Badlands Journal

 As long as Uncle Sam deems marijuana an illegal, Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act, black market demand for Emerald Triangle pot will remain strong, Leo said. -- Nicholas Iovino, Courthouse News Service, Jan. 7, 2017.

Law enforcement’s stance that marijuana causes crime is based on numbers from the black market, according to Will Skaarup, a consultant for Sister of the Valley, a growing cohort.

“We think a regulated market drives the black market away,” he said. -- Thaddeus Miller, Merced Sun-Star, Nov. 7, 2017

 Huh? 

Hi Lucky,

This is about the time I reach out to you for some calm and reasonable analysis of whatever the situation du jour is. But, to get that reassuring analysis, I first have to come up with a serious question or at least a poem or something. 

 Westlands Water District's predations against water used by others continue, perversely, and a big water bill in Congress tied to a defense-spending package could be another successful grab by the Colossus of Alkali Flats.  Westlands will take cover wherever it's available, even wrapping itself in the same Stars and Stripes that covers the caskets of soldiers killed in wars in countries their relatives would have a hard time finding on a map.

But in this battle they are up against Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, formerly a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council and one of the lead attorneys on NRDC vs. Rodgers,  which resulted in water flowing in the San Joaquin River across the Valley for the first time in 55 years for the benefit of fish. (1)

 “This is typical Obama-era political science,” Bast said. “It’s all been debunked so many times it’s not worth debating anymore. Why are we still wasting taxpayer dollars on green propaganda?” -- Mooney et al, Washington Post, Nov. 3, 2017

Once in power, the shrill pack of lies of rightwing propaganda changes its tone. It casually dismisses a decade of sincere confrontation and effort to cope with global warming as something that you-know-what president did. Now in power, the Right delivers the propaganda of the deed.

-- blj

11-3-17

 10-15-17

Truthdig.com

Only Nonviolent Resistance Will Destroy Corporate State

If the public does not have a newspaper that will dig into the county's business life, it will never be able to judge important to our citizens of anything important from the so-called "news." Like so "very, very" (to lapse into Trumpian) articles in this McClatchy Chain outlet, this is nothing more than a press release, pathetically concocted by the newspaper itself for the purpose of pleasing local "leaders."

 Nature Speaking:

Enjoy Julia Roberts as Mother Nature, Harrison Ford as Ocean, Kevin Spacey as Rain Forest, Penelope Cruz as Water, and more ...

https://www.google.com/search?q=julia+roberts+%2Cother+earth&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS583US583&oq=julia+roberts+%2Cother+earth&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.13574j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8Democrats

Copy and paste the address to get this series of short, beautiful spoken essays with great film. -- blj

“The bureaucrats at the State Water Board have lost any and all credibility with the communities I represent. I will continue to pursue every avenue at my disposal to promote greater public transparency and expose this out of control kangaroo court of an agency.” -- Assemblyman Adam Gray press release, Oct. 17, 2017

We've never seen as clear a statement that this legislator does not represent the environmental community in his district than this. He represents agribusiness and its parasitic water and irrigation districts and, like his predecessor and mentor, Dennis "The Shrimp Slayer" Cardoza, is terrified of the environmentalists in his district. --blj

10-17-17

10-14-17

San Jose Mercury-News

Big Green Pharma Machine losing wars and peddling dope from Chiang Mai to Kandahar:  -- blj

10-5-17

Truthdig.com

No Good Reasons to Continue America’s Longest War