Aside from being the man behind so many of our favorite characters — Professor X, Captain Picard, and next up, the Poop Emoji — Patrick Stewart is also a true treasure of a human.
Now he’s blowing our minds on a whole new level. Meet Ginger, a pit bull Stewart is foster-caring for until the pups finds a new home. Or at least until Stewart falls so head over heels with this dog that he adopts her, himself.
He wrote on his first video of welcoming Ginger home one week ago: “Thanks to @ASPCA and @WagsandWalks, @madameozell and I are finally fostering our 1st pitbull! Meet Ginger. I’m in LOVE. #AdoptDontShop”
Will he have the heart to hand this love machine over to a new owner someday? Or will Beef Stew and Ginger stay together forever? Only time and a ton more amazing social media posts of the two will tell.
We all know the stereotype of the belligerent drunk and of the peace-hugging, artistically inclined stoner. But it took a recent double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject trial to bestow on that perception the imprimatur of science. Turns out that marijuana users are cooler. We knew that.
The trial, conducted by researchers in the Netherlands and published in the July 2016 issue of Psychopharmacology, was simplicity itself: First, scientists assembled a task force of heavy drinkers and inveterate stoners. Next, they randomly intoxicated half the group with their drug of choice (i.e. booze or weed), and exposed them to a series of aggro-inducing activities—namely matching a list of words to violent images and playing a computer game with options for defensive and offensive play. A third group—the control—performed the same tasks, but didn’t get to take any drugs. Afterward, researchers reviewed the data and asked the subjects to rate how aggressive they felt.
In all cases, the subjects were more riled up, both in feeling and in action, at the end of the test. However, the drinkers as a group were more aggressive than the control, and the stoners less so.
It turns out that sometimes there are reasons that stereotypes become stereotypes.
Because nothing tastes better than artificial green coloring on St. Patrick’s Day, Krispy Kreme is turning their glazed doughnuts emerald for the occasion. Like, the actual dough will be green, in addition to the glaze.
Pot of gold? At the end of every rainbow should be a box of green O’riginal Glazed doughnuts for #StPatricksDay Only on 3/17 at US/CAN shops pic.twitter.com/GlwSPIELot
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions created a lot of buzz on Wednesday by claiming marijuana use is “only slightly less awful” than heroin addiction. And yes, that statement defies scientific research and is clearly at odds with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s own understanding of cannabis.
But what didn’t capture many headlines or generate social media buzz was his comment about the Obama-era’s guidance regarding federal interference in state-sanctioned marijuana legalization laws:
“The Cole Memorandum set up some policies under President Obama’s Department of Justice about how cases should be selected in those states and what would be appropriate for federal prosecution, much of which I think is valid. I may have some different ideas myself in addition to that, but essentially we’re not able to go into a state and pick up the work that the police and sheriffs have been doing for decades.”
Sessions added that he “may have some different ideas myself in addition to that” but said that the Justice Department does not have the money, time or resources to assume enforcement responsibilities of marijuana prohibition. “We’re not able to go into a state and pick up the work that the police and sheriffs have been doing for decades,” he said.
So is Sessions speaking out of both sides of his mouth? What, exactly, does marijuana legalization stand in the Trump Administration?
The answer is nobody knows. And if somebody claims to know, they’re lying to you. But it is important to cling to facts instead of attempting to read the tea leaves or focusing on the trial balloons constantly being floated.
It is obvious that Sessions is vehemently opposed to legalizing marijuana and would prefer regressing back to an older era. In his speech Wednesday he also tossed in this antiquated notion:
“We need to say as Nancy Reagan said, ‘Just Say No.’ Don’t do it!
Clearly, Americans have moved on from that kind of drug policy. Can Sessions take us back to the Reagan-era drug war days? It is possible. But as of now, there is no policy change.
What Is The Cole Memo?
On August 29, 2013, the Department of Justice published a memorandum which described a new set of priorities for federal prosecutors operating in states which had legalized the medical or other adult use of marijuana. The memorandum was published by James Cole, then the U.S. deputy attorney general. The memo directed prosecutors and law enforcement to focus their priorities on these eight areas:
Prevent distribution of marijuana to minors
Prevent marijuana revenue from funding criminal enterprises, gangs or cartels
Prevent marijuana from moving out of states where it is legal
Prevent use of state-legal marijuana sales as a cover for illegal activity
Prevent violence and use of firearms in growing or distributing marijuana
Prevent drugged driving or exacerbation of other adverse public health consequences associated with marijuana use
Prevent growing marijuana on public lands
Prevent marijuana possession or use on federal property
Sessions appeared to reaffirm that these priorities are ‘valid’ and that he has no immediate plans to scrap the guidelines.
Memories of Irish Soda Bread on St.Patrick’s Day were very basic. I remember a raisin stuffed gloppity gloop, and like most breads, I just wanted the crust. Soda bread gets busy from using regular old Baking Soda, very obvious connection. Soda driven bakes are known as quick breads, and are much more simple to put together than yeast breads. Irish Soda Bread comes from the daily bread making habits of the Irish home. This bread is fast to make, and tastes great enough to eat fast too.
Though I could throw everything in my bread machine and call it a day, since mine has a yeast-free setting, I’m not super into the shape it produces. As a throwback to the original preparation of the stuff, in a cast iron skillet on a wood stove or in a hearth, I finally got myself one of these cast iron jams. I think living with roommates was always a deterrent, these pans can’t be treated like any ol’ teflon jam.
The baking temperature is a little high on this recipe, so it’s normally dicey to put cannabis in there. But the upside to slightly overbaked edibles is a CBN high, which is a bit sleepier and more couch-locking. That makes this a great day off, sick day, snow day, or insomnia treat.
If you want to preserve the THC, first know you won’t be losing all of it, just enough to notice the slowdown. You can bake it at a lower temp (it will take forever), toss the whole thing inside an oven bag, or just spread the cannabutter on a weedless loaf after baking. I’m ok with a little CBN on a binge-TV day, so I’m rolling the dice on some of the lesser-desired cannabinoids.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
Well Done Irish Soda Bread
Inspired by Stella Parks at Serious Eats and PBS bingeing
3.5mg THC per slice, 2mg CBN(estimated)
3 cups white flour
2 cups buttermilk
1 ½ tsp salt
Pinch of sugar
2 Tbs cannabutter *
1 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
Photos by Danielle Guercio
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl, either sift or incorporate well with a fork. Melt butter gently and stir into buttermilk, whip well to incorporate fully, you don’t want the oil to hit the flour by itself like with pastry.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
Add the wet ingredients into the dry, pouring in a drizzle while you fold into the flour. Keep mixing until the flour is all hydrated, stop there for best finished texture. The dough will be wet, sticky, springy, and you want to act fast so that the chemical reaction from the soda happens in the oven, not on the counter.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
Line a cast iron skillet with something non stick, scoop the dough into the skillet, no need to shape other than making a big cross to allow air to escape. Its recommended to wipe the knife in between cuts, I would say wipe the knife four times, two was not enough to get a clean cut, but since this is a very rustic bread, there’s really no need to overthink it.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
Bake for 45-58 minutes depending on your oven. I rotated a few times. This will get very deep brown, so if you don’t want things to get too crispy, cover for the first 20 minutes or turn the oven down for the last 15.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
Allow to cool for 15 minutes at the bare minimum, if you can stand it. Like most breads, the longer you let it cool the better it will taste, slice, and behave. I thought my loaf was too burnt but it sliced beautifully and tasted like restaurant bread. It’s really hard to get that char on yeast breads without taking it too far.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
*Cannabutter
Decarboxylate 3.5g of finely ground cannabis at 225 degrees for 20 minutes in a tightly sealed, oven safe container. Put cannabis in lidded mason jar or vacuum sealed bag with cannabis and one stick of butter. Heat in water bath just under boiling for at least 1 hour. Strain and chill to use in recipes.
Photos by Danielle Guercio
This was so easy to create that I felt like I literally slapped it together. The alkaline flavors light up your mouth like a good pretzel or bagel, and with a good scoop of Irish butter (unsalted!) you’ve got yourself a gourmet treat in one third of the time it takes to make a baguette or even basic white bread. Making it on the lighter side in strength means you can eat as much as you want, perfect for snacking all day on your next TV marathon.
A new Hillary Clinton movie is in the works and guess who will be playing the secretary of state? Glenn Close.
“Glenn and Meryl’s name has been mentioned a lot. But after Streep inserted herself into politics at the Golden Globes, producers feel Close would be better,” sources tell Straight Shuter. “Hillary recently caught up with Glenn backstage after a performance in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway. And the two were seem laughing and whispering backstage. Clearly the film will focus on Hillary’s career later in life and through the election.”
“Paris has been offered several different music projects, from recording an album, to writing and producing, but she has turned them all down,” sources tell Straight Shuter. “She loves being creative and sharing her talents with her fans, but knows that her father is the King Of Pop and anything she did in the music world would be compared to him. At the moment, she wants to focus on modeling and designing. Music is a huge part of her life but not something she is interested in doing right now.”
In January, Paris landed a role in the series “Star,” a show from “Empire” creator Lee Daniels.
Love the fresh dirt we bring over daily from Naughty Gossip? Let us know in the comments!
When Justin Trudeau became Canada’s prime minister in October 2015, there were 3o,357 citizens registered to legally receive medical marijuana. By December of 2016, that number skyrocketed to 129,876 — a quadrupling of qualified patients.
“I think it’s really gaining momentum. … We’re seeing growth in the industry of 10 to 15 per cent per month,” Derek Ogden, CEO of National Access Cannabis, told CTV News.
CTV obtained the data from Health Canada and reported that the dramatic increase in the federal program’s participation rate is “is due to better-informed physicians and patients about the benefits of marijuana in treating a wide range of ailments, including pain, nausea, seizures and anxiety.”
During the 2015 election campaign, Trudeau’s platform included a promise to legal cannabis for recreational use. The federal government vows to make good on the policy change sometime this spring, but in the meantime impatient Canadians are acquiring prescriptions from doctors.
Dr. John Goodhew, a Toronto doctor who supports medical marijuana for specific conditions, told Maclean’s Magazine that he has seen an increase in patients seeking prescriptions.
“So patients will frequently call me and I’m not able to help them because I only consider marijuana as a therapeutic agent for people in my practice, people that I know, people whose medical histories I’m familiar with,” he said. “And this is really the only responsible way to do it. Unfortunately it leaves other people kind of in the lurch.”
According to Goodhew, “[P]eople will come in and just ask (for a prescription) and I’ll say ‘What is the medical condition?’ and they’ll say ‘Can’t you just make something up?’ And I’m like, ‘No, it doesn’t work that way.’”
Goodhew calls it the “Trudeau effect,” noting that the nation is anticipating full legalization for recreational adult use.
Dr. Jeff Blackmer, vice-president of medical professionalism for the Canadian Medical Association, told Maclean’s the prescription increase could be a reflection of doctors becoming more comfortable with cannabis, coupled with growing patient demand.
Despite the growing patient demand and the promise of recreational legalization, tensions are mounting in Canada.
Just last week, Toronto police charged longtime activist/businessman Marc Emery and wife Jodie with drug trafficking, conspiracy and possession. The couple is accused of selling marijuana to people without prescriptions, a violation of federal law.
Marc Emery, known as “The Prince of Pot,” has been behind bars for marijuana offenses several times. From 2009 t0 2014, he served a five-year sentence in a United States federal prison for selling mail-order cannabis seeds across in the U.S.
Solange does not need your approval. Solange does not notice if you’re watching. Solange is there to do exactly what Solange wants—to express the full range of Solange in all her glowing intricacies and brilliant idiosyncrasies.
Solange was the final member to grace the stage of her Saint Heron band Wednesday night at YouTube’s South by Southwest showcase. There had been no opening act and though some expected hip hop and pop tunes jammed, no DJ was pushing and prodding the crowd into hysteria. The only pre-show lubricant was one you come to expect at a SXSW show: free drinks.
Any true fan excitement was mostly kept under wraps, was contained internal. The crowd delivered an enthusiastic cheering and clapping when Solange approached the microphone, then a return within. When I think of Solange’s music, particularly her exceptional 2016 release A Seat At The Table, certain words like elegant, arty, self-affirmed, and mesmerizing can’t help but spring to mind. Through her songs Solange captures a vibe that you feel more than you hear, more loving like a hug than a seductive whisper.
Up on stage, performing, it was more comparable to watching an art installation than any other concert I’ve attended, during SXSW or ever. Solange and the band wore these bluish-purple silk garbs; they weren’t flashy, though the material itself was shiny. It unified them as they danced their choreographed movements with bops and shakes; they moved in sync as one, almost like they were all operating from some collective brain. Light that same bluish-purple color cast Solange and the band in its glow, but it remained mostly a static presence, no wild light show or strobing pulses.
Photo by Brendan Bures
All these performative impressions conduct the same effect so much of Solange’s music does. She strips everything down to its barest quality, its purest status, chasing the roots of a thing. Away with the distracting conventions that embody so much of popular music and shows, away with who I’m supposed to be, she’s saying, this is who I am. That’s an incredibly difficult place for any person to reach, let alone an artist expressing that position in a genuine, believable matter.
Her confidence in her music and on stage intoxicates as her arms glide like they’re riding waves through the air and she flips that bold, beautiful hair of hers. You can watch—and you do want to watch—but no you can’t touch. A measured thoughtfulness emanates her movements, everything done so considerably and exactly. A bartender told me before the show Solange ran through a 90-minute sound check—an absurd amount of time for most artists—and kicked the staff out when a few were caught filming. This meticulous nature is why you love Solange: she is so sure of how she wants to be presented and represented in the world, and accepts nothing less.
Then she played “Cranes In The Sky.” I can’t assume how anyone else hears that song, but when those drums kick in, cymbals crashing, that grand combustion of rhythm, I never experience it through any traditional senses. It—and, yes, I’m aware how this sounds—ignites from some deep forever place inside me. Not like my soul, because that seems corny and somehow reductive, but more elemental, like my core, or something of that nature. Solange enters the arrangement with this gentle falsetto—I tried to drink it away—so nakedly, so tenderly while those elongated, rich strings tether the emotional crevice in between those expressions. The whole experience grounds you and lifts you up simultaneously. You want to cry and smile at the same time.
That’s how it felt in the crowd, anyways. Judging by the many fans swaying and arms shooting high, palms outstretched, we all seemed to agree about the moment. So much of why any of us attend these concerts, waiting for hours desperately hoping we get in, is to access that special almost-ESP communication only possible in this environment. It goes beyond the idea of, These are my people, though that’s part of it. It’s that open line suddenly available with your favorite artists, with these people who seem to understand you, even if it’s as simple as the call-and-response of “Yeah!” when a rapper or singer screams, “Y’all having a good time tonight!?” Great artists give you more than that, talking directly to you, like Bruce’s stories and Kanye’s speeches, and the whole event connects you deeper than you previously were before.
So it was strange when Solange didn’t acknowledge the crowd’s presence until she was more than halfway through her set. Each record bled into the next, creating this tapestry of her performance. She sang in suites, not songs. Yet I’ve never felt such a good-natured vibe networked between crowd and artist. We didn’t need her to chat with us. It was almost like how older couples don’t talk as much, because their actions say enough or you already understand what the other meant.
When Solange did finally address the audience, thanking their attendance near night’s end, it was done sweetly, not out of any sense of obligation. She had completed her goal that night, showcasing what she wanted to say to us. We had all grown together, reaching the roots of the thing, and now were fluent in Solange’s language. Somehow, you too felt like you didn’t need this approval, this acknowledgment of someone watching you. But when Solange delivered exactly that, you knew precisely what place it was coming from.
The year was 1967. Some genius figured out a way for the microwave to become small and cheap enough to enter households. That was 50 years ago. Who knew that in 2017 we’d still be learning how to use the ubiquitous device that’s just as easy to use as a calculator? But here we are.
The folks over at Greatist put together a list of proper microwave cooking techniques so you aren’t faced with a messy clean-up, which you likely tried to avoid by using a microwave in the first place. Here are a few common problem solvers, so you can calm down a little next time you set the timer.
EGGS
Because there is apparently no way to stop major steam build-up in an egg, the best way to cook one in the microwave is to scramble it, stopping to stir it every 30 seconds.
Basically, stirring it often is the way to combat a huge oat bubble forming and exploding in your breakfast. Same with tomato sauce.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCr8x2SE8Uh/
SPAGHETTI SQUASH
Who even realized this was a common problem? Next time you’re cooking one, “slice the squash in half horizontally and place the squash cut-side down on a microwave-safe plate. That allows enough steam to escape without totally drying out the squash flesh.” R.I.P. this innocent vegetable.
https://www.instagram.com/p/qyjWJnGlV9/
The moral of the story is that with a little attention, your food will turn out just fine. But to be safe, you might want to avoid being away from the microwave for a prolonged amount of time until you get the hang of it.
On Wednesday Jeff Sessions took his dislike of marijuana to a whole new level by saying that marijuana use is “only slightly less awful” than heroin addiction.
Sadly, this outrageous comment was not made on the cuff, nor was it some misinterpreted slip of the tongue, but rather part of a statement Sessions prepared for a speech that was given in front of law enforcement officers earlier this week in Richmond, Virginia.
“I realize this may be an unfashionable belief in a time of growing tolerance of drug use. But too many lives are at stake to worry about being fashionable,” Sessions said “I reject the idea that America will be a better place if marijuana is sold in every corner store.
“And I am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana – so people can trade one life-wrecking dependency for another that’s only slightly less awful,” he added. “Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life.”
Instead of supporting the progress the marijuana movement has made over the past two decades, Sessions went on to explain his desire to bring the United States back to the era of Nancy Reagan and her “Just Say No” shenanigans.
“In the ’80s and ’90s, we saw how campaigns stressing prevention brought down drug use and addiction. We can do this again,” Sessions said. “Educating people and telling them the terrible truth about drugs and addiction will result in better choices. We can reduce the use of drugs, save lives and turn back the surge in crime that inevitably follows in the wake of increased drug abuse.”
Some of the latest statics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a federal health agency, shows around 13,000 people died in 2015 as a result of a heroin overdose – that’s a higher body count than what was produced through gun violence. Yet, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, there has never been a recorded case of anyone dying from an overdose to marijuana. What’s more is, recent studies have shown that opioid-related incidents are on the decline in states that have legalized medical marijuana.
Furthermore, a recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Medicine, and Engineering, which examined more than 10,000 scientific abstracts, found that marijuana does have medicinal benefit.
This is why pot proponents are calling Sessions’ latest statements “factually inaccurate.”
“Sessions needs to stop spreading unfounded, unscientific theories about medical marijuana and take the time to actually meet the millions of Americans that are benefitting from its use before making comments about it being over-hyped,” Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access, told The Fresh Toast in an emailed statement.
