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. 

11-9-17

Washington Post

Saudi Arabia’s arms deals are buying the West’s silence over Yemen, activists allege

 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

This ugly political phenomenon occurs constantly behind the curtains of some activist organizations and is not specific to Black Lives Matters, the example described here. In fact, most state and national-level public-interest organizations have built a large degree of co-option into their model for success. In this sense, they ape the politicians they constantly seek to rub elbows with.

 Academics have expressed concern that colleges trying to protect young adults from certain issues may render them incapable of dealing with real life when they graduate. -- Riusin O'Connor, The Independent, Oct. 19, 2017

 

 And now, instead of mounting barded steeds

To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,

 10-26-17

Eureka Times-Standard

A century of obstruction

By Joshua Saxon

http://www.times-standard.com/opinion/20171026/a-century-of-obstruction

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."