Two years ago, the first legal recreational cannabis was sold in Connecticut. There were, on Jan. 10, 2023, nine stores selling cannabis to anyone over age 18. There are now 31 recreational cannabis shops in Connecticut, more than a threefold increase in only two short years. Retail sales of cannabis have grown from $5.1 million in that first month to $17.6 million in November, the most recent month for which there is data available.
The Axial Seamount is swelling and rumbling like it could blow any day, but you probably don't need to worry.
The average American spent $42.38 per month on streaming-based subscriptions in 2024. That works out to just over $500 per year - or around $30,000 over a lifetime - but is actually less than the previous year by a significant margin. According to Review's annual State of Consumer Media Spending Report, the average American spent 23 percent less on streaming subscriptions in 2024 than in 2023.
Like many observers, I expected severe buyers' regret fairly early in the second Trump administration. After all, many Americans who voted for Trump did so because they believed he would bring down grocery prices. He was never going to be able to deliver on that promise and stopped talking about the subject as soon as the election was over; sooner or later, voters were going to notice.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said he feared the Middle East violence could embolden individuals or groups to carry out attacks inside the United States. read more
@#1 ... Connecticut cannabis is not sold in a bubble. If a consumer can't find what they want in the shop down the block, they need only travel across the border to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York or New Jersey. ...
I enjoy listening to a ~local~ adult alternative music station (as I have mentioned in prior comments, www.1071thepeak.com ). Advertisers on that station have been the cannabis shops in NY, with home delivery!
While I do not partake, I can see why they chose that demographic for their advertising.
Another tune I heard on college radio ...
Nina Gordon - Tonight and the Rest of My Life (2000)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
[Verse 1]
Down to the earth
I fell with dripping wings
Heavy things won't fly
And the sky might catch on fire
And burn the axis of the world
That's why I prefer a sunless sky
To the glittering and stinging in my eyes
[Chorus]
I feel so light
This is all I wanna feel tonight
I feel so light
Tonight and the rest of my life
Tonight and the rest of my life
[Verse 2]
Gleaming in the dark sea
I'm as light as air floating there breathlessly
When the dream dissolves
I open up my eyes
I realize that everything is shoreless sea
A weightlessness is passing over me
[Chorus]
I feel so light
This is all I wanna feel tonight
I feel so light
Tonight and the rest of my life
Tonight and the rest of my life
...
@#14 ... I don't think "gifts" are considered income unless they're used to generate a profit. ...
I don't know either. That is why I asked.
Lemme see what a search engine shows up ...
Whoa, I was led right to the mouth of the beast ... (kudos to duckduckgo.com...)
Frequently asked questions on gift taxes
www.irs.gov
...
Who pays the gift tax?
The donor is generally responsible for paying the gift tax. Under special arrangements the donee may agree to pay the tax instead. Please visit with your tax professional if you are considering this type of arrangement.
...
What is considered a gift?
Any transfer to an individual, either directly or indirectly, where full consideration (measured in money or money's worth) is not received in return.
...
Interesting.
@#3 ... Good op-ed. ...
Yup. One of the good ones, imo.
But, sadly ...
OpEd: My Last Column: Finding Hope in an Age of Resentment
www.nytimes.com
... This is my final column for The New York Times, where I began publishing my opinions in January 2000. I'm retiring from The Times, not the world, so I'll still be expressing my views in other places. But this does seem like a good occasion to reflect on what has changed over these past 25 years.
What strikes me, looking back, is how optimistic many people, both here and in much of the Western world, were back then and the extent to which that optimism has been replaced by anger and resentment. And I'm not just talking about members of the working class who feel betrayed by elites; some of the angriest, most resentful people in America right now " people who seem very likely to have a lot of influence with the incoming Trump administration " are billionaires who don't feel sufficiently admired.
It's hard to convey just how good most Americans were feeling in 1999 and early 2000. Polls showed a level of satisfaction with the direction of the country that looks surreal by today's standards. My sense of what happened in the 2000 election was that many Americans took peace and prosperity for granted, so they voted for the guy who seemed as if he'd be more fun to hang out with.
In Europe, too, things seemed to be going well. In particular, the introduction of the euro in 1999 was widely hailed as a step toward closer political as well as economic integration " toward a United States of Europe, if you like. Some of us ugly Americans had misgivings, but initially they weren't widely shared.
Of course, it wasn't all puppies and rainbows. There was, for example, already a fair bit of proto-QAnon-type conspiracy theorizing and even instances of domestic terrorism in America during the Clinton years. There were financial crises in Asia, which some of us saw as a potential harbinger of things to come; I published a 1999 book titled "The Return of Depression Economics," arguing that similar things could happen here; I put out a revised edition a decade later, when they did.
Still, people were feeling pretty good about the future when I began writing for this paper. ...
A tune that just appeared on a playlist here ...
Chameleons - Swamp Thing (1986)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
I can already hear your tune
Calling me across the room
When the world and his wife are on my back again
Not enough pleasure, too much pain
...
And then the King of Spivs will come
Selling blood by the litre
When nothing's sacred anymore
When the demon's knocking on your door
You'll still be staring down at the floor
...
OK, I had to look up King of Spivs ...
Spiv
en.wikipedia.org
... In the United Kingdom, a spiv is a petty criminal who deals in illicit, typically black market, goods. Spivs were particularly active during the Second World War and in the post-war period when many goods were rationed due to shortages.
According to Peter Wollen, "the crucial difference between the spiv and the classic Hollywood gangster was the degree of sympathy the spiv gained as an intermediary in the transfer of black market goods to ... a grateful mass of consumers."[1] ...
So the king of Spivs might be Pres-elect Trump?
(asking for a friend)
Two Gallants - Seems Like Home To Me (2007)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
genius.com