Free Republic

On a retail level, it costs about $35 to buy a small bag of good quality medical marijuana in Los Angeles, enough to roll five or six joints. But in 2018, when recreational sales take hold and additional taxes kick in, the cost of that same purchase in the new market is expected to increase at the retail counter to $50 or $60. Medical pot purchases are expected to rise in cost too, but not as steeply, industry experts say. Or consider cannabis leaves, a sort of bottom-shelf product that comes from trimming prized plant buds. The loose, snipped leaves...

It's ridding high and worth more than gold. https://coinmarketcap.com/

Obamacare is still law. Taxes are still too high. We are still borrowing trillions. Government is too big. What is the GOP congress doing?

Caterpillar and McDonald's posted bottom line results that topped estimates, sending its shares higher. This is the busiest week of the earnings season, with approximately 180 S&P 500 components scheduled to report. Wall Street also set its sights on the Federal Reserve, as the central bank kicked off a two-day monetary policy meeting The S&P 500 hit a record high shortly after the open, with financials and energy rising more than 1 percent to lead advancers. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 77 points, with Caterpillar and McDonald's contributing the most gains. The Nasdaq composite lagged, trading 0.1 percent lower...

That head bobbing was not normal. See images.

Gun sales are on a pace to break last year's record of more than 23 million, a boon to the U.S. industry and gun stores thanks to election-year worries about gun control and recent terror attacks, according to government figures and experts. Under Obama, background checks for guns reached 141.4 million through the end of May, amounting to sales of about 52,600 a day, according to the FBI. Last year, the FBI conducted more than 23 million background checks, which are generally used to figure sales of new and used weapons. Domestically, manufacturers have reported producing about 21,000 guns a...

The company began looking to leave Fairfield, Conn., last year after state legislators threatened to raise corporate taxes. GE’s quest for a new global headquarters can be traced back to a decision by Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy and Connecticut lawmakers last spring to significantly change business tax policies, to help fill a big state budget gap. The package, among other things, altered how multistate companies collect corporate taxes and how losses can be used to reduce tax bills over a period of years.

(CNN)—Hawaii is a place many go to kick back, relax and enjoy the good life. But for others, it's a land of struggle. That's why its governor on Friday signed an emergency proclamation to tackle homelessness in the state, saying the measure will help turn around the lives of young and old. "Homelessness remains a serious issue in every county throughout the state," Gov. David Ige said in a press release.Hawaii has an estimated 7,620 homeless people, said the governor's spokeswoman Cindy McMillan, citing a 2015 statewide count. This may not seem like much compared with other places -- to...

Four images from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this sharper global view of Pluto. (The lower right edge of Pluto in this view currently lacks high-resolution color coverage.) The images, taken when the spacecraft was 280,000 miles (450,000 kilometers) away from Pluto, show features as small as 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers). That’s twice the resolution of the single-image view captured on July 13 and revealed at the approximate time of New Horizons’ July 14 closest approach. Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

<p>When the mayor vetoed the building of a sports stadium in a residential neighborhood, SAU sold the property to Assumption High School which was not restricted to the residential zoning regulations.</p> <p>This has been going on for a couple of years now.</p>

A bipartisan group of six senators — including Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), the Gang of Eight member mulling a run for president — released the first bipartisan immigration bill of the new Congress, in the form of legislation to expand high-tech visas and green cards for immigrants. “Our bill is a commonsense, bipartisan approach to help ensure that those who have come here to be educated in high-tech fields are able to stay with their families and contribute to the economy and our society,” said Senate Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), who headed up the effort. “I’m...

Eagle Stadium, the $60 Million facility that Allen (Texas) debuted in 2012, will close for the fall, according to a report from the Dallas Morning News. The stadium, which made news earlier this spring when cracks were discovered in the cement of its concourse, was deemed unfit for public assembly. According to the report, which cited analysis done by the Allen school district, the stadium support structures are not sufficiently capable of supporting the weight of the concourse level.

High Point police say the woman who died in a head-on collision Thursday was posting selfies and updating her Facebook status moments before the fatal crash. Courtney Ann Sanford, 32, of Clemmons, updated her Facebook status with: “The happy song makes me HAPPY” one minute before the crash was called in to police, investigators say. “These posts were brought to investigators’ attention by family and friends,” said Lt. Charles Lanier with the High Point Police Dept. “Investigators say that she also was taking pictures of herself while driving. The posts were very close proximity in time to our first calls...

A shocking video has appeared on the web apparently to show a toddler being made to smoke a marijuana joint. The video, posted using the Vine phone app, captures a boy who looks no more than two-years-old being handed the cigarette in a bathroom. Completely oblivious to what is happening, he inhales the rolled-up cigarette and exhales smoke. At least one man's voice can be heard laughing and shouting: "He's smoking it!" It is not known if the adult involved is a relative of the boy or not. The appalling video, believed to have been taken in the US,...

Video Linky Here Salvia is the largest genus of plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, with nearly 1000 species of shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and annuals. Within the Lamiaceae, Salvia is member of the tribe Mentheae within the subfamily Nepetoideae. It is one of several genera commonly referred to as sage.

(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)Rep. Jared Polis wants President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to come see how Colorado is implementing its new marijuana legalization laws. Polis, a Colorado Democrat and cheerleader of his state’s new legalized marijuana laws, told CQ Roll Call he wants the two leaders to “visit a regulated store and a growing operation with me to see our Colorado laws enforced. It’ll only reinforce their emerging beliefs when see what we’re doing in Colorado.” In a letter that will be sent on Thursday, Polis extends the invite and thanks Obama and...

Police say the shooter is down inside the school. The school is eight miles from Columbine. FOX News reported: Police were responding Friday to a report of a shooting at a Colorado high school. Fox 31 Denver reported two persons were injured during the incident at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, about 13 miles south of Denver. The school has about 2,000 students. It is about 8 miles east of Columbine High School in Littleton, where two teenage shooters killed 12 classmates and a teacher before killing themselves in 1999.

A Tennessee high school senior is receiving widespread attention for an eloquent speech he made against Common Core at a school board meeting. Ethan Young, a senior at Farragut High School in Knox County, Tenn., made an impassioned argument for dropping the new national education guidelines, which he called “a glowing conflict of interest … that illustrate a mistrust of teachers.” “Somewhere our Founding Fathers are turning in their graves,” he said. Young reserved particularly harsh judgment for the nationwide standardized testing required by Common Core. “If everything I learned in high school was a measurable objective: I haven’t learned...

Published on Oct 16, 2013 During late-night Capitol lawn coverage of the debt ceiling, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper mocked GOP strategist Alex Castellanos for being "high" after the commentator likened Ted Cruz's shutdown strategy to the rabbit mating rituals. Castellanos agreed with his Democratic counterpart Paul Begala that Cruz is behaving in a short-sighted manner by shutting down the government to expand the conservative base. As such, the GOP strategist recalled a bizarre analogy. "A friend explained to me today, finally, what Ted Cruz is doing," he said. "And I finally understand: He's having bunny sex." While Begala let out...