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Tucker Carlson: Peter Navarro’s arrest is a huge step toward the politics of the third world – Fox News

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Peter Navarro is the picture of a law-abiding American citizen. He's a 72-year-old retired business school professor. He's got a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. His most recent job was extremely white collar. He served as the White House trade adviser in the last presidential administration, famous for his tough stance on China.

He's never been charged with a crime. He's never trafficked fentanyl, for example, from Mexico. In fact, his hobby is yoga and riding his bicycle. In short, Peter Navarro does not seem like a criminal, much less a danger to this nation. And yet last Friday, federal agents arrested Peter Navarro at Reagan National Airport in Washington. They did not call his lawyer, as is customary in cases like this. They didn't even come to his house, which, as it happens, is just feet from the FBI building, and they could have walked, but they didn't.

Instead, they took down Peter Navarro in public, as you would a fugitive terror mastermind so everyone could see it and learn the lesson they were sending. They handcuffed Peter Navarro. They put him in leg irons, and then they threw him in a cell. He's now facing years in prison. So, what did Peter Navarro do to deserve treatment like this? Well, he resisted a subpoena from the January 6 committee. The January 6 committee is Washington's latest partisan inquisition. It's run by Nancy Pelosi with help from obedient little quislings like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

Navarro resisted that subpoena because he had nothing to do with January 6, nothing whatsoever. That's not disputed. Peter Navarro did not break into the Capitol. He didn't encourage anyone else to break into the Capitol. He wasn't even there that day. He had no idea it was going to happen. Again, that's beyond dispute and Nancy Pelosi and Liz Cheney know that.

DOJ INDICTS FORMER TRUMP ADVISER PETER NAVARRO FOR CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro holds his notes after a television interview at the White House, Monday, Oct. 12, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

If you really wanted to figure out what happened on January 6, Peter Navarro would be the last person you would talk to. Instead, you'd be talking to Ray Eppsand various FBI informants. But finding out what happened on January 6 and why is not the point of the exercise. The point of the exercise is preventing Donald Trump from running for president again. So, in the service of that goal, Pelosi and Liz Cheney demanded that Peter Navarro surrender records of his private conversations with his former boss, President Donald Trump, and when he refused to do that, Congress voted to hold him in contempt in a partisan vote and then Merrick Garland's Justice Department filed criminal charges against Peter Navarro.

This is not the way civilized countries operate. Just because you control the White House and both houses of Congress, does not mean you get to throw your political opponents behind bars. That's not what we do in America. That's what they do in Haiti, but that's what we're doing now and Peter Navarro was not the first. Biden's Justice Department also arrested former Trump adviser Steve Bannon for a similar fake crime. Steve Bannon is awaiting trial this summer.

So, this is not something we've seen before. It's a huge step toward the politics of the Third World, but the media whose job you thought of was to push back against power are not. They are, in fact, applauding because it turns out no punishment is too severe for those who disagree with the national news media. Watch them gloat.

FORMER ABC NEWS PRESIDENT HELPING JAN. 6 COMMITTEE WITH PRODUCTION OF PRIMETIME HEARING

MSNBC'S JONATHAN CAPEHART: What happened to Peter Navarro is what should have happened to Peter Navarro. He was indicted and when you're indicted, you're arrested.

CNN'S ERROL LOUIS:What Peter Navarro did was so far out of bounds and so indefensible.

MSNBC PAUL BUTLER: This prosecution is really about punishing Navarro based on his blatant disrespect for the congressional subpoena.

So, they really are your enemies. They're not covering the news. They're plotting ways to hurt you. That's true. "Congressional subpoenas are not optional," they lecture you, "Comply with them or go to jail." That's the message the lawyers on television are sending. So, let's pretend for a moment that that was true, though it's in fact, not true. If there was, in fact, a law like that for that law to be legitimate, it would have to be like all laws applied equally across the board and no less than the attorney general himself has said that again and again and again.

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"I came to work here," he said, "because we're committed to the rule of law and to seeking equal justice under the law." That was Merrick Garland in January. "We conduct every investigation guided by the same norms."

Now, those are the norms under which this country has lived for 250 years. It's not justice unless it's applied equally to all adult American citizens, period. Anything less than that is, by definition, not justice, but we're getting much less than that and it's very obvious.

Here's just one example. Ten years ago this month, Congress voted overwhelmingly on a bipartisan vote, by the way, 17 Democrats to hold Eric Holder, then the attorney general, in criminal contempt of Congress. Holder had refused to turn over documents showing how the Obama administration had armed the Mexican drug cartels. Do you remember that? One of the firearms they sent to Mexico under the so-called "Fast and Furious" program was then used to murder a U.S. Border Patrol officer. It was a scandal at the time, in case you don't recall. Watch.

WILLIAM LA JEUNESSE: Border Patrol agent Brian Terry died in December 2010, killed by guns tied to an Obama administration plan that armed Mexicans, a scandal officials tried to hide by wrongly claiming executive privilege. Emails contained in the House Oversight Committee's report show top officials knew the ATF sent guns to Mexico even before Terry's death. Even the Border Patrol, which sent Terry's team into the desert, didn't know about the operation.

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So, that was a legitimate scandal that implicated the entire U.S. government, people who actually have power, not the retirees sitting in jail because of what they did on January 6, but people with actual power, and Eric Holder was the very center of it, but Holder refused to comply with a subpoena from the Congress. Did the FBI arrest Eric Holder for that, please? It was never even seriously considered.

Holder asserted executive privilege, the right to have conversations with the executive, the president that are private. He cited the long-standing policy of respecting executive privilege and he got away with it. So, a week ago, Peter Navarro made this exact point. He sued the Justice Department, pushing back against the subpoena, four days before he was arrested and in that suit, Navarro cited policy written by the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel. That policy reads this way, "Since the 1970s, this office has consistently advised that the president and his immediate advisers are absolutely immune from testimonial compulsion by congressional committee on matters related to their official duties."

In other words, if somebody asserts executive privilege, at the very least, Congress doesn't get to arrest them. Before anyone is arrested, they have to go to a judge to rule on whether or not executive privilege is valid in this case and that's exactly what happened in Eric Holder's case. And by the way, the federal judge rejected Eric Holder's executive privilege claim and still, he was not arrested. Why? You know why ecause he's a leading Democrat. But in Peter Navarro's case, Merrick Garland's DOJ did not even bother to ask a judge. They just arrested Peter Navarro at National Airport.

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So, what we're seeing here isn't really about Peter Navarro or Steve Bannon. What we're seeing is a massive escalation in the use by the Democratic Party of our justice system for partisan revenge. That's exactly what that was. Peter Navarro wouldn't shut up, so they threw him in handcuffs and in fact, at the same moment Peter Navarro was thrown in jail for asserting executive privilege, a Clinton lawyer called Michael Sussman was acquitted by a jury seated by an Obama-appointed judge. Three of the jurors in that case gave money to Hillary Clinton's campaign and not surprisingly, those same jurors declined to punish Michael Sussmann for lying to the FBI to advance the Russia collusion myth that helped Hillary Clinton's campaign. Following all of this?

How did those jurors get on the jury? How did they stay there?

Now, the FBI pretended to be outraged by the fact that Michael Sussman had lied to them, but then we learned actually the FBI was working with Michael Sussman and his law firm, Perkins Coie. Perkins Coie had an FBI workspace in its offices in Washington for a decade and Michael Sussman was so close to the FBI, he had a key card to FBI headquarters.

We know this from a recently released text exchange. We're quoting. "Do you have a badge or do you need help getting into the building?" the FBI's general counsel, James Baker asked Sussmann.

We're quoting now, "I have a badge," Sussmann replied. Sussmann had a badge to the FBI building? How do we get one of those? Oh, we're not leading Democratic lawyers, so we can't have them. Michael Sussmann knew he'd never be punished. Take three steps back. What's going on here? In a fantastic piece at The Federalist, Ben Weingarten explained how we should understand these two prosecutions, "They send an unmistakable message: We can get you any time, anywhere, on any grounds we choose. You can't touch even a single one of ours."

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That's it right there. This is a partisan play by a political party that has somehow completely taken over our largest law enforcement agency and ... Michael Sussman is not even the biggest example of this. Andrew McCabe, Lisa Page, Peter Strzok all of them lied to the feds as well. That's a crime. None of them were ever hauled off in leg irons. In fact, they're now at CNN, MSNBC and Georgetown, respectively. They were rewarded with better jobs for what they did... they always are.

Jim Clapper and John Brennan committed perjury on television before Congress. There's no dispute about that. What do they do? Oh, they're on TV now, too. Hunter Biden lied on a federal gun form. That's a felony. How was he punished? Oh, a mild probing on CBS that he just shrugged off as if it were nothing. Watch.

ANTHONY MASON: Why did you have a gun?

HUNTER BIDEN: Well, I did. Again, you know, the period in my life that was difficult. It was, but, you know, I, I don't know.

MASON: According to the reporting, at one point, the Secret Service went looking for the record of sale. Do you know anything about that?

HUNTER: Nothing. No.

MASON: But you know about the Secret Service being involved.

HUNTER: No, I had no idea. I don't know whether the Secret Service were or why they would be or I don't think that that's true.

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Hunter Biden, left, arrives in the Crypt of the US Capitol for President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021 in Washington. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool Photo via AP)

"I don't know why the Secret Service are involved." Really? You had no idea because they were with you. They helped you. You committed a gun felony. It's all out there, but Hunter Biden is the president's son and more importantly, he's a faithful party loyalist. So, you know as well as he does, he doesn't have a thing to worry about. In fact, he can flaunt his crimes. RadarOnline.com just got pictures of Hunter Biden casually waving his illegal firearm around as he cavorted with a prostitute several years ago.

The pictures show Hunter Biden's finger on the trigger of the gun, as well as crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia. Hmm, a weapon of war in the hands of a drug addict. Is theJustice Department bothered by this? No, of course not.

You know what bothers the Justice Department quite a bit? Defying the Democratic Party. Do that and your house gets raided by a SWAT team that tips off CNN before it happens. Roger Stone discovered that the hard way.

JON BERMAN: Exclusive footage you're looking at right now from CNN as the FBI arrives at Roger Stone's residence in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, taking him into custody. They arrived before dawn there, before 6 a.m. or just after 6 a.m a dozen officers we're told.

FBI AGENT: FBI, open the door.

So that's the actual norm. If you were Tony Podesta and you work for the Democratic Party, you're totally fine. Nothing you do is going to get you in trouble, and you know it. If you're Roger Stone, you've done nothing wrong at all, but you've given the finger to the Democratic Party, they show up at your house with guns. That's the norm the attorney general is upholding. Serve the Democratic Party, and you'll be rewarded even if you're a felon.

At almost exactly the moment the DOJ was putting Peter Navarro in shackles, the DOJ was also dropping the most serious charges against the two left-wing lawyers who tried to incinerate cops, burn them to death in their patrol cars during the BLM riots.

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Now, this pair had faced 30 years in jail on terrorism charges, but that was too tough for the Biden DOJ. They'll be out in a couple, max. Why? Because they've got the right politics. And Liz Cheney is not giving you a lecture about. People who try to burn police officers to death are a threat to our democracy. No, they're fine. We're just going to ignore them. It never happened. This happens all the time.

In California, at the height of the BLM riots, a career felon called Tony Walker executed a 19-year-old Berkeley student called Seth Smith, walked up for no reason, never seen him before in his life and executed him, fired a gun into the back of his head. Why did he do this? Because of his skin color. It was a racially motivated attack. "F that White MF-er," Walker said. No one denies that. He said that, but here's the interesting thing, a guy is just executed on the street because he's got the wrong skin color.

Sounds like a hate crime, right? No. Merrick Garland's DOJ did not pursue hate crime charges. In fact, a month ago, prosecutors called an unbelievable deal with Walker. They sentenced him on a single charge of (brace yourself) voluntary manslaughter.

"F that White MF-er," he said as he executed a college student. It sounds like voluntary manslaughter.

This is a dangerous trend and not just because people are dying. Nothing destroys the legitimacy of our institutions more than politicized law enforcement. You can't have that. Justice must be blind. If there is a single institution we have to preserve for the sake of our children and grandchildren, it's our justice system and the law enforcement agencies that serve it. They can't be corrupt. If they're corrupt, it's going to be pretty hard to live here.

LAWMAKERS CLASH OVER CONSTITUTION, GUN RIGHTS IN HEATED HOUSE HEARING

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), vice-chair of the select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol, speaks during a business meeting on Capitol Hill on Capitol Hill on December 13, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Liz Cheney and Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the lunatics on the January 6 committee have done far more damage to this democracy than the rioters ever did, far more. And now they're trying to make it worse. Axios is reporting that some members of the committee "want big changes on voting rights and even to abolish the Electoral College."

Abolishing the Electoral College? And if you're against that, of course, you're undermining democracy.

BOB COSTA: Was it a conspiracy?

CHENEY: I think certainly. I mean, look, if you look at the court filings.

BOB COSTA: You do believe that it was a conspiracy?

CHENEY: Ido. It is extremely broad. It's extremely well-organized. It's really chilling.

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Oh, it's really chilling? What's really chilling is when the committee gets to arrest people, not because they violated meaningful laws or pose a threat to the United States, but because their politics are unacceptable, because they have given the finger to people like Liz Cheney. Is Liz Cheney okay with that? The upholder of democracy?

We texted Liz Cheney on Friday and said, "Are you okay? They just arrested a 72-year-old man who did nothing wrong. Doesn't that cross some kind of line? Are you going to stand up and say something about it?" She didn't respond.

The January 6 committee has just hired a former producer of Good Morning America called James Goldston. He'll be overseeing the committee's primetime hearings on Thursday night. So, the show trial now has a productionand of course, we'll be covering that in great detail on Thursday. By arresting Peter Navarro, they're hoping to shut up one of the most vocal critics before it begins.

Tucker Carlson currently serves as the host of FOX News Channels (FNC) Tucker Carlson Tonight (weekdays 8PM/ET). He joined the network in 2009 as a contributor.

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Tucker Carlson: Peter Navarro's arrest is a huge step toward the politics of the third world - Fox News

EDITORIAL: Federal law enforcement the real threat to our republic – Washington Times

OPINION:

It is not quite clear why former Trump adviser Peter Navarro was arrested and jailed after being indicted for contempt of Congress. The arrest made at Reagan National Airport is all the more unusual because no one even thought about doing so to then-Attorney General Eric Holder, who was indicted for precisely the same crime 10 years ago.

For that matter, why have dozens of rioters (protesters?) from Jan. 6 remained in pretrial custody for the last 17 months?

Why have Molotov cocktail-throwing lawyers and killers involved in violent riots during the summer of 2020 been given extremely lenient plea deals in New York and California?

Why has no one at the FBI or other federal law enforcement been held accountable for their role in the societally destructive, libelous and wholly fabricated idea that former President Donald Trump and his campaign had, in some magical way, colluded with Russia?

Why is Hunter Biden, having obtained a firearm after lying on a federal application (a felony), still walking around a free man?

Why is the Jan. 6 committee asking questions from people like Mr. Navarro, who had nothing to do with Jan. 6? Why have they not called FBI informants in the crowd to testify? Why has the committee not asked about why the Capitols doors were open, or why the rioters were unarmed.

The answer in each and every instance is the unequal and unfair application of justice brought about by the politicization of federal law enforcement. That politicization, left unchecked, will eventually destroy the republic.

The Jan. 6 committee whose members talk a lot about the threats to democracy is, itself a legitimate risk to the republic. By issuing subpoenas to those with no material connection to the events of Jan. 6 (like Mr. Navarro), and to sitting members of Congress, the committee has nakedly politicized what should have been, at most, a modest examination into a law enforcement failure.

Conservatives are, by their very nature, institutionalists; they believe in the legitimacy of institutions. But the time has come to reassess those sentiments.

Federal law enforcement has become a threat to the Republic. There is no surer sign of the erosion of democratic norms than the politicization of the administration of justice.

We need a thorough and unflinching examination of the unwarranted, unwise and illegal acts executed by those who we have entrusted with guns and badges.

The pattern of lawbreaking and indifference to political, social, legal and governmental norms among the bureaucracies of the CIA, the FBI and the Department of Justice has become so obvious and so egregious that Congress must make a granular examination of the activities of those charged with safeguarding the United States and her citizens.

This effort should be led by a serious senator or House member; this is not a moment for the TikTok or Twitter members. This is a matter of the gravest urgency and will require an equally sober, deliberate and nonpartisan assessment of the depth of the crisis and the changes that need to be made.

Despite all the nonsense on both sides about insurrection (still, no one charged with that), elections being stolen, votes being suppressed and democracy dying in the darkness, the real and immediate risk to the republic is that some of those with guns and badges have become its enemies.

At a certain point, facts become inescapable. We know that some in the FBI and the DOJ wanted to select the president in 2016 and 2020 and fabricated evidence to do so. We know that law enforcement surveilled presidential campaign staff in 2016. We know that Homeland Security surveilled reporters and others. We know that some of those in the intelligence community and federal law enforcement have lied before Congress and elsewhere. We are watching the unequal application of the law in real-time.

Almost 2,000 years ago, the Roman poet Juvenal wrote: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? who watches the watchmen themselves? The only right answer and the one we face now is that we must watch the watchmen and be fearless and resolute in examining their conduct.

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EDITORIAL: Federal law enforcement the real threat to our republic - Washington Times

A Tale of Two ‘Incitements’ – The Stream

Page A20. Thats where newpapers normally bury stories about a deer walking inside a store or a bake sale to send kids to summer camp. But thats where the New York Times ran the story of an attempted assassination of a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America! At his home in front of his wife and children. Of course, the front page was reserved for the ridiculous January 6 hearing that should have been on page A21 following the stories of the deer and the bake sale if at all.

Wednesday morning, Nicholas John Roske, a 26-year-old Californian, arrived in front of Brett Kavanaughs home for the express purpose of assassinating the Justice, he admitted to authorities. He had traveled about 3,000 miles with a pistol, a knife, zip-ties, and other weapons to eliminate Kavanaugh for not only his likely vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, but also for his likely vote in support of the Second Amendment. (So, Roske was going to kill him with a gun for supporting the right to have a gun?) He told law enforcement officials that killing Kavanaugh would give his life purpose. Purpose indeed, but in the kingdom of darkness.

Its so ironic that this happened on the very eve of the J6 dog and pony show to investigate Donald Trumps incitement of the worst violence since the Civil War, as the Dems call it. Never mind that four Puerto Rican Americans began firing their guns in the House of Representatives in 1954, injuring five congressmen. Or that the Capitol building was bombed in 1971 by protesters of our air attack on Laos. Or the bombing in the Senate wing in 1983 by the Armed Resistance Unit in retaliation of military actions in Grenada and Lebanon. Or Special Agent John Gibson and Officer Jacob Chestnut being shot to death inside the Capitol in 1998.

Contrast all of that with a bunch of good ole boys walking through the Capitol in a quiet and orderly manner after parading right past Capitol Police officers (and even being waved-in by at least one of the officers), and one of them propping his feet up on Pelosis desk. Now, we all agree that was a dumb thing to do, like climbing the water tower in high school. But the worst violence since the Civil War?

Blaming incitement of this faux violence trespassing on federal property on Donald Trump is even more ridiculous. Trump offered the Pentagons highest official (at the time), acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, 10,000 National Guard troops for the January 6 events but was ignored. And in Trumps speech at the Ellipse to his supporters, he encouraged them to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. That part was dishonestly omitted on MSMs video clips.

Representative Jim Banks (R-IN) told Fox News, Due to the rules of the United States Capitol, the power structure of the Capitol, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, has more control and authority and responsibility over the leadership of the Capitol Police than anyone else in the United States Capitol, Banks said. So she doesnt want us to ask these questions because at the end of the day, shes ultimately responsible for the breakdown of security at the Capitol that happened on Jan. 6. And by the way, Pelosi has failed to release some 14,000 hours of video footage from the Capitols security cameras on January 6. Why is that?

Now, for the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey famously said the real incitement. The attempted assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh was incited directly by Chuck Schumer in a speech he gave in March, 2020. He said, I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You wont know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.

AG Merrick Garland and President Biden himself further incited the violence on Justice Kavanaugh with their silence after weeks of protesters breaking the law. And regardless of what The Tremelos sang in 1967, silence is not always golden. Silence was almost deadly Wednesday.

Every since the Leftist group, Ruth Sent Us published the home addresses of six SCOTUS Justices to encourage protests at their homes, theres been nothing but crickets from the AG and the White House. Such incitement is a crime under 18 U.S.C. 1507, which reads (numbered for clarity):

In Amos chapter 8, God through the prophet Amos reprimanded Israel for its wicked ways, one of which was Making the ephah small and the shekel large, falsifying the scales by deceit (verse 5). Its interesting that the very symbol of our legal system is a blindfolded Lady Justice, holding scales.

In that day, the ephah was used to measure wheat, while the shekel was used to weigh valuables for payment, such as coins, gold, and silver. The seller measured the wheat by the ephah and received in exchange silver weighted by the shekel. So, making the ephah small and the shekel large is a double deception, where the seller gives the buyer less wheat and receives in return a larger amount of silver.

The Democrats use this same system today. They make their improprieties small and the Republicans improprieties or made-up improprieties large. Eric Holder ignored a subpoena from Congress and literally went to Disney World the day of the vote. Nothing ever happened to him. But for the very same offense, they put Peter Navarro in handcuffs and shackles and dragged him off to jail. This was on the very same day Michael Sussman was freed for trying to overturn an election.

Under the law of Moses, a double-standard was illegal. Deuteronomy 25:13-15 says:

You shall not have in your bag true and false weights, a large and a small. You shall not have in your house true and false measures, a large and a small. But you shall have a perfect and just weight and a perfect and just measure, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

Nolan Lewallen is a retired pilot of a major airline and lives near Stephenville, Texas, with his wife, Kim. Nolans two greatest passions are the Bible and politics. His latest book, The Integration of Church & State: How We Transform In God We Trust From Motto to Reality, brings the two together.

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A Tale of Two 'Incitements' - The Stream

Nancy Mace Or Chuck Schumer: Whose Cannabis Reform Bill Are Big Weed Companies Supporting? – The Fresh Toast

Federal cannabis reform will be created in the image and likeness of whichever political party is in office when it finally happens.

And dont we know it. In fact, last week Bill Maher bemoanedthat Republicans are going to steal the issue, I think eventually.The RealTime talk show host, who was speaking withformer attorneyGeneral Eric Holder,is probably right.

Republicans, with their keep taxes low and government regulation to a minimum approach, might bebetter equippedpsychologically and practically to legalize cannabis, their conservative Christian wing notwithstanding.

Whereas the Dems are more disposed to taxes,regulationsand,to their credit, a strong emphasis onsocial equity andjustice as seen by an across-the-boardpush for expungement, their prohibitionist President notwithstanding.

Just take a look at the two major cannabis reform proposals one from each party that have been circulating in and out of the halls of Congress as well as state legislatures.

Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumeralong withSens. Cory Booker and Ron Wydenlaunched theirCannabis Administration and Opportunity Act(CAOA), whichwill, were told, beintroduced in Augustafter several false starts.

RELATED: Why Chuck Schumer Might Act On Cannabis Banking Sooner Rather Than Later

Then theresRep. Nancy Maces(R-SC)States Reform Act(SRA), which when introduced in 2021 was warmly greeted.

Both bills would remove cannabis from theControlled Substances Act, thuslegalizing it federallya good start. Many in the industry concur thattheDems CAOAleansmore toward social justiceand therefore enjoys support from theMarijuanaJustice Coalition, which includes theACLUandHuman Rights Watch.

MacesSRAis more big-business centered and enjoys the backing of theCannabis Freedom Alliance, which includes the Koch-funded groupAmericans for Prosperity.

RELATED: Sen. Lindsey Graham Open To Medical Marijuana, Rep. Nancy Mace Votes Against MORE Act

So, whoselegalization billand by extensionwhich congressional candidatesare executives of the U.S.s highest-valued cannabis companies supporting?

If you guessed NancyMace, go to the head of the class.

Cannabis Wiredid some digging into the Congressional campaign contributions made byexecutives of the following multistate operators:

Ascend Wellness

Ayr Wellness

CanopyGrowth

ColumbiaCare

Cresco Labs

Curaleaf Holdings

GreenThumbIndustries

TerrAscend

Trulieve

Verano Holdings

Of these companies, six CEOs made a campaign contribution in 2022. Four of them gave to Mace alone. One gave to Mace and toGary Chambers, a Democrat fromLouisianawho is running for Senate. And one gave only to Chambers, who made headlines in January when hesmoked a joint in one of his campaign ads.

So yeah, Bill Maher might have a point.

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Nancy Mace Or Chuck Schumer: Whose Cannabis Reform Bill Are Big Weed Companies Supporting? - The Fresh Toast

Celebrity birthdays for the week of June 19-25 – Star Tribune

Celebrity birthdays for the week of June 19-25:

June 19: Actor Gena Rowlands is 92. Singer Spanky McFarlane of Spanky and Our Gang is 80. Actor Phylicia Rashad is 74. Singer Ann Wilson of Heart is 72. Keyboardist Larry Dunn (Earth, Wind and Fire) is 69. Actor Kathleen Turner is 68. Country singer Doug Stone is 66. Singer Mark "Marty" DeBarge of DeBarge is 63. Singer-dancer Paula Abdul is 60. Actor Andy Lauer ("Caroline in the City") is 59. Singer-guitarist Brian Vander Ark of The Verve Pipe is 58. Actor Mia Sara ("Ferris Bueller's Day Off") is 55. "Good Morning America" host Lara Spencer is 53. Guitarist Brian "Head" Welch of Korn is 52. Actor Jean Dujardin ("The Artist") is 50. Actor Robin Tunney is 50. Actor Bumper Robinson ("Sabrina The Teenage Witch") is 48. Actor Poppy Montgomery ("Unforgettable," Without a Trace") is 47. Singer-banjoist Scott Avett of The Avett Brothers is 46. Actor Ryan Hurst ("The Walking Dead," "Sons of Anarchy") is 46. Actor Zoe Saldana is 44. Actor Neil Brown Jr.("SEAL Team") is 42. Actor Lauren Lee Smith ("CSI") is 42. Singer Macklemore of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis is 40. Actor Paul Dano is 38. Actor Giacomo Gianniotti ("Grey's Anatomy") is 33. Actor Chuku Modu ("The Good Doctor") is 32. Actor Atticus Shaffer ("The Middle") is 24.

June 20: Actor Bonnie Bartlett ("St. Elsewhere," Once and Again") is 93. Actor James Tolkan ("Back to the Future" films) is 91. Musician Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys is 80. Actor John McCook ("The Bold and the Beautiful") is 78. Singer Anne Murray is 77. Home repair show host Bob Vila is 76. Classical pianist Andre Watts is 76. Actor Candy Clark ("American Graffiti") is 75. Singer Lionel Richie is 73. Actor John Goodman is 70. Bassist Michael Anthony (Van Halen, Chickenfoot) is 68. Bassist John Taylor of Duran Duran is 62. Keyboardist Mark degli Antoni (Soul Coughing) is 60. Guitarist Jerome Fontamillas of Switchfoot is 55. Bassist Murphy Karges of Sugar Ray is 55. Actor Nicole Kidman is 55. Singer Dan Tyminski of Alison Krauss and Union Station is 55. Actor Peter Paige ("Queer as Folk") is 53. Actor Josh Lucas ("Sweet Home Alabama," A Beautiful Mind") is 51. Bassist Twiggy Ramirez (Marilyn Manson) is 51. Singer Chino Moreno is 49. Singer Amos Lee is 45. Actor Tika Sumpter ("The Have and the Have Nots") is 42. Drummer Chris Thompson of The Eli Young Band is 42. Singer-actor Alisan Porter ("The Voice," Curly Sue") is 41. Singer Grace Potter of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals is 39. Keyboardist Chris Dudley of Underoath is 39. Actor Mark Saul ("Grey's Anatomy") is 37. Actor Dreama Walker (film's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," TV's "Gossip Girl") is 36. Actor Chris Mintz-Plasse ("Superbad") is 33. Actor Maria Lark (TV's "Medium") is 25.

June 21: Actor Bernie Kopell ("The Love Boat") is 89. Actor Monte Markham is 87. Actor Mariette Hartley is 82. Comedian Joe Flaherty ("SCTV") is 81. Musician Ray Davies of The Kinks is 78. Actor Meredith Baxter ("Family Ties") is 75. Actor Michael Gross (Baxter's co-star on the sitcom "Family Ties") is 75. Guitarist Joey Molland of Badfinger is 75. Drummer Joey Kramer of Aerosmith is 72. Guitarist Nils Lofgren is 71. Actor Robyn Douglas (TV's "Galactica," film's "Breaking Away") is 70. Cartoonist Berke Breathed ("Opus," Bloom County") is 65. Actor Josh Pais ("Ray Donovan") is 64. Country singer Kathy Mattea is 63. Actor Marc Copage ("Julia") is 60. Actor Doug Savant ("Desperate Housewives," Melrose Place") is 58. Guitarist Porter Howell of Little Texas is 58. Actor Michael Dolan ("Hamburger Hill," "Biloxi Blues") is 57. Filmmaker Lana Wachowski ("The Matrix," "Speed Racer") is 57. Actor Carrie Preston ("The Good Wife") is 55. Actor Paula Irvine ("Santa Barbara") is 54. Country singer Allison Moorer is 50. Actor Juliette Lewis is 49. Actor Maggie Siff ("Mad Men") is 48. Bassist Justin Cary (Sixpence None the Richer) is 47. Guitarist Mike Einziger of Incubus is 46. Actor Chris Pratt ("Jurassic World," Guardians of the Galaxy") is 43. Singer Brandon Flowers of The Killers is 41. Actor Jussie Smollett ("Empire") is 40. Actor Michael Malarkey ("The Vampire Diaries") is 39. Singer Kris Allen ("American Idol") is 37. Singer Lana Del Rey is 37. Actor Jascha Washington ("Big Momma's House" films) is 33. Bassist Chandler Baldwin of LANCO is 30. Singer Rebecca Black is 25.

June 22: Singer-actor Kris Kristofferson is 86. Actor Michael Lerner is 81. Actor Klaus Maria Brandauer is 79. Journalist Brit Hume is 79. Singer Peter Asher of Peter and Gordon is 78. Singer Howard "Eddie" Kaylan of The Turtles is 75. Singer Todd Rundgren is 74. Singer Alan Osmond of The Osmonds is 73. Actor Meryl Streep is 73. Actor Lindsay Wagner ("The Bionic Woman") is 73. Actor Graham Greene ("Dances With Wolves") is 70. Singer Cyndi Lauper is 69. Actor Chris Lemmon is 68. Bassist Derek Forbes (Simple Minds) is 66. Bassist Garry Beers of INXS is 65. Actor Bruce Campbell ("Evil Dead," "The Adventures of Briscoe County Junior") is 64. Bassist Alan Anton of Cowboy Junkies is 63. Actor Tracy Pollan ("Family Ties") is 62. Keyboardist Jimmy Sommerville (Bronski Beat) is 61. Singer Mike Edwards of Jesus Jones is 58. Actor Amy Brenneman is 58. Singer Steven Page (Barenaked Ladies) is 52. Actor Michael Trucco ("How I Met Your Mother," "Battlestar Gallactica") is 52. Actor Mary Lynn Rajskub ("24) is 51. TV personality Carson Daly is 49. Guitarist Chris Traynor (Helmet) is 49. Actor Donald Faison ("Scrubs") is 48. Actor Lecy Goranson ("The Connors," "Roseanne") is 48. Comedian Mike O'Brien ("Saturday Night Live") is 46. TV personality Jai Rodriguez ("Queer Eye For The Straight Guy") is 43. Actor Lindsay Ridgeway ("Boy Meets World") is 37. Singer Dinah Jane (Fifth Harmony) is 25.

June 23: Singer Diana Trask is 82. Actor Ted Shackelford ("Knots Landing") is 76. Actor Bryan Brown ("The Thorn Birds") is 75. Former "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson is 66. Actor Frances McDormand is 65. Drummer Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth is 60. Director Josh Whedon ("The Avengers," Marvels' Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.") is 58. Singer Chico DeBarge is 52. Actor Selma Blair is 50. Actor Joel Edgerton ("Loving") is 48. Singer KT Tunstall is 47. Singer Virgo Williams of Ghostown DJs is 47. Actor Emmanuelle Vaugier ("Two and a Half Men") is 46. Singer-songwriter Jason Mraz is 45. Actor Melissa Rauch ("The Big Bang Theory") is 42. Singer Duffy is 38.

June 24: Actor Michele Lee is 80. Singer Arthur Brown is 80. Actor-director Georg Stanford Brown is 79. Guitarist Jeff Beck is 78. Singer Colin Blunstone of The Zombies is 77. Drummer Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac is 75. Actor Peter Weller is 75. Bassist John Illsley of Dire Straits is 73. Reggae singer Derrick Simpson of Black Uhuru is 72. Actor Nancy Allen ("RoboCop") is 72. Actor Joe Penny ("Jake and the Fatman," Riptide") is 66. Singer-keyboardist Andy McCluskey of Orchestral Manoevres in the Dark is 63. Musician Siedah Garrett is 62. Actor Iain Glen ("Game of Thrones") is 61. Bassist Curt Smith of Tears for Fears is 61. Actor Danielle Spencer ("What's Happening") is 57. Actor Sherry Stringfield ("ER") is 55. Singer Glenn Medeiros is 52. Actor Carla Gallo ("Bones") is 47. Actor Amir Talai ("LA to Vegas") is 45. Actor Mindy Kaling ("The Mindy Project," The Office") is 43. Actor Minka Kelly is 42. Actor Vanessa Ray ("Blue Bloods") is 41. Actor Justin Hires (2016s "MacGyver," Rush Hour") is 37. Singer Solange Knowles is 36. Actor Max Ehrich ("The Young and the Restless," Under the Dome") is 31. Actor Beanie Feldstein ("Lady Bird") is 29.

June 25: Actor June Lockhart is 97. Singer Eddie Floyd is 85. Actor Barbara Montgomery ("Amen," The Women of Brewster Place") is 83. Actor Mary Beth Peil ("The Good Wife," Dawson's Creek") is 82. Singer Carly Simon is 79. Keyboardist-saxophonist Ian McDonald of Foreigner and King Crimson is 76. Actor-comedian Jimmie Walker is 75. Singer Tim Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House is 70. Keyboardist David Paich of Toto is 68. Actor Michael Sabatino ("NYPD Blue") is 67. Actor Ricky Gervais is 61. Actor Erica Gimpel (TV's "Fame," Profiler") is 58. Rapper Richie Rich is 55. Guitarist Sean Kelly (Sixpence None The Richer) is 51. Actor Angela Kinsey ("The Office") is 51. Bassist Mike Kroegerof Nickelback is 50. Actor Linda Cardellini ("ER," Scooby Doo") is 47. Actor Busy Philipps ("ER," Dawson's Creek") is 43.

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Celebrity birthdays for the week of June 19-25 - Star Tribune