Minnesota bar owners struggling with red numbers due to the oppressive smoking ban are standing their ground in the face of threats from state health officials.
Following up on our report from last week, "theater night" has caught on with more than a hundred establishments around the state and most plan to continue exploiting the loophole in spite of some heavy saber-rattling by antis in various capacities around the state. The defiant are communicating, as for instance with these web sites: (Link 1) (stored version) (Link 2) (stored version). Furthermore, attorney Mark Benjamin, a leader of the revolt, promises to defend the oppressed for free: (Link 3) (stored version) (Video).
As is the case in many areas where smoking bans are imposed, there seems to be a lot of confusion in Minnesota, concerning who is in charge of enforcing the ban. From the article: “State health officials said they will work with local health agencies to bring the bars into compliance. But some local health officials said they will leave it up to the state to enforce the law.” This chaos regarding enforcement is emboldening the hospitality venues to thumb their noses at a law that disrespects the freedoms of all.
In our previous report on this situation, we expressed cautious optimism coupled with a heavy dose of skepticism in regard to the methods being used to skirt the ban but this movement seems to be taking on a life of its own and is gaining momentum week by week while the state struggles to figure out how to deal with it.
The mastermind behind the whole scheme, local attorney Mark Benjamin, is to be commended for organizing what has become a widespread act of civil disobedience. He is pressing the issue and obviously has broad support. His actions are helping to bring anti-tobacco’s worst nightmare to fruition. That nightmare is called ORGANIZED RESISTANCE. We saw it on March 1st at The Wounded Rig in Illinois thanks to a true American freedom fighter named Jon Hemminghaus and now we are seeing it in establishments all across the state of Minnesota.
For the most part, these small business owners don’t understand and don’t care about the fraudulent “science” that has been used as an excuse to ruin their livelihoods but they do understand food on the table and kids in college and that is powerful motivation. These organized acts of civil disobedience that we’re seeing more and more of may not debunk the foetid lies that anti spreads but they will alleviate the major symptom of the disease. That symptom is the despised smoking bans that are ruining people’s lives and destroying the social fabric of countries all around the world. Once the bans have been destroyed, anti-tobacco will be easy pickings.
The prohibitionists are an arrogant mob and no doubt feel they will quash these uprisings in short order. Yes, they’ve got lots of money and they have powerful allies in high places, but something is in the air. Effective resistance is afoot. This can spell a prohibitionist defeat that they won’t be able to buy or lie their way out of.
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