Biden Administration Sells Out Israel, Pot Politics & Summer Heat - Top 3 Takeaways – April 30th, 2024
- With Friends like these... Pockets of this country, a la numerous college campuses are powder kegs of antisemitic behavior. We’ve already seen what powder kegs of it in the middle east have done. And it’s on that note that the Biden administration's State Department decided to become the latest to add to an increasingly dangerous narrative. That Israel has engaged in “gross violations of human rights”. The US State Department on Monday alleged that five units of the Israeli Defense Forces were responsible for “individual incidents of gross violations of human rights”. The alleged gross violations are said to have come prior to the October 7th Hamas terror attacks. Details were not publicly provided about what these alleged “gross violations of human rights” by the IDF happened to be, or even who the alleged victims of said gross abuses were. Seemingly lending some credence to notion that something went wrong somewhere with the IDF, the State Department said four of the five units found in violation had been reprimanded with the US in discussions with Israel about the fifth. Immediately questions were raised about revoking the recently approved aid for Israel due to federal law banning the US from providing foreign aid to countries engaging in human rights abuses. Why would the Biden administration decide to come public with this information now? Whose interest does it serve? Israel is in the middle of a fight for its survival and the Biden administration feels it’s necessary to dive into unquantified “gross human rights violations” by five IDF units sometime preceding the current war? Is this an effort to attempt to not provide aid to Israel after all? Is this political posturing to the radical left that’s behind the antisemitic protests? Is this a nod to the International Criminal Court that’s reportedly considering charges against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some of his top officials? Was it all of the above? With friends like the Biden administration, Israel doesn’t need enemies and yet it has plenty – starting with those who carried out pure evil on October 7th and those who’re taking over woke college campuses across this country – something the Biden administration currently doesn’t seem so concerned with these days. This is worth watching to see if it’s political posturing or a sign of something more.
- Less dough equals more smoke. This November one of the six proposed constitutional amendments which will be on Florida’s ballots will be whether Florida should create a constitutional right for those 21 and older to use marijuana recreationally. It’s a proposed amendment I’m breaking down in a separate story today. Following the successful 2016 vote to codify medical marijuana in Florida’s constitution it felt like it was only a matter of time before a similar effort to introduce recreational marijuana would come our way and so it has. But while we’re a little over six months away from Election Day when that proposed amendment will be among the many votes we’ll make with the potential to permanently impact our state, there’s new info about who smokes or munches on marijuana for pleasure. The answer is mostly those with less dough. Gallup has found that there’s a direct connection between income, formal education, and the use of recreational marijuana. According to Gallup 9% of adults consume cannabis 10 or more days per month. But that total is far from static. With every increase in one’s tax bracket – cannabis use decreases. With each increase in formal education level, cannabis use decreases. How dramatic are the differences? Those who didn’t graduate from high school are 260% more likely to regularly consume cannabis than those who hold a postgraduate degree. Those who earn $24,000 or less are 320% more likely to engage with ganja than those who earn $180,000 or more. So yes, it’s evidently a fact that those who are the least educated and who earn the least are the most likely to recreationally partake in pot and related products. Perhaps it's a case of stereotypes existing for a reason. Regardless, what the data does is do is paint a picture of who, and how many Floridians likely already recreationally use marijuana products and what the implications may be come November. The average education level of adults in Florida equates to “some college” meaning the average Floridian’s formal education level is above high school and below a bachelor’s degree. The average full-time annual income for Floridians is $48,966. According to Gallup, both of those equate to about 11% of the population who regularly use. That means approximately 2% more of Florida’s population is already using cannabis compared to the average state’s population. But what that also means is that at least 49% of Florida’s population, which doesn’t regularly partake in pot and related products, must vote in favor of the constitutional right to do so in order for the amendment to pass. The medical marijuana vote in 2016 passed with 71% support, or 11% more than was needed to clear the constitutional threshold. That doesn’t leave a lot of additional room for defectors for recreational marijuana this fall. It figures to be a close vote.
- Some like it hot. If you like classic movies the 1959 comedy by that name might first come to mind. If 80’s music is more your thing then the Power Station’s lyrics are probably now in your brain. In any event, in South Florida it pays to like it hot in the summertime because you know that’s what you’re going to get. But this year we’re being told it may be especially hot. How hot? “Unusually hot” according to NOAA’s Seasonal Temperature Outlook is providing Florida with a 40% to 50% chance of having an “unusually hot” summer. But that’s far from the worst summer outlook – it’s most likely that there will be an unusually hot summer in the northeast and the southwest through the northwest. In other words, it may be hot in Florida this summer – buts it’s likely to be even hotter to the north of us. Perhaps some snowbirds will return before next season. I happen to like the Power Station and am an odd duck who generally enjoys South Florida’s heat and humidity. That appears as though it will be helpful in managing though this summer’s heat.