Free Republic

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Former U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra has said he'll back U.S. Rep. Justin Amash's opponent in the upcoming August primary. Hoekstra is endorsing local businessman Brian Ellis in the Third District race. Hoekstra, who served in the House from 1993-2011 and was chair of the House Intelligence Committee, in a statement said Ellis will be a "strong partner" with other Michigan Republicans to promote conservative ideas. "Bottom line, I strongly endorse Brian Ellis because he will be an effective conservative voice and a consistent conservative vote for solutions that will help hardworking Michigan taxpayers," Hokestra said. "Brian...

<p>DENVER (AP)- Colorado sold less recreational pot in May than in April, the first month-to-month sales decline for the newly legal drug.</p> <p>Tax collections reported by the Colorado Department of Revenue this week showed that Colorado sold about $21 million of recreational pot in May. That was down slightly from April, when the 4/20 marijuana holiday was credited in part for a boost in recreational sales to $22 million.</p>

And most is consumed by a minority of daily users. About 9% of Colorado’s population consumes marijuana, according to a market demand study conducted by the state department of revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division and the state’s Marijuana Policy Group. And those users, it’s estimated, will get through about 121.4 metric tons of pot every year. According to the report, that consumption — calculated through survey results, demographic data and source data — is “31 percent higher than a recent department of revenue assessment, 89 percent higher than a study by the Colorado Futures Center, and 111 percent higher than an...

In 1981, a lawyer tried to subpoena Ron Paul to testify in the trial of Don Black, a Grand Wizard for the Ku Klux Klan who would later go on to found the white supremacist, neo-Nazi website, Stormfront. Black was charged along with two other Klansmen with planning to violently overthrow the small Caribbean country of Dominica in what they called “Operation Red Dog.” While a judge refused to subpoena Paul, Don Black would come back to haunt him many years later. In 1981 a group of American and Canadian white supremacists lead by Klansman and mercenary, Michael (Mike) Perdue...

Former Rep. Ron Paul said the law enforcement that swarmed around Boston in the days following the marathon bombings was scarier than the actual terrorist attack. “The Boston bombing provided the opportunity for the government to turn what should have been a police investigation into a military-style occupation of an American city,” he said on the Lew Rockwell website, Politico reported. “This unprecedented move should frighten us as much or more than the attack itself.” The terror attacks on April 15 in Boston killed three and injured 264. Mr. Paul, a former libertarian political candidate who served in Congress as...

In an unprecedented move Thursday night, the House of Representatives voted to pass a bill that prevents the Drug Enforcement Administration from raiding state-legal medical marijuana dispensaries. Just after midnight, the vote won with 219 ayes, including an unexpected 49 Republicans and 170 Democrats. It’s the first time Congress has approved a major marijuana law reform, which shows the changing tide of marijuana policy in the United States—and suggests a new day is rising in the war on drugs. A similar measure failed in Congress six previous times, receiving the most votes (165) in 2007. But with data showing three...

If you’re a District resident planning to vacation in the Maryland havens of Ocean City or St. Michaels this summer, Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and some D.C. activists would prefer you choose Rehoboth Beach, Del., or Chincoteague Island, Va., instead. A week after Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) successfully attached an amendment to a House budget bill that would overturn the city’s marijuana decriminalization law, Gray and the District’s largest voting-rights advocacy group said city residents would be better off vacationing somewhere besides Harris’s district, which includes all of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. “I don’t think we should support someone who...

Insert your favorite marijuana-related pun here: The Florida governor's race is blazing right along, the candidates are burning up the trail, the contest is really getting in the weeds, etc. However you put it, a ballot initiative on medical marijuana could have a major effect on the re-election campaign of Republican Gov. Rick Scott. A businessman who made millions in the health care industry, Scott faces Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor now running as a Democrat after a failed Senate bid. The Florida Right to Medical Marijuana Initiative, also known as Amendment 2, would legalize medical marijuana for patients...

On Friday, Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Corey Booker (D-NJ) offered a medical marijuana amendment on the floor of the Senate. The bill is a massive win for states’ rights, as it outlaws the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Agency from undermining state marijuana laws and prohibits the DEA from interfering with the production of hemp in states where it is legal. There is simply no reason the federal government should be trampling over state laws to perform armed SWAT-team raids on state-legal medical marijuana dispensaries. Destroying property and hauling entrepreneurs off to jail is not the proper...

BRYANT, AR - A Bryant man was arrested after police say he followed a couple around town harassing and threatening them because he thought the car was a spaceship and the driver was an alien. The driver of the car was nervous enough to call police and feel threatened to the point he considered the concealed carry weapon he had with him. The man arrested was James Bushart, 44. When police stopped Bushart, he was found with meth, a pipe used to smoke meth and charged with DWI and Disorderly Conduct.

Forget the lighthearted puns about a new kind of Street high, Jim Cramer believes there's serious opportunity in a marijuana stock. It's GW Pharmaeuticals. Cramer is a fan of this company, in particular, because it isn't simply a bet on more states approving medical marijuana as a treatment for patients fighting cancer. Instead, this U.K.-based company is at the forefront of developing new drugs from compounds found in cannabis, or marijuana plants. And if any company has a strong pipeline of cannabis derived drugs, it's GW Pharma. "First, they've already gotten approval for their lead drug, Sativex, a mouth spray...

John Avlon’s dishonest column on the cop-killers in Las Vegas should be studied by journalism students as an example of how to exploit a tragedy for political purposes. It is a shame he gets on CNN as an “analyst,” which gives him undeserved authority and prestige, when he deliberately confuses and misleads people. jerad miller In this case, he tried to blame conservatives for the murders of two policemen. His Daily Beast column carried two titles, one of them being, “The Bonnie and Clyde of Ultra-Right Hate.” He said Jerad and Amanda Miller killed two metro cops while shouting, “This...

(Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a law on Monday allowing for the limited use of a special strain of marijuana to treat epileptic seizures and other diseases. State lawmakers passed the measure this spring with bipartisan support after impassioned appeals from parents seeking access to the form of marijuana known as "Charlotte's Web," named for a Colorado girl whose epileptic seizures have shown some response to the drug. “As a father and grandfather, you never want to see kids suffer," Scott, a Republican, said in a statement. "I am proud to stand today with families who deserve the...

In the four months to date for 2014, warships from the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) Task Force 150 (CTF 150) have seized in excess of 2,000 kg of heroin being trafficked in dhows via the Indian Ocean. The most recent seizure was of 1,032 kg by an Australian warship on 26 April - African’s highest drug seizure ever – and 130kg by a Canadian warship on 7 April. In 2013, warships operating with CTF 150 seized more than 2,000 kg of heroin being shipped via the Indian Ocean. The heroin appears to be of Afghan origin, and is generally of...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — In methamphetamine's seedy underworld, traffickers are disguising the drug as a liquid to smuggle it into the United States from Mexico.

Madison — Felon and former state Sen. Gary George will be able to mount his long-shot primary challenge to U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore after all. The state elections board voted unanimously to reject a challenge to George's nomination signatures and allow him on the ballot to challenge fellow Democrat Moore for Congress. The Government Accountability Board met at the Capitol on Tuesday to certify candidates for the Aug. 12 ballot. Milwaukee union official Sheila Cochran had challenged hundreds of the signatures George submitted on his nomination papers, saying they were collected by convicted felons, among other problems. Board staff said,...

Colorado has a new cash crop. New figures show that the state has been raking in profits since January, when it became the first in the nation to legalize the sale of marijuana for recreational use. Add in sales taxes from lower taxed medical marijuana and so far this year the state has banked nearly $18 million. Along with the big bucks have come some big problems. Like 10 toddlers so far this year overdosing on edible marijuana products. And from January through May, the Colorado State Patrol handed out 289 tickets to people driving under the influence of marijuana....

The GOP-controlled House voted early Friday in favor of blocking the federal government from interfering with states that permit the use of medical marijuana. The somewhat surprising 219-189 vote came as the House debated a bill funding the Justice Department’s budget. The amendment by conservative GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California—the first state to legalize medical marijuana—came as almost half the states have legalized marijuana for medical uses, such as improving the appetites of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. …

A chilling message from the cartels: Billboards with hanging mannequins warning cops to choose 'silver over lead' appear in Texas Two billboards along highways in El Paso, Texas were vandalized and had mannequins hanging off of themOne reads 'silver or lead' in Spanish which is taken to mean that police and business owners can either take drug cartels' bribes or dieWorries spreading that cartels that have ruled Mexican border towns with violence may be headed north Two frightening incidents of vandalism in El Paso near the Mexican border in Texas have been interpreted as warnings from drug cartels. In both...

Reboot in San Francisco this summer with young Republicans.Startup employees Aaron Ginn, 26 -- a former Mitt Romney campaign worker -- and Garrett Johnson, 29, are looking to do what Democrats have done for almost a decade: connect conservative and libertarian "technologists" with old-school political campaigns with like minds. There just isn't enough opportunity in Silicon Valley. For a dyed-in-the-wool, true-red conservative. So, a pair of Silicon Valley denizens with right-wing politics are planning their answer to Netroots Nation, according to the Huffington Post. Startup employees Aaron Ginn, 26 -- a former Mitt Romney campaign worker -- and Garrett Johnson,...