But why is this specific to cigarettes? When you buy anything legally, cigarettes included, you're paying tax on it, and when you resell that same item, there are no taxes applied, so why is it just for cigarettes? Is it the same for alcohol?
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Staten Island Grand Jury Does Not Indict in Eric Garner Case
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But why is this specific to cigarettes? When you buy anything legally, cigarettes included, you're paying tax on it, and when you resell that same item, there are no taxes applied, so why is it just for cigarettes? Is it the same for alcohol?
It begins..?
tobacoo companies.
We must be on two different versions of the internet because I see just as many people upset about this and there have been a bunch of protests.
catapult37
Member
An excellent question.
New York City has damn near criminal taxes on cigarettes to the point it became common for people to drive out of state and buy crates and crates of cigarettes to sell. You don't mess with the governments income sources so made it a crime. Its all part of the war of smoking.
It's buying them from a low tax area and reselling them in a high tax area, without charging taxes in the high tax area.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Here's a New York Times article on the practice of selling Looseys, which has a pretty long history in NYC.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/nyregion/05loosie.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Yeah, people go to Native American reservations to buy cigs wholesale for like 5 bucks a box
ZedIndyLil
Member
I wonder how De Blasio will deal with this, or even if he does much. From what I understand, he was against making the choke hold illegal.
Funnily enough, I was listening to Halftime by Nas (this shit came out in 92, my God) when I first heard the news and heard the line "yo, go to hell to the foul cop that shot Garcia" and immediately thought the more things change, the more they stay the same.
catapult37
Member
"Sounds like smart business" -- conservatives describing the same behavior by corporations
Thanks.
Snacks the sober sea lion
Member
Doing anything but activating ragdoll mode = RESISTING ARREST HE HAS TO DIE to these people.
Just kidding they'll severely beat you and make up the charges anyway
won't do shit. he'll come out and pander to the crowd, give his condolences and blah blah blah. same goddamn song and dance we will see time and time again.
This is america.
I go to school around Borough Hall (NYC College of Technology). I can only imagine what that area could turn into with both the Family and Kings County Supreme Court being right there as well.
Brawly Likes to Brawl
Member
It was initially getting attention but news slowed down after the officer who issued the chokehold went under protection at his home, and shortly after that was when the Brown case kicked off and about a solid month of Ferguson PD acting like a pack of assholes really caused a lot of the anger to take a focus point on St. Louis. Now that this new non-indictment news came I imagine the focus will change. Especially since the circumstances are far less ambiguous here. (practically no ambiguity at all)
The Ferguson case got grayer as details emerged. The "hands up don't shoot" message was pretty powerful symbolically to what happens to blacks throughout the country. Then there is the fact the police department handled the situation like fucking idiots and treated the entire neighborhood as enemies of war. There was just a lot more shit that made it easier to have it as a boiling point to everything else that has happened. This will get just as much heat no doubt though. These two events at least pin points one possible point of attack: the grand jury system. It isn't going to be enough to change the systematic racism in the police system, but at least there can be some element that be isolated as being ass-backwards enough to change.
They hate taxes on cigarretes.
The taxes exist to to discourage their usage just like every other law that was passed during 2000-2005.
It's disturbing. They want the government to have complete power over people as long as those people aren't white.
Christopher
Member
Where?
Damn.
They like illegal cigarette sales, they make the same money on a taxed sale and an untaxed sale, but they are likely to sell more when the effective tax on the consumer is lower.
Twitter. Not much discussion about it though.
ZedIndyLil
Member
Yeah, his statement today was an impressive bit of generic horseshit.
It really sucks black people and everyone else can't use the 2nd amendment to their advantage regarding police brutality. Shoot and possibly kill a cop that is trying to end your life with no justification? You're going to be executed, full stop. There is no room for self defense against police, its against the ye ole American culture. If every black person was armed and had to defend themselves against police, full blown revolution that could end positively, but would probably end in the worst way possible.
Seriously, question how self defense against the police is beyond taboo for most Americans. From the police's perspective? Either fills them with unwarranted fear or it never crosses their mind to begin with.
Seriously, question how self defense against the police is beyond taboo for most Americans. From the police's perspective? Either fills them with unwarranted fear or it never crosses their mind to begin with.
OrangeGrayBlue
Member
Do we have any estimates on how large the crowds are at the NYC protest?
They aren't too fond of loose cigarette sales though.
D
Deleted member 284
Unconfirmed Member
Hey fellow Yellowjacket! I just graduated there in June.
And Fox News is trolling everyone right now by having Mark Fuhrman on.
shadyspace
Banned
There was that black woman who held a cop at gunpoint for illegally entered her home, called the cops on him, and then she wasn't charged.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
"Eric Garner's widow, Esaw Garner, says she does not accept the apologies, remorse, or prayers of the officer who killed her husband." - totally understandable
Also relevant to many of these instances of a white cop murdering Black people, not just Wilson & Brown:
I feel a lot more outrage about this case than the brown case. There are a lot more unknowns in the Brown case.
LilWayneSuckz
Member
Are you freaking kidding me?.....There is absolutely NO way the media can try and make this seem justified and make it seem like Garner is a villain....
Surprising. Would like to read about that.
I don't think they care too much. I think the law is more to protect the city's tax revenues rather than some conniving by the tobacco companies to decrease their own sales.
shadyspace
Banned
yeah I was just Googling for it but yet to find a link. Know I read that somewhere.
I don't doubt that but I have been told be police officers that Tobacco companies had influence in that law. What they actually know for certain is up for debate, I'll admit.
There's people in the media trying to argue that it wasn't a choke hold.
LyleLanley
Banned
They'll find a way.
NegativeCero
Banned
The attorney general opening a civil rights investigation is at least something. But this is just sad.
Cops already assume the worst about black folk, that they're violent superhuman brutes, now you want them to use guns against cops?? This post, I just can't...
Brawly Likes to Brawl
Member
Some of the talking heads on CNN have already tried. Saw some snippets of Fox News earlier, it seems like they're giving it the minimum amount of attention.
You just can't what? Defending yourself against corrupt authority figures SHOULDN'T be out of the question, but it has been for quite some time now. The fact that's the case is fucked and always has been fucked. This doesn't apply only to black people, it applies to any American that has been abused or instigated against by the police.
Not much else I can say about this. Just.......FUCK :/
Thanks for putting your boots on the ground so to speak
Ok good, its not just me then
In the future avoid doing this. Just make topics muddier and harder to read as you can't tell who is sincere and who is sarcastic
Bumblebeetuna
Member
Was the cop at least fired? Idk about criminal charges, but that mother fucker should at least be fired. Hope the family sues the shit out of NYC too. Nothing sparks change like $$$.
D
Deleted member 284
Unconfirmed Member
He's on the force right now. This very minute.
Blood Diamonds
Banned
lol, no. If anything he'll probably get a promotion.
Fuck.
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