‘A Massachusetts father and son were sentenced Monday in federal court to prison time after being found guilty of what prosecutors called a "ten-percenting" scheme involving dozens of convenience stores’

Jesse Costa/WBUR

As one who used to sell lottery tickets, the Massachusetts State Lottery is far more trouble than it has ever been worth. Sure, the schools get extra money, yadda yadda yadda, but the Lottery creates enough crime and addiction to offset whatever positive benefits it brings. Gambling ruin lives, and I saw and heard of some horror stories. The same, of course, can be said of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, television, pornography, and so forth, and we all (should) know that just banning things has never been a feasible solution. Yet while the state government regulates those other vices, the Lottery is unique in that it is a wholly state-run ‘sin stock’ enterprise. State and local governments have no place policing the morals of private individuals and enterprising, but what legitimate place do they have in actively promoting vice and enabling people to recklessly burn money? {WCVB 5/22}

MORE

Fulton County, GA: Inmate digs hole into wall; not to escape but to assault another inmate in a separate cell, using a makeshift weapon ‘from parts of the dilapidated building infrastructure.’ {ABC News 5/22}

Startup venture to give away 500,000 ‘free’ TVs, with a second screen that displays non-stop advertising and cannot be disabled by the user - It has long been a chore in the United States to avoid advertising, and soon it will be rendered unlawful for anyone to opt out of being advertised to. That is where we are heading. {Variety 5/15}

Copyright 2023, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on TWITTER, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, and POST - @arthurnewhook.