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The shocking truth is coming out about Dem Senator Al Franken from SNL and from Minnesota. It's not so shocking. I look forward to a thorough investigation. It will confirm what we already know -- he is a fat pig, slob, dog and disgusting animal who has ZERO respect for women. 🐷 Who forcibly kisses them, filling their mouths with his foul slime. 🐽 Who treats them like SHIT. 💩

He apologized. He says he respects women. Tell that to Israel, Al! Tell that to Israel. 🔯

Low I.Q. Al Frankenstein came to the Senate cafeteria, and insisted on joining me. He was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no! Up close and personal, he could only be described as attractive if you like a man with a bad complexion who is built like a linebacker. Not exactly one of the great beauties of the world, according to anybody. I have a picture of Fat Al when he was a huge, huge WHALE. 🐋 He lost weight, he's still a fat slob! I just took that picture out of the drawer where I keep it. I just took it out. Not for long, believe me. The picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. DISGUSTING!

Al Franken is disgusting, both inside and out. If you take a look at him, he's a slob. How does he even get on television? If I were running the Senate I'd fire Al. I'd look him right in that fat, ugly face of his and say, "Al, you're fired." We're all a little chubby but Al's just worse than most of us. But it's not the chubbiness -- Al is a very unattractive person, both inside and out. Beauty and elegance, whether in a man, a building, or a work of art, is not just superficial or something pretty to see. I really understand beauty. And I will tell you, he's not. #MeToo #ImpeachHim

Every hour we're getting calls from reporters from the Fake News Washington Post asking ridiculous questions. And I will tell you, this is owned as a toy by Jeff Bezos. Amazon is getting away with MURDER, tax-wise. He's using the Washington Post for power so that the politicians in Washington don't tax Amazon like they should be taxed. He thinks I'll go after him for antitrust. Because he's got a huge antitrust problem because he's controlling so much, Amazon is controlling so much of what they are doing. He's using the Washington Post, which is peanuts, he's using that for political purposes to save Amazon in terms of taxes and in terms of antitrust.

@LennyMBernstein of the Washington Post called the WRONG person in Alabama. When he called Pastor Al Moore looking for a woman to make "damaging remarks" about Judge Roy Moore. And offered a "$5000 to $7000" reward. DISGUSTING! www.facebook.com/WKRG.News.5/videos/10155917973537500/

This is a dumping ground for links and other stuff for the 2018 4/20 article. Might as well get started now. Feel free to post articles or your suggestions in here up until April 20, 2018 (journal comments remain open forever, if you hadn't noticed). The article will cover topics including but not limited to cannabis, the opioid crisis, and the drug policies of any countries you are interested in, not just the U.S. I especially want articles regarding state/local ballot initiatives, implementation of drug policies, and the like, as well as articles about single events that can fit well on a timeline (such as this). If you want to critique the pro-legalization crowd, that's fine too.

Theoretically, the article could grow to an insane size without pissing everyone off too much with liberal use of the spoiler tag:

I've already lost some of the links below due to an invalid resource error. I will probably edit my extension to add the equivalent of the "submission draft" feature for journals.

This journal entry will be edited to include more links and notes as we get closer. Although I'll retain a few surprises for the actual article.

Here are the past 4/20 articles:

2015: 4/20: StonerNews is People
2016: 4/20: Half-Baked Headline
2017: 4/20: The Third Time's Not the Charm

Timeline
(I have to decide whether I want to include many events or just past SoylentNews articles here.)

April 21: Massachusetts Throws Out 21,587 Tainted Drug Convictions
April 23: Remake of Classic "Your Brain on Drugs" Ad Slams Disastrous Drug War

May 11: Vermont Legislature Passes Cannabis Legalisation Bill
May 15: Jeff Sessions Reboots the Drug War
May 16: Cop Brushes Fentanyl Off Uniform, Overdoses

July 31: 34 Criminal Cases Tossed after Body cam Footage Shows Cop Planting Drugs

August 5: Cannabis Company Buys Entire California Town to Create Marijuana Tourist Destination
August 11: President Trump Declares the Opioid Crisis a National Emergency
August 17: Another Canadian Banned From the U.S. for Past Drug Use
August 30: FDA Designates MDMA as a "Breakthrough Therapy" for PTSD; Approves Phase 3 Trials

September 11: Thanks to the DEA and Drug War, Your Prescription Records Have Zero Expectation of Privacy

October 14: Study Suggests Psilocybin "Resets" the Brains of Depressed People
October 26: According to Gallup, American Support for Cannabis Legalization is at an All-Time High
October 27: Opioid Crisis Official; Insys Therapeutics Billionaire Founder Charged; Walgreens Stocks Narcan
October 28: Study Finds That More Frequent Use of Cannabis is Associated With Having More Sex

November 2: FDA Cracking Down on Unsubstantiated Cannabidiol Health Claims
November 4: People Who Take Psychedelics Are Less Likely to Commit Violent Crimes, Study Says
November 15: FDA Blocks More Imports of Kratom, Warns Against Use as a Treatment for Opioid Withdrawal
"Drug Bazooka" Seized Near the U.S.-Mexican Border
November 16: Opioid Commission Drops the Ball, Demonizes Cannabis
November 27: Hallucination Machine: Psychedelic Visuals in VR

December: World Health Organization Clashes With DEA on CBD; CBD May be an Effective Treatment for Psychosis
Ketamine Reduces Suicidal Thoughts in Depressed Patients

Links

* Veterans in New York can now get medical marijuana to treat PTSD
* A 12-Year-Old Girl With Epilepsy Is Suing Jeff Sessions Over Medical Marijuana
* Marijuana could be legal in New Jersey as soon as April
* The War On Drugs Repackaged
* Campaign to legalise magic mushrooms gains momentum in California
* Reports: Manson hospitalized in California
* Ohio's First Crop of Medical Marijuana Dealers See Green, But Face Hurdles
* The Rush is on for Ohio's Marijuana Dispensary Licenses
* Don Martin: Retired cops chasing pot of gold at the end of legalization rainbow
* Veterans are key as surge of states OK medical pot for PTSD (archive)
* The Indigenous Mexican Tribe That Honors Rare Psychedelic Toads
* What It's Like to Smoke the World's Strongest Psychedelic Toad Venom
* Europe's Largest Legal Weed Farm Is Being Built in a Nuclear Bunker
* Why It Feels Like You Can Communicate with Nature on LSD
* Jeff Sessions Isn’t Giving up on Weed. He’s Doubling Down.
* VIDEO: For LSD, What A Long Strange Trip It's Been
* New York Is Closer Than Ever to Legalizing Weed
* Solving the Dutch Pot Paradox: Legal to Buy, but Not to Grow
* Non-psychoactive cannabis ingredient (CBD) could help addicts stay clean
* A Dying Southern Town Needed a Miracle. Marijuana Came Calling.
* Reader: Kratom Saved My Life From a Heroin Addiction

Notes

Cannabis is the scientific term for the drug colloquially known as "marihuana/marijuana", which is now regarded as an outdated and racist term that was intended to scare the public.

What is the difference between "opioids" and "opiates"? "Opioid" is a broader term:

Want to legalize drugs easily? Make recreational drugs treatments for "boredom" and "spiritual malaise".

I'm going to make a MAJOR, MAJOR statement later. Time & date TBD. Maybe tonight. Nobody really knows. I don't think anybody really knows. But later. #TrumpTV 📺

Thoughts and prayers with the people of Iran. Who just had a major, major earthquake. 7.3, with hundreds and hundreds killed. I called the president of Iran to give condolences on the terrible earthquake. I tried to call him. But I couldn't get through because of his cell phone reception at the site.

I've said before, they have suckered us. Iran has suckered us. They have taken advantage of stupid people, stupid representatives, people that are incompetent, whether it's Kerry or our president. I don't blame Iran. After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens?

To the Supreme Leader of Iran, if you're listening, thank you for limiting the range of your missiles. I really believe you limited it. I accept it, because you said so. I have a lot of things going on, I'm very happy I don't have to worry about your missiles. Very happy. I know you work with North Korea. You have great chemistry with North Korea. Which has become a threat. As long as we stand together, that threat will never happen, doesn’t even have a chance. The entire civilized world must unite to confront the North Korea menace and the entire world is watching us right now.

To the families of the victims, we are praying for you, and we are here for you. And we ask God to help see you through this very dark period. May God bless the souls of the lives that are lost, may God give you the grace of healing and may God provide the grieving families with strength to carry on. Good luck to everybody! Good luck. ✝️🙏

Report: Green Beret killed by SEALs after he uncovered alleged theft

Two Navy SEALs being investigated over the death of an Army Green Beret in Mali in June are accused of killing him after he discovered they had been stealing, according to a report in the Daily Beast.

CNN has not independently verified the information in Saturday's article, which the Daily Beast attributes to "five members of the special-operations community who were not cleared to speak publicly."

Naval Criminal Investigative Service spokesman Ed Buice confirmed to CNN last month that the NCIS was investigating whether two members of the Navy's elite SEAL Team Six killed Army Staff Sgt. Logan J. Melgar.

The New York Times was the first to report that the SEALs were under investigation for Melgar's death at a US government compound near the American embassy in Bamako, the capital.

[...] The Daily Beast article cites two special operations sources as saying the SEALs under investigation over Melgar's death had been taking money from a fund used to pay informants. It says the sources allege that Melgar uncovered the theft and declined an offer to take a cut of the proceeds. On June 4, according to the Daily Beast's sources, an altercation broke out -- the cause of which the article says is unknown -- and Melgar stopped breathing. The SEALs and another Green Beret took Melgar to hospital, the Beast quotes former AFRICOM officials as saying.

Now that's what I call a dishonorable discharge.

Original story: Woman says Roy Moore initiated sexual encounter when she was 14, he was 32 (archive)

Roy Moore can still win

Moore has zero incentive to listen to calls from official Washington for him to leave the race. In fact, the louder those calls get, the more likely it is that Moore digs in even further.

Then there is the fact that the widespread condemnation of Moore among GOP senators is not entirely shared by Alabama Republicans.

Take Alabama state auditor Jim Ziegler, for one. In an interview, Ziegler downplayed the accusations against Moore by citing Scripture:

Take the Bible. Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist. Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus. There's just nothing immoral or illegal here. Maybe just a little bit unusual.

Then there was Alabama Marion County GOP chair David Hall, who told the Toronto Star's Daniel Dale this: "It was 40 years ago. I really don't see the relevance of it. He was 32. She was supposedly 14. She's not saying that anything happened other than they kissed."

In the Post report, however, the accuser also says Moore sexually assaulted her. She says Moore touched her and forced her to touch him.

Marrying young girls is old hat. We just grope and move on now.

Romney: 'Unfit' Moore 'should step aside'

Why do we care what Romney thinks, again?

Romney mulling Senate bid: report
I Never Liked Mitt Romney, But Now I’m Desperate for His Comeback

Oh, ok.

I went to the new restaurant that wants to become the 'McDonald's of pasta' — and they are onto something big

Ladner says Pasta Flyer's service model embodies the two cornerstones of fast food: speed and low prices. But he refers to the food itself as "slow" and more comparable to what you'd find at a traditional restaurant.

[...] I sampled four pastas: fusilli with basil pesto sauce, fettuccine with creamy Alfredo sauce, whole grain rigatoni with Nonna's meat ragu, and spaghetti and meatballs with marinara sauce. I was shocked to find that all four were of the same quality I would expect from an upscale Italian restaurant that charges around $25 for a bowl of pasta. The noodles were cooked to al dente perfection, the sauces were warm and rich, and the meat was flavorful and tender. The dishes were simple, but done right.

[...] To make this happen, Ladner says the sauces are held just above a temperature set by the NYC Department of Health. After a customer orders, their noodles are cooked in 15 seconds while their sauce is brought to a boil, and then the two are plated.

[...] Ladner says the wheat is milled directly before the pasta is made, resulting in a noodle that's "fresh and alive," and will still be al dente when you eat it a day later as leftovers. "It's the best pasta I know of in the world, and it's $7.50," he says.

I love what's happening with #SESTA, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. Which did tremendously well in the Senate Commerce Committee. Senator Feinstein loves it. Senator Portman and Senator Blumenthal are sponsoring it. Sheryl from Facebook loves it, Facebook is all for it. 21st Century Fox, which is Fox News, loves it. Disney, which does great work with our precious children, loves it. Google, Oracle and HP, some of our biggest cyber companies, love it. Almost everybody loves it.

But some LOSERS don't love it. They don't get it. They say "Oh, SESTA is censorship!" It's not censorship. Believe me, it's not censorship. The Consumer Technology Association, the Internet Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontiers Foundation -- these are foolish people. They don't understand that we need to close up our internet. To stop the pimping that has turned America's internet into a big, big brothel. The biggest. As you know, we're having major, major problems with the pimping sites. The pimps have taken over our internet. SESTA can fix this problem easily and quickly. We can begin to #LockThemUp. China was having tremendous problems with its cyber, they got it under control. We must do the same. Folks, tell your senators, don't listen to the fools. Don't listen to the losers. Tell them to pass SESTA! We need it very badly. Time is quickly running out, we must act fast, and hopefully Congress will act faster and more effectively than anyone. I know one thing about Congress, if they work on it hard, it will happen. We DESPERATELY need SESTA. I am sitting in Beijing with a pen in hand, waiting for our senators to give it to me. I have pen in hand. Believe me, I'm in China, I have pen in hand. 🇺🇸🇨🇳

Folks, time zones can be very confusing. In Massachusetts they're trying to decide, what time zone are they in? Here in China, as you know, they don't have time zones. And it can be very confusing for a child when his father goes very far away, crossing many, many time zones. I know some of you just finished a tremendous election. Very sad for those of you who are Dems. Because my great Republican Party did amazingly well. While your party is dead. It's dead and the DNC doesn't know why. They don't want to know. But I think the very crooked DNC is a big, big part of it.

It's been a year since our tremendous election of November 2016. One of the best elections, probably the best election ever in the history of the world. In which I said we'd better stop business as usual and not be beholden to ways of the past which were not working. And the American people gave me a HUGE victory. Which was really a victory for them. Because I always, always put the American people first. Some of my great Republican candidates do too. And those who do have done very well. Congratulations to the winners! Big wins for my Republican Party in the House of Representatives. Massive win in the Electoral College! pic.twitter.com/7ifv5gT7Ur

But we had a couple of LOSERS. .@ChrisChristie is a big loser. Maybe, probably the biggest, because he's very, very fat. A big fat slob. He needs to go on The Biggest Loser to lose a lot of weight. He didn't lose weight, he lost the election. He gave me his endorsement last year, but it was a big negative for me. A huge negative, almost a disaster. I think he was angling to be @VP, can you imagine if I'd picked him? It would be like Laurel & Hardy!

Ed Gillespie, who never supported me, also lost. He's a hard worker but he's a LOSER. He was always against what I stand for, against Making America Great Again. When my terrific alt-right went to Charlottesville to protect our statues, protect our heritage, culture & history, he was against them. And it was a disaster. So he lost, big league.

It's a sad day for our great states of New Jersey and Virginia. It's not sad, because they voted out LOSERS. Who are Republicans. Who happen to be Republicans. But it's sad because they voted in Dems. Who are losers because they're Dems. Who are Dems because they're losers.

Meanwhile, I'm in China. Which is amazing. Very different from the USA, it's like night and day. The wealth of China is amazing, it's really something. We've made other countries rich, while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country has dissipated over the horizon. Thinking about holding a big rally in Tiananmen Square! I'm kidding. Obviously I'm kidding. The Chinese are very rich and very happy. Of course they're happy, they have everything they could possibly want. Except Trump hotels. I'd love to have big, beautiful Trump hotels in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. I'm very busy right now but my people, if you're listening, you can think about opening hotels there. That will be a great day for China.

Had a great time in Japan and Korea. Japanese burgers & Coke are just like ours. pic.twitter.com/9RiaibqNLO Korean food is fantastic. Strange, but amazingly good. They have something called Taco Tuesday. Which they do every Tuesday. It's a big tradition for them. I had a taco 🌮 and a burrito 🌯 -- those are like stuffed crêpes, they make them with a thin, round bread like a crêpe -- for lunch there. And for dinner there was corn, ribs and TRIPLE chocolate cake with raspberry sauce. It's the threesome of chocolate. Which I never had before. I had double chocolate before, they added a third chocolate. To make it three. It was the best chocolate cake you've ever had in your life. It was my first triple, I felt like I lost my virginity all over again. Like I was a baby before this. For me it wasn't a triple, it was a home run. Tremendous! I'm going to tell the chefs at the White House, at both White Houses, all about Korean food. Maybe they can bake me a cake with four chocolates! They say travel expands the mind. I think it can expand the waistline too. But a slob like Chris Christie can get fat without going anywhere. pic.twitter.com/wyOdmqcFLd

Stay safe while I'm away. Above all, stay away from the NFL. Don't go to the games, don't watch them on TV. Boycott the NFL until such time as they respect Anthem, Flag and Country. And good luck. Good luck, everybody. #USAStrong #NFLBoycott #Neverwatch #BoycottTheNFL #BoycottNFL 🇺🇸