Monthly Archives: January 2013

Leukemia sufferer Bob Crouse sues city over destroyed marijuana

"Finally able to return to normalcy after winning his protracted trial with the help of the public defender's office, and then winning the return of his marijuana, seized as evidence, with the pro-bono help of attorney Clifton Black, Crouse is confronting a final hurdle: repayment. The Independent has learned that on Dec. 27, Black and attorney Charles Houghton filed suit against the city of Colorado Springs for its failure, via the police department, to maintain the marijuana as required in Amendent 20. It has come out previously that the roughly 60 pounds of seized crop — some 55 plants and 6.5 pounds of matter — were worth around $307,000." Continue reading →

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Michigan: Municipalities Ignoring Voters’ Will Regarding Marijuana Liberalization Measures

"On Election Day, voters in four cities - totaling over a million people - decided in favor of municipal initiatives to legalize or depenalize the adult use of cannabis. Sixty-five percent of Detroit voters approved Proposal M, removing local criminal penalties pertaining to the possession on private property of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults over age 21. Nonetheless, in the two months following these votes, city lawmakers have largely failed to implement any changes in law." Continue reading →

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Michigan: Municipalities Ignoring Voters’ Will Regarding Marijuana Liberalization Measures

"On Election Day, voters in four cities - totaling over a million people - decided in favor of municipal initiatives to legalize or depenalize the adult use of cannabis. Sixty-five percent of Detroit voters approved Proposal M, removing local criminal penalties pertaining to the possession on private property of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults over age 21. Nonetheless, in the two months following these votes, city lawmakers have largely failed to implement any changes in law." Continue reading →

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Obama gives himself and Michelle protection by armed Secret Service agents for rest of their lives

"President Barack Obama gave himself and his wife Michelle the benefit of armed protection for the rest of their lives by signing a bill granting a Secret Service detail to former presidents and their spouses in perpetuity. The new law, which will cost U.S. millions of dollars, is a re-instatement of a 1965 law which will see presidents protected for life as well as their children up to age 16. The bill passed the House and Senate in December. Obama, whose Secret Service codename is Renegade, joked in 2011 that he liked the fact that 'men with guns' protected his daughters, Malia, now 14, and Sasha, now 11." Continue reading →

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A Modest Step in the Direction of Gun Control

"There is one group, I propose, that should be an exception to this rule: federal government employees. The greatest atrocities in the history of mankind have been committed by government employees during periods after guns were confiscated from 'the people.' Thus, there is clear justification for disarming them. If someone is threatening them, they should just do what they want all the rest of us to do, call the local police. And further, since they are all just 'serving' the people, in their minds, who would be shooting at them anyway? But, sometimes, government employees have an odd definition of serving the people and that's what we need to protection against them." Continue reading →

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DEA Raids Three LA Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

"DEA agents raided three Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries Wednesday afternoon, according to a preliminary report from Americans for Safe Access California director Don Duncan. More details were not forthcoming by press time. According to Duncan, the DEA struck LA Wonderland on West Pico Boulevard, the Downtown Collective on South Hill St. near downtown, and the Iron Works in Venice. The federal government has unleashed the DEA on dispensaries under both the Bush and the Obama administrations. One Southern California dispensary operator, Aaron Sandusky, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison just this Monday." Continue reading →

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Wyoming lawmakers seek to preemptively nullify federal gun regulations

"Several Wyoming lawmakers have proposed legislation that would attempt to nullify any new federal law to restrict access to assault weapons. Wyoming State Senator Larry Hicks told The Washington Examiner that his constituents were worried about their gun rights in the wake of the tragic Newtown elementary school shooting. The Firearms Freedom Act states that 'any federal law which attempts to ban a semi-automatic firearm or to limit the size of a magazine of a firearm or other limitation on firearms in this state shall be unenforceable in Wyoming.' Anyone who tried to enforce a federal gun ban would face felony charges." Continue reading →

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PA Police Chief Seeks Nullification of Unconstitutional Gun Control

"One local Pennsylvania police chief is helping to lead the way, asking officials in his borough to pass an ordinance or resolution nullifying any unconstitutional attacks on the unalienable rights of residents. Meet Gilberton Borough Police Chief Mark Kessler. After watching anti-Constitution politicians in Washington, D.C., try to exploit a tragedy to trample on Americans’ right to keep and bear arms, he decided enough was enough. Now, he is speaking out, and asking lawmakers in his small borough of around 1,000 people to pass a nullification measure." Continue reading →

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Themes for 2013: Eight trends to follow in 2013 and beyond.

"Rather than attempt to predict the unpredictable – that is, specific events and price levels – let’s look instead for key dynamics that will play out over the next two to three years. Though the specific timelines of crises are inherently unpredictable, it is still useful to understand the eventual consequences of influential trends. In other words: policies that appear to have been successful for the past four years may continue to appear successful for a year or two longer. But that very success comes at a steep, and as yet unpaid, price in suppressed systemic risk, cost, and consequence." Continue reading →

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Finally, the SEC Goes After a Failed Bank’s Auditors

"The Securities and Exchange Commission is finally doing something that desperately needed to be done: Suing the auditors of a failed bank that got caught cooking its books. Today the SEC’s enforcement division accused two accountants at KPMG LLP of engaging in unprofessional conduct during their 2008 audit of TierOne Corp., a Lincoln, Nebraska- based lender that had about $3 billion in assets when it collapsed in 2010. The SEC’s administrative order accuses the pair of 'failing to subject TierOne’s loan loss estimates -- one of the highest risk areas of the audit -- to appropriate scrutiny.'" Continue reading →

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