A cabal of heavily connected, Washington, DC drug warriors are backing lawsuits to block legalization across the United States, the Denver Post reports. The in-depth report highlights how America’s one-hundred-year-old war on marijuana isn’t going to end without a fight.
Three of the four lawsuits filed against Colorado’s legal cannabis regime have received funding from a major Washington, DC law firm employed by drug testing groups. (Drug testing companies stand to lose billions of dollars if mandatory marijuana screenings decrease under legalization.)
Robert Horn’s firm Jackson Lewis is suing Colorado, and stands to profit from extending pot prohibition.
Credits: Jackson Lewis
Mark de Bernardo, a partner in the top 100 law firm Jackson Lewis who has written nineteen books on drug testing, was hired to find local Colorado citizens who would have standing to challenge Colorado legalization, the Denver Post found. De Bernardo and Jackson Lewis are putting up all the money and time to sue Colorado on behalf of a group of Colorado sheriffs.
Other donors to the lawsuits are former heads of the DEA and the White House ONDCP — individuals who usually leave public office for private positions in the drug war.
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Another lawsuit sponsor is the Florida-based Drug Free America Foundation, whose board includes Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush. DFAF is linked to Straight Inc. — a “chain of Drug War-era rehabilitation clinics that were shut down after allegations of sexual, physical and psychological abuse of teenage clients.” Florida Drug warrior Calvina Fay is funding an anti-legalization lawsuit in Colorado.
Credits: YouTube
DFAF director Calvina Fay told the Post, “our colleagues in Colorado, since all of this came to task, have begged for some kind of relief — ‘What can the group do to help us?’ — because they’re very concerned about their communities.”
Fay intends to file more lawsuits in legal states.
Another major backer is the shadowy group, the Safe Streets Alliance, headed by Reagan-era drug warrior James Wootton. These lawsuits are the last stand for the drug war, legal experts argue. James Wootton
Credits: LinkedIn
“We are fully aware that this is a national proxy fight,” Colorado official Sal Pace, a defendant in the ranchers’ lawsuit, told the Post. “The result of these lawsuits will have implications for the entire state and nation. If they’re successful in this lawsuit, they can shut down the entire industry in the entire state.”
“The opponents of marijuana-law reform argue that such measures pose significant dangers, from increased crime and juvenile delinquency to addiction and death. But legalization’s biggest threat is to the bottom line of these same special interests, which reap significant monetary advantages from pot prohibition that are rarely acknowledged in the public debate.”
2. Greenhouse gas emissions are also warming lakes around the world — at even a faster rate than oceans, the Chron$ reports, citing a new international survey. The survey of 235 lakes worldwide, including Lake Tahoe, found that the water temperature of lakes “has risen by an average of 0.61 degrees Fahrenheit during every decade for at least the past 25 years.”
Linda Jacobson and Lauren Hewitt believe in the restorative healing power and brain-healthy benefits of Ping-Pong. They’re hoping to spread those benefits in a series of free pop-up Ping-Pong parties throughout the East Bay, the first of which will be held at Rhythmix Cultural Works (2513 Blanding Ave., in Alameda) on Sunday. The duo is also scouting locations in Oakland to open up the very first PaddleSnap Urban Resort. Based on renderings and the information provided on the group’s website, the resort will be a lounge of sorts, equipped with ping-pong tables and couches, with “nutritious nibbles, brews, and beverages.” Jacobson said she’s hoping to move into a space by the end of 2016 but said they’re still looking for investors to finance the endeavor. Jacobson said that right now, she and Hewitt are personally funding the future resort’s development, including buying the ping-pong tables for the pop-up parties. So far, however, the public response to the pop-ups has been overwhelming, Jacobson said. The event is free, but an RSVP is required. Visit Rhythmix.org for a link to the event page.
Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap is the longest running play in history for a reason. The famous story, which has been running since it premiered in 1952, is masterfully saturated with suspense. It’s a classic murder mystery that takes place at a remote guesthouse in England, in which an amateur detective somehow exposes the not-so-charming underbelly of a seemingly pleasant community. Shotgun Players’ Artistic Director Patrick Dooley has been a Christie fan since he discovered her work on his grandmother’s dusty bookshelf as a kid. He chose Mousetrap as the culmination to Shotgun’s first season of all female-written plays. It premiered in early December, but, unsurprisingly, it was extended until January 24. That means if you haven’t seen it already, you still have four more nights to find out whodunit.
Singer, rapper, and producer Anderson Paak was an underground LA musician until Dr. Dre unexpectedly tapped him to collaborate on his final studio album, Compton. Paak — who was relatively unknown at the time of the record’s summer 2015 release — appears in this final chapter of Dr. Dre’s discography a total of six times, which piqued the music industry’s interest in the multi-talented young artist. Since Compton, Paak has performed at the Oakland Music Festival and released his latest album, Malibu. Malibu’s sonic palette is soulful and earthy, with plenty of ear-pleasing soul samples that call to mind the vintage feel of D’Angelo’s Black Messiah or even the eclectic production on Kendrick Lamar’s groundbreaking To Pimp a Butterfly. Throughout the record, Paak rhymes with unexpected cadences, switching up tempos and bending his raspy voice in ways that sometimes evoke a brass instrument. He has a free show at 1015 Folsom on January 21.
John Casey has a signature style of illustration. His wiry black lines twist into contour drawings that form disproportionate figures. And within his body of work, there are a few characteristics that are particularly recognizable — namely, hands and pants. But Casey has decided to share those elements. For his ongoing project, “Hands and Pants,” he draws versions of hands and pants on otherwise blank paper, then distributes them to his artistic peers. And every once in a while, he puts the newest ones into an exhibition. Hands and Pants 6, currently on view at Faultline Art Space (815 High St., Oakland) through February 27, includes more than one hundred of those collaborations. Participating artists include Deth P. Sun, David Polka, Lucien Shapiro, Lexa Walsh, Marcos LaFarga, Ryan De La Hoz, and Max Kauffman. The result is a wild range of riffs on Casey’s work that collectively symbolize his artistic community. It’s also a really fun show, and each piece is only $150.
If you go to a Diesel Dudes show, you can expect to see lots of tighty-whities, leather, and sweat. The Oakland electro-punk group’s live performances have a reputation for their absurdist displays of masculinity. But while it’s tempting to call Diesel Dudes’ hyperbolic aesthetic parody, it ultimately comes off as sincere — albeit completely bizarre. The bandmembers are disciples of EBM (or electronic body music), a style of dark, synth-driven punk that became popular in Europe in the Eighties. Rife with pulsating, danceable beats, EBM emphasizes that listening to music is a physical experience. Diesel Dudes tap into this theme with allusions to muscles and pumping iron, with tracks such as “Body Clench” and “Thrusts Per Minute.” On January 23 the band performs at Sgraffito Gallery with Oakland bands OVVN and Toner, as well as Casual Hex, which is on tour from Seattle.
Nellie Wong was born in Oakland Chinatown to Chinese immigrants. She worked at her family’s restaurant and graduated from Oakland High School. In the 1970’s, as a student at San Francisco State University, she began publishing her poetry, which speaks to race, sex, and class discrimination. Now, she is a well-recognized feminist poet, and recently released her fourth book of poetry, entitled Breakfast Lunch Dinner. Wong will be at Liminal, a feminist writing space in Oakland (3037 38th Ave.), on January 23 at 3 p.m. to read from her latest release and discuss the intersection of art, politics, and feminism. She will be joined by performance artist and writer Jezebel Delilah X, who is also co-managing editor of Everyday Feminism, co-host of the queer feminist open mic Culture Fuck, and on the board of popular blog Black Girl Dangerous.
As a fundraiser for Berkeley Liberation Radio on 104.1 FM, which purports to be “the East Bay’s premiere anti-FCC airwave savior,” One Fam in West Oakland is hosting a show with several excellent dark, noisy local bands that are also involved in DIY radio production. S.B.S.M., an Oakland trio that juxtaposes thunderous beats with abrasive vocals, eerie synths, and digital glitches, will perform at the event. The group hosts the weekly radio show Scream Queens on the station. It takes place every Wednesday from 10 p.m. to midnight and features other local bands with a penchant for stark, austere sonic palettes. The Noriegas, The Fathers, and O)x_3y3 will be joining S.B.S.M. on the bill, and proceeds from the show will go to covering Berkeley Liberation Radio’s rent and other operational costs.
An earlier drawing of the building proposed for construction at 2330 Webster Street.
Credits: Thompson Dorfman Partners
On Tuesday night, the Oakland City Council is planning to renew two expensive court-mandated contracts for police oversight, establish a Privacy Advisory Commission, sell two large blocks of city-owned land in the Uptown to developers for $9.45 million, take a final vote on three new firearms safety laws, and discuss ways of providing shelter for the homeless.
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Selling land Uptown: The city owns a lot of real estate that was once under the control of the Oakland Redevelopment Agency. Now all this land is being put up for sale. One chunk includes two surface parking lots on Webster and Valdez streets between 23rd and 24th streets in the Uptown. The city council will vote on whether to sell this land to a team of developers who are proposing a five-story 234 unit apartment building, a public parking garage with 242 spaces, and ground floor retail. The apartment building will include an affordable housing component — 24 apartments priced for renters who earn between fifty and eighty percent of the area median income. The city paid $4,050,000 for the property in 2010, and will sell the land for $9,450,000, earning the city a profit of $5,400,000. However, the city will purchase back the 242 space parking garage from the developer for $13,468,780 when it is completed.
In other real estate news, last week the Port of Oakland confirmed that it is authorizing Ellis Partners to sell its Jack London Square properties, which includes seven buildings and lots on the waterfront, to the CIM Group.
Guns: Oakland’s three new gun laws include a ban on storing firearms and ammunition in unattended vehicles on public streets, unless they’re in a locked container; a ban on “high capacity” gun magazines that can hold ten or more rounds; and an ordinance requiring guns stored in residences be secured in safes or with trigger locks. The NRA has already warned Oakland that it will sue the city to prevent implementation of the high capacity magazine ban and the in-home secured storage law. And it appears that the city will have to meet and confer with Oakland’s police officers’ union to negotiate the new rules for storing guns in vehicles. One of the main goals of the in-vehicle secured storage law is to reduce the number of guns stolen from police cars. According to recent reports, it appears that a significant number of guns are stolen each year from the vehicles of law enforcement agents in the Bay Area.
Police oversight contracts: In 2000, the City of Oakland and the Oakland Police Department were sued by more than one hundred people, most them Black, who alleged that OPD officers were racially profiling them, and in some cases planting drugs on them and brutally arresting them. To avoid having the city’s police department taken over by the federal government, the city signed a settlement agreement in 2003 promising to accomplish an extensive list of reforms. Overseeing this reform process are outside contractors. This week the city is reauthorizing two police oversight contracts. One contract with Police Performance Solutions, LLC is being extended by $650,000, bringing the total contract amount to $5,894,320. The second contract extension is with Warshaw & Associates for $165,000, bringing the total amount to $495,000. Since 2003, Oakland has spent millions in an effort to come into full compliance with the settlement agreement, and millions more in newly filed police misconduct lawsuits.
Privacy commission: Just over two years ago, many Oakland residents objected to a proposal that sought to establish a city-wide surveillance hub called the Domain Awareness Center (DAC). In response, the city scaled back the DAC to be a Port of Oakland-only surveillance system. The city council also set up an ad hoc committee to provide advice on ways to strengthen privacy protections as the DAC is built out at the Port. Now, the city is making this ad hoc committee permanent. The new Privacy Advisory Commission will will have nine members appointed by the mayor and approved by the council. One of the first and most important tasks of the privacy commission will be to draft a surveillance technology ordinance that will apply to all future surveillance technologies that Oakland might acquire and use. Tuesday night’s vote will be the second reading of the ordinance establishing the privacy commission.
Homelessness Crisis: Last year the city allocated $260,000 for programs to assist the homeless. Tomorrow night the city council will consider a range of assistance programs and a new allocation of as much as $6,590,000 toward helping the homeless. Ideas include expanding the number of winter shelter beds in Oakland by as many as fifty, subsidizing the Oakland Housing Authority’s transitional housing voucher program, and creating a “tiny-homes” pilot program to house the homeless in small, “flexible” shacks.
A cabal of heavily connected, Washington, DC drug warriors are backing lawsuits to block legalization across the United States, the Denver Post reports. The in-depth report highlights how America’s one-hundred-year-old war on marijuana isn’t going to end without a fight.
Three of the four lawsuits filed against Colorado’s legal cannabis regime have received funding from a major Washington, DC...
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. The world’s oceans have been warming at an increasingly rapid rate in the past two decades, as they absorb massive amounts of heat created by the burning of fossil fuels, the Chron$ reports, citing a new study from scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The new data shows that deeper parts of the oceans are also...
Linda Jacobson and Lauren Hewitt believe in the restorative healing power and brain-healthy benefits of Ping-Pong. They’re hoping to spread those benefits in a series of free pop-up Ping-Pong parties throughout the East Bay, the first of which will be held at Rhythmix Cultural Works (2513 Blanding Ave., in Alameda) on Sunday. The duo is also scouting locations in...
Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap is the longest running play in history for a reason. The famous story, which has been running since it premiered in 1952, is masterfully saturated with suspense. It’s a classic murder mystery that takes place at a remote guesthouse in England, in which an amateur detective somehow exposes the not-so-charming underbelly of a seemingly pleasant community....
Singer, rapper, and producer Anderson Paak was an underground LA musician until Dr. Dre unexpectedly tapped him to collaborate on his final studio album, Compton. Paak — who was relatively unknown at the time of the record’s summer 2015 release — appears in this final chapter of Dr. Dre’s discography a total of six times, which piqued the music...
John Casey has a signature style of illustration. His wiry black lines twist into contour drawings that form disproportionate figures. And within his body of work, there are a few characteristics that are particularly recognizable — namely, hands and pants. But Casey has decided to share those elements. For his ongoing project, “Hands and Pants,” he draws versions of...
If you go to a Diesel Dudes show, you can expect to see lots of tighty-whities, leather, and sweat. The Oakland electro-punk group’s live performances have a reputation for their absurdist displays of masculinity. But while it’s tempting to call Diesel Dudes’ hyperbolic aesthetic parody, it ultimately comes off as sincere — albeit completely bizarre. The bandmembers are disciples...
Nellie Wong was born in Oakland Chinatown to Chinese immigrants. She worked at her family’s restaurant and graduated from Oakland High School. In the 1970’s, as a student at San Francisco State University, she began publishing her poetry, which speaks to race, sex, and class discrimination. Now, she is a well-recognized feminist poet, and recently released her fourth book...
As a fundraiser for Berkeley Liberation Radio on 104.1 FM, which purports to be “the East Bay’s premiere anti-FCC airwave savior,” One Fam in West Oakland is hosting a show with several excellent dark, noisy local bands that are also involved in DIY radio production. S.B.S.M., an Oakland trio that juxtaposes thunderous beats with abrasive vocals, eerie synths, and...
An earlier drawing of the building proposed for construction at 2330 Webster Street.
Credits: Thompson Dorfman Partners
On Tuesday night, the Oakland City Council is planning to renew two expensive court-mandated contracts for police oversight, establish a Privacy Advisory Commission, sell two large blocks of city-owned land in the Uptown to developers for $9.45 million, take a final vote on three...
