A.M. Links: Recreation Marijuana Sales Begin in California, Trump's Pakistan Tweet Causes Uproar, Hoda Kotb Replaces Matt Lauer on Today Show

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  Gage Skidmore / Flickr.com

  Recreational marijuana sales have started in California.

• "Pakistan summoned the U.S. ambassador in protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's angry tweet about Pakistan's 'lies and deceit', while Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif dismissed the outburst as a political stunt."
• Anti-government protests in Iran have left as least 21 people dead.
• Hoda Kotb will officially replace Matt Lauer on the Today show.
• New York City ballet leader Peter Martins is resigning in the wake of multiple sexual harassment and abuse allegations leveled against him.
• South Korea wants to hold border talks with North Korea.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Recreational marijuana sales have started in California.

And the bureaucracy there grows.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

Is 2018 over yet?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Do the Dems have Congress yet?

[Crusty Juggler]

Is sexual harassment illegal yet?

[Domestic Dissident]

Cigarette smokers will still be treated like criminals.

[Rhywun]

I'm sure pot smokers will be too.

[Zeb]

I was in CA for Christmas and no one seemed to give a shit about either.

[Rhywun]

Fun anecdote that reminds me of the difference between SF and NYC - when I lived in SF (twenty years ago!) I got the "ewww" hand-motions from passers-by at least once a day, every day. I get it maybe three or four times a year in NYC.

[Zeb]

Yeah, I was not in the Bay area. I expect I'd have gotten a lot more negative reactions to cigarettes there. Rural CA seems more normal.

[Crusty Juggler]

That's because no one in New York wants to interact with strangers.

[Rhywun]

Another plus in its favor.

[Lester224]

Exactly.

[Sevo]

"And the bureaucracy there grows."
Even the 'news' agencies are taking note of the 33% total tax burden and suggesting that maybe the black market isn't going away any time soon.

[Rhywun]

The State seems perfectly willing to tolerate massive black markets in cigarettes too.

[Mike Laursen]

Not just the tax. After a few month she of grace period, there will be strict requirements that product be tested for purity and THC content, but there are only a handful of labs right now capable of doing this kind of testing.

There's actually a surge of students enrolling in Chemistry classes at junior colleges.

[Citizen X - #6]

while Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif dismissed the outburst as a political stunt.

Finally, somebody gets it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

THAT DISMISSAL IS A POLITICAL STUNT. Sad.

[Citizen X - #6]

It's political stunts all the way down. Also, stunted politics.

[Tom Bombadil]

"while Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif dismissed the outburst as a political stunt"

As if.

[Rhywun]

Translates to English as "Please continue sending us money".

[gaoxiaen]

"As if" he knows what he's talking about.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hoda Kotb will officially replace Matt Lauer on the Today show.

Big assless chaps to fill.

[Citizen X - #6]

ALL CHAPS ARE ASSLESS.

[Bee Tagger]

ALL CITIZENS SHOULD BE SASSLESS

[Fist of Etiquette]

In a perfect world, yes.

[Crusty Juggler]

a perfect world

A tearjerker, if you know what I mean.

[BestUsedCarSales]

That was one of the best American Dad episodes.

[Citizen X - #6]

That's a low bar.

[Tom Bombadil]

"Hoda Kotb will officially replace Matt Lauer on the Today show"

Hodor.

[Bee Tagger]

Recreational marijuana sales have started in California.

I don't think you can succeed in business without committing to it as more than just a hobby.

[gaoxiaen]

Hobbyist would be good enough for most folk. It grows like a weed. Duh!

[Citizen X - #6]

Anti-government protests in Iran have left as least 21 people dead.

Exactly like Trump's AmeriKKKa! #resist

[BestUsedCarSales]

1 American is like 50 Iranians, meaning they are still behind the tragedy of Charlottesville.

[Fist of Etiquette]

New York City ballet leader Peter Martins is resigning in the wake of multiple sexual harassment and abuse allegations leveled against him.

You really had to stay on your toes around him.

[Tom Bombadil]

Oh, Plie'

[gaoxiaen]

En pointe.

[Citizen X - #6]

The sad thing is, all he did was make a pas.

[Libertarian]

It wasn't a real pas. More like a faux pas.

[Fist of Etiquette]

South Korea wants to hold border talks with North Korea.

Unparalleled.

[Conchfritters]

Recreational marijuana sales have started in California.

What about non-recreational sales?

[gaoxiaen]

Are there people who sell weed just for fun?

[sarcasmic]

medical

[Crusty Juggler]

Outkick Dunks On CNN and Boobs Baldwin On New Year's Eve

And then I thought, you know what, many Outkick women also loved my first amendment and boobs line on CNN and believed Boobs Baldwin was full of shit with her overreaction as well so why not offer double to get a woman to tell Baldwin to her face that she also loved boobs?

So I sent out this Tweet doubling the offer to $20k if a woman said it live on the air:

I love all of you at Outkick and the check for $20k is in the mail to our brilliant couple. (They will also be on the Outkick radio show tomorrow morning at 820 am et discussing their brilliant ruse.)

The lesson to CNN, and everyone else out there too, should be clear for 2018: don't fuck with Outkick.

Because unlike virtually everyone else in media today we don't pull punches and you're going to lose.

Bigly.

Further, let's make 2018 the year of boobs on CNN. For every Outkick crew member who gets on CNN and says you love boobs, I give you $1k. If you get on and say you love boobs on Baldwin's show, I give you $2k. And if Donald Trump goes on CNN and says he loves boobs then I promise to raise $10 million for his reelection campaign.

Make some of that sweet cash, Reasonoids.

[gaoxiaen]

Okay. I'm changing my gender.

[Crusty Juggler]

Dave Chappelle Says Louis C.K. Accuser Has a 'Brittle Ass Spirit' in Netflix Special

Chappelle mentions Schachner's story twice in his sexual harassment bit. "One lady said, 'Louis C.K. masturbated in front of me, ruined my comedy dreams,'" he says. "Word?' Well then I dare say, madam, you may have never had a dream. Come on man, that's a brittle spirit. That is a brittle-ass spirit, that is too much, this grown-ass woman."

Chappelle says that if Louis C.K. had masturbated in front of civil-rights icon Martin Luther King, he doubts that King would have dropped his "dream." "Show business is just harder than that," he continues. "I know that sounds fucked up, I'm not supposed to say that, but one of these ladies was like, 'Louis C.K .was masturbating while I was on the phone with him.' Bitch, you don't know how to hang up a phone? How the fuck are you going to survive in show business if this is an actual obstacle to your dreams?"

Say it isn't so!

[Citizen X - #6]

Dave Chappelle fucking up his intro line was the funniest 20 minutes of the Def Jam Comedy 25th Anniversary special.

[Juice]

I like to think that my ass spirit is quite robust.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I was watching that on Sunday and I knew he was gonna take shit for that.

[Harvard]

Ahh legal weed. Kalifornia, Libertarian paradise. Good weather, illegal immigrant sanctuary, and at long last legal blow.

[gaoxiaen]

Smoke, not Blow. My favorite scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfyAvHc6j6M

[gaoxiaen]

Used to love that feeling. Maybe I should retire in South America or Puerto Rico and start a blog.

[Crusty Juggler]

My one and only New Years Resolution is to continue to not laugh after my boss says he is a "madame secretary junkie."

Pray for me.

[Crusty Juggler]

Hoda Kotb will officially replace Matt Lauer on the Today show.

I'd press a button under my desk to lock her in my office, if you know what I mean.

[Crusty Juggler]

This is the bizarre reason why women are scoffing McDonalds fries straight after sex

Thanks, Trump!

[Rhywun]

This is from the same paper that brought us dead sharks washing up on the "beach" of Niagara Falls and 200 million Americans suffering in -37 degree weather. Oh, and slight inaccuracies at Hillsborough.

[Crusty Juggler]

Right, they're fun.

[gaoxiaen]

"Old wives tale of putting your legs in the air and moving them in a "bicycle" motion for at least three minutes". They should be doing this before I start.

[Tom Bombadil]

The term is "scarf", not scoff.

To scoff fries would be to reject them, which is pretty much the opposite.

[Citizen X - #6]

For being the nation that invented English, Brits tend to have inexplicable difficulties in using it.

[Juice]

A scarf is something that goes around your neck.

[gormadoc]

It's a British/US difference.

[Zeb]

Well, they'd pronounce it like "scoff", but I'd think they'd still spell it "scarf".

[Juice]

That's just arse.

[Juice]

That must be the British definition of the word scoff.

Also, The Sun links need to be labelled NSFW. Or NSFL is more accurate.

[gaoxiaen]

Yay! PA will go along with this in 2050.

[Rufus The Monocled]

It's 2018 and Trump is still President!

He didn't quit or get impeached!

I wonder if all those people who 'bet' that he would be gone inside one year are squelching.

[Crusty Juggler]

It's 2018 and Canada still can't beat the United States in the World Juniors!

[Rufus The Monocled]

Six in a row now.

But forgive me if I don't consider shoot outs (here or in the NHL) as *real* wins.

[Rufus The Monocled]

And look at the Yanks getting all cocky....

Awaits Trump's tweet.

[Crusty Juggler]

At least you didn't blame the weather.

[Rufus The Monocled]

A Canadian blaming the weather?

Two teams out there in the same conditions.

[Domestic Dissident]

Technically they still have 18 more days to make it happen, ROFLMAO.

[Crusty Juggler]

lol

[BestUsedCarSales]

Hee hee

[Sevo]

"I wonder if all those people who 'bet' that he would be gone inside one year are squelching."

Rufus, how is Canada dealing with the influx of the thousands who moved there 'if Trump wins'?

[Rufus The Monocled]

We have enough draft dodgers up here. And boy can they be a cocky bunch.

A person leaving America for such insipid reasons is not the sort of character I want up here.

They can take their faux-outrage and self-righteous bull shit and shove it up their butts.

[Rat on a train]

Canada has stricter immigration rules. They want productive immigrants not celebrities.

[gaoxiaen]

Or queefing.

[Crusty Juggler]

He wants people to talk openly about sex. On stage.

On a recent Tuesday, the stage at Bey? Caff? contained a few props: a mattress, some blankets and pillows. A chair sat in front of the stage.

Four speakers ? hip-hop artist Professor Toon, Omisade Burney-Scott, writer Jade Brieanne and Carmen Williams ? talked to an audience about physical and emotional intimacy in the age of online dating during the first of a planned monthly series of Bed Talks.

Speakers could sit on the mattress or speak from the chair. Burney-Scott, 50, shared her experience being divorced with a son. She and her women friends "want to go on real damn dates, where you get dressed and I dressed up," and the date picks you up at your house, she said. "I have not had much success with online dating," Burney-Scott said. "I'm hard wired with face-to-face [contact], ritual," she said.

I'm hard wired too, if you know what I mean.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Far out.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Cause I'm hot, young, running free, a little bit better than I used to be because I'm hard. Hard wired.

[Sevo]

"South Korea wants to hold border talks with North Korea."

Natch, the NYT finds the 'Trump is a big poopyhead' angle:
"U.S. could lose crucial ally as Kim courts South Korea"
[...]
"Beyond a New Year's declaration by North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, that he would move to the mass-production of nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles in 2018 lies a canny new strategy to initiate direct talks with South Korea in the hope of driving a wedge into its seven-decade alliance with the United States."
http://www.sfgate.com/world/ar.....466078.php

Yes, that master if 5D chess, Kim Jong Un, will manage to sever the ties between the US and S. Korea, and replace the US as S. Korea's protector against, uh, well you'll have to ask the wizards at the NYT.

[damikesc]

Yes, because S Korea has forgotten N Korea kidnapping citizens or how they fucked up their joint-commercial ventures. Or how they have all of those tunnels going into S Korea for an invasion.

Yes, Trump being mean to Kim is going to certainly make S Korea forget all of this.

Why is our media so fond of dictatorial regimes? They don't want Iran to be dealt with. They don't want us to deal with N. Korea.

Hell, Trump cannot help buy do a better job of foreign policy than his utterly incompetent predecessor.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

The media dreams of living under a dictatorial regime in this country. With themselves as the Ministry Of Truth, natch.

[Eidde]

Learn how The Founding Fathers got their cherries popped and had to officially accommodate national political parties.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Jesus.

[Citizen X - #6]

Uncle Eddie's not allowed around the nieces and nephews anymore.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Shut up Madison. I may not have written a Constitution, but I've written like 8 Manifestos.

[loveconstitution1789]

Thanks Eidde. Good read.

Hopefully 2018 has more of what you wrote and less of what Hihn writes.

[Jerryskids]

Hoda Kotb will officially replace Matt Lauer on the Today show.

Wasn't the Hoda Kotb a Lithuanian knock-off of the Trabant?

[C. S. P. Schofield]

"Anti-government protests in Iran have left as least 21 people dead."

Is it the protests, or the government supression of those protests? The Washington Post doesn't seem to know, which somehow doesn't suprise me!

[damikesc]

It depends. If they DISLIKE the protests, then the protests caused it. If they like them, then it's the government response.

If Trump had "Resist douchenozzles killed, they wouldn't be blaming the protests. If Obama did, they would blame the protests.

[Citizen X - #6]

Unrelated: here is a picture of SIV.

[Crusty Juggler]

This is what SIV aspires to be.

[BestUsedCarSales]

A live cock or a dead hen.

[Rhywun]

Blas's second coronation shorter than the first but just as loaded with tedious pomposity. I can't believe I missed it!

[Rhywun]

Dammit

[Careless]

Hoda Kotb sounds like a Star Wars name

[Libertarian]

But it *looks* like a cat walked onto a keyboard.

[loveconstitution1789]

Takes over Today Show she will.

She looks like a female yoda too.

[Tony]

Does the Hoda moment mean less workplace sexual harassment, but more workplace drinking?

[mad.casual]

I don't see how filming your mastectomy for broadcast isn't sexual harassment en masse.

I think, at this point, it's pretty clear that Lous C.K., Lauer, Weiner, etc. were doing wrong: not claiming enough victim status up front.

[Vernon Depner]

Isn't ballet inherently abusive? I can't stand to watch it, knowing what the dancers go through.

[Ron]

Recreational marijuana sales have started in California.

At the same time you now have to have a background check to buy ammo

[Isaac Bartram]

Recreational marijuana sales have started in California.

An interesting side affect of this will be, according to NPR coverage I listened to this morning, that thousands of offenders will have their felony convictions either expunged or reduced to misdemeanors.

And unintended consequence of this will be possibly the biggest restoration of Second Amendment rights in the history of the country.