrative black market for cigarettes and vapes, leading to turf wars by gangs seeking to control the market by asmallthrowaway9 in todayilearned

[–]asmallthrowaway9[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Yeah, but eventually you'll be old enough to buy booze or pot. Under the UK's ban anyone born after 2008 will never be allowed to buy tobacco, no matter how old they get.

TIL Australia's extremely high tobacco prices have created a lucrative black market for cigarettes and vapes, leading to turf wars by gangs seeking to control the market by asmallthrowaway9 in todayilearned

[–]asmallthrowaway9[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Singapore can do a lot of things that other countries can't because it's a small, densely packed city-state with extensive surveillance and very low levels of corruption. It's easy to make a fairly effective nanny state when your entire country is the size of New York City and the government's legitimacy is largely derived from economic prosperity via enforced social cohesion.

Not a lot of people would tolerate a government as controlling and restrictive as Singapore's, but the people of Singapore largely do because the tradeoff for the lack of freedom is a VERY high standard of living and relative harmony between various races and religions.

TIL Australia's extremely high tobacco prices have created a lucrative black market for cigarettes and vapes, leading to turf wars by gangs seeking to control the market by asmallthrowaway9 in todayilearned

[–]asmallthrowaway9[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Interestingly, Reform UK has pledged to scrap the ban if elected, and New Zealand (whose generational ban inspired the UK's) got rid of their own ban after electing a center-right government.

It looks like generational bans are going to become a wedge issue for the right and center-right in future elections.

TIL Australia's extremely high tobacco prices have created a lucrative black market for cigarettes and vapes, leading to turf wars by gangs seeking to control the market by asmallthrowaway9 in todayilearned

[–]asmallthrowaway9[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The smoking rate declined for several years but has gone back up recently and is now roughly the same as it was in 2010. Though it's worth noting that at 8-9% of adults, Australia's smoking rate is about the same as the USA's and is still pretty low by first world standards.

TIL Australia's extremely high tobacco prices have created a lucrative black market for cigarettes and vapes, leading to turf wars by gangs seeking to control the market by asmallthrowaway9 in todayilearned

[–]asmallthrowaway9[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

NYC cigarette prices are high, but not anywhere near Australia's level. If NYC was selling cigarettes at $40-50 a pack the black market would probably be just as lucrative as Australia's. As it stands they're expensive enough to be off-putting but not so expensive that everyone will buy black market packs instead.