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Gavin Newsom Gobbling Up California’s Cannabis Contributions

Terry Hacienda
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Gavin Newsom Gobbling Up California’s Cannabis Contributions

Gavin Newsom —the current California lieutenant general, the former mayor of San Francisco and the favorite to become the next governor of the Golden State — has scooped up roughly 98 percent of the cannabis contributions so far. And the charismatic politician, who regularly appears on national television, will likely continue to dominate the race for donor dollars.

According to an analysis published last month in Los Angeles Times, marijuana growers, retailers and others industry insiders have donated more than $300,000 to Newsom’s campaign, far outdistancing contributions to his likely chief competitors, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ($5,000) and Treasurer John Chiang ($100).

The Times reported:

Though pot businesses’ contributions are only a fraction of Newsom’s $14-million war chest, the cannabis industry’s open pursuit of political influence shows how a once-underground business is becoming a part of the establishment. So far, donors with a tie to the plant have given more to candidates for governor than all other farmers in the state’s agriculture industry combined.

“All of us feel confident that Gavin will push us through,” Valentia Piccinini, a cannabis industry investor who has donated $20,000 to Newsom’s campaign, told the Times. “I think he really passionately believes in what we’re doing.”

Of course, marijuana is already a multi-billion dollar a year business in California — and recreational sales will not begin until 2018.

Newsom has been an ardent supporter of marijuana law reform for years. Much like his early supporter of same-sex marriage, Newsom broke away from the “safe” political position and became the political face of the movement within the state. He was one of the most vocal California politicians supporting Prop. 64, the 2016 initiative legalizing cannabis in California.

Newsom says he is not a cannabis consumer, but he has actively sought donations from those marijuana users and industry lobbyists.

Have A ‘What About Barb?’ Shot At This ‘Stranger Things’ Bar In Chicago

Amy Hansen
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Have A ‘What About Barb?’ Shot At This ‘Stranger Things’ Bar In Chicago

If you are a die hard “Stranger Things” fan, you don’t have to wait until October 27, when Season 2 arrives on Netflix. There is now an underground cocktail bar that’s a total homage to the hit series.

It’s called The Upside Down and it’s a pop-up that’s taking Chicago by storm through the end of September. According to the pop-up’s website:

…the pop-up bar will be the end of Summer 80’s dance party of your dreams, filled with curious Things inspired by & paying homage to the instant-classic television show about the haunting happenings in Hawkins, Indiana & the brave kids of the Hawkins Middle School A.V. Club who saved their friend & their town from the devious deeds of the Hawkins National Laboratory & the subsequent devastation of the Demogorgon!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYBgUdTBQy5

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYCD-MYH_Vp

https://www.instagram.com/p/BX9sNZXhHLn

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYCObclBY5h

There’s also a Jägermeister machine that spits out “What About Barb?” shots, and cocktails with names like Mouthbreather, Eleven’s Eggos (seen above),  She’s Our Friend & She’s Crazy, and Demogorgun [sic].

California Police Dog Forced To Retire Because Of New Marijuana Laws

Terry Hacienda
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California Police Dog Forced To Retire Because Of New Marijuana Laws

New marijuana laws have created an estimated 200,000 jobs in America as legalization spreads across the nation. Sadly, one employee sector is taking a significant hit: drug-sniffing police dogs.

Meet the latest victim of this downsizing: Hank from the Lompoc, Calif., Police Department. The healthy, capable  canine has seven years of service with the department and still has many years left in him. But California voters last November decided to legalize marijuana, leaving Hank without much to do.

“With Prop 64 we’ve seen some changes in California law as it applies to marijuana.. one of the odors he’s trained to alert on is marijuana,” Lompoc Police Sgt. Kevin Martin told KEYT. “With Hank’s training being in marijuana, we felt we couldn’t use him the same way we could prior to the change in the law,” Martin said.

According to Martin, law enforcement agencies across the state may be forced to retire more and more K-9 officers because of Prop 64. “They’re all facing this issue .. and they’re going to have to make a determination on how they’re going to deal with it,” Martin said.

But don’t feel to sorry for Hank. On Thursday afternoon, the Lompoc Police Department celebrated the retirement of the popular pup with a pot (no pun intended) luck supper.

And it’s just not California police departments being forced to layoff service dogs. Just last month, a Colorado appeals court ruled that the presence of marijuana in a car, detected by drug-sniffing police dogs, does not provide probable cause for police to search the vehicle. This decision has forced Colorado agencies to review their policies on drug-sniffing K-9 units.

In the landmark Colorado case (People of the State of Colorado v. Kevin Keith McKnight), Judge Daniel Dailey wrote in his ruling that it could be legal marijuana in the certain vehicle:

“Because Amendment 64 legalized possession for personal use of one ounce or less of marijuana by persons 21 years of age or older in Colorado, it is no longer accurate to say, at least as a matter of state law, that an alert by a dog which can detect marijuana — but not specific amounts — can reveal only the presence of ‘contraband.”

So, as more and more humans are being hired as extraction technicians or trimmers or retail specialists, our four-legged, furry friends will be forced to find employment elsewhere.

Gossip: Floyd Mayweather Super-Pissed At Justin Bieber; Blac Chyna’s Lawyer Wants You To Know She And Rob Are ‘Peacefully Co-Parenting’

Naughty Gossip
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Gossip: Floyd Mayweather Super-Pissed At Justin Bieber; Blac Chyna’s Lawyer Wants You To Know She And Rob Are ‘Peacefully Co-Parenting’

Justin Bieber’s relationship with his pastor is causing issues with his former homie Floyd Mayweather.

According to reports, because of the pastor’s urging, Justin has been distancing himself from people in his life — including Floyd.

via TMZ:

Sources connected to both Justin and Floyd tell us, the folks at the Hillsong Church have been counseling Justin for months on taking a hard look at his friends and pulling back from those who are bad influences.

We’re told church pastors did not single out Floyd as a bad influence, but Justin decided on his own he needed some distance. Our sources say Justin didn’t want a clean break from Floyd, he just wanted to “reset boundaries” … walling himself off from things like Floyd’s obsession with strip clubs.

Justin unfollowed Floyd on Instagram as part of the resetting of boundaries, and our sources say Floyd went “insane, nuclear.” He lashed out at Justin, called him a “traitor” because Floyd had stuck with Justin during his meltdown when everyone was attacking Bieber.

Sources connected with Floyd say the boxer continues to be incensed at Justin … screaming incensed.

Now it makes sense why Justin curiously told our photog last week he didn’t think Floyd would knock Conor McGregor out at next Saturday’s fight.

We’re told Justin will likely be a no-show at the fight.

Blac Chyna’s Lawyer Wants You to Know She And Rob Are ‘Peacefully Co-Parenting’

Following reports that Blac Chyna tried to steal the Range Rover she bought Rob Kardashian after leaving a custody hearing, Chyna’s attorney Lisa Bloom wants everyone to know that there was no custody hearing.

via Page Six:

“No, we did not go to court over a custody dispute. That is false,” Bloom told Page Six. “Chyna and Rob are peacefully co-parenting baby Dream, as they have been since her birth.”

Bloom also added that Rob and Chyna still have a hearing scheduled regarding the Lashed Salon owner’s domestic violence restraining order on Sept. 18, where they will try to extend the restraining order Chyna obtained against Rob.

“We intend to aggressively defend Chyna’s rights at that hearing because Rob’s vicious social media attacks on Chyna are a form of domestic abuse, as the judge has already ruled in our temporary restraining order hearing,” she told us. “I believe we will have a second court victory on that day and obtain permanent restraining orders against Rob, who has yet to take responsibility for his illegal, shameful behavior toward the mother of his child.

The hearing had originally been scheduled for early August, but the former couple pushed it back in order to attempt to “work out an amicable resolution of all issues.”

This is interesting, because yesterday Lisa admitted that Chyna saw the Range Rover while leaving the custody hearing and had ‘choice words’ to say about it.

Bloom tells TMZ Chyna did not try to drive away in the Range Rover and did not get inside. Bloom did say, however, that Chyna was “agitated” when she saw the Ranger Rover because she had given it to Rob as a gift. Rob gave Chyna a Ferrari and a Lambo, both of which she returned to him when they broke up, but Rob kept the Rover.

Bloom said Chyna had some “choice words” when she saw the Range Rover, but that was it.

Love the fresh dirt we bring over daily from Naughty Gossip? Let us know in the comments!

Michigan Votes For Complete Marijuana Dispensary Shutdown

Mary Schumacher
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Michigan Votes For Complete Marijuana Dispensary Shutdown

During a discussion set for a vote before a September 15th deadline, medical marijuana dispensaries may have to shut their doors if they want them to be open in the future, the Marijuana Licensing Board suggested on Monday.

The initial motion was proposed by disgruntled board member Donald Bailey, who recommended that if the dispensaries didn’t shut their doors by September 15th, they shouldn’t be allowed to open them again under the new dispensary licensing system set to be put in place December 15th.

Bailey’s reasoning came from a 2013 Michigan Supreme Court ruling that said all dispensaries were operating illegally. This action, however, is strongly opposed by the medical marijuana community, patients and activists alike.

Patients without caregivers want to know where and how they are to obtain their medicine during that time. Did lawmakers want them to go back to the black market, they wondered? Dispensary owners are also at a loss, as shutting down business not only could be a financial hardship, but having only two weeks to do it is a hardship of time.

Before the Monday meeting and Bailey’s suggestions, there were no slated changes to dispensaries until December, when a new licensing system is set to be implemented after a state law passed last year requiring it to be so.

PhD candidate at Michigan State University, Mark Gibson, lives with degenerative bone disease and is a medical marijuana patient as well. He approached the board requesting that they consider patient access before making their final decision.

Gibson said he spoke on behalf of patients, not businesses, “ensuring that they have continuous access.”

The vote is postponed for now as, with one member absent, Bailey didn’t have the votes to implement his motion on Monday. And if such a proposal were to pass, the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs said there would have to be a review.

The next Marijuana Licensing Board meeting isn’t slated until October 12th, but the board will meet again before September 15th to consider once more the shutdown of all dispensaries in the state.

The regulations and a licensing program for medical marijuana dispensaries must be implemented by December 15th.

What Exactly Is Cannabis Tolerance And How To Beat It

Maria Loreto
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What Exactly Is Cannabis Tolerance And How To Beat It

Cannabis tolerance is that annoying phenomenon every cannabis user is acquainted with, when you need to consume a larger dose of marijuana to feel the same effect you used to have with a smaller dose. Our bodies adapt surprisingly fast to the effect of cannabis, but our tolerance can be brought down with a few simple methods.

According to a study conducted in 2016, after 28 days without consuming marijuana your tolerance will be much lower and it will be a sort of reboot for your body and the plant, which is great news for medical marijuana patients who sometimes struggle due to the lack of effectiveness of their treatment.

For regular cannabis users, a tolerance break is a sure way of breaking down your tolerance, because it allows you to maintain efficacy with the herb while kickstarting your system. Breaks don’t need to be a month long, most users stop consuming for 2 days which gives your body the necessary distance from the plant and preps your system to absorb the cannabis more easily.  

Microdosing is another common way to break down your tolerance. By consuming smaller and smaller amounts of cannabis continuously, your body will get used to these micro doses. The minute you increase them, your tolerance will be way lower than it used to be. This is a much slower way to break down your cannabis tolerance but it’ll work if you’re not looking for complete abstention.

If you’re a medical marijuana patient, you can try to alternate between CBD and THC,  which work in very different ways. Consuming a high CBD low THC strain won’t get you as high as usual, but you’ll get pain relief and the same relaxing effect.

Marijuana Strain Names Are About To Become Obsolete

Terry Hacienda
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Marijuana Strain Names Are About To Become Obsolete

As the cannabis industry becomes more prevalent, the naming conventions of marijuana strains names are slowly beginning to reflect the legitimacy of the multi-billion sector.

The information consumers are getting at the dispensary counter can be wildly inaccurate, according to a story published this week in Marijuana Business Daily:

Agricultural scientists like Sean Myles of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, are doing their best to show strain names out the door.

Myles and fellow scientists found a remarkably low level of accuracy in strain names last year while comparing hundreds of cannabis plants and their breeds.

The study found that in about one-third of the cases where they had two producers with the same strain name, the cannabis samples weren’t genetically identical – which one would expect if they were bred properly.

“There were lots of varieties of cannabis (in the study sample) that were claimed to be 100% sativa, but the next one in the collection claimed to be 100% indica,” Myles said. “We know that’s impossible and that was really common in the data set.”

Autumn Karcey, president of Cultivo, a Los Angeles cultivation consultancy, agrees with Myles’ assessment:

“Plants – even within the same strain – don’t always come out the same. This is why the term ‘strain’ is a thorn in my side, because it means absolutely nothing. I can take Sour Diesel from four of my friends and I can take Mimosa or Clementine from multiple people, and if I genomically test it, it’s going to be drastically different from person to person unless they all have the same cut.”

Some insiders believe strain names are here to stay, but consumers will have more information to make better purchasing decisions, according to the report. Says Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association:

“I don’t think strain names are just going to go away. Consumers are definitely becoming more aware of the cannabinoid profile – the information that’s on packaging that’s pretty much anywhere now – and that informs more decisions. We’ll still see strain names, but with a move to consistency.”

Earlier this year, CANNDESCENT, a California cannabis grower, began providing more consumer-friendly product names.

“You shouldn’t need to bio-hack your body through a periodic table of ominous strain names like Durban Poison and Trainwreck just to buy some pot,” said Adrian Sedlin, CEO of CANNDESCENT. “The way Apple made computing more intuitive and Google streamlined search, we want to democratize strain selection and provide users the opportunity to curate their life experience. Google asked, ‘What do you want to know?’ CANNDESCENT asks, ‘How do you want to feel?’ ”

Sedlin believes this approach will appeal to the cannabis curious or those new to marijuana.

“Our biggest opportunity rests with the 98 percent of adults who are not regularly enjoying cannabis,” said Sedlin. “We seek to educate them.”

Male Makeup Blogger Transforms Into Emma Watson

Brendan Bures
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Male Makeup Blogger Transforms Into Emma Watson

The power of makeup is no joke. Thanks to creatives and innovators, makeup has become an artform full of beauty transformation that equally shocks and delights you. WIth some many online bloggers, you can do almost anything with the magic of cosmetics. But one male makeup blogger transforms into Emma Watson and it is amazing.

For Filipino actor and beauty blogger Paolo Ballesteros, that beauty transformation can be quite literal.  Through makeup magic, Ballesteros has assumed the likes of celebrities Kim Kardashian, Lily Collins, Ivanka Trump, and Mariah Carey. He even pulled off Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman with uncanny similarity.

But Ballesteros has really outdone himself with his latest transformation into the likes of Emma Watson. It could be his most convincing makeup job yet.

Related Story: Magic Brew: Inside The New Harry Potter Wizarding Pub

For context, here is a picture of Ballesteros sans elaborate makeup.

No doubt he’s a fashionable, handsome guy. But he looks nothing like that in donning makeup to resemble Emma Watson.

You wonder what the English actress who burst into the world in the the Harry Potter movies would think. Kudos to Ballesteros for pulling off the look. For more of his stunning transformations, check out his Instagram page.

‘Game of Thrones’: 3 Things You Should Know About Ice Dragons

Brendan Bures
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‘Game of Thrones’: 3 Things You Should Know About Ice Dragons

You should know before proceeding onward that this post is dark and full of spoilers regarding the outcomes of Games of Thrones recent episode “Beyond the Wall.” This is the one that Jon Snow and his Suicide Squad travel across the wall with their really, really stupid plan to capture a wight, believing this will convince Cersei Lannister the White Walkers are real. Guess what? Things don’t turn out so hot.

Spoilers start now.

Okay, so ice dragons. One loose thread following the outcomes of “The Spoils of War,” a.k.a. the one where Jaime Lannister almost got got by Drogon, involved the escalating power of dragons in a war of humans. The action seen through the aghast eyes of Jaime, we recognize the losing proposition of fighting dragons. In outside conversations following that episode, “weapons of mass destruction” became a shorthand to describe the capacity of nuclear destruction of which these beasts were capable.

And as Jaime relayed to Cersei in “Eastwatch,” Daenerys enacted that annihilation with just one dragon—imagine what battling three would be like?

This logic presented a narrative conundrum for showrunners Benioff and Weiss: Once witnessing the dragons as reality instead of fantasy, the audience would expect every upcoming possible battle to be a blowout victory. Cersei and crew would be every NBA team marching toward the train of inevitability that was Golden State last season, which, if you remember, is why basketball was kind of boring last year. (Yes, Cersei Lannister is Russell Westbrook in this scenario—both First-Team ballot inductees of Kobe Bryant’s Always Shoot Your Shot All-Stars.)

So when Daenerys rode in with all three dragons to save Jon’s Suicide Squad, you kind of suspected it wasn’t ending well for one dragon. (Quick side note: Yes, everyone previously joked that travel time no longer existed in Game of Thrones, but Dany swooping in Dragon Ex Machina style thanks to a Crow E-Mail Alert was particularly egregious.) With the Night King javelin-throwing Viserion with a 99 Accuracy Rating, he humbled Westeros’ biggest power player, Dany, who now grasps the White Walker threat. And by raising Viserion from the dead, he claimed the dragon WMD as an asset of his own.

Wight Dragon or Zombie Dragon might represent a more accurate moniker for the resurrected Viserion, but Ice Dragon sounds cooler. And guess what? Ice dragons are also a thing in the Game of Thrones universe because George R.R. Martin really thought of everything. Here’s what we already know about ice dragons:

Ice Dragon Mythology

In Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, ice dragons were either real or fantasy lore. Jon Snow recalls Old Nan regaling him ice dragons tales in A Dance With Dragons and in Season 1 of the show. The encyclopedic tome The World of Ice and Fire describes ice dragons as such:

Of all the queer and fabulous denizens of the Shivering Sea, however, the greatest are the ice dragons. These colossal beasts, many times larger than the dragons of Valyria, are said to be made of living ice, with eyes of pale blue crystal and vast translucent wings through which the moon and stars can be glimpsed as they wheel across the sky. Whereas common dragons (if any dragon can truly be said to be common) breathe flame, ice dragons supposedly breathe cold, a chill so terrible that it can freeze a man solid in half a heartbeat.

Sailors from half a hundred nations have glimpsed these great beasts over the centuries, so mayhaps there is some truth behind the tales. Archmaester Margate has suggested that many legends of the north — freezing mists, ice ships, Cannibal Bay, and the like — can be explained as distorted reports of ice-dragon activity. Though an amusing notion, and not without a certain elegance, this remains the purest conjecture. As ice dragons supposedly melt when slain, no actual proof of their existence has ever been found.

GRRM Wrote A Novella Called The Ice Dragon

Though Martin is most known for A Song of Ice and Fire, he published other work. Included in his bibliography is a 1980 children’s novella called The Ice Dragon. While it includes similar themes to what would become ASOIAF, Martin claimed multiple times it does not take place in the same universe.

https://twitter.com/Orions_BeIt/status/871938617836482564

Ice Dragon Fan Theories

You could lose days and nights reading ASOIAF theories on Reddit. Trust me, I’ve done it.

But two prevailing theories circulating once again following Viserion’s turn to the Ice Side revolve around hidden ice dragons. One serves as explanation to the hot springs that warm Winterfell, positing that a lurking ice dragon is the source. Here’s what Martin wrote in The World of Ice and Fire:

Yet the smallfolk of Winterfell and the winter town have been known to claim that the springs are heated by the breath of a dragon that sleeps beneath the castle.

Another theory believes that the fabled Wall hides a frozen dragon. Either that or a dragon rests at the base of the Wall or is the Wall itself is a dragon. Neither is likely true but this could be the inspiration of Game of Thrones solidifying the existence of ice dragons.

 

Gossip: Chris Hemsworth Thinks Cate Blanchett Is Intimidating; Jennifer Garner And Ben Affleck’s Divorce Getting Nasty

Naughty Gossip
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Gossip: Chris Hemsworth Thinks Cate Blanchett Is Intimidating; Jennifer Garner And Ben Affleck’s Divorce Getting Nasty

Chris Hemsworth told Elle magazine, “She calls you on your s**t straight away. Which is intimidating!” But he says she’s also fun! Chris adds, “She has a wild sense of humor!”

Jennifer Garner And Ben Affleck’s Divorce Getting Nasty

While everyone thinks Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck’s divorce is super friendly, it’s NOT the case.

Money is a big source of DRAMA! An insider says, “She’s going for a larger chunk of Ben’s money as their divorce moves forward ….. The fight over money is going to get nasty!” Ben is said to be worth over $100 million. Long story short …. Garner will soon be MUCH richer.

Love the fresh dirt we bring over daily from Naughty Gossip? Let us know in the comments!

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