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Kansas Governor Says It’s Time For Lawmakers To ‘Finally Legalize Medical Marijuana’

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) says it’s time for lawmakers in the state to finally legalize medical marijuana.

The governor called for the reform on Wednesday, as she allowed a separate right-to-try bill to become law without her signature. That measure is intended to give people with debilitating or life-threatening conditions broader access to experimental medications.

“This bill gives Kansans with debilitating disease the option to make choices about their medical care,” Kelly said in a statement about the bill, SB 250. “Now I think it’s time for the Legislature to finally legalize medical Marijuana, giving the Kansans suffering from chronic pain or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and children suffering with Dravet’s Syndrome (epilepsy) the choice of the treatment they and their doctors determine best suits their needs.”

Notably, lawmakers earlier this year considered but ultimately rejected an amendment that would have added cannabis to the right-to-try bill. The lawmaker behind that effort, Sen. Cindy Holscher (D), said her intention was not to create a public medical marijuana system, however.

Sen. Mike Thompson (R) disparaged the idea at the time. “The term medical cannabis is nothing but a marketing ploy,” he said.

Polling from late last year shows that nearly three quarters (73 percent) of Kansans support legalizing medical marijuana. About six in 10 (61 percent) respondents also said they supported legalizing cannabis for broader adult use.

Legislators have nevertheless repeatedly shot down reform efforts.

The House of Representatives passed a medical cannabis bill in 2021, for example, but it stalled out in the Senate. And after numerous hearings on the issue, the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee voted last March to table a limited medical marijuana pilot program bill.

A later effort to revive the medical cannabis bill on the Senate floor ultimately fell short.

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Alcohol Retailers Say Only They Should Be Able To Legally Sell Marijuana Products

A new policy memo from an American alcohol retail industry group argues that marijuana should be regulated more like booze—including by requiring that intoxicating cannabis products be sold only by businesses licensed to sell alcohol.

“States should restrict the sale of intoxicating THC products to businesses licensed to sell beverage alcohol and that are regularly inspected for compliance with laws aimed at preventing sales to individuals under 21,” says the memo, published this month by the American Beverage Licensees (ABL) trade association.

The group contends that alcohol retailers, “with many decades of proven compliance, are best positioned to sell these products.”

Regulators should also treat cannabis similar to alcohol, the two-page policy memo says, such as by establishing licensing requirements, clear labeling standards and restrictions on advertising. “It may also include limits on potency per serving,” the alcohol trade group asserted.

THC products should also be lab tested for safety, purity and potency, the paper says. “Testing should verify the absence of harmful contaminants including but not limited to heavy metals, pesticides, mold and residual solvents, and confirm THC potency to prevent unintentional harmful effects.”

ABL, which represents on-premise sellers of beer, wine and spirits such as bars, taverns, restaurants and casinos, as well as off-premise retailers like package stores, is further calling for a “fair and transparent” tax structure for THC products, with production and retail tax rates “similar to those for beverage alcohol in the state.”

To ensure a working system, the memo also urges enforcement of laws and regulations. “This includes penalties for selling to underage individuals, failure to comply with testing and labeling requirements, and operating without a license,” the document says.

It also advises that states “should work with financial institutions, insurance providers, and regulatory authorities” to ensure that marijuana retailers have access to insurance and financial services.

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Trump Deputies Cancel Illegal Migrants’ Social Security Numbers

President Donald Trump’s deputies are wiping up the Social Security Numbers that were quietly given to illegal migrants by prior administrations.

The multi-stage plan has already wiped out more than 6,300 numbers given to migrants with criminal records, terrorist affiliations, or cancelled visas.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday night:

The move, requested by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem, is aimed at putting pressure on the undocumented immigrants to leave the country, according to a White House official.

…

The action marks the start of a major campaign by the Trump administration to force out potentially hundreds of thousands who are living in the U.S. illegally but who have a Social Security number, allowing them to collect Medicaid, Medicare, unemployment insurance, federal loans or other benefits, the people said. The next target for inclusion in the database will be 92,000 undocumented immigrants with some kind of criminal conviction, the White House official said, but the effort will expand to undocumented immigrants without criminal histories after that.

“The goal is to cut [migrants] off from using crucial financial services like bank accounts and credit cards, along with their access to government benefits,” the New York Times reported on Thursday.

“President Trump promised mass deportations, and by removing the monetary incentive for illegal aliens to come and stay, we will encourage them to self-deport,” White House spokeswoman Elizabeth Huston said in a statement.

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Taliban morality enforcers arrest men for having the wrong hairstyle or skipping mosque, UN says

The Taliban morality police in Afghanistan have detained men and their barbers over hairstyles and others for missing prayers at mosques during the holy month of Ramadan, a U.N. report said Thursday, six months after laws regulating people’s conduct came into effect.

The Vice and Virtue Ministry published laws last August covering many aspects everyday life in Afghanistan, including public transport, music, shaving and celebrations. Most notably, the ministry issued a ban on women’s voices and bare faces in public.

That same month, a top U.N. official warned the laws provided a “distressing vision” for the country’s future by adding to existing employment, education, and dress code restrictions on women and girls. Taliban officials have rejected U.N. concerns about the morality laws.

Thursday’s report, from the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, said in the first 6 months of the laws’ implementation, over half of detentions made under it concerned “either men not having the compliant beard length or hairstyle, or barbers providing non-compliant beard trimming or haircuts.”

The report said that the morality police regularly detained people arbitrarily “without due process and legal protections.”

During the holy fasting month of Ramadan, men’s attendance at mandated congregational prayers was closely monitored, leading at times to arbitrary detention of those who didn’t show up, the report added.

The U.N. mission said that both sexes were negatively affected, particularly people with small businesses such as private education centers, barbers and hairdressers, tailors, wedding caterers and restaurants, leading to a reduction or total loss of income and employment opportunities.

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Trump Orders Security Clearance Revoked for Former CISA Director Chris Krebs Amid Investigation into Censorship and Political Bias

Former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Chris Krebs is once again facing public examination after President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to revoke Krebs’ security clearance and evaluate the access of others tied to him, including colleagues at the cybersecurity company SentinelOne.

The order, issued via a presidential memorandum on Wednesday, marks a renewed push to scrutinize the former official’s role in what the Trump team describes as a coordinated campaign to censor political speech under the pretense of cybersecurity.

According to the administration’s statement, this action is part of a wider national security review aimed at determining whether individuals with access to sensitive intelligence are acting in alignment with what it calls “the national interest.” The memorandum also calls for a reassessment of CISA’s operations going back six years, asserting that the agency engaged in actions that directly contradicted the foundational principles of free expression.

Krebs currently holds a senior intelligence and policy position at SentinelOne, a publicly traded cybersecurity firm that entered into a partnership with CISA in 2023 to bolster digital protections for critical U.S. infrastructure. The company has not issued a public response to the developments.

The White House released a statement along with the directive, declaring:

“ENDING GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP: President Trump is committed to ending government censorship of Americans and believes that those who engage in such conduct should not have access to our nation’s secrets.”

The release levels pointed allegations at Krebs, accusing him of weaponizing his role at CISA to silence conservative voices. It claims that the agency’s collaboration with social media companies during his tenure amounted to political interference masked as a fight against misinformation.

The statement further alleges that Krebs and his team discouraged transparency around topics ranging from election vulnerabilities to the COVID-19 pandemic, and attempted to downplay the Hunter Biden laptop story, a matter that remains politically charged.

During the 2020 election cycle, CISA worked with major online platforms to address “disinformation,” a strategy that drew concern from Republican lawmakers who viewed the effort as an overreach and a potential tool of political bias.

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Trump threatens tariffs and sanctions on Mexico for ‘stealing’ water from Texas farmers

President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs, and possibly sanctions against Mexico, if it continues to rob South Texas farmers of Rio Grande water promised under a decades-old treaty.

In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump proclaimed that Mexico owes Texas 1.3 million acre-feet of water under the 1944 Water Treaty, though Mexico was violating their obligation.

“This is very unfair, and it is hurting South Texas Farmers very badly,” the president wrote. “Last year, the only Sugar Mill in Texas CLOSED, because Mexico has been stealing the water from Texas Farmers. Ted Cruz has been leading the fight to get South Texas the water it is owed, but Sleepy Joe refused to lift a finger to help the Farmers. THAT ENDS NOW!”

Trump continued, saying he will make sure Mexico does not violate treaties with the U.S. and hurt farmers in Texas.

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FDA Says It Plans to Phase out Animal Testing for Drug Development

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on April 10 said it will be phasing out animal testing for monoclonal antibodies and other drugs.

FDA officials said that its animal testing requirement will be “reduced, refined, or potentially replaced” with other approaches, including advanced computer simulations utilizing artificial intelligence and lab-grown products that are designed to mimic human organs.

The agency will also start looking at preexisting, real-world safety data from other countries that have regulatory standards similar to those in the United States.

“For too long, drug manufacturers have performed additional animal testing of drugs that have data in broad human use internationally. This initiative marks a paradigm shift in drug evaluation and holds promise to accelerate cures and meaningful treatments for Americans while reducing animal use,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said in a statement.

He said that the move “represents a major step toward ending the use of laboratory animals in drug testing.”

Companies that submit what the agency described as strong safety data from non-animal testing could receive faster review, according to the FDA.

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“Case 17”: Perfectly healthy 83-year-old woman dies 10 days after Pfizer vaccine with massive histological damage across multiple organs

I’m going to share with you the ChatGPT autopsy report on “Case 17” which is one of over 75 deaths of people investigated by German pathologist Arne Burkhardt at the request of family members who thought the death was suspicious.

In 77% of the referred cases, Burkhardt could confirm the association between the vaccine and death. What that implies is that the family members are correctly assessing causality about 80% of the time. This is about 80% better than medical doctors who are right about 0% of the time.

I want you to see for yourself just how incredibly damaging the COVID vaccines are.

They can kill you in just a matter of days (sometimes years) and the damage can be so widespread it’s hard to tell exactly what you died from. It’s like dying from multiple stab wounds; it’s hard to tell which one killed you.

Even ChatGPT who normally tries to gaslight people into believing the shots are safe was horrified.

Here’s how ChatGPT described the cause of death:

It’s a bit like seeing a ship sink—not because one hole blew it open, but because 10 small-to-medium breaches overwhelmed the hull at once.

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Swiss Pharma Company Announces $23 Billion U.S. Investment Days After Trump Pledged ‘Major Tariff’ on Drug Imports

Pharmaceutical company Novartis announced plans to build seven facilities in the United States and expand others in a $23 billion investment over five years on the heels of President Donald Trump’s announcement of forthcoming tariffs on imported drugs.

The Swiss company revealed the major investment in a press release.

“This commitment enables Novartis to expand on its current manufacturing, research and technology presence across the country with 10 facilities, including 7 brand new facilities, creating nearly 1,000 new jobs at Novartis and approximately 4,000 additional US jobs,” the release said.

Six of the facilities will be manufacturing plants, two of which will focus on radioligand therapy in Florida and Texas. It remains to be seen where the other four plants will be built.

Moreover, the company is establishing a biomedical research innovation center in San Diego as part of the investment, and it is expanding three of its production facilities in Indiana, New Jersey, and California.

The company also noted that its goal is to ensure “all key Novartis medicines for US patients will be made in the United States.”

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Kiev broke energy ceasefire five times in 24 hours – Moscow

Ukrainian forces have launched five separate attacks against Russian energy infrastructure in 24 hours, the Defense Ministry in Moscow reported on Friday. The strikes are the latest breach by Kiev of a US-mediated ceasefire on such attacks, the ministry said.

The listed incidents included shelling against elements of the Russian power grid and a drone strike against a transformer station, all causing disruptions in electricity supply, according to the ministry.

A partial ceasefire was announced by Russia on March 18, after President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with his US counterpart, Donald Trump. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has publicly supported the idea, but also complained that Russia wouldn’t agree to a full ceasefire. Putin cited difficulties with monitoring violations along the lengthy front line and the potential for Kiev to use the pause for military build-up, explaining his concerns about a full truce. Russia continues to honor the ceasefire on energy strikes despite Ukrainian breaches, the Defense Ministry said on Friday.

The Russian military has reported Ukrainian attacks breaching the moratorium on a daily basis, some of them involving long-range kamikaze drones targeting major energy facilities on Russian soil. The Defense Ministry has described the incidents as demonstrating Kiev’s duplicity.

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