Wiretap: Weed, just so very much safer than tobacco and alcohol

This may not surprise you, but a new study finds that pot is much, much safer than alcohol or tobacco. In fact, the study — published in the journal Scientific Reports, a subsidiary of Nature — shows that, given typical use, pot is 117 times safer than alcohol. The study does not say that pot is completely safe, but of all the drugs it studied, pot was the only one that posed a low mortality risk. Via the Washington Post.

There are only a few days to go, but Vox says Mitch McConnell may have finally figured a way out of the shutdown mess. Politico has a one-word explanation for McConnell’s escape route — punt.

Here’s a plot twist: Colorado Springs NAACP chapter president Henry Allen Jr. isn’t buying the story: The man arrested for leaving an incendiary device outside the building that houses a barbershop and offices that include a local chapter of the NAACP says he was targeting an accountant… who has been dead for years? It keeps getting crazier down there. Via the Gazette. 

Bill O’Reilly doubles down in defending his version of his Falklands reporting. And he warns a New York Times reporter to be careful with his reporting. If not, O’Reilly said, “I am coming after you with everything I have. You can take it as a threat.”

Meanwhile, Veteran Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald apologizes for embellishing his record. Via the New York Times.

“If I don’t get caught on the 16th Street Mall for a year, they’ll let me go back,” homeless 21-year-old Lucas Alejos said. “If I do, I’ll go to jail for a hundred days.” He’s one of wha may be hundreds who have been banned from the popular Denver downtown destination. Local law enforcement say it’s a way to cut down on shoplifting, drug dealing and general troublemaking. Civil rights advocates say the measure criminalizes homelessness. Via the Denver Post.

Fifteen of fifty-five officers in the Durango Police Department have flown the coop over the last 15 months, citing low morale and poor communication. City Manager Ron LeBlanc says he knows nothing about it. Via the Durango Herald.

He’s not Elizabeth Warren, but Jim Webb may be the best option for Democrats looking for a primary election challenger to Hillary Clinton. Via the National Journal.

MSNBC is moving away from “left-wing TV.” Could that really be true? The Atlantic explains that, if true, it’s not about politics, but about economics.

Tech and pot goes together like bees and honey (if honey is a $700 million industry). Via the Daily Camera.

If you can stand one more piece about the Oscars, try this: New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane says the last thing the Oscars needed was its white night.

[Photo via West Midlands Police.]

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