News Round-Up: December 26, 2018

The 2018 Kennedy Center Honors air tonight on CBS at 8pm

Some news items you might have missed:

• Do not forget to watch the Kennedy Center Honors tonight on CBS at 8pm as Cher, Philip Glass, Reba McEntire, and Wayne Shorter receive the 41st Annual Kennedy Center Honors.

Hamilton co-creators Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, Andy Blankenbuehler, and Alex Lacamoire receive a special Honors for groundbreaking work.

• An unhinged Catholic priest claimed Satan designed the Pride flag.

• Legal pot was a popular Christmas gift in California this year as cannabis businesses reported up to 5x normal foot traffic in the days leading up to the holiday.

• House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi trolled Donald Trump and his infamous wall telling USA Today he's now shifted from a concrete structure to "a beaded curtain or something."

• The transgender teen who was bullied by an assistant principal in a bathroom speaks to the press about the hideous experience.

• A new USA Today/Suffolk University poll asked Democratic and Independent voters who would excited them the most in the 2020 presidential race.

"Someone entirely new" garnered 59%, followed closely by former Vice President Joe Biden (who is the exact opposite of that) at 53%.

Vermont Is 9th State To Legalize Recreational Marijuana Use

(photo: Luis Romero/Flickr)

Vermont is now the ninth state to legalize recreational marijuana use.

Passed and signed into law in January, the new legislation took effect July 1. Vermont is the first state to legalize recreational marijuana use through the legislature, rather than a ballot initiative.

The other eight states are Oregon, Washington, California, Alaska, Nevada, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts plus Washington, D.C.

According to a Gallup poll in October of 2017, Americans favor legalization by 64%, and for the first time, a majority of Republicans backed legalization.

But legalization doesn’t mean growing, buying and selling marijuana becomes a free-for-all. There are very clear boundaries regarding the issue.

According to the Burlington Free Press, Vermont’s new law allows adults to possess up to one ounce of marijuana, two mature and four immature plants.

Neither drivers or passengers are allowed to smoke in a car.

You can’t smoke in any public places like a beach, a park, or on the sidewalk. Recreational use is limited to “individual dwellings,” and if you rent you have to ask permission from your landlord to smoke or grow the plant.

And in Vermont there is no legal commercial market for marijuana, so selling is totally off-limits in the Green Mountain state.

Last week, Oklahoma became the 30th state to legalize marijuana for medicinal use. The ballot initiative passed in the Sooner state by a vote of 56-43%.

What are your thoughts? Should recreational marijuana use be legal across the U.S.?

News Round-Up: June 20, 2018

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk Dan Welden (above) is getting his summer on. Who's doing what this summer? Lake time? Pool time? Vacay?

• A gay military veteran who was harassed and spit on by neighbors was honored at a Los Angeles Pride event for his contributions to his community.

• Last night, Stephen Colbert took time to profile the virulently anti-LGBT extremist Scott Lively, whose currently running for governor in Massachusetts. As Colbert notes, when you google Lively, Adolf Hitler comes up in the "People also searched for" column. Check out the funny but factual 3 minute segment below.

• Longtime GOP strategist Steve Schmidt quit the Republican Party in a ripping Twitter rant denouncing the party's "feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the party’s greatest leaders.”

• Federal authorities have subpoenaed the publisher of the National Enquirer for records related to its $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model for the rights to her story alleging an affair with Donald Trump.

• Canada's Parliament passed bill C-45 this week legalizing marijuana for the entire country. Starting October 17 Canadians will have access to legal, regulated cannabis. Watch the announcement by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau below.

NEW: Canadian PM Justin Trudeau announced that marijuana will be legal nationwide on October 17. “We will soon have a new system in place, one that keeps cannabis out of the hands of our kids, and keeps profits away from organized crime.” https://t.co/PuL9LzkZPe pic.twitter.com/sxpTOPuoX1

— ABC News (@ABC) June 20, 2018

Legal Recreational Pot Sales Begin In Nevada

Nevada became the fifth state to begin legal sales of recreational marijuana today.

People began buying pot early Saturday, just months after voters approved legalization in November. It's the fastest turnaround from the ballot box to retail sales in the nation.

Those 21 and older with a valid ID can buy up to an ounce of pot. The millions of tourists who visit Las Vegas and other Nevada cities every year are expected to make nearly two of every three pot purchases.

People can only use marijuana in a private home. It remains illegal to light up in public places, including casinos, bars, convention centers, restaurants, parks and concert halls.

Edible marijuana products, such as brownies and gummies, will be on sale as well, and they are expected to be extremely popular with tourists because they offer a more discrete way of consuming marijuana.

That being said, tourists can't take it back home as it's illegal to cross state lines with marijuana. And it's illegal to mail it through the U.S. Postal Service.

Much like alcohol, you can carry it around or drive with it in your car, but driving stoned is still very much against the law. Not even passengers can smoke or consume marijuana in a vehicle under Nevada law.

A marijuana DUI could land you a fine of up to $1,000, a suspended license and even jail time.

Nevada joins Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Alaska as the only U.S. states to regulate and tax legal marijuana.

Science: "Is Eating Pot Actually Better For You?"

The smart guys at AsapSCIENCE ponder the question, "Is eating pot actually better for you?"

Watch below to find out:

Science: What Happens When You Get Drunk + High At The Same Time?

With the holiday season in full swing, I figure some folks might imbibe on perhaps a bit too much "holiday cheer," so let's check in with the smart guys at AsapSCIENCE to learn what happens when you get drunk and high at the same time.

Be smarter in three minutes, watch the vid below.

And, you shiny happy people, please celebrate the holidays responsibly :)

Reality Check: Carly Fiorina Compares Marijuana Use To Drinking Alcohol

Carly Fiorina claimed in the CNN debate that drug addiction killed her daughter and then stated that marijuana is not...

Posted by Ben Swann on Wednesday, September 23, 2015

News Round-Up: August 7, 2015

Some news stories you may have missed:

• The first gay couple to be married at West Point Military Academy got attacked by anti-gay hater who learned it's not smart to attack West Point grads.

• Guess which boy-bander is looking to corner the legal marijuana market in Ohio?

• Caitlyn Jenner's second episode of her docuseries  I Am Cait saw a 50% drop in viewers from it's premiere.

• A Nebraska judge has struck down a policy which has kept same-sex couples from being foster parents.

• The U.S. economy added 215,000 jobs in July which means 65 straight months of positive private sector job growth.

• Northwestern University is working on research to develop an implant that could deliver PrEP meds continually over an entire year.

• NYC gets a big sexy billboard courtesy of Calvin Klein Jeans

Gallup poll: Majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana

According to the latest Gallup survey, 58 percent of Americans favor legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

Support for legalization has climbed more than 10 percent in the past year alone.

And as Gallup points out, the 58 percent support for legalization is a stark contrast to their first ever legalization poll in 1969, in which only 12 percent of respondents said they favored making marijuana legal.

Gallup also found that 38 percent of respondents in the poll said they had personally tried marijuana at some point.

Marijuana: Arrests for small amount in NYC won't stay over night in jail

New York City Major Michael Bloomberg has announced that those found with small amounts will no longer spend the night in jail.

"I personally am not in favor of legalizing marijuana or any other drugs, I think it's a dangerous thing,” Bloomberg said Friday morning on the John Gambling radio show. “ But the reality is that for small amounts of marijuana there's an awful lot of kids that have it and you're just clogging the jails… you're clogging the courts, you're clogging the police.”

Rather than clogging the system, Bloomberg said during his State of the City address, the whole adjudication process could take less than a couple days. “It’s consistent with the law, it’s the right thing to do, and it will allow us to target police resources where they’re needed most,” he said. Pressed by Gambling on his WOR radio show, Bloomberg said he’s not condoning marijuana use. “I don't know [about] condoning, but certainly not penalizing too much,” he said. “Marijuana is just a fact of life in this day and age in a small quantity,” Bloomberg added later. “Cops don't have the time to go out and go after the real bad guys if they're gonna worry about throwing a kid in the slammer overnight for a tiny bit.”

Under Bloomberg's new policy, those arrested for possession will still be taken to the local precinct while the NYPD checks for outstanding warrants. If none are found, the subject will be released with notice to appear before a judge.

(via JMG)

Marijuana legalization on the ballot in several states

 Voters in three western U.S. states go to the polls on Tuesday to decide whether to legalize marijuana for recreational use in a move that could spur a showdown with the federal government, with polls showing legalization ahead in Washington and Colorado.

If voters approve the measures, the states could become the first in the country to legalize the recreational use of pot. Each of the initiatives would see marijuana taxed and would regulate its sale in special stores to adults age 21 and older.

Surveys show legalization measures ahead in Washington state, where campaign finance records say its sponsors have raised $6 million, and Colorado, where backers have pulled in nearly $2 million. But legalization was trailing in Oregon, where a grass-roots campaign was struggling to sway voters.

A survey of 932 likely voters in Washington state released on Saturday by Public Policy Polling found 53 percent support legalization, with a margin of error of 3.2 percent.

Legalization was also ahead in Colorado, where a recent SurveyUSA poll of 695 likely voters conducted for the Denver Post showed 50 percent in favor and 44 percent opposed. The survey had a 3.8 percent margin of error.

But in Oregon, legalization was trailing with just 42 percent in favor, according to a survey of 405 likely voters by Elway Research for The Oregonian. The poll had a margin of error of 5 percent.

Meanwhile, a Massachusetts ballot initiative on Tuesday proposes allowing medical marijuana in that state, and voters in Arkansas are being asked whether to become the first southern state to allow marijuana as medicine. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia allow medical marijuana.

Read more.

Federal officials order CA pot shops to close in 45 days

Federal officials are warning California medical marijuana dispensaries they must shut down within 45 days or face criminal prosecution and having their property confiscated.

The state's four U.S. attorneys sent letters Wednesday and Thursday notifying at least 16 pot shops or their landlords that they are violating federal drug laws, even though medical marijuana is legal in California. The attorneys are to announce their coordinated crackdown at a Friday news conference.

Letters from the U.S. attorneys state that federal law "takes precedence over state law and applies regardless of the particular uses for which a dispensary is selling pot."

Thoughts are that a glut of wrongfully obtained medical marijuana prescriptions helped opponents of the drug push their campaign to close the shops.