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Santa Barbara requires jail time for giving out plastic straws

Fascist California: The city of Santa Barbara has now passed a law that will impose jail time to any restaurant employee who hands out plastic straws.

The city of Santa Barbara has passed an ordinance that will allow restaurant employees to be punished with up to six months of jail time or a $1,000 fine for giving plastic straws to their customers.

The bill was passed unanimously last Tuesday, and covers bars, restaurants, and other food-service businesses. Establishments will still be allowed to hand out plastic stirrers, but only if customers request them.

This is always how fascist states begin, by passing what seems to be very innocuous laws that have golden and pure good intentions. They they pass more laws, and more laws, and impose stricter rules, and demand more and more from everyone, until the only individuals who are free are those in charge, since none of these rules are ever applied to them.

California has been traveling this road already for many years. They are right now about a decade behind Venezuela. I would not move there, at this time, if I were you. You will regret it.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

8 comments

  • Noah Peal

    Should make for some interesting jailhouse conversations.
    Convict 1: What are you in for?
    Convict 2: Possession of straws with intent to sell.

  • commodude

    This is why busybodies who push for laws for innocuous offenses are such trouble.

    Every time someone grumbles “there outta be a law….” they should be reminded gently of the ultimate outcome of legislation for petty issues.

  • Judy

    I guess technically it’s possession with intent to distribute.

    Continuing the dialog:

    Convict 2: The cops told me they were watching me give them away and getting more and more angry that I was getting away with it. Just as I ran out of them, the cops got totally fed up, moved in, and arrested me.

    Convict 1: You mean…

    Convict 2: Yes, it was the last straw!

  • wodun

    People keep telling me that Republicans are authoritarians and when I point out that Democrats are the ones that try and run your life from the smallest detail up to the largest I just get blank stares as the wheels turn trying to rationalize whatever law or regulation is in question until the conclusion is reached that this really is a needed regulation and that Republicans are the real authoritarians.

  • Sandra Warren

    I never thought that I would live in a country where a merchant cannot give me a plastic bag , I can’t have a straw to sip my drink comfortably, or buy the kind of light bulb I want. When I first heard this plastic straw story, I felt uneasy but still thought it would never happen. Foolish me! It’s spreading so fast in CA, it’s frightening. As soon as they conquer you in one area, they smoothly move on to the next. It’s coming.

  • hondo

    What fascinates me is the rationale for such “laws”.
    Major selling point is to stop that great plastic patch in the Pacific.
    But first, it’s greatly exaggerated – and second – analysis clearly indicates 95%
    of the source material is from Asia! The remaining 5% appears mostly Central American. Unless of course very liberal California, Washington and Oregon have been secretly engaged in massive illegal dumping for decades, and no one noticed.

    Just chalk it up to the ultimate joy of extreme control freaks.

  • Rick

    You go to jail for giving someone a straw, while Starbucks continues to give out plastic coffee stirrers.

  • Col Beausabre

    I think I’ll buy a case of straws and give them out in front of city hall.

    After all, the left LIKES civil disobedience.

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