The political capital is being spent to stop the banning of plastics. Banning straws should really be a simple issue, but there are people opposed to the ban not for actual reasons, but because straws are first. They falsely argue that the ban will eliminate the straw, they use pleas of emotion feigning concern that the law won't have carve outs for legitimate use, they mock the minor efforts, snuggly knowing that all their distractions are making straws into a huge issue that now becomes almost poisonous to approach.

Just Ctrl+F for straws in this thread. Two top comments are taking shots at straws and once I post this reply, those two comments will have pushed the word straw to 97 counts.

Lastly just for fun, just a tally of the most common words on this page: 447 the

230 to

224 a

221 of

182 ago

174 and

172 hours

170 reply

170 in

158 is

150 that

103 i

98 plastic

91 it

81 you

79 on

78 for

76 are

67 not

67 be

62 we

60 this

57 but

55 they

55 straws

52 with

51 it's

51 if

51 have

50 all

49 or

43 use

39 was

39 more

39 as

38 so

38 at

37 about

36 don't

36 can

34 straw

34 people

34 from

32 them

32 fishing

The article is about merchant and fishing ships.