Deutsche Bank, Trump’s biggest creditor, awarded conviction reprieve

"The Labor Department has granted Deutsche Bank a waiver from punishment allowing it to continue to manage retirement accounts for another three years, according to an announcement in the Federal Registry last month. Four other banks convicted in the case were also granted waivers. Deutsche Bank has been a big lender to Trump over the years, and the president still has loans with the bank that were originally worth $300 million."

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Sessions rescinds Obama-era directive that eased federal marijuana enforcement

"In a memo sent to U.S. attorneys Thursday, Sessions noted that federal law prohibits the possession and sale of marijuana, and he undid four previous Obama administration memos that advised against bringing weed prosecutions in states where it was legal to use for recreational or medical purposes."

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Jeff Sessions Faces Tough Cannabis Questions—From His Own Interns

"Sessions noted that more fatal accidents are now caused by drugs than by alcohol, and he said the American Medical Association 'is crystal clear' that 'marijuana is not a healthy substance.' But when the intern challenged that assertion, Sessions seemed dismissive, addressing the intern as 'Dr. Whatever Your Name Is.' 'I don’t think America’s going to be a better place if marijuana’s sold in every corner grocery store,' Sessions said."

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Bitcoin should be ‘outlawed’, says Nobel prize-winning economist

"Joseph Stiglitz said that he favours making the digital currency illegal because it does not have a 'socially useful function'. 'Bitcoin is successful only because of its potential for circumvention, lack of oversight,' the renowned economist said."

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Alfred McCoy: The Future of the American Empire

"Alfred McCoy was a young rebel academic who waded into the war zone in Southeast Asia to investigate the relationship between the CIA, crime syndicates, and local drug lords. The result, which the Agency tried unsuccessfully to suppress, was his classic The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade. In the 45 years since, McCoy has consistently probed the underside of American global power, analyzing how the United States uses covert interventions, local proxies, torture, and worldwide surveillance to maintain its global empire."

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More Broke States Trading In Vice Enforcement For Tax Revenue

"Pennsylvania is in the midst of a budget crisis. Seeing New Jersey success is raising revenue from Internet gambling, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives suggested that to avoid a tax increase, they would follow suit. This week, after years of haggling, Gov. Tom Wolf signed a measure to make Pennsylvania the fourth state to legalize online gaming – a move that is projected to bring in $426.3 million in tax revenue from 2017 to 2022. Michigan is also considering making a move, and guess who the chief opponent is?"

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Duty, Honor, Atrocity: George W. Bush Receives West Point Character Award

"In George W. Bush’s home state of Texas, if you are an ordinary citizen found guilty of capital murder, the mandatory sentence is either life in prison or the death penalty. If, however, you are a former president of the United States responsible for initiating two illegal wars of aggression, which killed 7,000 U.S. servicemen and at least 210,000 civilians, displaced more than 10 million people from their homes, condoned torture, initiated a global drone assassination campaign, and imprisoned people for years without substantive evidence or trial in Guantanamo Bay, the punishment evidently is to be given the Thayer Award at West Point."

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James Bovard: Facebook/Russia farce shows lawmaker deviousness, demagoguery

"Many Americans would cheer federal muzzling. Almost half of millennials supported restricting freedom of speech on social media, according to a recent survey. Congressional threats have probably already done long-term damage to corporate spines. It would be naive to expect Facebook, Twitter, or other social media companies to take heroic stands in favor of free speech. But it would be even more naive to expect anything good to result from permitting politicians to decimate freedom in the name of democracy."

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