Red Wing Daily: December 31, 2024
"the more you know..."
State
How early is too early? If President Trump makes good on his vow to end Daylight Saving Time, daylight will come as early at 4:30 am in Arkansas in the summer, and say goodbye to those into-the-night still-lit ballgames. State Rep. Stephen Meeks has again filed a bill for the January General Session that would do the same in Arkansas; his identical bill failed in 2023.
Calling it like it is: Gia Lancaster, attending Charlie Kirk’s AmFest last weekend with her sister and parents Clint & Jennifer Lancaster, gave this snappy response when she was asked live on Steve Bannon’s War Room broadcast about the House voting on continuing government funding:
Going national: Chris Jones, Arkansas’s first black Democratic gubernatorial candidate, is seeking one of five vice chair positions in the Democratic National Committee. Other candidates (so far) are gun rights activist David Hogg, Washington (state) Democratic Chair Shasti Conrad, Wyoming Democratic Chair Joe Barbuto, and President/founder of the Arab-American Institute James Zogby. The election is February 1.
“We don’t need no experience”! Governor Sarah Sanders has appointed staffer Carl Jester to finish the term of Secretary of State John Thurston, who takes his new post as state Treasurer on January 1. Jester held several short-term and part-time positions (apparently while still in school), but has no other government experience other than serving as Sanders’ Deputy Chief Legal Counsel after he obtained his law degree in 2022. Some Republicans expected Sanders to put RPA Chair Joseph Wood into the Secretary of State’s position; however, wouldn’t that make things pretty awkward when state Senator Kim Hammer lines up for his expected run at the Secretary of State’s office in 2025?
Making it easier: As noted by Arkansas Business, Arkansas medical marijuana is one marketplace item that's NOT going up in price, while total pounds sold keeps rising:
… pounds sold through November are up almost 23% but sales revenue through November is down 2.1%. According to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA), licensed medical marijuana patients have spent $251.9 million on approved product in the first 11 months of 2024, down 2.1% compared with sales of $257.4 million in the same period of 2023.
During the same period, licensed patients purchased 68,877 pounds of medical marijuana, up 22.8% compared with the 56,088 pounds in the same period of 2023. The number of licensed patients is up 12.04%, according to the DFA.
National
Are the kids gonna be OK? The University of Michigan’s student judiciary group has voted to impeach the student government president and vice-president who promoted the idea of blocking $1.3 million in student club funding until the University divested from “any company that the students claimed profited from the war in Gaza.” The students based the impeachment on the officers’ “inability to protect student representatives, their endorsement of violence and harassment, and their misuse of official platforms to spread misinformation.”
A return to reality: Biden has announced he will drop his proposed Title IX plans to prohibit states from banning transgender athletes from participating in school sports. Citing numerous ongoing lawsuits dealing allowing biological men in women's sports, the Education Department says
In light of the comments received and those various pending court cases, the Department has determined not to regulate on this issue at this time.
It’s about ‘reconciliation’ but ? Do you understand the guidelines and how the process works? With a very tight Republican majority, the House plans to use the reconciliation process to pass “health care, immigration, energy and tax priorities along with the debt limit, which expires in early 2025.”
A maximum of three reconciliation bills are allowed for each fiscal year’s (FY) budget resolution: one to change spending levels, one to change revenue levels and one for the debt limit. If a reconciliation bill carries provisions with more than one of these categories, then that same category cannot be included in another reconciliation bill.
Tech
Where it starts: “New Vietnamese internet rules requiring Facebook and TikTok to verify user identities and hand over data to authorities came into force on Wednesday [December 25], in what critics say is the latest attack on freedom of expression.” Platforms must also “remove any content the government regards as ‘illegal’ within 24 hours.”
Android or iPhone, AI is coming: Looking at your Apple device, are you thinking “What does the “i” stand for?” In 1998 Apple co-founded Steve Jobs said the “i” stands for “internet, individual, instruct, inform, [and] inspire,” but the new iPhone16 adds “intelligence” as it has AI-powered features such as “advanced writing tools for proofreading and summarizing, a more capable Siri, and photo enhancements such as object removal and smart search.” Some say Apple and other tech companies are implementing “artificial intelligence” in conjunction with plans the government has for mass surveillance of the people. Is this the kind of “intelligence” you want to include in your life?
