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Missouri Officials Will Begin Unannounced Marijuana Dispensary Visits For New Product Testing Initiative Next Month

State cannabis regulators will begin their first attempt next month to double check the work of licensed testing labs tasked with ensuring the safety of Missouri marijuana products.

Starting July 1, staff with the Division of Cannabis Regulation will arrive unannounced at dispensaries and collect about 50 products a month off the shelves. They’ll take them to the Missouri State Public Health Reference Laboratory to be tested for things like mold, pesticides and a whole range of other things.

Ryan Bernard, the division’s testing and research unit manager, said the unannounced sampling has been in the works for a while as a way to add an extra level of compliance. The division, Bernard said, isn’t expecting to find problems.

“We won’t know until we see the data,” Bernard said. “I have full faith and confidence in our testing licensees that they’re testing according to rule as it’s been outlined.”

However, national testing lab experts told The Independent that Missouri’s regulators might be shocked at the results.

“Shelf testing has not gone well in any state that I know of, especially if it’s just starting,” said Josh Swider, vice chair of the cannabis working group for American Council of Independent Laboratories. “It will be very telling very fast.”

Swider pointed to a citation in Arizona in April of a cannabis lab, where the state found more than a dozen alleged “deficiencies” including problems with the lab’s potency testing and pesticide and microbial detection methods.

Swider called the levels of pesticides on the Arizona products “sickening.”

“But this is what you’re seeing around the country,” said Swider, co-founder and CEO of Infinite Chemical Analysis Labs in San Diego. “Regulators are starting to enforce. They’re realizing an issue that’s been systemic for a long time.”

Other common issue Missouri regulars might also find, he said, are inflated levels of THC on products.

Regulators previously talked about conducting a “round robin” testing, where the state’s certified testing labs would double check each other’s work under the state’s instruction. Amy Moore, director of the Division of Cannabis Regulation (DCR), told lawmakers in 2023 that this additional testing rule was “critical.”

“The challenges in regulating and relying on for-profit cannabis testing labs,” Moore told lawmakers at a 2023 committee hearing, “is one of the most discussed challenges in the national cannabis regulatory community.”

However, the state never ended up getting the process going for a variety of factors, Bernard said, so the unannounced samples will be the regulators first attempt at a testing backstop.

Lawmakers began allocating money for this kind of sampling to be tested at the state laboratory in the fiscal year that began on July 1, 2024 with $3.8 million. Most of it went unspent because the cannabis testing methods were “still in the process of being implemented,” according to state budget documents. Another $2.4 million was allocated for this fiscal year ending on June 30, and it’s unclear how much of it has been spent.

Bernard couldn’t speak on the budget for testing, he said, because the division and state lab budgets are “totally separate.”

“Our operating budget is DCR only,” he said. “State public health labs is theirs.”

The lab will receive another $2.4 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

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Rhode Island Bills To Restrict Hemp THC Drinks Ignore Science And Current Regulations

As co-founder of Rhode Island’s only U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic hemp farm, and the largest outdoor cannabis farm in the state, I’ve spent the last eight years helping build the hemp industry from the ground up.

At Lovewell Farms, we’ve operated under one of the strictest regulatory frameworks in the country, subject to licensing, batch testing, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) limits, secure packaging requirements and product traceability. Yet two recently proposed bills, H6056 and H6270, would cut licensed hemp farms like ours out of the very market we helped establish.

These bills, introduced by Democratic Reps. Jacquelyn Baginski of Cranston and Scott Slater of Providence, aim to regulate the sale of hemp-derived beverages containing delta-9 THC, the compound most commonly associated with cannabis intoxication.

Slater’s bill would specifically eliminate the sale of such beverages and drink mix powders in Rhode Island, unless these products are specifically included in the state’s cannabis laws. The bills misrepresent both the science behind these products and the legal infrastructure already in place.

During a recent House hearing, Rep. Baginski stated, “I was surprised to learn that hemp-based THC products are also available in the marketplace and largely sold unregulated…at any establishment with a retail sales permit. That could be a convenience store, a hair salon, a gas station, anywhere.”

Respectfully, this is inaccurate. In Rhode Island, consumable hemp products must be produced by licensed handlers and tested by certified labs. They are subject to strict limits on THC content, comprehensive labeling standards, and age restrictions. If some products are being sold outside these rules, that’s a failure of enforcement, not evidence of an unregulated system.

Rep. Slater’s testimony in support of his bill, which would effectively ban all hemp-derived THC beverages unless sold through a dispensary, also included misleading claims. He asserted that “the hemp-derived THC products are now being sold outside the regulated cannabis system with minimal oversight, including limited testing, weak labeling, no seed-to-sale tracking as well as avoidance of cannabis taxes.”

This characterization erases the work of licensed hemp producers who follow every requirement the state imposes, many of whom, like us, already distribute specific products through dispensaries and operate with full compliance under existing cannabis laws.

Slater went on to say that allowing hemp beverages undermines Rhode Island’s cannabis cultivators, whom he described as his constituents. “I really find it unfair that as soon as this market has started that we’re trying to undermine them…and allowing folks that found kind of a loophole with this synthetically altered hemp in drinks…without going through the same framework that everyone else has.”

But our farm has always followed the framework. There is no loophole for us, just increasing restrictions on products we’ve made legally, safely and transparently for years.

Both bills ignore a crucial scientific fact: Not all hemp products are intoxicating.

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Trump Federalizes California National Guard as Violent Leftist Mobs Lay Siege to ICE Agents — Bypassing Democrat Governor

After weeks of escalating leftist violence against federal immigration agents that culminated in over 1,000 rioters laying siege to federal buildings and assaulting ICE officers, President Trump took the extraordinary step of federalizing 2,000 California National Guard troops, marking the first time since 1965 that a president has activated a state’s National Guard without the governor’s consent.

Using rarely invoked federal powers under 10 U.S.C. 12406, Trump bypassed the authority of California’s Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom after violent mobs launched coordinated attacks on ICE agents and laid siege to federal buildings across the state.

The president’s directive cites a specific provision within Title 10 of the U.S. Code that allows federal deployment of National Guard forces when “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”

Trump’s order states that “to the extent that protests or acts of violence directly inhibit the execution of the laws, they constitute a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon was “mobilizing the National Guard IMMEDIATELY” and revealed that active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton, about 100 miles south of Los Angeles, were “on high alert” and could also be mobilized.

Trump’s directive specifically authorized Hegseth to “employ any other members of the regular Armed Forces as necessary to augment and support the protection of Federal functions and property,” indicating the administration is prepared to use whatever force necessary to restore federal authority.

The violent confrontations have spread beyond Los Angeles, with Minneapolis seeing protesters throw traffic cones and trash cans at federal law enforcement vehicles during an ICE operation at Las Cuatro Milpas restaurant.

The area, which was previously the site of violent riots following George Floyd’s death of a fentanyl overdose, again became a flashpoint as demonstrators physically obstructed federal vehicles and shouted at officers to “go home” and “quit their jobs.”

Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez joined the violent protesters, declaring the federal operation “completely wrong” and criticizing local police for assisting ICE agents in their lawful duties.

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‘I Smell CIA/Deep State All Over This’ — RFK Jr. VP Nicole Shanahan Blasts Sanctuary Cities, Says Violent Migrants Are Being Used to Attack Federal Law Enforcement

What began as a lawful operation turned into outright insurrection in the so‑called sanctuary city of Los Angeles. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted multiple strikes Friday — targeting a Home Depot, fashion warehouses, clothing outlets in downtown L.A., and a meat‑packing plant in Paramount — arresting deportable illegal aliens, including some with criminal records.

The result? Large crowds descended, blocking lanes, hurling bricks and chunks of concrete, setting trash fires, smearing graffiti on federal buildings, and assaulting federal vehicles.

According to Fox News reporter Bill Melugin:

Federal sources ID some of the criminal illegal alien targets ICE arrested in their LA operation yesterday & today, which sparked violent protests. They include multiple gang members, convicted sex offenders, violent gun offenders, & drug offenders. One has already been deported. They include:

Rolando Veneracion-Enriquez, a national of the Philippines who has prior convictions for sexual penetration with a foreign object, assault with intent to commit rape, and burglary, all in California.

ARMANDO ORDAZ, a Mexican national & known gang member with a convictions for sexual battery, receiving stolen property, and theft in Los Angeles.

VICTOR MENDOZA-AGUILAR, a previously deported Mexican national & known gang member with convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, and possessing drug paraphernalia.

DELFINO AGUILAR MARTINEZ, a Mexican national with a conviction for assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury in LA.

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Catholics fight government surveillance in confession after wins against abortion mandate, tax

Catholic physicians and social service workers won over the Trump administration and Supreme Court, respectively, last week against their compelled participation in emergency room abortions and a state unemployment compensation program that costs more than their own church’s.

Bishops hope to make it a trifecta against a Washington state law that violates the seal of confession, threatening priests with imprisonment and fines if they don’t report suspected child abuse or neglect when “penitents” confess, but not lawyers who learn the same from clients.

Diocesan leaders filed a motion for preliminary injunction Thursday against Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson, Attorney General Nicholas Brown and county prosecutors in federal court in Tacoma to block SB 5375 at least 10 days before it takes effect July 27.

The Justice Department also quickly opened a civil rights investigation into the law as a prima facie First Amendment violation after Ferguson signed it, expanding the category of mandatory reporter to “member of the clergy,” defined as any regularly licensed, accredited or ordained minister, priest, rabbi, imam, elder, or similarly positioned religious or spiritual leader.

Denial of an injunction would likely fast-track the case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and, if also rejected by the historically most liberal appeals court, to SCOTUS, which has rarely struggled to reach lopsided rulings upholding religious liberty.

The high court Thursday unanimously overturned the Wisconsin Supreme Court‘s ruling that found that a local Catholic Charities bureau’s work is primarily secular and hence it can’t get a religious exemption from paying into the state unemployment compensation system.

Justices unanimously ruled for Gerald Groff two years ago after the U.S. Postal Service threatened to fire the evangelical Christian for refusing to work Sundays under an Amazon delivery agreement, junking the “de minimis cost” standard that let employers easily deny religious exemptions but only appeared in a footnote in a 1977 ruling.

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Iran claims without evidence that it took Israeli nuclear files

Iran’s intelligence minister claimed without offering evidence Sunday that Tehran seized an “important treasury” of information regarding Israel’s nuclear program, ahead of a week in which the Islamic Republic likely will face new diplomatic pressure over its own program.

The remarks by Esmail Khatib follow Iranian state television claiming Saturday that Iranian intelligence officials seized documents, again without any evidence. Israel, whose undeclared atomic weapons program makes it the only country in the Mideast with nuclear bombs, has not acknowledged any such Iranian operation targeting it — though there have been arrests of Israelis allegedly spying for Tehran amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Iran, meanwhile, will likely face censure this week from the Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency over longstanding questions about its program. Iran has also signaled it will reject a proposal from the United States after five rounds of negotiations over its nuclear program — setting the stage for that long-running crisis to potentially spike as well.

‘Treasury’ of secrets claim comes without evidence

Responding to questions from an Iranian state TV reporter Sunday after a Cabinet meeting, Khatib said members of the Intelligence Ministry “achieved an important treasury of strategic, operational and scientific intelligence of the Zionist regime and it was transferred into the country with God’s help.”

He claimed thousands of pages of documents had been obtained and insisted they would be made public soon. Among them were documents related to the U.S., Europe and other countries, he claimed, obtained through “infiltration” and “access to the sources.”

He did not elaborate on the methods used. However, Khatib, a Shiite cleric, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2022 over directing “cyber espionage and ransomware attacks in support of Iran’s political goals.”

For Iran, the claim may be designed to show the public that the theocracy was able to respond to a 2018 Israeli operation that spirited out what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a “half ton” of documents related to Iran’s program. That Israeli announcement came just before President Donald Trump in his first term unilaterally withdrew America from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which greatly limited its program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

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Texas Yanks Major Perk From Illegal Aliens – After Pioneering It 24 Years Ago

Twenty-four years after being the first in the nation to roll it out, a major perk for illegal aliens in Texas has vanished after the Trump administration filed a federal lawsuit to stop it and the Lone Star State’s attorney general quickly agreed with the White House stance. Specifically, illegals will no longer be charged the in-state rate for college tuition.  

The end came quite suddenly. Within hours of the US Department of Justice filing a complaint in the Northern District of Texas, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion asking Judge Reed O’Connor to rule in favor of the DOJ and declare in-state tuition for illegals unconstitutional. On the same day, O’Connor issued an order declaring that discounts favoring illegal aliens over non-Texan American citizens — in contradiction of federal law — violate the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, and permanently blocking Texas from giving such discounts.

Paxton, who’s mounting a 2026 challenge of incumbent Republican John Cornyn to represent Texas in the United States Senate, raced to take credit for the outcome: 

“Today, I entered a joint motion along with the Trump Administration opposing a law that unconstitutionally and unlawfully gave benefits to illegal aliens that were not available to American citizens. Ending this discriminatory and un-American provision is a major victory for Texas.” 

In 2001, Texas became the first state to offer in-state tuition to illegals. Back then, Democrats had a slim majority in the state House, but the “Texas Dream Act” had bipartisan support, with only four of 181 legislators voting against it. Republicans bought into the idea that better-educated illegals would bolster the state’s labor force and its economy, and then-Governor Rick Perry gave full support — a stance he had to defend at a Republican debate during his failed 2012 presidential campaign. While this clip stops short, the audience answered with a mix of vigorous applause and hearty boos.

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What is nihilism? A teen charged in a mass shooting plot and a car bomber subscribed to the same ideology, authorities say

An Oregon teen arrested last month in connection with an alleged mass shooting plot targeting a mall in southwestern Washington subscribed to a “nihilistic violent extremist ideology,” according to officials.

Similarly, FBI officials said Guy Edward Bartkus, the man accused of bombing a Palm Springs, California, fertility clinic last month, “had nihilistic ideations.”

It’s this “preoccupation with themes of violence, hopelessness, despair, pessimism, hatred, isolation, loneliness, or an ‘end-of-the-world’ philosophy” – as the FBI defines nihilistic ideation – that allegedly drives these individuals to violence.

Here’s how experts and authorities describe nihilism.

What is nihilism?

Nihilism, which is usually defined as a philosophical concept rather than a set of actions, is the belief that “all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated,” according to Alan Pratt, professor emeritus at Embry-Riddle University.

Nihilism is “associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence,” Pratt wrote in a philosophical definition. “A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.”

Nihilism is also often connected to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who argued that “its corrosive effects would eventually destroy all moral, religious, and metaphysical convictions,” according to Pratt.

Retired senior FBI profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole, who has researched past violent actors to provide the FBI with its initial definition of nihilistic ideation, describes nihilism as “something on a continuum.”

“A person’s outlook on life is never black or white,” O’Toole told CNN. “Over the years, there have been some people that have planned mass violence, where their nihilistic thinking, or view of the world, was very extreme, and then you have some where it’s less extreme.”

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‘World Pride’ Celebration at DC’s Dupont Circle Marred by Shooting and Stabbings After Safety Concerns Overridden to Open Park

D.C.’s Democrat politicians had successfully fought the Trump administration to take down fencing at Dupont Circle National Park erected for safety reasons. The fencing was removed Saturday morning for the World Pride celebration.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a statement Saturday announcing the fencing was coming down, vowing “Great news, DC! Dupont Circle is reopening today for WorldPride 2025.We thank the National Park Service for their partnership, and below is our joint statement:”

Video posted by WJLA-TV, “DUPONT CIRCLE SHOOTING Crowds ran towards shelter when they heard gunshots near Dupont Circle following the WorldPride celebrations. Officers quickly responded to the scene and are searching for suspects.”

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Top U.S. General in Africa Paints Grim Picture of U.S. Military Failures in Africa

President George W. Bush created a new command to oversee all military operations in Africa 18 years ago. U.S. Africa Command was meant to help “bring peace and security to the people of Africa.”

The Trump administration now has AFRICOM on the chopping block as part of its sweeping reorganization of the military. According to the general leading the command, its mission is far from accomplished.

Gen. Michael Langley, the head of AFRICOM, offered a grim assessment of security on the African continent during a recent press conference. The West African Sahel, he said last Friday, was now the “epicenter of terrorism” and the gravest terrorist threats to the U.S. homeland were “unfortunately right here on the African continent.”

The embattled four-star general — who noted his days were numbered as AFRICOM’s chief — was speaking from a conference of African defense chiefs in Kenya, where he had been imploring ministers and heads of state to help save his faltering command. “I said: ‘OK, if we’re that important to [you], you need to communicate that,’” he explained, asking them to have their U.S. ambassadors make entreaties on behalf of AFRICOM.

Current and former defense officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide candid assessments, were divided on whether Langley deserves a measure of blame for the dire straits the command finds itself in.

One former defense official spoke highly of Langley, calling him “an effective and transformational leader” who “rapidly grew into the job and developed strong, fruitful relationships with members of Congress.”

A current official, however, said almost the opposite, calling the four-star general a “marble mouth” who did a poor job of making a case for his command, “fumbled” relations with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and diminished AFRICOM’s standing with legislators. Asked by messaging app if the latter assessment was accurate, a former Africa Command official sent a laughing emoji and replied “no comment” followed by “but yes.” (The official said he could be quoted as such.)

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