Saturday, June 9, 2018

Trump's Canada Reality Show.


     This weekend while in Canada for the G-7 summit Trump had a thought and opened his mouth and suggested that he might support a law that federally ‘legalized’ marihuana (as the feds incorrectly spell it).1 At first that struck me as odd. But then I remembered I personally know quite a few people who smoke mota but tend toward the authoritarian view of politics and political science.           Marijuana’s fame as the peace and love drug of the very white hippy subculture of the 60s has dropped from the tree of history and is rotting on the ground like so much fruit at the end of summer. It is now a symbol of personal liberty and rebellion in a world increasingly devoid of personal liberty. Donnie’s “odd” position was consistent with and perhaps required by his act of clemency toward Alice Johnson a woman of color languishing in federal prison under burden of a life sentence for a relatively minor offense in the now ancient (and lost) War on Drugs.
     Because he frequently adopts a Randian view of modern economics, I would expect Trump’s main concern in this teased position on legal pot at the G-7 was with the economic potential of such a surrender in America’s longest war. Remember California just legalized recreational use of marijuana via an initiative on the 2016 General Election ballot. There was something in that measure for everyone and every special interest even remotely connected to the under the radar industry. This includes California’s taxing authorities. My most recent experience in the new industry was that the government at the retail level is now collecting taxes equal to 34% of the value of the transaction. The Feds if they have their way will simply put you in prison and seize all your assets after California 34% to have that little baggy.
     It also allowed him to engage in real fun, dropping a teaser in order to secure an audience for the next installment of his current reality show. That’s for the care and feeding of his narcissism.


1Caused by an ignorant attempt by the engrossing clerk to fix a spelling error.



Sunday, May 13, 2018

It's Sunday Again




     It’s Sunday again. I know that because I filled my then-empty weekly pill box and because there’s a newspaper in my yard. I don’t read that newspaper. I will eventually go out and pick it up and toss it in the trash. I will do that today because I don’t want to wake up tomorrow see it again and think in my pre-coffeed fog it’s Sunday again. I subscribe to it only on Sundays because the publisher allows me free access to its website in return for my $8.96 every two months. I hate paywalls on websites. I also took my weekly eight pill regimen of 2.5 mg tablets of methotrexate that sustains me until next Sunday when I take eight more of the little yellow buggers. It tempers my overactive immune system over the course of the coming week which allows me temporary control of my ocular myasthenia. So I guess that’s a good thing. It keeps me functional.
     I’ve consumed the entirety of the pot of coffee I made today along with the last two Cleo & Leo cookies. If you’re wondering what they are I must confess that I am really not sure, they appear to be sugar cookies with chunks of chocolate in them. So they can’t really be bad for me. Can they?
     It’s a cold and dreary day with a twenty percent chance of some sort of precipitation and my friend and roommate Rupert has been sleeping all morning. He got up once this morning to eat a bit and have a drink of water and use his box. He then promptly returned to bed in what I used to think was my bed. It apparently is now ours, mostly his now he thinks. He’s a good fellow and talks to me and cuddles me when it seems like no one else will.
And with that I am off to see what this Sunday has in store for me.

Friday, May 11, 2018

We've Been Had Again!

This morning the Los Angeles Times ran an article on its website about the lackluster collections of the 34% combined taxes imposed on the  purchases of marijuana and marijuana products since January 1st of this year. The state is bemoaning the fact that recreational pot has not been the  golden goose politicians expected it to be. California according to the article has only collected $33.6 million since January 1st of this year, way below the expected haul of $185 million projected for the six-month period ending June 30th of this year.
Governor Brown's solution and apparently AG Becerra's solution is Interdiction. The creation of new law enforcement agencies in the California's Justice Department to shut down illegal growers and sellers and apparently the associated retail distributors. Beware, your local neighborhood street dealer who sells you your stash for a cash price tax free just might be your grandmother supplementing her Social Security.
So be forewarned that the little piglets about to be released by Jerry Brown and Xavier Becerra will grow  into full sized sows and boars   and we will be filling our prison systems with marijuana offenders again, including your own personal unlicensed grower/seller.  Saint Lucy with Football, pray for us.