Federal officials are warning California medical marijuana dispensaries they must shut down within 45 days or face criminal prosecution and having their property confiscated.
The state’s four U.S. attorneys sent letters Wednesday and Thursday notifying at least 16 pot shops or their landlords that they are violating federal drug laws, even though medical marijuana is legal in California. The attorneys are to announce their coordinated crackdown at a Friday news conference.
Because this is the biggest problem facing the country.
» Treating “gang members” differently: Many of the concerns the prisoners have with their treatment revolve around the fact that they were put into fairly extreme prison cells, designed to limit human contact, due to their perceived affiliation with gangs. One of the ways they can get out involves a process called “debriefing,” where the prisoner renounces his gang affiliation and discloses information about possible members — which has the effect of putting the prisoner directly in danger. Activists consider this damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t approach to handling prisoners akin to torture. “These are inhumane conditions designed to extract information from someone,” noted Carol Strickman of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, an activist group.
And Downlo’s is quite excellent as well. Each in their own way tears apart the controversial project from an analytical perspective.
(Source: shortformblog)
The pricing structure is there to bring attention, to cause people to get a little upset. But it’s really there to cause people to think more critically about what this kind of policy would do in university admissions.UC Berkeley College Republicans president Shawn Lewis • Discussing his group’s reasoning for having a bake sale where people paid different prices based on their race and gender. The pricing scale’s kinda like this: $2 for whites, $1.50 for Asians, $1 for Latinos, $0.75 for Blacks and $0.25 for Native Americans — with a discount of 25 cents for women of all races. As you might guess, this bake sale, scheduled for Tuesday, is flaring up emotions quicker than a character in the movie “PCU.” It’s not the first time it’s been tried — a couple of other schools have tried the idea, and it’s been shut down at least once. What do you think? Does this seem disrespectful and worth getting angry over, or is there a valid point here? (h/t ProducerMatthew) source (via • follow)
San Juan Capistrano, calif. claims it’s a zoning issue. A couple in California has held a number of twice-weekly Bible study meetings in their home, but the city says that went against city zoning codes. So they fined them $300. A spokeswoman for the city says that it was to stop them from “transforming a residential area into a place where people regularly assemble” — but emphasizing that the city was in fact not trying to block people from being able to hold Bible studies. Pacific Justice Institute (a “religious legal non-profit group” which sounds like the ACLU, except for issues of Christian faith) is fully prepared to take this to the Supreme Court “if necessary.” source
Ron Paul wins California straw poll, proving his base is still strong: We’re absolutely positive that the drunk guy in this video put him over the edge. Clearly, it was exactly what Ron needed to ensure his electoral future. source
How do photographers shoot a blackout? By using whatever available light there is.
Photos: Scenes from the massive blackout in Southern California Thursday evening. Credit: Los Angeles Times
These shots are pretty freaking awesome. At least something good came out of that blackout.
Restoring power in the aftermath of the loss of the entire local grid serving San Diego and southern Orange counties was a monumental task. The restoration process, however, has left our local power grid very fragile and we are asking our customers to conserve electricity throughout the day Friday.SDG&E vice president of electric operations David Geier • Discussing last night’s blackout, which affected nearly five million people in Mexico, Arizona and California. The blackout led to some great photos, but fortunately, it looks like it ended relatively painlessly. We’ll keep an eye on this today. source (via • follow)
A blackout across San Diego and parts of Orange County has left 1.4 million people without power, shutting down cooling centers, causing traffic gridlock and affecting San Onofre’s nuclear reactors. Power might not be fully restored until Friday.
Check out our full coverage on L.A. Now.
It’s extremely hot there — like triple digits — by the way. Could that be a cause?
But seriously … I am not kidding.
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Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Legislative leaders agree to let the online retailer delay collecting taxes for a year, while it would drop its battle to overturn the state law. Gov. Jerry Brown has not said if he will support the plan.
A surprising turn of events.
Gumby attempted a robbery, you guys. Put away your Etch-A-Sketches and your Stretch Armstrongs, boys and girls. Childhood is over. In the San Diego area, a man dressed in a Gumby costume tried to rob a convenience store; he left with nothing, but there’s a $1,000 reward for info related to his eventual capture. Police are taking the matter seriously, however; we know we wouldn’t be able to do so. source
» One note: Goodwin Liu has publicly opposed Proposition 8 in the past, so if he ends up hearing the case, supporters of the law will likely ask that he recuse himself. But that doesn’t mean he has to.
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