media matters

[cradleandshoot]

Infantilization of argumentation and boycott / cancel culture is indeed insidious at times. Funny that some people think it's only one side.

Cancel Starbucks
Cancel Carhartt
Cancel Whole Foods
Cancel Nike, Keurig, Kellogg's, Coca-Cola, Walmart, Netflix, Budweiser, Oreos, Target, Pepsi, Gilette, Nordstrom, the NFL, Univision, Macy's, CNN, HBO...

It gets exhausting trying to follow everything the right wing wants to boycott and cancel with their reductionist argumentation. Here's a handy list, but it's a little old and needs updating.

https://www.netaxpayers.org/archives/4956

Some of these brands are on the way out. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Macy's, CNN. Their wokeness is a way for them to remain relevant.

hmmm, I think you're generally wrong about that, both in terms of how these companies are faring and their motivations.

Macy's has struggled. Down over 50% since peak in 2015, but also up 500% since nadir two years ago (Covid). But I think their business model is certainly threatened, so on that one, you're at least somewhat correct on business challenges.

CNN is about where it was 5 years ago, but down from its peak in 2018. I don't see them as threatened, but certainly the fragmentation of media is a challenge for them.

PepsiCo stock is up 60% over the last 5 years. Pretty continuous rise.

Coca Cola is up 33% in last 5 years, pretty amazing continuous rise with a few blips over past 3 decades.

Pepsi and Coca Cola are consumer brands vying for a young, worldwide audience which is diverse and more values oriented than the old, white conservative audience of America. Both companies have for decades marketed to appeal in these ways and it would be a breach of their brand trust to not be clear about such values now. Easy choice.

BTW, both are also evolving their product portfolios as well.

Macy's is less clear, though it needs its employees as well as consumers to see it as forward leaning, not backwards. Backward would be death signal.

CNN is a worldwide journalistic endeavor, though it, like everyone else, has been trying to incorporate more and more infotainment in the mix. It's solidly in the middle of the US political spectrum, but this positioning has been pushed "left" by the rapidly right wing partisan disinformation media machines...the contrast with disinformation makes CNN appear more "left" than it actually is.

Look at the skews from the new product lines. People are not drinking more Classic Coke and Pepsi. The increase in new product lines are being driven by new skews... Coke Zero sugar, Pepsi Zero Sugar, Mountain Dew Zero Sugar I could go on and on and on. The energy drink market is crushing it for Coke and Pepsi. Coke and Pepsi are thriving because they understand the market and have produced new beverages that cater to those markets. I only know this having worked for Coca Cola and understanding how they were creating products to cater to the market demand. What do you think the Coca Cola Freestyle machine is all about? Do you folks know the Coke Freestyle machine downloads every drink that has been dispensed from each machine every day to Atlanta. The data is stored in the Sequoia computer board that generates the formula for every drink poured from the machine every day. That is a pretty cool marketing tool for the Coca Cola folks. You think it is magic that the folks at Coca Cola in Atlanta know what their customers are drinking everyday. If you pour a Diet Vanilla Cherry Coke from a Freestyle machine at your local Wendys.. those folks in Atlanta know and understand what that means. Don't be surprised if in 6 months you find 20oz Diet Vanilla Cherry Coke in your neighborhood convenience store.

The earth is round too.

And very thirsty as well. Ask the folks at Coca Cola and Pepsi. Everytime that round earth revolves around the sun they are working to get your money.

I worked on the Vitamin Water transaction, shorty.

VM is a skew and product line of Coca Cola. When your competing with Desani and Smart Water and Avion it gets tough to compete. There use to be pallets of VW by our time clock. Two free cases of out of date product. I use to convert some of our GDM 26 coolers to VM Coolers. New skins on the side and VW merchandiser graphics. Most of them went in local HS that would not allow Coca Cola graphics.

And?..... its SKU's by the way. Management probably didn't cascade the information down to your level so you assumed old out of date drinks for you and the guys, meant the product wasn't moving...

Coca-Cola bought Glaceau's Vitaminwater in 2007 for a then-company high of $4.1 billion. It has been one of the Atlanta-based beverage giant's biggest successes, jumping from annual sales of $350 million to more than $1 billion. However, it hasn't always been smooth, with Coca-Cola reportedly settling a lawsuit for $1.2 million in 2013-2014 after claims that the product misled about its health benefits..... Coca Cola paid about a 11x revenue multiple... so assuming no multiple expansion, the brand could be worth $45 billion. Nice.

Different terminology, we spelled it skews, your correct my bad it is SKUs. I have no idea what Coca Cola paid for the VW rights. VW was not a big mover in Rochester. We did install some fountain units that had VW products. We installed some single door visual coolers that had VW products. The biggest VW account we had was at RIT. I do know in our warehouse we had pallets full of VW products that just did not sell for chit. VW triple XXX was one the worst. I'm only judging by what I saw with my own eyes. I have no issue with VW or their different product lines. I do know that twice a year we would winterize and summerize the fountain units at RIT and Nazareth College. The VW BIB product on site was always out of date and wound up being thrown out and was replaced with new product.

World a lot larger than rinky dink Rochester, if you haven’t figured that out yet.

Don't matter to me anymore. I'm retired, what Coca Cola does no longer matters to me. I do have a really cool collection of Coke stuff I took off of equipment going to the boneyard. My stuff you won't find anywhere else.

you are the one the brought up Coca Cola.

I brought up Coca-Cola, and as a brand it is shrinking, hence their brand diversification strategy. Why do you think they teamed up with the #1 hipster bubbly water, Topo Chico? People hate Coke since it went from sugar to HFCS. In fact, the only decent Coke is Mexican Coke, although Mexican Squirt is my favorite. Hard to get, my last one was at Los Tacos #1 in Chelsea Market.

You bring up a great point, pertinent to both Coke and Pepsi. When they both switched to HFCS the product was never the same. Only Mexico produces Coca Cola in a glass bottle still made with real sugar. The most popular Coca Cola when i was growing up was the 6 and a half ounce returnable bottle. If you paid attention and looked at the bottom of the bottle you would find the bottle was manufactured in different locations all over the USA. There are folks who collect all of those different bottles still today. Squirt is still a good mover in upstate NY. I still see it in alot of visicoolers. The grandaddy of grapefruit soda was Wink a Canada Dry product that I don't think is bottled anymore. It was a huge mover in alot of ritzy country clubs that had a popular Tangueray drink with Wink as a mixer. I use to have an old wooden 1 quart Wink case from the 50s. I still have a mini squirt bottle salt shaker i bought at a flea market a long time ago.

[jhu72]

Spotify sure seems to be trying to turn the Joe Rogan story (getting worse every news cycle) into the "Spotify can't keep their story straight" story.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Infantilization of argumentation and boycott / cancel culture is indeed insidious at times. Funny that some people think it's only one side.

Cancel Starbucks
Cancel Carhartt
Cancel Whole Foods
Cancel Nike, Keurig, Kellogg's, Coca-Cola, Walmart, Netflix, Budweiser, Oreos, Target, Pepsi, Gilette, Nordstrom, the NFL, Univision, Macy's, CNN, HBO...

It gets exhausting trying to follow everything the right wing wants to boycott and cancel with their reductionist argumentation. Here's a handy list, but it's a little old and needs updating.

https://www.netaxpayers.org/archives/4956

Some of these brands are on the way out. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Macy's, CNN. Their wokeness is a way for them to remain relevant.

hmmm, I think you're generally wrong about that, both in terms of how these companies are faring and their motivations.

Macy's has struggled. Down over 50% since peak in 2015, but also up 500% since nadir two years ago (Covid). But I think their business model is certainly threatened, so on that one, you're at least somewhat correct on business challenges.

CNN is about where it was 5 years ago, but down from its peak in 2018. I don't see them as threatened, but certainly the fragmentation of media is a challenge for them.

PepsiCo stock is up 60% over the last 5 years. Pretty continuous rise.

Coca Cola is up 33% in last 5 years, pretty amazing continuous rise with a few blips over past 3 decades.

Pepsi and Coca Cola are consumer brands vying for a young, worldwide audience which is diverse and more values oriented than the old, white conservative audience of America. Both companies have for decades marketed to appeal in these ways and it would be a breach of their brand trust to not be clear about such values now. Easy choice.

BTW, both are also evolving their product portfolios as well.

Macy's is less clear, though it needs its employees as well as consumers to see it as forward leaning, not backwards. Backward would be death signal.

CNN is a worldwide journalistic endeavor, though it, like everyone else, has been trying to incorporate more and more infotainment in the mix. It's solidly in the middle of the US political spectrum, but this positioning has been pushed "left" by the rapidly right wing partisan disinformation media machines...the contrast with disinformation makes CNN appear more "left" than it actually is.

Look at the skews from the new product lines. People are not drinking more Classic Coke and Pepsi. The increase in new product lines are being driven by new skews... Coke Zero sugar, Pepsi Zero Sugar, Mountain Dew Zero Sugar I could go on and on and on. The energy drink market is crushing it for Coke and Pepsi. Coke and Pepsi are thriving because they understand the market and have produced new beverages that cater to those markets. I only know this having worked for Coca Cola and understanding how they were creating products to cater to the market demand. What do you think the Coca Cola Freestyle machine is all about? Do you folks know the Coke Freestyle machine downloads every drink that has been dispensed from each machine every day to Atlanta. The data is stored in the Sequoia computer board that generates the formula for every drink poured from the machine every day. That is a pretty cool marketing tool for the Coca Cola folks. You think it is magic that the folks at Coca Cola in Atlanta know what their customers are drinking everyday. If you pour a Diet Vanilla Cherry Coke from a Freestyle machine at your local Wendys.. those folks in Atlanta know and understand what that means. Don't be surprised if in 6 months you find 20oz Diet Vanilla Cherry Coke in your neighborhood convenience store.

The earth is round too.

And very thirsty as well. Ask the folks at Coca Cola and Pepsi. Everytime that round earth revolves around the sun they are working to get your money.

I worked on the Vitamin Water transaction, shorty.

VM is a skew and product line of Coca Cola. When your competing with Desani and Smart Water and Avion it gets tough to compete. There use to be pallets of VW by our time clock. Two free cases of out of date product. I use to convert some of our GDM 26 coolers to VM Coolers. New skins on the side and VW merchandiser graphics. Most of them went in local HS that would not allow Coca Cola graphics.

And?..... its SKU's by the way. Management probably didn't cascade the information down to your level so you assumed old out of date drinks for you and the guys, meant the product wasn't moving...

Coca-Cola bought Glaceau's Vitaminwater in 2007 for a then-company high of $4.1 billion. It has been one of the Atlanta-based beverage giant's biggest successes, jumping from annual sales of $350 million to more than $1 billion. However, it hasn't always been smooth, with Coca-Cola reportedly settling a lawsuit for $1.2 million in 2013-2014 after claims that the product misled about its health benefits..... Coca Cola paid about a 11x revenue multiple... so assuming no multiple expansion, the brand could be worth $45 billion. Nice.

Different terminology, we spelled it skews, your correct my bad it is SKUs. I have no idea what Coca Cola paid for the VW rights. VW was not a big mover in Rochester. We did install some fountain units that had VW products. We installed some single door visual coolers that had VW products. The biggest VW account we had was at RIT. I do know in our warehouse we had pallets full of VW products that just did not sell for chit. VW triple XXX was one the worst. I'm only judging by what I saw with my own eyes. I have no issue with VW or their different product lines. I do know that twice a year we would winterize and summerize the fountain units at RIT and Nazareth College. The VW BIB product on site was always out of date and wound up being thrown out and was replaced with new product.

World a lot larger than rinky dink Rochester, if you haven’t figured that out yet.

Don't matter to me anymore. I'm retired, what Coca Cola does no longer matters to me. I do have a really cool collection of Coke stuff I took off of equipment going to the boneyard. My stuff you won't find anywhere else.

you are the one the brought up Coca Cola.

I brought up Coca-Cola, and as a brand it is shrinking, hence their brand diversification strategy. Why do you think they teamed up with the #1 hipster bubbly water, Topo Chico? People hate Coke since it went from sugar to HFCS. In fact, the only decent Coke is Mexican Coke, although Mexican Squirt is my favorite. Hard to get, my last one was at Los Tacos #1 in Chelsea Market.

You bring up a great point, pertinent to both Coke and Pepsi. When they both switched to HFCS the product was never the same. Only Mexico produces Coca Cola in a glass bottle still made with real sugar. The most popular Coca Cola when i was growing up was the 6 and a half ounce returnable bottle. If you paid attention and looked at the bottom of the bottle you would find the bottle was manufactured in different locations all over the USA. There are folks who collect all of those different bottles still today. Squirt is still a good mover in upstate NY. I still see it in alot of visicoolers. The grandaddy of grapefruit soda was Wink a Canada Dry product that I don't think is bottled anymore. It was a huge mover in alot of ritzy country clubs that had a popular Tangueray drink with Wink as a mixer. I use to have an old wooden 1 quart Wink case from the 50s. I still have a mini squirt bottle salt shaker i bought at a flea market a long time ago.

[kramerica.inc]

Add Awkwafina to the list.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/06/entertai ... index.html

[kramerica.inc]

Biden Admin channeling their inner Trump:

Biden officials say they 'welcome tough questions' after bristling at media scrutiny on US intel

Biden administration officials are backpedaling after facing sharp criticism for suggesting American reporters seeking more clarity on U.S. intelligence claims were siding with foreign adversaries.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki took heat on Thursday after a reporter asked if more evidence would be forthcoming about the U.S. raid that killed the leader of ISIS in Syria, given some Americans may be skeptical of U.S. government reporting on the issue. Psaki asked the reporter if they were suggesting ISIS was providing accurate information before adding the Pentagon would undergo a fuller review of the raid.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... -resisting

[youthathletics]

Biden Admin channeling their inner Trump:

Biden officials say they 'welcome tough questions' after bristling at media scrutiny on US intel

Biden administration officials are backpedaling after facing sharp criticism for suggesting American reporters seeking more clarity on U.S. intelligence claims were siding with foreign adversaries.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki took heat on Thursday after a reporter asked if more evidence would be forthcoming about the U.S. raid that killed the leader of ISIS in Syria, given some Americans may be skeptical of U.S. government reporting on the issue. Psaki asked the reporter if they were suggesting ISIS was providing accurate information before adding the Pentagon would undergo a fuller review of the raid.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... -resisting

Jen will be gone shortly....she's just setting the table to leave a vacuum in her wake.

[a fan]

Biden Admin channeling their inner Trump:

Biden officials say they 'welcome tough questions' after bristling at media scrutiny on US intel

Biden administration officials are backpedaling after facing sharp criticism for suggesting American reporters seeking more clarity on U.S. intelligence claims were siding with foreign adversaries.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki took heat on Thursday after a reporter asked if more evidence would be forthcoming about the U.S. raid that killed the leader of ISIS in Syria, given some Americans may be skeptical of U.S. government reporting on the issue. Psaki asked the reporter if they were suggesting ISIS was providing accurate information before adding the Pentagon would undergo a fuller review of the raid.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... -resisting

Another fine example of pure partisanship thinking.

You see, It's incomprehensible to this Psaki lady that she's doing a bad job. She thinks she followed Trump...so, naturally, everything that comes out of her mouth MUST be good. The bar has been lowered, and she thinks that clearing the hilariously low bar that Trump left is all she needs to do.

Um. No. You need to pull the standard back up.

[jhu72]

Howard Stern has advice for Joe Rogan.

[jhu72]

So Zuckerberg threatens to pull Facebook and Instagram out of the EU market. Clearly the Europeans are doing something right. The US should should insist on the same treatment.

[Farfromgeneva]

He’s going to ride it down like Meyer took Yahoo into a black hole. That super majority voting class share is absurd and dumb. (See that axioms piece I threw over there).

Recall in B school a bunch of classmates arguing both management teams of Time Warner and AOL screwed up in their merger - I saw it as a brilliant move by Steve Case to trade his garbage paper for all the tangible hard assets and cash flow of Time Warner and that should be the model for all social media CEOs.

[kramerica.inc]

USA Today: "There are no crack pipes in the safe smoking kit."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/fac ... 736281001/

Also USA Today: Embeds link for "Safe Smoking Kit" in story above that shows crack pipe included in a Safe Smoking Kit.

[MDlaxfan76]

USA Today: "There are no crack pipes in the safe smoking kit."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/fac ... 736281001/

Also USA Today: Embeds link for "Safe Smoking Kit" in story above that shows crack pipe included in a Safe Smoking Kit.

Which link?

Everything I see says nope, no crack pipes...the only one that suggests otherwise is the Washington Free Beacon one that cites an anonymous source...and it's very, very likely that it was simply misunderstood by the reporter.

But I may have missed what you're saying said otherwise.

[NattyBohChamps04]

USA Today: "There are no crack pipes in the safe smoking kit."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/fac ... 736281001/

Also USA Today: Embeds link for "Safe Smoking Kit" in story above that shows crack pipe included in a Safe Smoking Kit.

Which link?

Everything I see says nope, no crack pipes...the only one that suggests otherwise is the Washington Free Beacon one that cites an anonymous source...and it's very, very likely that it was simply misunderstood by the reporter.

But I may have missed what you're saying said otherwise.

The author linked "'safer' smoking kits" in the article to describe what they are. The link leads to a PDF from a Canadian health care unit that takes info from a British Columbia harm reduction program that may include pipes for smoking various drugs in their safer smoking kits. Which obviously has no connection to the US SAMHSA grant program. I'm not sure if Canada includes pipes in their harm reduction kids or if they are publicly funded, but Canada fares a lot better than us in most health care statistics and drug use and abuse statistics. They pay a lot less per capita for medical care too.

I do find it funny how right-wing media and people here are now hyper-focused on "crack pipes" versus the more traditionally white drug harm reduction paraphernalia in various harm reduction kids. I'm sure it's a coincidence

In the end, by pure numbers, it seems like these are fiscally conservative measures that could save us money in the longer term. Plus it seems like it saves lives, which is more important.

[Farfromgeneva]

USA Today: "There are no crack pipes in the safe smoking kit."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/fac ... 736281001/

Also USA Today: Embeds link for "Safe Smoking Kit" in story above that shows crack pipe included in a Safe Smoking Kit.

Which link?

Everything I see says nope, no crack pipes...the only one that suggests otherwise is the Washington Free Beacon one that cites an anonymous source...and it's very, very likely that it was simply misunderstood by the reporter.

But I may have missed what you're saying said otherwise.

The author linked "'safer' smoking kits" in the article to describe what they are. The link leads to a PDF from a Canadian health care unit that takes info from a British Columbia harm reduction program that may include pipes for smoking various drugs in their safer smoking kits. Which obviously has no connection to the US SAMHSA grant program. I'm not sure if Canada includes pipes in their harm reduction kids or if they are publicly funded, but Canada fares a lot better than us in most health care statistics and drug use and abuse statistics. They pay a lot less per capita for medical care too.

I do find it funny how right-wing media and people here are now hyper-focused on "crack pipes" versus the more traditionally white drug harm reduction paraphernalia in various harm reduction kids. I'm sure it's a coincidence

In the end, by pure numbers, it seems like these are fiscally conservative measures that could save us money in the longer term. Plus it seems like it saves lives, which is more important.

I’d like to see our country bounce this ish-straight line between this and cocaine. And I recall a conversation with a psychologist who had 35yrs of high regard along with her PhD telling me “you’ve definitely got ADD, I could run the checklist in five minutes if you want but so do most professionals with advanced degrees…”

https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-9475 ... al/details

It’s cocaine light and having seen brain imagining of alcohol and drugs on Pre fully formed Brains it is absolutely criminal how doctors handed this out to teenage kids “because Johnny’s pulling Bs in 9th/10th grade” in the 90s and 2000s

[runrussellrun]

Biden Admin channeling their inner Trump:

Biden officials say they 'welcome tough questions' after bristling at media scrutiny on US intel

Biden administration officials are backpedaling after facing sharp criticism for suggesting American reporters seeking more clarity on U.S. intelligence claims were siding with foreign adversaries.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki took heat on Thursday after a reporter asked if more evidence would be forthcoming about the U.S. raid that killed the leader of ISIS in Syria, given some Americans may be skeptical of U.S. government reporting on the issue. Psaki asked the reporter if they were suggesting ISIS was providing accurate information before adding the Pentagon would undergo a fuller review of the raid.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... -resisting

Jen will be gone shortly....she's just setting the table to leave a vacuum in her wake.

The DHS (dept. of homeland) put out that great memo, on Feb. 7th, labeling "terror" when it comes to negative "comments" towards our government. F.ing....facists. Hopefully, all are enraged by Biden's DHS "memo"........ it IS insane, what is being ignored. former POTUSA flushing docs IS a "news" story, we guess Drain pipes were clogged with blunts, as well. From the guy who lived their for 8 years

[Peter Brown]

Biden Admin channeling their inner Trump:

Biden officials say they 'welcome tough questions' after bristling at media scrutiny on US intel

Biden administration officials are backpedaling after facing sharp criticism for suggesting American reporters seeking more clarity on U.S. intelligence claims were siding with foreign adversaries.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki took heat on Thursday after a reporter asked if more evidence would be forthcoming about the U.S. raid that killed the leader of ISIS in Syria, given some Americans may be skeptical of U.S. government reporting on the issue. Psaki asked the reporter if they were suggesting ISIS was providing accurate information before adding the Pentagon would undergo a fuller review of the raid.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... -resisting

Jen will be gone shortly....she's just setting the table to leave a vacuum in her wake.

The DHS (dept. of homeland) put out that great memo, on Feb. 7th, labeling "terror" when it comes to negative "comments" towards our government. F.ing....facists. Hopefully, all are enraged by Biden's DHS "memo"........ it IS insane, what is being ignored. former POTUSA flushing docs IS a "news" story, we guess Drain pipes were clogged with blunts, as well. From the guy who lived their for 8 years

Corn Pop’s ginger press secretary enlisted her media friends (her number two Karine Jean-Pierre is married to Suzanne Malveaux of CNN) to assure us rubes that Canadian Sikh truckers are “racists”. I guess I have no choice other than to believe the media reports.

[Farfromgeneva]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KIk0abbYgXQ

Only whites can hold other skin colored folks with disregard…

[kramerica.inc]

USA Today: "There are no crack pipes in the safe smoking kit."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/fac ... 736281001/

Also USA Today: Embeds link for "Safe Smoking Kit" in story above that shows crack pipe included in a Safe Smoking Kit.

Which link?

Everything I see says nope, no crack pipes...the only one that suggests otherwise is the Washington Free Beacon one that cites an anonymous source...and it's very, very likely that it was simply misunderstood by the reporter.

But I may have missed what you're saying said otherwise.

The (bolded for you below) link in the paragraph that reads:

The original 75-page grant proposal from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is housed in the Department of Health and Human Services, does not mention crack pipes. It does, however, mention "safe smoking kits/supplies."

Safe smoking kits, also called "safer" smoking kits, are designed to reduce health risks associated with drug use. Because open wounds and sores increase the risk of disease transmission, the kits often include first-aid materials, according to the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, a grassroots advocacy organization. They also sometimes include glass pipe stems and mouthpieces to prevent health issues associated with makeshift smoking devices, according to Harm Reduction International, a nongovernmental organization in the United Kingdom.

The example of a “safer smoking kit” uses this embedded link:

https://www.interiorhealth.ca/sites/def ... pplies.pdf

With crack pipe.

[Peter Brown]

USA Today: "There are no crack pipes in the safe smoking kit."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/fac ... 736281001/

Also USA Today: Embeds link for "Safe Smoking Kit" in story above that shows crack pipe included in a Safe Smoking Kit.

Which link?

Everything I see says nope, no crack pipes...the only one that suggests otherwise is the Washington Free Beacon one that cites an anonymous source...and it's very, very likely that it was simply misunderstood by the reporter.

But I may have missed what you're saying said otherwise.

The (bolded for you below) link in the paragraph that reads:

The original 75-page grant proposal from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is housed in the Department of Health and Human Services, does not mention crack pipes. It does, however, mention "safe smoking kits/supplies."

Safe smoking kits, also called "safer" smoking kits, are designed to reduce health risks associated with drug use. Because open wounds and sores increase the risk of disease transmission, the kits often include first-aid materials, according to the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, a grassroots advocacy organization. They also sometimes include glass pipe stems and mouthpieces to prevent health issues associated with makeshift smoking devices, according to Harm Reduction International, a nongovernmental organization in the United Kingdom.

The example of a “safer smoking kit” uses this embedded link:

https://www.interiorhealth.ca/sites/def ... pplies.pdf

With crack pipe.

Kram: to understand our media, I give you one photo:

C66F5F7C-489A-4B22-AF4C-41615A99E3F7.jpeg (127.88 KiB) Viewed 743 times

[MDlaxfan76]

USA Today: "There are no crack pipes in the safe smoking kit."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/fac ... 736281001/

Also USA Today: Embeds link for "Safe Smoking Kit" in story above that shows crack pipe included in a Safe Smoking Kit.

Which link?

Everything I see says nope, no crack pipes...the only one that suggests otherwise is the Washington Free Beacon one that cites an anonymous source...and it's very, very likely that it was simply misunderstood by the reporter.

But I may have missed what you're saying said otherwise.

The (bolded for you below) link in the paragraph that reads:

The original 75-page grant proposal from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is housed in the Department of Health and Human Services, does not mention crack pipes. It does, however, mention "safe smoking kits/supplies."

Safe smoking kits, also called "safer" smoking kits, are designed to reduce health risks associated with drug use. Because open wounds and sores increase the risk of disease transmission, the kits often include first-aid materials, according to the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, a grassroots advocacy organization. They also sometimes include glass pipe stems and mouthpieces to prevent health issues associated with makeshift smoking devices, according to Harm Reduction International, a nongovernmental organization in the United Kingdom.

The example of a “safer smoking kit” uses this embedded link:

https://www.interiorhealth.ca/sites/def ... pplies.pdf

With crack pipe.

well, obviously that proves the Biden Admin is distributing crack pipes...

But seriously, thanks for explaining how deep one would need to go to begin to make this make any sense as an accusation. But no crack pipes means no crack pipes.