Category Archives: Victimless Crimes

An utterly depraved predator who installed a secret bathroom camera to spy on young girls in Shetland has been jailed for almost three years.

John Rankins voyeurism went undiscovered for close to a decade until he was caught with thousands of indecent images of children during a police raid last year.

After confiscating two desktop computers and a mobile phone from his house, officers found he had saved more than 12,600 still images and almost 1,700 videos.

All of the images featured boys and girls from toddler age up to 16 with creation dates between March 2011 and November 2019.

More than 900 of the images and videos were classed as category A the most serious while 856 were category B and 12,588 category C.

Rankin, 48, appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday for sentencing, having previously admitted to creating and storing the photographs and videos.

The court heard that, while searching his devices, detectives found pictures showing him setting up a secret camera, and several clips where he had used the clandestine equipment to video girls as young as 12 using the toilet.

Additionally, officers discovered a recording of a woman getting dressed in a shop changing room in Lerwick.

Investigators said Rankins victims were clearly unsuspecting, and their families had been completely unaware of the secret recordings until they were asked to identify the people seen in the videos.

Rankins solicitor Thomas Allan said his client has been receiving support from family, friends and charity Stop It Now, and plans to make a fresh start somewhere other than Shetland in the future.

He added: He was dealing with a great deal of stress due to his employment and difficulties with his relationship.

Its his position there were periods where he would not access the images or look at them.

He realises these are not victimless crimes.

Hes tried to face up to what hes done already without any compulsion from the court.

Sheriff William Summers branded Rankins actions as utterly depraved.

He said: The charges to which youve pled guilty relate to a deplorable course of conduct, at times carrying on over a number of months or years.

These amount to a gross breach of trust and are likely to have far-reaching consequences for the woman and children.

Rankin, whose address was listed in court papers as Cogan Place, Barrhead, was jailed for 32 months and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Read more here:

Shetland man jailed for 'depraved' spying on young girls with secret bathroom camera - Press and Journal

Lets just address it right off the rip.

Robinson Can cheated. He cheated at baseball by taking one of MLBs banned substances and testing positive for it. He broke the rules and did his punishment for it, serving an 80-game suspension during one of the Mariners few seasons ever in which they were contending for a playoff spot. That sucks.

For many of you, that is an automatic disqualifier. I cant really argue with the way you feel inside your own heart. But if Im looking into the deep recesses of mine, I can tell you with immense clarity that I do not care. The only crime he committed was a crime against baseball. The Mariners, like every other professional sports franchise under the sun, have employed people who were much, much worse morally and did much, much worse things than taking furosemide.

This was mostly a victimless offense, with the only possible exception being the pitchers who faced him. You could also say that his teammates were victims, as they lost an important player in their pursuit of a shared goal and certainly had their trust in him violated, but the 2018 Mariners also never would have been in such a good situation if Can had never signed with Seattle in the first place.

Finally, you can argue that fans were the victims of his suspension. I hear you. I really do. My brain just doesnt work like that. When the news of Cans suspension broke I was bummed, sure, but I didnt feel like he had personally wronged me. Maybe thats the product of an apathy and detachment thats indicative of a larger problem outside my sports fandom, maybe its just because someone Ive never met getting in trouble at work really has nothing to do with me.

From a pathos standpoint, I get why youre upset. From a logos standpoint, I think that he just made a mistake, as humans so often do. You could even twist it all the way back around and say that taking a banned substance comes from a desire to play better and put a good product on the field for the same fans who cried victim.

Hell, Nelson Cruz technically was a cheater too, his cheating just happened before he got to Seattle! I dont see how you can raise a stink about Can while still happily cheering for Cruz or Dee Strange-Gordon. For the record, I love all three of those men and am forever grateful for what they did as Mariners. These were work crimes, not real-life crimes. If youre a person who immediately discounts their accomplishments because they did something MLB didnt like, or decided that you couldnt root for them the same way you root for Johnny Game Respecter, Ill kindly ask you to stop being such a rule-following nerd.

Roughly a .300 hitter across five seasons in Seattle, Can remained mostly in line with his career numbers in New York, posting a nearly identical on-base percentage while taking an understandable dip in slugging after moving away from the sluggers paradise at Yankee Stadium. A lot of these doubles and many of the outs, as well are easy homers in the Bronx.

The power jump finally came in 2016 when Can enjoyed one of the best offensive seasons in Mariner history, full stop. Aside from the obvious contributions he made on the field, Cans sheer presence legitimized the Mariners as an actual force to be reckoned with rather than the languishing afterthought theyd been for most of the 21st century. The Mariners Hall of Fame seems to take things like that into account, as evidenced by Dan Wilsons inclusion for merely being a steadying presence during the glory years and Alvin Davis nod for being the Mariners OG, so we cant just throw out the impact Cans signing had on the Mariners culture. The same can be said of Cruz too, but as it stands right now hed need to play one more year in Seattle to be eligible for the teams Hall of Fame.

Put as simply as possible, if you told any Mariner fan in 2013 that the team would acquire a player who hit .296/.353/.472 over the next five years, averaged 25 homers and 95 RBI per 162 games, and helped the team re-enter the playoff picture for the first time in over a decade, they would have told you that the Ms are getting one of the best players theyve ever had. The fact that he put up those numbers at second base making him one of the most productive players in the league at his position only strengthens his case, in my opinion.

You dont need a golden calculator to tell you that Robinson Can is better at baseball than Dan Wilson was. Any working set of eyes should do the trick. Still, its pretty funny to see how much more valuable Can was to the club than Wilson. He did this while playing fewer seasons, and without the luxury of being a catcher, which tends to inflate Wins Above Replacement totals.

Like weve seen when examining James Paxton and Hisashi Iwakumas Mariner Hall of Fame cases, a fairly short stint in Seattle hurts Can a bit. If he had played eight seasons like Alvin Davis, I think he catches him in home runs and RBI. If we look at wRC+, the only current Mariner Hall of Famers ahead of Can are Griffey and Edgar. If we look at WAR, Can brought virtually the same value to the Ms in five seasons as beloved bald man Jay Buhner did in 14. Again, the only two position players in the Mariners Hall of Fame that were unequivocally better than Can are Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez, who were better than almost everyone whos ever picked up a bat.

This part of the exercise is fascinating because it shows us:

A bunch of rankings in the teens slightly hurt Robis campaign until you realize many of the people ahead of him in on-base (Phil Bradley, Mark McLemore, Joey Cora) and slugging percentage (Mitch Haniger, Richie Sexson) played even fewer games in a Mariner uniform than he did. If we look just at wRC+ and move the threshold to 2,500 plate appearances, only Edgar, Nellie, The Kid, and A-Rod were better than Robinson Can.

The truest version of coolness is when its effortless, as if zero time was spent trying to be anything or convey any sort of image. If you ever have to ask yourself how to be cool, youve already lost. It is innate, revealing itself only when situations call for it or certain actions demonstrate it. If all of that combines to create true coolness, then consider him Miles Davis.

Robinson Can batted like he was in a rocking chair. He played defense like he had a cigarette in his mouth. He watched his contemporaries fling their bodies all over the infield or take massive, uncontrolled swings and thought I can do all of that without breaking a sweat. Then he went out and did that every single night. It was awe inspiring. He was the epitome of nonchalant in an otherwise chalant world. Can was never over his skis, never seemed rattled for even one second. Whether it was setting up one of the most electric moments in Safeco Field history, throwing across his body like an unbothered paperboy, or flashing his impossibly white smile, he was a vessel of everything we wish we could be.

Some of you are going to gripe about him jogging to first base like he had oatmeal in his socks or whatever, which you have every right to do, but also complaining about a cool person being cool is one of the least cool things you could ever do. Sorry for your luck.

Yes. Saying that Dan Wilson is more deserving than Robinson Can is like saying that three McDonalds cheeseburgers is better than one filet mignon.

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Should Robinson Can be in the Mariners Hall of Fame? - Lookout Landing

FridayJul31,2020at12:01AM

Dear Editor,

The 2020 presidential election is both an important one, and (already) a discouraging one in terms of its outlook. Neither major party seems to be in touch with the interests of ordinary Americans. However, there is a third option, and her name is Dr. Jo Jorgensen.

Dr. Jorgensen is the Libertarian Party candidate for president, and she will be on the ballot in Florida. Her platform is essentially about maximizing freedom and bringing government back to within its Constitutional limits. Among her positions are: abolishing the federal DOE, DHS, and ATF (to name just a few agencies); eliminating penalties for victimless crimes such as drug possession; bringing the troops home from overseas and ending U.S. involvement in foreign wars; eliminating the federal deficit; and abolishing the federal income tax so that Americans can keep more of their hard-earned money.

Dr. Jorgensen is formerly a lecturer and professor of psychology at Clemson University, and has also been a homemaker as well as a founding CEO of a technological software corporation. Her achievements speak for themselves. Most importantly, however, she would provide a fresh voice to a broken system of government that has done little to better the lives of its citizens. And for that reason, I would urge those reading to consider her as you think of who to cast your vote for in November. Her website can be viewed at http://www.jo20.com. Thank you.

John Gibson, Vernon

Excerpt from:

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Third option for president, and her name is Dr. Jo Jorgensen. - Gadsden Times

ThursdayJul30,2020at12:01AM

The 2020 presidential election is both an important one, and (already) a discouraging one in terms of its outlook. Neither major party seems to be in touch with the interests of ordinary Americans. However, there is a third option, and her name is Dr. Jo Jorgensen.

Dr. Jorgensen is the Libertarian Party candidate for president, and she will be on the ballot in Florida. Her platform is essentially about maximizing freedom and bringing government back to within its Constitutional limits. Among her positions are: abolishing the federal DOE, DHS, and ATF (to name just a few agencies); eliminating penalties for victimless crimes such as drug possession; bringing the troops home from overseas and ending U.S. involvement in foreign wars; eliminating the federal deficit; and abolishing the federal income tax so that Americans can keep more of their hard-earned money.

Dr. Jorgensen is formerly a lecturer and professor of psychology at Clemson University, and has also been a homemaker as well as a founding CEO of a technological software corporation. Her achievements speak for themselves. Most importantly, however, she would provide a fresh voice to a broken system of government that has done little to better the lives of its citizens. And for that reason, I would urge those reading to consider her as you think of who to cast your vote for in November. Her website can be viewed at http://www.jo20.com. Thank you.

Respectfully,

John Gibson

Read the original:

Third option in the fall - Opinion - The Times - Apalachicola Times

On July 24, 2020, the PCSO Organized Retail Crime Unit arrested two suspects who stole merchandise from a Home Depot and a Lowes located in Lakeland. The investigation began when loss prevention personnel from the stores contacted detectives about a series of organized retail thefts that occurred on three different occasions.

On April 22, 2020, security video footage from Lowes in Lakeland shows 44 year-old Shenicka Whittington leaving the store with Yeti brand coolers and laundry detergent totaling $552.89. Whittington did not pay for the merchandise.

On May 21, 2020, Whittington was seen removing several Yeti brand items from the same Lowes store without paying for the merchandise. The stolen merchandise totaled $209.97.

On July 24, 2020, detectives responded to Home Depot where they observed Whittington exit the store with a shopping cart full of merchandise. Her boyfriend, 55 year-old Joseph Lamar was standing next to a vehicle waiting for Whittington.Through witness statements and video surveillance, detectives learned Whittington and Lamar had entered the Home Depot store a total of three times on this day. They removed fuel boxes, a gas pressure washer, chainsaws, a reciprocating saw, Bluetooth headphones, and other items totaling $3,028.83. These items were found in Whittingtons shopping cart and the couples vehicle.

Retail theft is not a victimless crime. It hurts businesses and consumers in the wallet. We are holding these thieves accountable they are both career criminals. Just one look at the long list of charges, and the fact that Whittington is already on probation for the same thing, and you know they have no respect for the judicial system. These are serious crimes and there will be serious consequences.Grady Judd, Sheriff

Lamar was charged with Coordinated Retail Theft (F-3). Lamars criminal history includes 17 felonies and 18 misdemeanors, which includes 4 prior theft convictions.

Whittington was charged with Coordinated Retail Theft (F-3), False Name to Law Enforcement (M-1), and Violation of Probation Felony Petit Theft/3rdConviction (M-2). Whittingtons criminal history includes 41 felonies and 34 misdemeanors, which includes 23 prior theft convictions. Whittington is also being detained on warrants for theft out of Orange and Hillsborough Counties.

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Two Arrested in Connection with Organized Retail Crime - The Daily Ridge

Political Report

In this Arizona county with over one million residents, two career prosecutors are facing off against a former public defender in the Aug. 4 Democratic primary, which will decide the election.

The prosecutors office in Pima County, a jurisdiction that is home to Tucson and over one million residents, is sure to change hands this year. Whether that coincides with policies more amenable to criminal justice reform remains to be seen.

Barbara LaWall, who has run the powerful county attorneys office and its $40 million budget for nearly 25 years, is stepping down. Three Democrats, and no other candidates, are running to replace her, so the Aug. 4 Democratic primary will decide her successor.

During her 24 years in office, LaWall helped fill state prisons with punitive practices toward substance use and sentencing; she also fought legislative efforts to reduce the states harsh sentencing statutes. Last summer, for instance, she joined the Republican county attorney in Maricopa County (Phoenix) to successfully urge the states GOP governor to veto a bipartisan reform that would have prevented prosecutors from alleging Hannah priorsa practice unique to the state in which prosecutors are allowed to charge people as repeat offenders if their indictment includes multiple charges, even if they have never been convicted of anything in the past.

Some meaningful policy differences have emerged among the three candidates who are attempting to replace LaWall, and at least two are voicing support for upending some of her approach. Still, none of them are making the sort of bold commitments to shrink the scope of criminal justice seen in other prosecutor elections, including in neighboring Maricopa County.

Instead, the most significant contrast between them may be their professional backgrounds, and how their past activities shape their credibility to change Pima Countys culture.

Two of the candidates, Mark Diebolt and Jonathan Mosher, are longtime deputy prosecutors in Pima County. Diebolt has been a deputy county attorney for 23 years. Mosher is currently the chief criminal deputy in LaWalls office.

Laura Conover, the third candidate, is a criminal defense attorney and former public defender. She told The Appeal: Political Report that the fact that she has not prosecuted a case in LaWalls office is my strength, not my weakness, since they need a person from outside to shift that culture. Some progressives around the country are making a similar case that achieving criminal justice reform requires electing people without a prosecutors background.

Indeed, aspects of Diebolt and Moshers records in the county attorneys office have drawn rebuke, or sparked worries among some local proponents of reform.

Diebolt has received multiple reprimands while at the county attorneys office, including for not disclosing exculpatory evidence and for failing to respond to motions by defense counsel. He did not answer repeated requests for comment from the Political Report. His website mixes some support for diversion programs with conventional tough-on-crime rhetoric promising to go after the worst of the worst.

Mosher, meanwhile, is making some commitments that conflict with past decisions he has made, and with the policies of LaWall, who has endorsed him.

He has pledged not to seek the death penalty if elected, but he signed a death notice in a case as recently as February 2019. He says that he supports assigning special prosecutors to investigate police use-of-force cases, but he was the chief criminal deputy when a Pima County sheriffs deputy was not criminally charged for body slamming a teenager with no arms or legs at a group home in November. A spokesperson for Mosher told the Political Report that Mosher had taken a leave of absence to run for office by the time the decision not to file charges was made, though he was still at work during the first few months of the investigation. Mosher says he would greatly expand deflection and diversion programs for drug possession cases, and points out that he used to struggle with addiction himself, but for years he has held a leadership role in an office that filed a thousands of felony cases last year for drug offenses (nearly three-fourths of those involved less than two grams).

Mosher told the Political Report that he would lobby for criminal justice reforms if elected, as did Conover.

An analysis of the candidates policy positions, and phone interviews with Conover and Mosher, also unearthed contrasts in their stated goals. (Diebolt did not reply to requests to elaborate on his views.)

Decriminalization and drug crimes

The Pima County Attorneys Office has a history of being especially punitive when it comes to drug-related crimes. Drug cases have been the most common type of felony charge in the county for 14 out of the last 17 years, according to the public defenders office.

All three candidates have said they would not prosecute people for personal possession of marijuana, and all three talk of expanding diversion and deflection programs as a way to keep people struggling with substance use out of prison. However, none of the candidates indicated another type of drug charge they would decline to prosecute.

Conover talks less about reducing the prison population or about reducing the scope of things that are criminalized than about shifting the priorities of the office.

We will be reframing that $40 million budget so we are going after those who are harming our community, which is going to move us away from all this low-level, victimless stuff, she told the Political Report. She mentioned drug paraphernalia as an example of a charge her office wont be prioritizing. When asked what she meant, Conover explained that her office would still be bringing charges for such offenses, but would steer defendants toward social services and out of the criminal justice system.

Conover uses similar language when asked about decriminalizing behaviors besides substance use. For example, she said that prosecuting sex work would not be a high priority for her office. Consensual adults, we are not spending resources on that under my watch, she said.

Some other candidates who have run for prosecutor on a progressive platform have taken more clear-cut commitments to not prosecute sex work, or drug possession up to a certain quantity. Our courts are the least healthy way to treat people struggling with addiction, a medical issue, Will Knight, who is running in Maricopa County, told the Political Report three weeks ago.

Mosher also did not say he would decline to prosecute any charges other than marijuana possession, and he has raised concerns about the safety implications of going further in decriminalization, stating for instance that that the county still must protect our children from drug sales and drug use, and we must protect our roadways from impaired drivers. He has said that he wants to expand diversion and treatment opportunities for people arrested for drug possession, and also for other offenses that stem from poverty such as loitering, to avoid incarceration.

I have already begun working to develop a new pre-indictment drug diversion program for those arrested on felony drug possession charges, Mosher said in an ACLU questionnaire. This would allow arrestees to avoid ever being indicted and charged with a felony crime, creating an earlier exit from the criminal justice system than is available under the current Felony Drug Diversion Program. Mosher told Political Report that there would be no fee to participate in the pre-charge diversion program for people arrested on felony drug possession charges, and that he expected at least 1,600 and perhaps as many as 2,000 participants per year, depending upon the numbers of arrests for drug possession made by law enforcement officers.

Neither Conover nor Mosher ruled out prosecuting overdose deaths as homicides, a punitive reaction to the overdose crisis that public health advocates decry but LaWall has used.

Charging policies

As county attorney, LaWall lobbied against efforts to curb mandatory minimum sentences and to limit other practices that lead to especially harsh sentences.

Earlier this year, she filed a lawsuit challenging a ballot initiative that would give judges greater discretion in sentencing, expand opportunities for early release to some prisoners, and end the use of Hannah priors, which allow prosecutors to charge people who have never been convicted of a felony as repeat offenders.

Mosher has distanced himself from LaWall on expanding early release. He supports the Second Chance Initiative, and says he even circulated petitions to help get it on the ballot. (Conover supports it as well.)

More broadly, Mosher and Conover both told the Political Report they would use their position to lobby for such criminal justice reform measures at the legislature, flipping LaWalls history of using the office to push against them.

When asked what steps they would take as prosecutors to reduce very long sentences, Conover and Mosher have said they would move away from certain practices, like stacking charges, which means bringing as many charges as possible against a person or alleging every historical prior felony conviction in an effort to increase the sentence.

But neither committed to instructing their office to never seek such charges, again stopping short of commitments taken by some Democrats in neighboring Maricopa County. (Diebolt did not respond and has not elaborated upon his stances on this issue elsewhere.)

We can create policies that require our prosecutors to seek justice and not vengeance, Conover told the Political Report. Stacking charges, seeking consecutive sentences, and historical priors have all been used questionably. Id like to put an end to all of those practices. She later clarified that she would allow highly trained and mentored prosecutors to retain discretion to use such practices.

Mosher similarly said he opposes alleging historical priors or stacking charges, and he too qualified his response, allowing that he may use those practices if pursuing that approach is both legally correct and necessary to protect community safety while increasing the opportunity for rehabilitation. Similarly, he said he would prefer judges to have discretion to deviate from mandatory minimums when those minimums are clearly inappropriate, but also seemed wary of allowing judges to have such discretion, noting that it is what let Stanford swimmer Brock Turner off the hook with a lenient punishment for sexual assault.

Conover has earned the endorsement of Mass Liberation, a group that seeks to end mass incarceration in a state that has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country. (Mass Liberation has advocated for extensive sentencing reforms in the legislature in recent years.)

The death penalty

All three candidates have publicly stated that they would not seek the death penalty if elected. Arizona is one of 28 states that still allows the sentence. Since 1992, the state has executed 37 people; 13 of those people have come from Pima Countymore than any other county in Arizona.

This is another issue where the candidates track records differ greatly. In the 1990s, Conover was the education chairperson of the Coalition of Arizonans to Abolish the Death Penalty, and she says this was her entry point into activism.

Mosher calls the death penalty a waste of taxpayer money. On Feb. 8, 2019, though, he signed a notice stating the county attorneys office will seek the death penalty against Christopher Matthew Clements, who is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, and sexual exploitation of a minor in relation to the deaths of two young girls.

Asked how that action squares with Moshers stated opposition to the death penalty now, his spokesperson told the Political Report, Those actions dont show that he would seek it at all. They show that he is a person who has a boss [LaWall]. That was her decision. Mosher added that he argued against the death penalty in this case in internal deliberations.

LaWall has historically opposed criminal justice reform, said Joel Feinman, who serves as the chief public defender in Pima County. (Feinman emphasized that he was speaking in his personal capacity as a criminal defense attorney and not on behalf of the public defenders office.) Their policy clearly is they put the highest priority on prosecuting low-level drug offenses. Thats a horrible policy. Thats exactly the opposite of what we should be doing. That just shows you are not a good steward of public budgets, and you do not understand substance abuse.

Original post:

Pima County Candidates Battle Over Whether the Prosecutor's Office Needs an Outsider to Achieve Reform - The Appeal

White House meets with hemp groups on CBD enforcement; McConnell says marijuana banking non-germane to COVID bill; Senators press USDA on hemp regs

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This issue of Marijuana Moment, and our original reporting that is featured in it, are made possible by the generous support of 479 Patreon sponsors. Cannabis industry professionals receive valuable rewards for pledges of $25 and up.Check out the perks of being a sponsor on our Patreon page.https://www.patreon.com/marijuanamoment/ TOP THINGS TO KNOWPresumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is proposing federal aid to help states expunge cannabis and other convictions.

The White House Office of Management and Budget is hosting several hemp industry groups for meetings about CBD enforcement policy this week and next week.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that including marijuana banking provisions in coronavirus relief legislation, as the House did, would be non-germane.

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) sent a letter calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to change several restrictive hemp regulations. They say that despite the temporary suspension of a rule allowing only labs certified by the Drug Enforcement Administration to do THC testing, USDAs site still lists only those facilities.

/ FEDERALThe Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing changes to rules for reporting theft or loss of controlled substances.Libertarian presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen tweeted, On Day One I will pardon all those who have been imprisoned for victimless crimes. Anyone convicted and incarcerated for possessing or using an illegal drug will be pardoned. End the War on Drugs now.Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) tweeted, Democrats released their socialist wish list (disguised as COVID19 relief) over two months ago, so we would forget that it included items like:Marijuana banking.Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) tweeted, Legalize marijuana nationwide and expunge records for cannabis-related offenses.Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) criticized Democrats for including three trillion dollars of marijuana banking in their coronavirus relief bill.Washington State Democratic congressional candidate Jason Call tweeted, It may seem an insignificant thing compared to healthcare, the environment, housing, and justice reform. But legalizing marijuana is an integral component of the general reforms that are needed. Rep Lee could not have gotten this more wrong.Tennessee Democratic congressional candidate Christopher Hale tweeted, Why is it that kids and veterans in Tennessee who smoke marijuana have criminal records but Wall Street executives who committed massive fraud and wrecked our economy do not? Ill be the most pro-weed Congressman God ever made.Florida Democratic congressional candidate Jen Perelman tweeted, Decriminalize & legalize marijuana./ STATESA former Maryland delegate who pleaded guilty to soliciting and accepting bribes from medical cannabis companies was sentenced to two years in federal prison.Nevada regulators are investigating three dispensaries for allegedly selling marijuana products that failed microbial testing.Maines top marijuana regulator said cultivation, manufacturing and processing facilities should be able to open by the end of September, with sales beginning by the end of the year.The Oregon Cannabis Commission Patient Equity Subcommittee will meet on Tuesday.Montana regulators will hold a hearing on proposed hemp rules on August 13.Alaska regulators will consider marijuana business license applications and rules on August 19 and 20.Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,500 cannabis bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they dont miss any developments.Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.

/ LOCALThe Plymouth, Ohio Village Council approved a marijuana decriminalization proposal./ INTERNATIONALSt. Lucias government is drafting legislation to legalize marijuana.Dominicas government is moving ahead with plans to decriminalize marijuana./ SCIENCE & HEALTHA study found that in the first randomised clinical trial of cannabidiol for cannabis use disorder, cannabidiol 400 mg and 800 mg were safe and more efficacious than placebo at reducing cannabis use.A review found that industrial hemp biomass is an excellent alternative candidate for biofuel production and has higher cellulose content compared with other agricultural residues./ ADVOCACY, OPINION & ANALYSISThe San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board is encouraging local officials to target landlords when seeking to close unlicensed marijuana shops./ BUSINESSAphria Inc. reported quarterly net revenue of $152.2 million and a net loss of $98.8 million.The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company reported that $303 million in quarterly revenue for its cannabis-focused Hawthorne unit.The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a number of people with allegedly defrauding investors in several marijuana businesses.A Marijuana Business Daily analysis concludes that the number of people working in the U.S. cannabis industry will increase to 240,000-295,000 by the end of the year.

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House to vote on protecting state cannabis laws this week (Newsletter: July 29, 2020) - Marijuana Moment

News outlets and even police departments are ending the publication of jail booking photos, claiming they foster stereotypes because minorities are more often arrested. But hiding inequities in the system doesnt fix them.

The Sacramento Bee, the Orlando Sentinel, theHouston Chronicle and a number of other city papers across the US have curtailed the practice of publishing mugshot slideshows, image galleries showing booking photos of arrested individuals who havent yet been convicted of crimes.

With exceptions for celebrity mugshots, suspected serial killers, threats to public safety, and hate crime suspects, the move is intended to counter racial stereotypes about criminality.

The papers have a point about the galleries lack of context a wordless array of scowling black and brown faces may indeed give the false impression that this is what all criminals look like. Some of the most destructive and dangerous criminals, the ones stealing your (or your parents) retirement savings or bombing civilians in the Middle East are unlikely to ever appear in one of these rogues galleries (or, alas, to be arrested at all). And publishing a persons mugshot before theyre even tried for a crime does impinge on the prisoners constitutional right to the presumption of innocence.

But sweeping these racial disparities under the rug doesnt solve the underlying problem of black and brown peoples overrepresentation in the criminal justice system. Indeed, its quite telling that police departments are now climbing aboard the no-mugshots bandwagon, suggesting a big fat ulterior motive lurking beneath the virtuous surface. San Francisco police announced earlier this month they will no longer release mugshots to the public unless the individual poses a threat to the community, again as part of an effort to reduce racial stereotyping.

The department thus acknowledges black and brown people are disproportionately arrested for victimless crimes (i.e. those that dont pose a threat to the community) a relatively uncontroversial reality that has been public knowledge for years, though still something one doesnt expect to hear police admit.

Black people are more than two and a half times more likely to be arrested and six times more likely to be imprisoned on drug charges than whites, for example, even though blacks and whites use and even sell drugs at approximately the same rate. These arent hard drug users either there were more arrests for marijuana in 2018 than for real crimes like aggravated assault, arson, burglary, or sex crimes, despite over a dozen states having legalized the drug, and black people are even more disproportionately likely 3.7 times to be arrested for that drug.

But making a surface show of addressing stereotypes does not translate to actually dismantling racial and economic inequities in policing. Especially given the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests threatening their jobs, police who announce the end of published mugshots as a civil rights victory are more likely to be covering their arses than addressing systemic racism.

Like the mega-corporations who publicly grovel at BLMs feet (sometimes literally) in order to avoid being held to account for selling products or condoning labor practices that disproportionately harm poor and minority communities, police departments that stop publishing mugshots are seeking an easy way out of their PR problem.

Actually retraining officers to not immediately see a young black man standing on a corner in a poor neighborhood (that he happens to live in) as a drug dealer takes time and money, while merely not publishing that mans mugshot in the Sunday paper creates the same impression, as long as the police department takes care to notify the community about why it is no longer releasing arrest photos.

Unfortunately, that move does nothing to stop biased police practices, which can be shockingly difficult to dislodge. It took the intervention of a federal judge to convince New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg to curtail the NYPDs stop and frisk tactic, which at its height saw police harassing largely non-white (87 percent) New Yorkers, most of whom (88 percent) were innocent of any crime.

Given that its stated purpose was not to nab low-level drug offenders, but to get illegal guns off the street something achieved in just 0.1 percent of stops it was a profoundly ineffective policy.

Retraining police isnt easy, but it must be done if the US is to truly become a more racially equitable society. While corporate Democrat fronts like BLM are apparently content with cosmetic reforms and paying lip-service to social justice, black communities are devastated by the justice system, which often serves up anything but for those without the funds to buy it.

As for the newspapers, merely failing to report news that doesnt fit the narrative falls so short of real social justice as to be laughable. Is it any wonder journalism is a dying industry?

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

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Not publicizing black & brown mugshots is not fixing the racial problem with the justice system it's hiding it - RT

After the 2020 campaign is finished, the next president will have to face huge, real problems in order to get the American ship of state back on course. It won't be easy. Hopefully, the winning candidate will have the wisdom, skill, ideas and advisers to do what needs to be done.

Honest people have to admit that our country is in a mess. Usually, the first year of a new administration is crucial; this time, it probably will take the first two years to get the most important things done. If we are going to get America moving again, these in my view are some of the real issues the next president and Congress must resolve.

First and foremost we have to get rid of the coronavirus which is plaguing our country and the world. America needs more testing and individuals need to take proper precautions to help prevent the spread of the disease. Next, we need a vaccine that is safe, effective and taken by everyone. Then, we need leaders who tell us the truth based on science and the facts. After that, we need affordable, comprehensive health insurance for all people, which is what every other developed nation has.

Second, we have to get our nation's children back to school. Returning kids to their schools requires a lot of new safety measures which cost money. We won't have the funds to do that if we keep cutting taxes on the rich and big corporations. We won't have the money for schools if we spend more on the military. President Trump pressured the European nations into spending more on their defense; but, Trump's budgets still increases U.S. military spending. Public education is one of the keys to our nation's strength. Every child in America, no matter their race, ethnicity, religion or where they live, deserves a quality education. A college education should also be available and affordable to all who want it. If we believe in equality of opportunity, education is the most important factor.

Third, we need to deal with economic and social inequality. America is becoming a have and have-not nation, with incomes and wealth moving upward to the top 10% of our population. If most of the economic power is concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy families and big corporations they will also have most of the political power. America is becoming an oligarchy or a plutocracy a government of, by and for the wealthy few not a democracy. Economic inequality can be alleviated by government action on taxes, the minimum wage and benefits, Social Security, etc., and also action on tax and antitrust laws to control the giant corporations. This is necessary to promote competition and prevent monopoly power.

Fourth, we need a better criminal justice system, one that works for everybody and enables the police to truly protect and serve. We can't have one system of justice for the rich and powerful and another system of justice for everybody else. Today, America has about 2.3 million people in jails and prisons; we have 5% of the world's population and 20% of the world's prisoners. How many of these people are in jail for victimless crimes? We should create alternatives to prison for nonviolent offenders. Since most people who are sent to prison eventually are released, how many of them are being rehabilitated and able to find useful work? Private, for-profit prisons are not the answer. The more people sent to prison, the more money these companies make.

Fifth, we need to rebuild our nation's crumbling infrastructure our roads, bridges, dams, tunnels, reservoirs, sewer and waste treatment facilities, public transportation and so forth. President Trump promised to do it, but he failed to deliver on his promise. Rebuilding our infrastructure will provide thousands of new, good-paying jobs for American workers.

Sixth, Congress must enact political reforms to get unlimited, secret, special-interest money out of politics. Two terrible Supreme Court decisions holding that money is speech and a corporation is a person must be overturned. These reforms are necessary to keep America democratic and free.

Other important things need to be done to restore America as that shining city on a hill for other countries to emulate. We need to cooperate with other nations in combating global warming/climate change, which is having disastrous effects worldwide: droughts, flooding in coastal areas and on islands, as well as the rapid melting of the polar ice caps.

Last, but not least, we need to keep our country out of unnecessary foreign wars. President Obama did and, so far, President Trump has, too. Will the next president be the leader we need? Will we insist on action to deal with these problems?

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Column: The real issues of the 2020 election | Opinions and Editorials | aikenstandard.com - Aiken Standard

PHOENIX, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Cannabis brand Sunday Goodshas announced their new donation campaign over the weekend. Each Sunday, the brand will donate 5% of Sunday proceeds from their newly opened Phoenix, Arizona dispensary to a cannabis focused non-profit, rotating quarterly. In Q3 2020 they have partnered with the Last Prisoner Project, a non-profit organization that focuses on criminal justice reform initiatives related to cannabis crimes.

Michael Wang, Sunday Goods CEO, says that the brand is "excited to be taking their first steps towards justice and equality, and are committed to making a change within the cannabis community" referencing the racial injustice that is still prevalent within the cannabis industry.

ABOUT SUNDAY GOODSSunday Goods believes that everyone should have the opportunity to experience cannabis in the way that is right for them. We're here to make people feel good, with a cannabis experience that's just right for each person, each time. Enjoy all-natural, top-quality cannabis that produces specific effects through high-integrity growing. Visit http://www.sundaygoods.comto learn more or Leaflyto shop.

ABOUT LAST PRISONER PROJECTThe Last Prisoner Project (LPP) is a coalition of cannabis industry leaders, executives and artists dedicated to bringing restorative justice to the cannabis industry. LPP is dedicated to releasing cannabis prisoners and helping them rebuild their lives. As the United States moves away from the criminalization of cannabis, giving rise to a major new industry, there remains the fundamental injustice inflicted upon those who have suffered criminal convictions and the consequences of those convictions. Through intervention, advocacy and awareness campaigns, the forces behind the Last Prisoner Project will work to redress the past and continuing harms of these unjust laws and policies and are dedicated to making sure that every last victimless cannabis prisoner walks free. Visitwww.LastPrisonerProject.org or text FREEDOM to 24365 to donate and learn more.

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Sunday Goods Announces Ongoing Donation Campaign and Official Partnership with Last Prisoner Project - PRNewswire