Massachusetts Witnesses Overwhelming Application Of Medical Marijuana Licenses

The state’s emerging medical marijuana industry has been well received. This is owing to the applications being received from various Companies who have expressed interest in opening medical marijuana dispensaries.

The opportunity to apply for the licenses was also celebrated by a majority of marijuana executives who said that they had lost thousands of dollars during former Governor Deval Patrick’s administration. Patrick’s administration is said to have been blemished with political favoritism, conflicts of interest alongside questionable financial structures. All this climaxed with dozens of filed lawsuits with the worst being that patients had no dispensaries to go to.

However, the system of awarding licenses has now been revamped through Governor Charlie Baker’s administration with regulators promising to strip away elements of subjectivity and secrecy witnessed during Patrick’s tenure.

Various applicants the likes of Brian Lees, a former Republican state senator, have given positive testimonies of the process citing that it was real and more transparent than it has been before. Brian is one of the many applicants who had applied but was denied the under former Governor Deval Patrick administration.

A spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Scott Zoback, said that over 50applicants have already been submitted. However, names of the applicants have not been released as yet but information will be made available to the Department of Public Health’s website gradually.

With different groups having applied for the licenses, you can expect to have intense competition. Nevertheless, competition is good and a foundation for any business. As such it will be useful for the Marijuana market as well as the patients since it will give them options.

The Public Health’s department has posted guidelines that will be used to judge each application. Unlike in the old system where used the scoring method with applications being pitted against each other, the current one will be on merit basis.

So far a majority of applicants seems confident with Baker administration’s plan to regulate and line the license application and processing process.

Via: MMJ Observer

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GOP gov.: "Time to move on" from same-sex marriage

Possible Republican presidential candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich believes it's "time to move on" from the same-sex marriage issue in the wake of the Supreme Court's landmark ruling.

"I do believe in traditional marriage and the court has ruled and it's time to move on," Kasich said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, adding that there's "so many other things now that we have to focus on."

Kasich, who has not yet officially announced a bid for the White House in 2016, believes the country needs to wait and see "how this evolves."

"I think everybody needs to take a deep breath to see how this evolves," the Ohio governor, who was the named defendant in the original lawsuit brought by Jim Obergefell over same-sex marriage, said. "But I know this. Religious institutions, religious entities - you know, like the Catholic church - they need to be honored as well. I think there's an ability to strike a balance."

But while the Republican governor has conceded that "it's the law of the land and we'll abide by it," some in the conservative wing have expressed their willingness to take on the same-sex marriage fight over the long term.

Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention told CBS' "Face the Nation" that people of faith "are not going to simply surrender" their traditional marriage views because of the Supreme Court ruling.

"We didn't make up our views on marriage and sexuality, and we can't unmake them," Moore said Sunday. "We understand that in the short term, things are very stacked against us here, but we ought to have the pluralistic American environment where we can agree to disagree."

Instead, Moore added, "we're going to have to take a page from the pro-life movement and see this as a long-term strategy."

"I don't think that an infinitely elastic view of marriage is sustainable," the evangelical leader said. "I think we have to be the people who keep the light lit to the old ways when it comes to marriage and family and that's going to be a generation-long skirmish."

Via: CBS News

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Defiant Scott Walker rolls back handgun wait in Wisconsin in first gun-control legislation since church massacre

Gov. Scott Walker is defending the timing of a ceremony to sign two bills loosening Wisconsin's gun laws, saying they were scheduled before nine people were shot and killed last week in a South Carolina church.

Walker also said pulling back on Wednesday's ceremony at the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office 'would have given people the erroneous opinion' the measures 'had anything to do with what happened in Charleston.'

He said the event had been scheduled June 11. The shooting happened a week ago.

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Gun rights: One bill Walker signed eliminates the state's 48-hour waiting period on handgun purchases. The other allows retired officers carry guns on school property

Timing: Walker's office announced the bill signing Tuesday, but did not immediately respond to an email asking when it had been scheduled. After June 30, the measures would have become law without his signature

One bill Walker signed eliminates the state's 48-hour waiting period on handgun purchases. The other allows retired officers carry guns on school property.

Walker was joined by Republican lawmakers and families that supported the measures, which had bipartisan support in passing the Legislature earlier this month.

The timing of the bill signing comes amid a renewed debate over gun control and race relations after nine black people were shot and killed during Bible study at a Charleston, South Carolina, church. A white man faces multiple murder charges. 

Walker's office announced the bill signing Tuesday, but did not immediately respond to an email asking when it had been scheduled. After June 30, the measures would have become law without his signature.

Via: Daily Mail

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Elise Stefanik: The Millennial Whisperer Rep chairs first GOP taskforce hearing on millennials

She’s been mistaken for an intern, teased by Paul Ryan for not knowing what “Magnavox” is, and she was a fan of ’90s pop: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), 30, is the voice of Republican millennials.

Stefanik on Tuesday began her duty as chairwoman for the first hearing of the Republican Policy Committee’s Taskforce on Millennials.

“This first chair meeting is all about getting to know the Millennial generation, their political demographic, and cultural attributes,” Republican policy chairman Rep. Luke Messer (R., Ind.) said to the taskforce. “We want to know what makes them tick. They want their voices heard, and their ideas to be taken seriously.”

Stefanik is the only female millennial and the youngest woman to serve in Congress. In an effort to educate the public on this demographic, she brought together a panel of pollsters, researchers, and authors to identify the issues that matter the most to millennials.

Data submitted to the committee by the Pew Research Center polled samples from all generations to see what political issues are top priorities. While baby boomers focused on terrorism, the economy, and social security, millennials focused on education, the economy, and jobs.

“Millennials have surpassed Gen Xers as the largest labor force in America,” Stefanik said in an interview with the Washington Free Beacon. “They are concerned about the economy, massive student loan debt, and finding a high-quality job in their skill set. Hierarchal business practices don’t appeal to millennials anymore, and many resonate with bottom down growth and entrepreneurship.”

In addition to concerns about employment and debt, millennials also show a general distrust of government. A poll submitted to the taskforce by the Harvard University Institute of Politics showed that only 17 percent of millennials trust Congress to do the right thing. They are skeptical of government and desire transparency.

“Millennials, unfortunately, are losing interest in public service to bring change to government,” Stefanik said during the hearing. “A recent Time magazine poll found that 89 percent of millennials are not interested in running for office in the future. As members of Congress begin to retire from previous generations, it is imperative that a new generation of leaders step up to the plate.”

Stefanik wants to be a role model for this generation. The 30-year-old Albany native confessed to theFree Beacon that she is a true ’90s kid: in her youth, she enjoyed shows such as Saved by the Belland Full House, and listened to the Swedish pop group Ace Of Base. She also is active on social media and thinks it is key in gaining millennials’ trust.+

Via: WFB

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Trump Surges in Popularity in N.H., Taking Second Place in Suffolk Poll

He’s dismissed by the political professionals, but there is no denying that the appetite for Donald Trump among Republican primary voters is real.

The New York developer and reality television star is second among 2016 presidential candidates in a new Suffolk University poll of New Hampshire Republicans – behind only former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

The poll of 500 likely GOP presidential primary voters found 14% back Mr. Bush. Mr. Trump is right behind at 11%. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio come next, with 8% and 7%, respectively. The poll tested 19 GOP candidates – a rare survey that included ultra-longshots like Mark Everson and former Govs. Bob Ehrlich and Jim Gilmore.

While Mr. Trump is experiencing a bump in popularity after announcing the launch of his campaign last week (he filed formal Federal Elections Commission paperwork Monday), he remains the most disliked GOP candidate in the field. Suffolk found he is the only GOP candidate with a net unfavorable rating in New Hampshire — 37% of those surveyed had a favorable opinion of Mr. Trump, compared to 49% who had an unfavorable view.

The candidate with the largest gap between favorable and unfavorable ratings is Mr. Rubio, at 61% favorable to 14% unfavorable. Mr. Rubio was also chosen as the second choice by 13% of poll respondents. Mr. Bush was the second-choice pick of 14% of those surveyed.

The poll of 500 likely New Hampshire Republican presidential primary voters was conducted from June 18, the day after Mr. Trump announced his campaign, through June 22. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

Via: Wall Street Journal

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Campaign Finance Champ Feingold’s PAC Has Given 5 Percent of Its Income To Candidates, Political Parties

Longtime campaign finance reform proponent and former Sen. Russ Feingold (D., Wis.) founded a political action committee that has given just 5 percent of its income to federal candidates and political parties, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Feingold, who is challenging Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) in 2016 to win back his old seat, founded Progressives United PAC in 2011. It has spent more than $7.1 million, but nearly half of the proceeds have gone to “raising more money for itself.” Feingold, a top aide and eight former staffers have also received a sizable amount:

A top GOP official said it was incredible that Feingold’s fund spent so little helping candidates and so much aiding his personal associates. Feingold is taking on Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican, in 2016 to try to win back his old U.S. Senate seat.

“Time and again, Feingold arrogantly says one thing and does another,” said Joe Fadness, executive director of the state Republican Party, suggesting the Wisconsin Democrat’s reform rhetoric doesn’t match his political actions.

Via: WFB

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After criticism, Obama nominates inspector general for Interior Dept.

 

Criticized by Republicans for delaying nominations of government watchdogs, President Obama has announced plans to nominate a permanent inspector general at the Interior Department — albeit a candidate who’s already run afoul of the GOP.

Mr. Obama said he will nominate Mary Kendall, currently the deputy inspector general at Interior, as the permanent inspector general.

Her nomination comes two days after Republican senators blasted the White House in a hearing for being slow to install permanent IGs in a variety of federal agencies. And House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, and other House GOP leaders wrote to Mr. Obama this week, seeking a nomination for a permanent IG at Interior.

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SEE ALSO: White House slammed for slew of Inspector Generals vacancies

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But Republicans already have expressed disappointment with Ms. Kendall’s job as acting IG, saying her her tenure has been marred by “significant congressional oversight and controversy.”

Seven federal agencies lack a permanent inspector general. The Project on Government Oversight said the administration’s average time for filling IG vacancies is 613 days, twice that of previous administrations.

Under President Clinton, the gap was 453 days, and it fell to 280 days under President George W. Bush. By law, the posts should be vacant for no more than 210 days.

Via: Washington Post

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[VIDEO] Ronald Reagan: We Have A Rendezvous With Destiny

Today, eleven years ago, Ronald Reagan died. His words are perhaps truer today than they were then.

Pray that everyone may hear them.

From beginning to 1:39:

Via: Weasel Zippers

Former House speaker Dennis Hastert indicted by federal grand jury

YORKVILLE, Ill. —

J. Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker in the history of the U.S. House, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges that he violated banking laws in a bid to pay $3.5 million to an unnamed person to cover up “past misconduct.”

Hastert, who has been a high-paid lobbyist in Washington since his 2007 retirement from Congress, schemed to mask more than $950,000 in withdrawals from various ac­counts in violation of federal banking laws that require the disclosure of large cash transactions, according to a seven-page indictment delivered by a grand jury in Chicago.

The indictment did not spell out the exact nature of the “prior misconduct” by Hastert, but it noted that before entering state and federal politics in 1981, Has­tert served for more than a decade as a teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in Illinois.

In 2010, confronted about the “prior misconduct,” the former speaker agreed to pay $3.5 million to the person “to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against Individual A,” prosecutors alleged.

That person, whose identity was shielded by prosecutors, has known Hastert most of his or her life, growing up in Yorkville, the city next to Hastert’s home town of Plano, in the exurbs west of Chicago. Prosecutors said the actions “occurred years earlier” than the 2010 meeting that sparked the payments.

Via: Washington Post

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Examining Trans Pacific Partnership

The TPP agreement is not designed to grow trade because instead it is constructed in a manner designed to carry on, and double-down, on the destructive policies already in place because of the Obama administration

On Constitution Radio with Douglas V. Gibbs on May 23, 2015, over KMET 1490AM, the topic of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement moseyed its way into the arena of discussion.  During the conversation a rare instance in the many year history of the radio program, and on the Political Pistachio blogsite for that matter, emerged where JASmius (my longtime co-host, staff writer, and dear friend) and I disagreed.

While I indicated I felt that the deal is potentially a dangerous one, and I am against Republican support of the Obama supported trade agreement, JASmius stated he supported the spread of capitalism, and that is what the TPP agreement accomplishes.  I responded that I support free trade, but not when it puts the United States, and more specifically “American sovereignty,” at a disadvantage.  I added thatthe secretive nature of this agreement threw up red flags for me as well.

In an examination of what little information is available regarding this “behind-closed-doors” consensus of international political elites, the potentiality of the TPP free trade treaty being a disadvantage for American interests is alarming.  The agreement will facilitate the creation of global economic integration that will empower globalistic schemes, and place American interests at risk.  At first blush, the agreement caters to those that wish to annihilate national sovereignty, hindering America’s position on the global economic stage while redistributing the wealth of nations to other countries that may not be so far up on the world-stage ladder, while positioning global economics into a position to better enable internationalists to ultimately push aside domestic individuality while moving the planet closer to a one world model that can be more easily controlled by a worldwide centralized governing authority.

While on the surface, the Trans Pacific Partnership claims to be about free trade, it has little to do with trade, and is more about moving chess pieces around for those that have global aspirations.  The United States, in this agreement, joins 12 countries that includes Canada and Mexico, two countries we already have three-quarters of our foreign trade with - and of which is already covered by NAFTA (which has also been proving to be disastrous due to the agreement having similar globalistic provisions that places the United States at a disadvantage).  Growth exports are already covered by NAFTA, so while the TPP agreement is being heralded as a trade agreement, it actually has no significant relevance to our trade relations, or at least not in a manner that improves our position in relation from NAFTA.

Via: Canada Free Press

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Will Hillary Clinton Run Against Her Husband’s Welfare Legacy?

This story has been updated.

Almost 20 years ago, when Bill Clinton made good on his campaign promise to “end welfare as we know it,’’ some of his oldest friends were beside themselves. The plan, as originally conceived, had been to pump significantly more money into programs designed to move poor single mothers off of assistance and into jobs, which couldn’t be done on the cheap. Yes, Clinton had proposed a strict time limit on benefits, but he had also pledged to “make work pay.” As it turned out, only one of those two things happened.

On August 22, 1996, Clinton proudly signed a Republican bill that pushed recipients out of the program after five years and ended an entitlement in place since the New Deal. “In a sweeping reversal of Federal policy, the New York Times story on the event began, “President Clinton today ended six decades of guaranteed help to the nation's poorest children.”

The bill wasn’t the solo handiwork of then House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who had proposed sending poor children to orphanages. Rather, a Democratic president with political capital to spare was freely approving what many in his party saw as a baldly punitive bill. And Hillary Clinton, who in this early phase of her campaign has made "the-deck-is-stacked" inequality a central focus, was fully in support.

Photographer: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images

President Clinton meets with House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Senate Majority Whip Trent Lott, and Representative Richard Gephardt in the White House in 1996.

Clinton's signing of the bill was a source of near-physical pain to someone like Peter Edelman, then Clinton’s assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, who as a speechwriter for Robert Kennedy had penned one of the earliest liberal critiques of welfare’s shortcomings, in 1967. RFK’s proposed antidote, however, had been a massive jobs program. Edelman had known Hillary Clinton since 1969, when he’d put her in touch with his wife, Marian Wright Edelman, who became her mentor and employer at the anti-poverty organization she'd just founded, the Children’s Defense Fund.

Via: Bloomberg.com

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Noteworthy Millennial Political Highlights from this Past Week

This week a 19 year old Republican, Yvonne Dean-Bailey, won a highly contested race in the swing state of New Hampshire. 

Dean-Bailey, a 19-year-old college student, becomes one of the youngest women elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

The race attracted a disproportionate share of attention on the eve of a presidential primary season.

Republican presidential hopefuls Carly Fiorina and Rick Perry attended events with Dean-Bailey, while Democrat Martin O’Malley helped promote Mann, who is a former state representative.

The election drew enormous interest, and support for and against each candidate, from outside of the district. In Deerfield, for example, turnout was about 26 percent. In Candia, it was 16 percent.

She won despite dirty tactics from Democrats.

The state’s Republican Party plans to file an election law complaint today with the Attorney General’s Office after a former campaign worker for Democrat state representative candidate Maureen Mann admitted to emailing a hoax news release claiming her Republican challenger, candidate Yvonne Dean-Bailey, had dropped out of the race. 

While Republicans are promoting young stars through our Rising Stars program and through local elections, the Clintons are making our schools pay exorbitant prices to hear them speak. 

The Clinton Foundation has disclosed that it received up to $26 million in payments that had not been previously disclosed, with about 20 colleges and universities on the list of organizations and institutions that paid fees for speeches by one of the Clintons —Bill, the former president; Hillary, the former U.S. senator and secretary of state; or Chelsea, their daughter.

The total amount paid by the colleges and universities is between $2.8 million and $6.7 million — a range based on the way the fees are reported. For example, the top fees were reported in a range from $250,001 to $500,000.

Here, taken from the Clinton Foundation’s website, is a list of the college and universities that paid to have one of the Clintons give a speech from the time the foundation was founded in 2001 through 2014.

As Millennials are learning more about Hillary Clinton they are liking her less as Pew found out this week. Last year 82 percent of 18-25 year old Democrats had a favorable view of her now only 65 percent do.

Not only are young Republicans succeeding, we are also taking positions of leadership.  Just this week 30 year old RNC Chief of Staff, Katie Walsh, was named one of The Washington Post’s “40 Most Interesting Women In Politics”

Via: GOP.Com

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REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS: SCOTT WALKER DAZZLES ON CAPITOL HILL

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker—the clear Republican presidential frontrunner according to almost all GOP primary polls, even though he hasn’t announced a 2016 campaign officially yet—dazzled Republicans across Capitol Hill in meetings all day Tuesday.

“I’ve always been impressed with Governor Walker as I am with a number of people in our field. I think we’ve got a good field,” 

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)

92%

 told Breitbart News’s Alex Swoyer in an interview on Tuesday afternoon. Jordan met Walker to say hello on Tuesday but didn’t have time to stay for the full meeting Walker held with nearly a hundred Republicans. “Look, whoever emerges as the finalist—I think is going to show up, and will contrast with Secretary Clinton. But Governor Walker is impressive, and he has an impressive record in Wisconsin.”

Walker’s staff told Breitbart News in a readout from Walker’s day that he met with about 80 or more mostly House GOP members in the morning, then has meetings in D.C. planned for throughout the day with conservative movement heads and some GOP senators. “He gave a few opening remarks and then took Q&A,” Kirsten Kukowski, Walker’s communications director, said of the morning meeting with House members in an email. “Questions about what he’s done in WI and needing someone who can govern that way in DC, what happened with collective bargaining, foreign policy, energy, immigration, religious liberty.”

Via: Breitbart

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What Today’s American Politics Tells Us

There is something very disquieting occurring in American politics today. Most dramatically, the Democratic Party is offering a candidate who is a moral cesspool filled with lies and a history of behavior that would render anyone unthinkable for the highest office in the land. Something is very wrong when Hillary Clinton is, at this point, the only candidate for President the Democrats will be able to vote for and, worse, an estimated 47% of them will vote for her.

What we are witnessing is a Democratic Party that has been debauched by decades of socialism, an economic and political system that has failed everywhere it was implemented.

By contrast, what is being largely overlooked is the wealth of political talent—Rubio, Walker, Paul, et al—-that the Republican Party has to offer as an alternative. Instead of obsessing over the different aspects of its candidates, we should be celebrating the fact that voters will be able to choose someone of real merit for whom to vote.

While the brain-dead media talks about the Republican candidates, seizing on every small element of the policies they are individually offering for consideration, the contrast with Hillary Clinton widens into a gap as large as the Grand Canyon. Her campaign thus far has been an exhibition of media manipulation. She talks of “income inequality” as if it has not existed from the dawn of time and is based on the socialist utopia of everyone being equally poverty-stricken. Who wants to live in a nation where you cannot become wealthy if you’re willing to take the risks and work hard to achieve it?

Via: Canada Free Press

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Scott Walker NYC Lunch Invite Elicits Profane Response

“F**k you and your entire extended family.  And the c**t you came out of. Got it?” That was the message sent to New York state Republican Committee Director of Communications David Laska after a member of a club hosting an event for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker received an invite to meet the governor.

The email was sent from Jeffrey Putterman, a member of the Union League Club, where the lunch will be held on Monday. Putterman is a New York City real estate agent.

Walker is expected to join the field of Republican candidates running for president and just visited New Hampshire over the weekend.

Putterman hurled a slew of vulgar insults at Laska.

“That was a personal message, so cut the shit. And stuff your head up Walker’s ass,” Putterman said. “If you want to f**k with me, mano a mano, just let me know. You flaming jerkoff.”

“I’d be glad to meet and greet you, you little arrogant piece of shit,” he continued. He also called Laska an “asshole.”

After the initial response from Putterman, Laska told Putterman he would forward the email to Putterman’s employer and various media outlets, as Putterman had not said anything was off the record.

“We all have to deal with hate mail, and having thick skin comes with the territory, but every now and then people cross the line,” Laska told The Daily Caller. Putterman has taken shots online at other politicians in the past. He wrote a post on his Facebook page about Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz in 2013 during the Trayvon Martin controversy. Cruz made remarks about the debate that Putterman attacked him for.

Via: Daily Caller

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Warren to Raise Money for Merkley in Oregon

Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren is bringing her name and fundraising prowess to Oregon next week to help her fellow Democrat, Jeff Merkley. Politico Playbook reports:

Elizabeth Warren heading to Oregon to help Sen. Jeff Merkley fend off an unexpectedly tough challenge: The senator is flying to Portland next Wednesday for a "grassroots fundraiser." Republicans nominated pediatric neurosurgeon Monica Wehby in Tuesday's primary, who they think can put the state on the map. Democrats have sent Andrew Zucker to be Merkley's deputy campaign manager, reassigning him from Louisiana - where he's been assisting Sen. Mary Landrieu's reelect. He ran communications for Ed Markey in the Massachusetts special election last June to fill the seat opened by John Kerry's elevation to State.

Merkley appears weaker than expected for reelection. One recent NPR poll found a third of registered voters in Oregon had no opinion or did not know of him, while other polls showed him below 50 percent support. The new Republican nominee, Monica Wehby, is considered even by GOP strategists to be a dark horse to win. Oregon remains a strongly Democratic state, but two factors give Republicans some hope in pulling off a surprise win.

The first is that Merkley might be considered an "accidental" senator. In 2008, incumbent Republican Gordon Smith had a moderately conservative record with some libertarian tendencies, but his party affiliation cost him in a year dominated by George W. Bush fatigue and high Democratic turnout to support Barack Obama for president. Still, Merkley, then the speaker of the state house, only beat Smith by three percentage points. Merkley was also didn't win a majority, winning just under 49 percent of the vote. Oregon may look and feel like a Democratic lock, but in 2008, that Senate race was one of the most watched and competitive of the cycle.

The second is that the politics of Obamacare in Oregon do not favor anyone who supports it. The implementation of the law has been a disaster, with the state-run health insurance exchange having so many problems that the program's been shut down and rolled into the federal exchange. (The FBI has been investigating the exchange, called Cover Oregon, for malfeasance, and just yesterday the state's U.S. attorney subpoenaed records from Cover Oregon.) Merkley voted for Obamacare in 2010 and continues to support the law, saying as recently as this month that it has "a lot that's going right in Oregon." As a medical doctor and former board member at the American Medical Association, Wehby has an added benefit of authority on the subject of health care, which may dominate the campaign.

Via: Weekly Standard

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