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Marijuana

Marlboro maker reportedly eyeing investment with pot producer Cronos Group

Cronos Group
© Cronos Group
Cronos Group Inc. subsidiary Peace Naturals campus in Stayner, Ontario
Marlboro cigarette maker Altria Group Inc. is discussing an investment in marijuana producer Cronos Group Inc., as legacy companies continue to look for ways into the marijuana industry.

Cronos confirmed the discussions in a news release Monday evening, saying "it is engaged in discussions concerning a potential investment by Altria Group Inc." Cronos also said that "there can be no assurance such discussions will lead to an investment or other transaction."

The company's statement came hours after a Reuters report that claimed Cronos was involved in potential acquisition talks with Altria. When asked specifically Monday evening if the discussions could lead to a full sale of Cronos, a Cronos spokesman reiterated that the talks were focused on an investment.

The Reuters report did not specify how much Altria was willing to pay for Cronos, which closed Monday with a market capitalization of C$2.4 billion, according to FactSet. Altria, which is the parent company of Philip Morris and other cigarette makers, did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Potato

No big loss: Porn lawyer Avenatti pulls the plug on his 2020 presidential bid citing concerns of his family

The celebrity lawyer says his family has requested that he not mount a campaign against Donald Trump.
avenatti president
© Mario Tama/Getty Images
"I do not make this decision lightly — I make it out of respect for my family. But for their concerns, I would run" for president in 2020, attorney Michael Avenatti said.
Michael Avenatti has long reveled in playing the role of the combative underdog. But the mounting challenges in and outside the courtroom were too much even for him.

The hard-charging Los Angeles attorney pulled the plug on his nascent presidential bid, announcing Tuesday he will not run in 2020.

Avenatti, best known for representing porn star Stormy Daniels, said the decision came after consultation with his family. "I do not make this decision lightly - I make it out of respect for my family. But for their concerns, I would run," Avenatti, a father of two teenage girls and a 4-year-old son, said in a statement.

His announcement, made in a statement posted on Twitter, came after months of meetings and speaking events that advanced what once seemed to be a completely implausible White House bid. But his fortunes plummeted since his November arrest on domestic violence allegations, in which he might face a misdemeanor charge, and amid an ongoing contentious divorce from his second wife.

Comment: As if he had a snowball's chance in Hades.....


Bullseye

PETA gets slaughtered over its ridiculous demands to end 'anti-animal language'

animal protest
© Global Look Press / Nicolas Liponne
The activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has a bone to pick with phrases it says are anti-animal.

But rather than beat a dead horse, PETA offered alternative more-animal-friendly phrases on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon.

For instance, PETA suggests saying "feed two birds with one scone" instead of "kill two birds with one stone" and "feed a fed horse" rather than "beat a dead horse."

You can see other examples below:

Comment: More Tweets on the matter:
Not only do the PC editions of the time-tested idioms make little sense - Twitter was quick to point out how where there's a will, there's a way to find someone who will be offended by even the "correct" version.



Piggybacking on political correctness in an era where "social justice warriors" are widely mocked for taking their crusade into the realm of the ridiculous was probably not the best marketing decision - even PETA supporters cringed.


PETA's supposed mission - the ethical treatment of animals - has still got a long way to go. Between animal testing, growing global meat consumption and the fur trade, one would think the group has its hands full enough not to play language police, especially since "removing speciesism from your daily conversations" seems to be even tougher for people to stomach than removing meat from their diets.







Snakes in Suits

Inspector General finds senior DOJ official committed sexual assault, was allowed to retire in anonymity

lady justice
© Pixabay / WilliamCho
A senior Justice Department official sexually assaulted an employee and pressured another worker to have sex with him in exchange for a promotion, the department's inspector general said Tuesday.

The official, who was not named, also sexually harassed at least two other female employees who worked for him, according to the watchdog's report. The inspector general's office found that the official had "abused his authority by coercing female employees in his chain of command to have sex with him."

Investigators substantiated several allegations against the official, including charges that he made repeated "verbal sexual advances" to an employee and "ultimately sexually assaulted her." The two other employees, who were also subordinates, had been sexually harassed when the official engaged in "sexually inappropriate conduct toward them."

Comment: More from RT:
In addition to his pattern of harassing and abusing female employees, the official also had a long-term sexual relationship with a subordinate. He not only supervised his lover, but also approved her performance evaluations and even promotions while they were sleeping together.

[...]

Finally, the OIG claims the official "lacked candor in his statements to the OIG." Lying to federal law enforcement is considered a serious crime, yet the OIG declined to prosecute. No reason was given for the decision - the report cryptically ends by stating the official has retired, and referring the matter to the OJP for "appropriate action."



Attention

Paris: Teacher dies after being repeatedly stabbed in the throat by former student

Léonard-de-Vinci University
© Google Maps
A teacher at Léonard-de-Vinci University near Paris has died, after being stabbed in the throat by a former student in front of the institution. The attacker is of Pakistani descent.

The victim, a 66-year-old English teacher, was stabbed in the throat in front of Léonard-de-Vinci University on Wednesday, Le Parisien reported. The suspect is a Pakistani male, 37, who had been expelled from the institution last year.

According to Le Parisien, the assailant had failed his 2017 school year and was not allowed to progress with his studies. He returned to the university around noon on Wednesday and took his revenge, stabbing his former teacher multiple times in the throat in broad daylight.

The teacher greeted his attacker moments before the violent stabbing, a student at the university told RT France. Other students at the scene tried to administer first aid to the dying teacher, but to no avail.

TV

MSM is getting weirder, more frantic, and more desperate by the day

wikileaks tweet
When even the Washington Post is saying your Russiagate article is bad journalism, your Russiagate article is really, really bad journalism.

In an article titled "The Guardian offered a bombshell story about Paul Manafort. It still hasn't detonated.", WaPo writer Pul Farhi draws attention to the fact that it has been a week since the Guardian published a claim that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort met repeatedly with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, without any evidence backing up the claim, using solely anonymous sources, and despite the claims contradicting known records of Assange's guests at the Ecuadorian embassy. Criticism and demands for answers have been growing louder and louder from both friends and enemies of WikiLeaks, with new plot holes opening up in the Guardian's narrative daily, and the scandal is now moving into mainstream awareness.

Comment: The signs are all around us - the powers that be are desperately trying to maintain control over the narrative, as the MSM get more and more egregious in their propaganda. Are people 'starting to wake up'? It's hard to say. It seems people have been saying that for years. All that can be said for sure is that things are getting... interesting.

See also:


Megaphone

More migrant boats intercepted on British coast, government refuses to comment

migrant boat britain
The deeply concerning trend of migrant boats being discovered off of the Kent coast has continued today.

This morning a boat containing nine migrants was discovered in the early hours of this morning near Dover.

It included some youngsters, with a TV camera there to pick up the moment they were intercepted.

Another boat was intercepted by French authorities near Dunkirk this morning, containing a further nine migrants.

Comment: If the British government really wanted to do something about the mass migration crisis tearing up Europe it would cease its war on the Middle East and help the migrants back to their homelands: Also check out SOTT radio's:


No Entry

#MeToo backlash: Men of Wall Street refuse to be alone with female coworkers

Pokret Metoo
For more than a year now, powerful men across many industries have been brought down by revelations that they sexually harassed or assaulted women at work. For the ones left standing, learning what constitutes appropriate workplace behavior has been a necessary part of hanging on to their jobs. For people, like, say, Harvey Weinsteinor Matt Lauer-both of whom deny any wrongdoing!-this exercise would be akin to learning to walk again after a horrible accident paralyzed half of their bodies. But for normal people who are not suspected sexual predators, it actually shouldn't be that difficult to identify bad things like rape, unwanted touching, asking employees out on dates, commenting on colleagues' appearances, promising raises or promotions for sexual favors, and so on. But according to a new report, Wall Street has taken a different approach than simply "acting like a professional human adult": shunning women entirely.

Eye 1

The NYPD just launched a new fleet of aerial drones

NYPD drone bombing family
The New York Police Department announced Tuesday the launch a new fleet of aerial drones to enhance investigation and feed live video back to officers and commanders around active crime scenes.

"As the largest municipal police department in the United States, the NYPD must always be willing to leverage the benefits of new and always-improving technology," said Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill.

"Our new UAS program is part of this evolution - it enables our highly-trained cops to be even more responsive to the people we serve," he said.

Comment: RT reports more on the legitimate concerns of having drone technology in the hands of police departments:
The New York Police Department is taking to the skies with a drone program, much to the dismay of civil liberties groups who worry the force's 14 new unmanned vehicles will be used to spy on New Yorkers with impunity.

The department claimed it does not plan to use the drones for "routine operations," but the "acceptable uses" included in a press release - "collision and crime scene documentation," "traffic and pedestrian monitoring at large events," even "search and rescue" - are vague enough to allow for general surveillance. The drones will be operated by 29 specially-trained members of the NYPD's Technical Assistance Response Unit.

The Legal Aid Society decried the program as another step toward militarization, an addition to the department's "unregulated arsenal of surveillance tools" that already includes more surveillance cameras per block (in Manhattan) than any other US city. The NYPD had attempted to preempt backlash by meeting with the New York Civil Liberties Union prior to announcing the program, but the NYCLU released its own statement criticizing the cops for their failure to place any "meaningful restrictions" on drone use. They also object to the permanent archiving of drone footage.

While the NYPD release lists "unacceptable uses" for which drones will not be deployed - "routine patrol," "traffic enforcement," and "search without a warrant" among them - that same release leaves the door wide open to breaking the rules. The list of "acceptable uses" for the new technology includes "other emergency situations with approval of Chief of Department."

More than 900 US law enforcement units already use drones in their operations, and the NYPD consulted with representatives from other police departments while putting together its program.



USA

Conservatives win campus free speech settlement against US Berkeley

MAGA conservative Berkeley California
© Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
Daryl Tempesta wears tape over his mouth during a conservative rally after Ann Coulter's speech was canceled, in Berkeley, Calif., April 27, 2017.
The Young America's Foundation has won a legal battle, forcing a major college campus to give conservative speakers the same freedoms they give to other speakers.

The lawsuit took over a year, and resulted in a settlement with the University of California (UC), Berkeley that plaintiffs celebrated as a victory for free speech on campus. The institution will pay the Young America's Foundation $70,000, plus reverse the"high-profile speaker policy," which the foundation believes was used to stifle conservative voices.

The institution also agrees to rescind the security fee policy, which the foundation considered to be used in discriminatory ways towards conservatives. Lastly, the campus will abolish the "heckler's veto," a strategy where leftists would protest until the school shut down a conservative speaking event.