The Weekend Off – News You Missed
Alaska
ADN – Tundra Green — an illustrated history of cannabis in Alaska
On Feb. 24, the initiative to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana passed by Alaska voters takes effect, adding another wrinkle to the unique history Alaska has with the plant. Here is an illustrated history of marijuana in Alaska.
The Alaska Department of Public Safety took 11 years and spent at least $27.9 million trying to replace the state’s aging criminal information database before the project was abandoned, derailed by problems with funding and internal management, according to documents about the project.
Juneau Empire – Report: Expanding Medicaid would save state millions
Expanding Medicaid coverage would save Alaska money, a new state health department report said.
National
The U.S. government has quietly created a second-class federal prison system specifically for immigrants. For years the Department of Homeland Security has been known as the agency that houses immigrants awaiting deportation. However, tens of thousands of additional immigrants, most serving sentences for immigration crimes, are held by the Bureau of Prisons each night before being sent back.
Desmogblog – Facing Felony Charges, Rick Perry Joins Board of Energy Transfer Partners, Owner of Proposed Oil Pipeline Across Iowa
Former Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry has joined the board of directors at Energy Transfer Partners, a natural gas and propane company headquartered in Dallas, Texas that has proposed to build a controversial Bakken crude oil pipeline across Iowa.
NY Times – Ferguson One of 2 Missouri Suburbs Sued Over Gantlet of Traffic Fines and Jail
Herbert Nelson Jr. says he was 18 the first time the police pulled him over. The ticket, for speeding, felt small in the moment. But more traffic tickets piled up, as did warrants for failing to appear in court or pay his fines. So Mr. Nelson, now 26, has found himself repeatedly jailed in this St. Louis suburb and in the maze of municipalities nearby — part of a pattern that black residents here complain has grown all too common
International
Al Jazeera – Egypt sets retrial date for jailed Al Jazeera staff
Egyptian authorities have set a date for the retrial of jailed Al Jazeera journalists Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy. The two journalists will appear in court on February 12 after spending 407 days in prison. An Al Jazeera spokesman said the retrial “should be a day of justice prevailing.”
BBC – HSBC bank ‘helped clients dodge millions in tax’
Britain’s biggest bank helped wealthy clients cheat the UK out of millions of pounds in tax, the BBC has learned. Panorama has seen thousands of accounts from HSBC’s private bank in Switzerland leaked by a whistleblower in 2007.
Vice News – One Million British Would-Be Voters Have Been Quietly Kicked off the Electoral Register
Today, a Facebook ad or promoted Tweet is supposed to have popped up on every UK adult’s feed, courtesy of the Electoral Commission. This has been timed to coincide with “National Voter Registration Day”—the culmination of a week-long campaign to get people to register or re-register to vote. Bite the Ballot, an organization trying to rock the youth vote, has called this a “national day of celebration,” like a Royal Wedding or something.
http://www.ktvb.com/story/news/crime/2015/02/13/haragan-malicious-harassment-jewish-christian/23365051/
If you can’t convert them to christianity with sweet talk,stomp ’em.
Orange is the New Treason-
Tis a season of madness in far off DC
Conspiring against ‘murrica is Boner and Bibi.
One takes our money and gets nothing done
The other gets billions and our foreign policy to run.
But,alone in the White House on that shining hill
Resides straight shooting Obama and his poisonous pill(executive orders)
Undermining Obama’s authority( for political gain) is the reason
Boner and Bibi must be stopped,Orange is the new treason.
mfi says to m-I can’t comment in moderation. This stuff comes out in bunches. Sorry.
So now the previous comment in moderation disappeared?
Jon Stewart is quitting the “Daily Show.”
Photo proves god has a sense of humor,but still doesn’t explain wingnuts.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/10/tech/space-smiley-face/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/republican-lawmaker-childbirth-resulting-from-rape-is-beautiful/
I’d never heard of Poker Flats, AK, until this video and photo article turned up on Earthsky:
http://earthsky.org/space/when-sounding-rockets-launch-into-auroras?utm
You’re welcome.
Fabulous footage,Zyx. Always have time for Northern Lights(not the tv show). 🙂
http://wonkette.com/575109/vermont-proposes-official-latin-motto-wingnuts-tell-vermont-to-go-back-to-mexico
Alaska lost millions by not signing up for Medicaid expansion 2 years ago. Same with South Dakota and othe r wingnut strongholds;they take federal money for military bases but don’t trust the fed to pay for Medicaid. If the fed doesn’t deliver on Medicaid,the state can opt out. See how easy that was.The first three years of expansion the fed picked up 100 % of the cost and afterwards the state pays only 10%.
The free market is so much better. When investor owned health insurers are allowed to compete, prices come down and people with horrible health problems do so much better because companies compete for the privilege of taking care of them. After all, isn’t the gold standard in the insurance market of any kind,
when you file, your claim is paid 100%, with a guarantee that you won’t be dropped or your premiums increase? Makes you wonder why those socialists over there (wherever those places are) don’t drop
those medieval health programs they inflict on their people and adopt the free market model. It’s positively barbaric to think than an insurance professional isn’t part of one’s health evaluation and planning.
And just a single insurance agent dishes out all that money instead of all taxpayers with the socialist plan.They do it so much cheaper than gubmint,too.:)
more children left behind in education-http://wonkette.com/575109/vermont-proposes-official-latin-motto-wingnuts-tell-vermont-to-go-back-to-mexico