New York State is offering previously convicted cannabis dealers and sellers first dibs on business licenses to legally sell the drug after it became legal in 2021
The state legalized marijuana last year to anyone aged 21 and over in 2021, and made those convicted of weed possession eligible for resentencing
Democratic leaders argued that African-American and Hispanic communities need to be compensated after decades of 'disproportionate' arrests
Law enforcement is cracking down on illegal sales throughout the state as the new industry is predicted to result in $1.3 billion in sales
#2
Somehow this opportunity seems like it will end up being every bit as golden as a timeshare. Why would you want to buy a license to compete with unlicensed violent criminals? You might think that you would be buying a franchise where you could Google Hunter Biden’s GPS location and just tail him like you are a mobile canteen for getting high, but there will be 11 other dudes with the same idea and 5 of them won’t be licensed and will have done hard time. Only one of you will win the business and it won’t be the one that made the best presentation on Shark Tank.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/19/2022 11:09 Comments ||
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#3
Why would you want to buy a license to compete with unlicensed violent criminals?
Doesn't seem to be working well in California. The legislature had to allocate millions of dollars to help dealers get licenses because, let's face it, if your getting high all day and raking in the money from selling illegal pot you don't want to mess with all that paperwork and you most certainly don't want to pay the taxes.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/19/2022 12:18 Comments ||
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#4
Yeah. The original idea is a gummint creates a sound environment in which to conduct business and collects a reasonable tax in return for providing that.
What blue states have is nothing like that at all.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/19/2022 12:23 Comments ||
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#5
State-Legal Dispensaries are all-cash businesses because the Feds threaten banks that will work with them
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/19/2022 12:23 Comments ||
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#6
^ And by the time all the sky high taxes and fees are paid and the required security personnel are paid to protect all that cash and product, poof go the profits.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/19/2022 12:25 Comments ||
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[FoxNews] The Biden administration opened the door to financing mining projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Zambia to bolster the global green energy supply chain as it pushes ahead with its climate agenda, despite the DRC's documented issues with child laborers being used in such mines.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken entered into the agreement Tuesday, signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the two nations and lauding their work improving the electric vehicle battery supply chain. During a signing ceremony, Blinken said the "future" was happening, given the importance of cobalt for manufacturing electric vehicles.
"I really want to commend the DRC and Zambia, their governments for their leadership and vision in developing an electric vehicle battery council," Blinken said Tuesday. "This is the future, and it is happening in the DRC and in Zambia."
#1
We borrow the money from the PRC, the locals skim off over half, the minerals get shipped to the PRC and then we pay inflated prices for the batteries ...from the PRC. What a Deal! (That last statement was sarcasm by the way)
[NYPOST] Adam Schiff ...Showboating U.S. Representative for California's 28th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Schiff has served in Congress since 2001. He currently serves as the chairman of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In a manner reminiscent of Joe McCarthy, on March 22, 2017, in a interview with Chuck Todd on MSNBC Schiff claimed there was “more than circumstantial evidence now” that Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russia." Todd followed up by asking if he had seen direct evidence of collusion and Schiff responded that there was "evidence that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of investigation"... popped up on CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... ’s "State of The Union" show Sunday morning to issue barely veiled threats to Elon Musk for trying to restore free speech on Twitter.
Ostensibly, the lame duck chairman of the House Intelligence Committee joined Jake Tapper to crow about expected charges against Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... Monday from his January 6 star chamber.
But Schiff moved on to complain about the "big problem right now with social media companies and their failure to moderate content and the earth-shattering kaboom of hate on Twitter, the banning of journalists on Twitter."
Then he suggested ominously that Twitter and social media companies may not continue to enjoy "immunity from responsibility and liability."
In other words, keep policing free speech as an arm of the federal government or watch your business go up in smoke.
Schiff is a calculated propagandist, who lies under oath as easily as breathing, and knowingly peddles misinformation to Congress and to media outlets like CNN and MSNBC, whose gullible hosts keep bringing him back on their shows to mislead their audiences.
In the dying days of his powerful reign as overseer of the nation’s intelligence agencies, abusing his access to the nation’s secrets, Schiff’s final assignment is to preserve the censorship regime his side of politics entrenched across Big Tech.
’CASCADING FAILURE’
On Tuesday he, and three other Dems he roped in, wrote a menacing letter "as part of our ongoing oversight efforts" to Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta (Facebook’s new name), warning that, if the company went down Twitter’s path of free speech, the consequences would be dire. "Dangerous and unfounded election denial content" must be kept off the platform.
It was what law professor Jonathan Turley characterized as a "hold-the-line warning . . . meant to stop a cascading failure in the once insurmountable wall of social-media censorship."
"If Facebook were to restore free-speech protections, the control over social media could evaporate."
The powerful are panicking, and so they should. Their secrets are leaking.
Ever since Musk authorized a group of independent journalists to release the Twitter Files three weeks ago, a steady drip of damning evidence has emerged, showing collusion between Twitter and the federal government, including the FBI, to censor Americans and suppress dissent, in violation of the First Amendment.
In particular we have seen how the FBI, in weekly meetings with Twitter, pre-bunked The Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story on Oct. 14, 2020, persuading Twitter to suppress the story and lock down our account for more than two weeks.
As journalist Matt Taibbi wrote in Twitter Files part 6, Twitter was acting as a "subsidiary" of the FBI, in a relationship he described as "master-canine."
At least 80 FBI agents were engaged full time in flagging and analyzing user content, demanding user location information and requesting that Twitter take action against mainly "low-follower accounts belonging to ordinary Americans" — including ones that just cracked jokes.
FBI-Twitter communications were "constant and pervasive," wrote Taibbi. "Instead of chasing child sex predators or terrorists, the FBI has agents — lots of them — analyzing and mass-flagging social media posts. Not as part of any criminal investigation, but as a permanent, end-in-itself surveillance operation. People should not be okay with this."
Sunday night, in a supplemental dump, Taibbi revealed more communications showing the FBI was "acting as conduit for the Intelligence Community."
Half the public is still in the dark about this egregious assault on our liberties since, for some bizarre reason, the left-wing media seems to support censorship and want to censor mention of it.
But at some point, the land of the free and home of the brave will rebel.
The next Twitter Files dump promised as early as Monday, from independent journalist Michael Shellenberger, is another chink in the wall of social-media censorship.
He will reveal that on the evening of Oct. 13, 2020, the night before The Post’s Hunter Biden Laptop story was published — and censored — the FBI sent documents to Twitter through a special one-way channel at 9:22 p.m. ET.
Just over 2¹/₂ hours earlier, Hunter Biden’s lawyer George Mesires, after a request from The Post for comment, had called Delaware computer repair shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac and asked for the laptop back.
In Mac Isaac’s book, "American Injustice," he writes that the phone call came in at 6:50 p.m. ET and Mesires said, "My client dropped off some equipment, maybe a laptop, in 2017, and we’re checking to see if you’re still in possession of it."
Mac Isaac asked the caller to send him an email to confirm who he was.
Eight minutes later, an email arrived from Mesires using his official Faegre Drinker Biddle and Reath law firm address.
"John Paul: Thank you for speaking with me tonight. As I indicated, I am a lawyer for Hunter Biden and I appreciate you reviewing your records on this matter. Thank you," the email said.
#5
All those stiffed staffers will still put working for Abrams' campaign on their resumes and will feverishly line up to work for her if she runs again.
Like term limits, I think a "three strikes and you're out" law would be good for perpetual candidates. Call it the Beetle Micksican O'Rourke law.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/19/2022 19:02 Comments ||
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[Just the News] Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow received at least $55,600 in donations this year from employees of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange platform that declared bankruptcy after allegedly misusing client funds. Link to bio found here.
Then, Stabenow, who as Agriculture Committee chairwoman oversees the Commodities Future Trading Commission, a cryptocurrency regulator, sponsored legislation to regulate cryptocurrency.
Michigan Capital Confidential first reported the story, citing Federal Election Commission records.
Coindesk reported that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried consistently met with regulators and lawmakers and pushed for crypto regulation, including lobbying for the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act, Stabenow's bill. The bill seeks to give the CFTC more authority to regulate digital commodities like FTX.
Bankman-Fried tweeted on Oct. 18, 2022, "I'm optimistic that the Stabenow-Boozman's bill will provide customer protection on centralized crypto exchanges without endangering the existence of software, blockchains, validators, DeFi, etc. If I were convinced I was wrong about that, I would not support it."
Bankman-Fried backed Stabenow's bill and paid bill cosponsor Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), $8,700; cosponsor Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), $5,800, and cosponsor Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) $5,700, according to FEC records.
At one point, FTX claimed to be worth $32 billion before its collapse.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
12/19/2022 12:41 Comments ||
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#14
The shoe that hasn't dropped yet is the clean-up management of FTX (John Ray) going after "clawbacks", the return of all these payments, like the Madoff trustee.
Posted by: Matt ||
12/19/2022 14:40 Comments ||
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#15
Just remember with SBF & FTX, you can't con an honest man (person if you prefer).
#16
Yes #14, all these dems saying "I donated the money to charity" doesn't get them off the hook. If their intention is to claim that the money should be clawed back from the charities because they were just a "pass through," then the charities better beware.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/19/2022 18:59 Comments ||
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#17
The "clawback" will likely be spent at Goldberg, Rothstien, and Silver. Just my guess.
[TWITTER] "Wall Street Silver
@WallStreetSilv
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia estimates that the employment data was vastly overstated in 2022.
10k jobs added instead of 1.1 million reported from March to June of 2022" Because this is -99.090% less than the amount stated by the Biden Admin BEFORE MidTerms. Was it just another DC Swamp lie, that served its purpose for the MidTerms?
#1
How do you stop the executive branch from :
* Announcing positive job data to show what a great job they are doing, at least until the election is over.
* Passing bills about college debt relief that they know are illegal and will be overturned after the election is over?
Both are obvious ways to rig the mid-terms and yet both seem slimy but legal.
#2
How do you stop the executive branch from :
* Announcing positive job data to show what a great job they are doing, at least until the election is over.
* Passing bills about college debt relief that they know are illegal and will be overturned after the election is over?
Both are obvious ways to rig the mid-terms and yet both seem slimy but legal.
#4
At one time, keeping politicians from lying was the job of journalists. There is probably an entry on this phenomena if you have an old hard copy encyclopedia that has not been ruined by leftists and revisionists.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/19/2022 15:45 Comments ||
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[The Hill] Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) on Sunday challenged a call from Florida’s GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis to investigate COVID-19 vaccines, arguing Republicans should not "undermine science" and medical experts.
Hutchinson told NBC’s "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd that he was "for the education and the science" behind the COVID-19 vaccines and protecting Americans from the novel coronavirus.
"We shouldn’t undermine science. We shouldn’t undermine the medical community that’s very important to our public health," he said. "We are not good as a society, it’s not the right direction, if we diminish the facts, we diminish all the best information that we have from science at the time."
DeSantis last week called for a grand jury in Florida’s Supreme Court to probe if pharmaceutical companies criminally misled Floridians about the side effects of vaccines and the efficacy of the COVID-19 shots.
The announcement came on the same day a new study found the COVID-19 vaccines have saved more than 3 million lives since late 2020.
But the Florida governor, considered a potential 2024 presidential nominee, embraced concerns among Republicans and conservatives about the efficacy and safety of the vaccines.
DeSantis has moved even further to the right on the vaccine issue than former President Trump, who announced his 2024 White House bid last month and helped speed up the rollout of the vaccines in 2020 with a federal program called Operation Warpspeed.
Hutchinson, who is also mulling a 2024 run, on Sunday said it was "not helpful" for the Republican Party to focus on issues in the past.
"I don’t think it’s good to go back," the Arkansas governor said. "Whether you’re going back to the 2020 election or whether you’re going back and trying to re-litigate everything that happened during the pandemic, that’s not helpful for where we are."
[NYPost] A fervently anti-abortion priest who placed an aborted fetus on a church altar and posted an online video of it has been defrocked by the Vatican for his "blasphemous communications on social media."
Frank Pavone, head of the anti-abortion group Priests for Life, was booted from the priesthood by the church Nov. 9 — with no chance for an appeal, US Archbishop Christophe Pierre announced last week.
"Rev. Frank Pavone, the founder of the organization, Priests for Life, Inc., was dismissed from the clerical state by the Holy See on 9 November 2022," the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy wrote in a statement shared with Catholic clergy by Pierre.
"This action was taken after Father Pavone was found guilty in canonical proceedings of blasphemous communications on social media, and of persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop," the statement said.
The statement added that Pavone had been given "ample opportunity to defend himself," but it was determined that he "had no reasonable justification for his actions."
Posted by: The Walking Unvaxed ||
12/19/2022 00:16 ||
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Link ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
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[NYPOST] .JPG)
[Wash Examiner]
[Just the News] Michigan Democratic Sen. 
[TWITTER] "Wall Street Silver
