Free Republic

MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) Vermont lawmakers have given the initial green light for a legal market for marijuana. In a preliminary vote Wednesday night, the House approved the cannabis bill 90-54 following hours of debate. They will be back Thursday afternoon to consider additional amendments before taking final action. The bill calls for marijuana sales to be charged a 20% tax and some of that revenue would be used for after school and summer learning programs. The bill establishes a license for current medical dispensaries to start selling marijuana in 2022. The bill also bans flavored cannabis vapes and sets a...

Vice President Pence says more than 15,000 coronavirus test kits were released over the weekend and more will be sent out. "This weekend, more than 15,000 testing kits have been released. Also the FDA has approved a testing regiment that state and local officials can be using. We're addressing it, we're leaning into it."

I took a picture of the table of cases around the world. I would post it here if I remembered how or if there is an easy way to do it. So I will type it. There is something glaring missing in the list. China (includes Taiwan, Hong Kong & Macao)- 79,251 South Korea - 3,150 Italy - 1,128 ICCS (International Conveyance Cruise Ship) - 705 Iran - 593 Japan - 226 France - 100 Singapore - 98 United States - 62 German - 57 There are 10 more countries in the list all are consecutively lower. Lowest being Canada...

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said on Saturday at the American Conservative Union’s 2020 CPAC in Oxon Hill, Maryland, that President Donald Trump has made it a priority to give Americans access to federal lands for both pleasure and business. In keeping with that goal, Bernhardt said that his agency is committed to making sure that 245 million acres in the western United States be “specifically designated to be managed for multiple use.” “We’ve expanded by 1.4 million acres this last year as opportunities for hunting and fishing on public lands and in forests, but more importantly we have ensured the...

In Mandan, North Dakota, it's saloon mural 1, city 0. That's after the city hastily enacted a free speech-friendly ordinance to replace one that censored murals. Officials with the Institute for Justice said a lawsuit filed against the city by the owners of Lonesome Dove saloon has ended after the city changed its regulations to allow the saloon's mural. Brian Berube and August Kersten, the saloon's owners, and IJ had sued the city for "trying to ban their mural because it was 'intended to advertise an establishment,'" the IJ reported.

27 years ago, Washington state passed a bill requiring the Washington State Police to sell valuable firearms rather than destroying them. Provisions were made for the destruction of firearms which could not be legally owned. For political reasons, local law enforcement agencies were not included. In some of those jurisdictions, such as the Yakima Police Department and Vancouver Police department, all guns are destroyed for political reasons.A bill to allow the State Police to destroy legal guns passed the House in the Washington state legislature on 23 January 2020. Selling or not selling the guns has no effect on the...

Owners of Mexican restaurant north of Tucson targeted on social media after Trump rally Cathalena E. Burch Feb 29, 2020 The owners of a Mexican restaurant in Catalina are fending off social media attacks after appearing in the VIP area at Donald Trump's Phoenix campaign rally last week. A member of the Grupo de Palfeis Facebook group on Wednesday posted a screengrab image from the Feb. 19 rally that showed Sammy's Mexican Grill owner Betty Rivas standing behind Trump, donning a red cowboy hat emblazoned with "Latinos Love Trump." “Very ugly stuff. They are saying nasty stuff about the restaurant,"...

Trade Secretary is to publish a blueprint for trade talks with the US on Monday Chlorinated chicken will not be imported into the UK after Brexit, ministers said 'Opening our ports to food' which would be 'illegal to produce here' would be insane It would be 'morally bankrupt', warned the NFU's Minette Batters, this week Campaigners have warned against allowing in American farm produce, which they say is produced to lower standards. But last night sources said ministers had agreed there will be no relaxation of animal welfare standards – effectively ruling out chlorinated chicken, which has acquired totemic status...

after this, you’ll welcome obstacles “The general principle of antifragility, it is much better to do things you cannot explain than explain things you cannot do.” – Nassim Taleb“Being an entrepreneur is an existential, not just a financial thing.” – Nassim Taleb“They have turned the wolf into a dog and man himself into the man’s best domesticated animal.” – Friedrich Nietzsche  The ideas in this post have been the most transformative in my life over the last couple years. I avoided writing about them because I didn’t feel I could. Finally, I feel that I’ve internalized, tested, and understand them...

The United States would not be able to care for its millions of veterans if it becomes a socialist country, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) secretary cautioned Breitbart News at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday. Asked to make the case against socialism during an edition of Breitbart News Saturday, airing on SiriusXM 125, at the 2020 CPAC event, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie warned host and Washington Political Editor Matthew Boyle: “If America were suddenly to descend into a socialists State, that promise [to take care of our veterans’ that [Abraham] Lincoln made [when he...

SEOUL (REUTERS) - South Korea reported 210 new coronavirus cases on Sunday (March 1) afternoon local time, raising the country's total infections to 3,736, the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said. The updated numbers added to the 376 recorded earlier in the day. KCDC also reported an 18th death linked to the virus.

Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg twice compared Social Security to a Ponzi scheme when he was in office, CNN reports, which is a far cry from his current stance as a Democratic presidential candidate. Nowadays, Bloomberg has vowed to to strengthen entitlement programs, but he used to see them as a major hurdle in the effort to shrink the United States' deficit. During appearances on his old radio program "Live from City Hall," which were reviewed by CNN's KFile, Bloomberg made the Ponzi scheme comparison once in 2006 and again in 2009. The latter instance was...

NEW YORK - The New York Stock Exchange is preparing for the possible escalation of the novel coronavirus crisis that might include closing the trading floor in Lower Manhattan, according to Fox Business. Should the outbreak of COVID-19 escalate into a global pandemic, as is expected, then markets and firms are concerned that traders and other employees might not be able to get to work. "New York Stock Exchange is beginning to prepare for the possibility that the floor might not be able to open. It's a mixture of both humans and an automated trading system, computerized trading system," Charles...

Lady Gaga’s father is refusing to pay $260,000 in rent and fees for his restaurant at New York City’s Grand Central Terminal, saying the homeless population is hurting his business. Joe Germanotta, owner of Art Bird & Whiskey Bar, said he wants the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which oversees the busy commuter train station, to renegotiate his rent or release him from his lease, which expires in 2028, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. Germanotta and other business owners on the terminal’s lower concourse said they are struggling because of a homelessness problem, rodent infestation, and outdated furniture and facilities. “I...

A top official with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control on Friday challenged Sacramento medical officials who implied they were forced to wait several days before federal authorities tested a symptomatic patient for the coronavirus. The patient, a woman who has been at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento since Feb. 19, was intubated and has been described as severely ill. She was tested on Sunday, Feb. 23. The medical center disclosed on Wednesday that test results were positive. The discovery forced the medical center to order several employees to stay home this week. Those employees as well have...

Past a blue and white star-studded floor, take a picture with a cardboard cutout of President Trump and first lady Melania Trump in a replica of the Oval Office. he store, which had a soft opening last Saturday, is a space for Trump supporters to gather for events or just a caffeinated beverage, said co-owner Cliff Gephart. “It’s a place for conservatives to feel welcome,” Gephart told local news. “There’s not going to be anyone throwing a drink in your face because you’re wearing a MAGA hat." But it’s not political, Gephart insists. “I don’t feel like we’re catering to...

The Boeing Starliner didn't see any testing shortcuts before its flawed flight test, officials said Friday, but the company vowed to expand tests in the future. Boeing (BA) stock fell. In December, the Boeing Starliner set off on an uncrewed test, but it failed to reach the International Space Station as planned because a software error prevented it from getting into the proper orbit. It was later revealed that an internal timer on the capsule was off by 11 hours, causing the Boeing Starliner to believe that it was further into the mission. Another software issue was found with the...

Some states received test kits that were inconclusive or only partially accurate. Other states said they were hamstrung by testing criteria so narrow, it limited who they could screen for the new coronavirus. For more than a month, officials throughout the country have been asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to enable more widespread testing for the never-before-seen infection, as coronavirus cases around the globe rose past 82,000. But technical difficulties reduced the number of laboratories in the U.S. with working test kits to only about a dozen, including CDC headquarters in Atlanta. That delayed results for suspected...

Actress Patricia Arquette is urging people to participate in a one-day economic shutdown that is designed to inflict damage on the U.S. economy and hurt President Donald Trump. Arquette posted a message to Instagram on Thursday promoting the March 2 event, telling her followers that they should refrain from making any purchases — presumably, including food and medication — for a 24-hour period as part of the #resist movement against the Trump administration.

Scandinavian countries are well-known for their broad social safety net and their public funding of services such as universal healthcare, higher education, parental leave, and child and elderly care. High levels of public spending naturally require high levels of taxation. In 2018, Denmark’s tax-to-GDP ratio was at 44.9 percent, Norway’s at 39.0 percent, and Sweden’s at 43.9 percent. This compares to a ratio of 24.3 percent in the United States. So how do Scandinavian countries raise their tax revenues? A first breakdown shows that consumption taxes and social security contributions—both taxes with a very broad base—raise much of the additional...