Search query: california
Unlikely Bedfellows: The Strange Alliance to Expose Epstein Files
President Donald Trump is working hard to put a lid on the Jeffrey Epstein controversy roiling his party. So far, it isn’t working. One procedural tool in Congress, a little-used but powerful discharge petition, could push the issue out of Trump’s control.
17 Jul, 2025
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5 min read
The Seventies: High Times with Jimmy Carter and Jerry Brown
In the years that followed President Richard Nixon’s crackdown on pot and eventual resignation, state and local governments began to push the envelope to reform cannabis laws.
17 Jul, 2025
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5 min read
Taxed But Silenced: Pennsylvania Independents Sue for Right to Vote
Four independent voters, including well-known journalist Michael Smerconish and political reform advocate David Thornburgh, are suing the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, arguing that its closed primary system violates their constitutional rights under the state’s Free and Equal Elections Clause.
15 Jul, 2025
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3 min read
5 Influential Forces in NYC that Threaten the Success of Open Primaries
New York City’s Charter Revision Commission (CRC) is considering a proposal to adopt a nonpartisan “Top Two” open primary system, which would allow the city’s 1.1 million independent voters to cast a ballot in primary elections they pay for.
14 Jul, 2025
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13 min read
Lorena Gonzalez, California’s Top Labor Leader, Blasts ‘Anti-Labor Left’ Over Abundance Movement
Lorena Gonzalez, one of California’s most influential labor leaders, entered the fray this week in a growing Democratic debate over the so-called “abundance” movement.
09 Jul, 2025
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2 min read
7 Things Elon Musk Needs to Do If the America Party Wants to Be More Than a Meme
The World’s Richest Man Will Have to Overcome America’s Toughest Political Obstacles — Here’s What It Will Take to Make His America Party Thrive
08 Jul, 2025
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4 min read
Lawsuit Slams Oklahoma Law as ‘Unconstitutional Sabotage’ of Open Primaries
Two Oklahoma veterans – one a pediatrician, the other a U.S. Coast Guard commander – have filed a legal challenge to SB 1027 in Oklahoma, a law they say unconstitutionally targets their statewide citizen initiative to implement open primaries, State Question 836 (SQ 836).
08 Jul, 2025
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5 min read
Why is CA Senator Mike McGuire Trying to Kill the Legal Cannabis Industry?
California’s legal cannabis industry is under mounting pressure, and in early June, state lawmakers and the governor appeared poised to help. A bill to freeze the state’s cannabis excise tax at 15% sailed through the State Assembly with a unanimous 74-0 vote. The governor’s office backed the plan. A
03 Jul, 2025
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7 min read
Why the War on Cannabis Refuses to Die: How Boomers and the Yippies Made Weed Political
For much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, American physicians freely prescribed cannabis to treat a wide range of ailments. But by the mid-twentieth century, federal officials were laying the groundwork for a sweeping criminal crackdown. Cannabis would ultimately be classified as a Schedu
30 Jun, 2025
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2 min read
Congress Moves to Ban Unregulated, Intoxicating Hemp Being Sold at Gas Stations Nationwide
In a late-session vote last week, House Republicans advanced a sweeping change to federal hemp policy that could outlaw a wide range of intoxicating hemp products, sometimes referred to as “gas station weed,” as the hemp Farm Bill loopholes become a major policy issue in many states, including Calif
26 Jun, 2025
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3 min read









