Free Republic

Nearly five years after Californians voted to create a legal marijuana industry through Proposition 64, the illegal weed market is as big as or even bigger than it was before the ballot measure passed.The end of prohibition at the state level was supposed to be the beginning of a highly regulated marijuana market served by legitimate, taxpaying companies (even though marijuana remains illegal under federal law). Legalization was billed as a way to tame the Wild West-style marijuana industry, which often flouted environmental and health strictures and was a bastion for organized crime.It hasn’t worked out that way for a...

Both GOP senators from Texas are joining other republicans in breaking ranks with the president over a tariff threat to Mexico. Senator Ted Cruz says it is a game of chicken on who will blink first. “I understand that the president is frustrated with congressional democrats refusing to do their job,” Cruz said. “That being said, this is the wrong solution to the crisis.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he expects his chamber will have the votes to pass a resolution blocking President Trump’s national emergency declaration, but an effort to override a presidential veto will fail in the House. “I think what is clear in the Senate is that there will be enough votes to pass the resolution of disapproval, which will then be vetoed by the president and then in all likelihood the veto will be upheld in the House,” McConnell said Monday. He said the Senate vote would happen before the lawmakers go on a one-week recess March 15.

OXON HILL, Md. — The Koch political network for the first time plans to intervene in GOP primaries as part of a deliberate 2020 strategy to reverse years of essentially rubber-stamping the Republican Party in general elections. Disappointed with Republicans in Congress and occasionally at odds with President Trump, the coalition of political groups overseen by Charles Koch has been re-evaluating its engagement in federal campaigns. Playing in GOP primaries to elect more like-minded Republicans to the House and Senate is key tactical adjustment the network has agreed to, with a top Koch official confirming that incumbents could be targeted...