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Forget about that trip up to New Hampshire to stock up on Russian vodka
By adamg on Sat, 02/26/2022 - 2:41pm
New Hampshire's governor today ordered the state's liquor stores (all owned by the state, of course) to stop selling Russian spirits.
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Comments
Boston Vodka Party
It would be nice gesture if liquor and pub owners in Boston dumped Russian Vodka into the harbor from the decks of the Boston Tea Party Museum.
But it would kill many
But it would kill many innocent fish.
Fish than can survive
in Boston harbor can handle a few vodka martinis.
Boston Harbor is one of ….
… the cleanest harbors in the US. It might even be the the cleanest.
It’s not so much the fish, though, that are at risk from vodka martinis in the harbor.
So many great local/US picks
Why would anyone still have it around anyway?
Do they still make Cossack up
Do they still make Cossack up in Somerville? That was the best cheap vodka for mixing.
Boycott Russian vodak
You gotta start somewhere to be part of the solution. I love this bottom up approach. I still do not see that any of Putin’s personal assets have been grabbed. Power to the people and pray for those brave Ukrainians
ummm
Too bad most 'russian' vodkas aren't made in russia. And the stuff you pour down the drain is already bought and paid for, so you're only hurting the store owner...
Might I suggest
pouring the bottles out and shipping the empties off to Ukraine? They'll know what to do with them.
They sure do
Remember at the start of the pandemic here, when there was a shortage of hand sanitizer and some distilleries and breweries switched at least part of their production to sanitizer?
Mr. Molotov
made great vodka. With a real bang.
It's somewhat ironic that one
It's somewhat ironic that one government official gets to ban a product for political reasons. It's the kind of thing that would happen in Russia, and is antithetical to capitalism and democracy.
I felt similarly when the Congressional cafeteria renamed French Fries to Freedom Fries during the Iraq war, since the idea of a language police is particularly French and un-American.
Not banned
A government official changed the stock that a government entity carries. Other establishments are free to carry what they chose. Not antithetical to capitalism at all as the marketplace can choose where they shop if supporting imperialistic, despotic regimes is important to them.
There are no other liquor
There are no other liquor establishments in New Hampshire.
Gratifying to see a rare GOP leader
who isn't giving aid and comfort to authoritarian enemies of democracy as are so many of our right-wing media figures and Republican politicians.
But it is useful for the pro-Putinites in our midst to stand up and shamelessly display their anti-American values (beyond the Orange Anus, who revealed himself as a Russian ball-washer years ago.)
Good on you, Sununu.
Slight Counterpoint
Sununu is a person who got his job because of his daddy.
He loves to make bombastic statements about "Liberal Massachusetts" and how bad we are.
He tried blaming the Harmony Montgomery mess on a Massachusetts judge and not his own inept Department of Child Affairs. He then sheepishly admitted two weeks ago, that they dropped the ball.
He even posed in front of the MA State House a few years ago and posted on Twitter "I hate being here".
If it wasn't for his Dad hooking up with the Bushes, Sununu would be some Financial Services guy working in a 12 person office in Bedford or Rye managing money for people and waxing on about his golf game.
Don't give this guy any more credit that he already got for pulling vodka which was already paid for.
Agree with everything you said: Sununu sucks,
mostly. My comment is more a reflection on how low the GOP has sunk. It's now remarkable when one of its ranks has the tiny stones to make a token gesture against Russia, while most of the party and its propaganda media arm gets in line behind the Treasonous Turnip to bury their noses up Putin's ass.
Stop glorifying Sununu. The
Stop glorifying Sununu. The guy is a mini-Trump.
Feels a little weird
I'd rather they instead had a ban on *importing* (or buying) vodka from Russia. Selling it is fine, as long as they don't restock.
But I appreciate the sentiment.
EDIT: OK yeah, this is what I was worried about but didn't have evidence for -- in a WMUR piece he refers to it as "garbage", which is stepping uncomfortably into xenophobia territory. Sanctions are supposed to be against the government via the economy, rather than saying that the products (and by extension the makers) are bad or low quality.
That's a federal thing
Snusnu can only block it from his socialist state liquor stores. I suspect a ban would come as part of broader sanctions.
I mean just a ban for the stores
I know the state can't ban *everyone* from importing it, but I'm sure Sununu can instruct the state-owned liquor stores from restocking.
Blocking them instead from selling off inventory as well is... more symbolic, which is both a plus and a minus, I suppose.
(Or both. Both would be OK. Maybe it's actually both.)
Selling what you have is okay, I suppose
but not selling it is an act of defiance. You own the product at wholesale cost. If you deliberately do not sell the product, you are taking a loss on the product. You are saying you would rather lose money than make another cent off of a Russian product.
...besides - the Polish vodka
...besides - the Polish vodka is awesome.
So is Maine Distillers vodka
Made with potatoes. The blueberry is such awesome stuff!
Many other local and US distillers are doing a great job - not like making vodka is complicated anyway.
Luxury towers used to launder money by international oligarchs
What kind of controls can we put into place to prevent our luxury towers from contributing to the oligarchs’ riches?
https://www.wbur.org/news/2018/09/11/boston-luxury-towers
https://www.bostonherald.com/2021/12/06/treasury-wants-more-oversight-of...
There isn’t much Russian vodka
I can’t name a Russian vodka supplier. Stoli isn’t Russian. Neither is Smirnoff. I don’t think there’s much actual Russian product on the market
Russian Standard is one
According to this, less than 1% of vodka in the US is from Russia.
https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2022/02/27/business/russian-vodka-boycotts/index...
And people are just dumping any vodka, rather than think about where it is from.