#but credit where credit's due since i ROBBED YOU /j

[eastbluecrewed]

yellow

(quick little comic based on the post/poem below the cut, thank u to @that-oracle for the idea your brain is massive)

[gershwinn]

LILI REINHART

The Riverdale babe talks Hustlers, J. Lo and refusing to be typecast for the Autumn 19 issue.

“I hope to just keep it interesting and definitely not play the same role twice,” Lili Reinhart says over the phone. “I think that would be the worst case scenario.” The Cleveland- born star, 22, has been a mainstay of the Wednesday night television since 2017, thanks to Archie Comics’ Riverdale, in which she plays high school student Betty Cooper. Hard pushed as she’d be to replicate her girl-next-door-who-brings-down-cults character from the soapy teen drama elsewhere, her next turn in 13th September’s Hustlers is a far cry from the ponytail-wearing teen.

Hitting the big screen alongside some of Hollywood’s biggest names — Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Cardi B, Lizzo and more — Hustlers was born from Jessica Pressler’s 2015 New York Magazine article, “The Hustlers at Scores”. The story follows a group of women who emotionally, financially, and chemically manipulate men, drugging them with MDMA and ketamine — so they’d be happy, but also forget the details of their high-priced evening — to spend tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars at a strip club.

Reinhart originally read the script in an airport while flying from Los Angeles to Vancouver. The characters and their story captivated her – and after an hour- long FaceTime with the movie’s director and screenwriter, Lorene Scafaria, it was set. Reinhart had the role. “The synopsis of it did not do it justice,” she admits. “I was like, ‘What is this movie going to be about?’” When she realised Scafaria — writer of Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World — was attached, she thought, “This is obviously much deeper than it appears to be on the outside”.

She liked that it was a story about women “trying to support themselves”. The women’s manipulation of the Wall Street money-making men in the film wasn’t “revenge” – for them, it was a means of survival. Whether it was to finance themselves, their grandparents and kids, or to take back what they thought belonged to them from the club, the hustlers wanted to redistribute the wealth. Ringleader Ramona’s excuse? Wall Street robbed the world in the 2008 crash, and most got away with it. And when you put it like that, well, it’s hard to argue.

Reinhart’s character Annabelle joins the scheme working with operation bosses Ramona (Lopez) and Destiny (Wu), as well as Mercedes (Keke Palmer). Annabelle is attracted to the “sisterhood” after being shunned from her own kin when they find out she’s a stripper, but the operation is uncomfortable for her – she throws up from all the mischief. “She was written as being the baby of the group, which she is,” Reinhart explains. “She looked to the other girls to take care of her a little bit. She clearly could take care of herself, but I think she certainly wasn’t the ringleader Ramona was. She let Ramona take her under her wing.”

Annabelle continues her participation with the crimes and gets caught up in her new “family” and the wealth her job brings. “She settles comfortably into this dangerous path of drugging these men, maybe not necessarily understanding the full consequences of what she was doing,” Reinhart says. “It was fun to play someone who doesn’t have their shit together… I was like, ‘This is a great opportunity to be a part of a film with a bunch of women who are experienced that I can look up to and a big feature film that I can play this naive, clueless girl.’”

Likeable as the characters are, Reinhart’s aware that sympathy is where the road to reason ends. “I don’t think you can ever sit back and defend these women for doing what they did,” she says. “You can understand, but you can’t go as far as justifying or defending it. What they did is illegal and wrong.” Not that that makes an underdog tale any less intoxicating (literally, in this case).

In a word, Reinhart’s more low-key than her Hustler ’s counterpart, using her time in NYC to “learn how to take the subway”, shop for vintage clothing, and get ice cream at 2 a.m. “I went to the Playboy Club,” she says, reminding me of her character momentarily. But it turns out her trip to the house of Hef was actually for Hustlers’ wrap party. “It was a little too loud for me,” she politely adds.

Pretending to be a girl who enjoys the club scene was a rather more enjoyable experience for Reinhart. “I really just had a good time being around the women and learning to be in a different environment, because I hadn’t done a film where I played a significant part for a while,” she says. “It was really nice to be on a film set again and Lorene as a director obviously was really wonderful in allowing all of us to share. It was very collaborative.” Scafaria encouraged the actors to ad lib and be a creative part of building their characters into more fully-realised people.

Though Reinhart feels like a staple on screen by now, Hustlers is actually the biggest film role she’s ever taken on. Understandably she’s excited about how people will react to seeing her in a different setting. “There’s so much hype for it,” she says. “[I’m] proud to have been a part of something like this, that was on such a big scale. I mean film is where my heart lies.” She adds, “There’s nothing quite like seeing your face in a movie theatre.”

Reinhart will see her name on screen not only as an actor, but as a producer too on her next movie, Amazon’s Chemical Hearts, due for release in 2020. Filmed right after Hustlers, she got in on the behind-the-scenes action as an executive producer. “That was really a passion project of mine, which luckily came together [timing-wise],” she says. “It’s cool to spearhead your own projects and really build something from the ground up. It makes things so much more special. You really just have such a drive to make things the best that they can be… I’m definitely going to try to be having more producing credits from here on out.”

She added buying a house in Los Angeles to her to-do list, too. Reinhart has lived in Vancouver for the last three years while shooting Riverdale but has had her heart set on LA since she first visited at 12 years-old. “I was just so in awe of the entertainment industry and how so much seems to be happening in that city,” she describes. “It was where the big movies were made, where the movie stars lived, where such history was, and film and television… It was a hard pill to swallow when I knew that I had to move to Vancouver to be on Riverdale because I had worked so hard and so long to make it to LA.”

I tell her she seems to be one step ahead of most of us 20-somethings (myself included) who are still trying to trace their trajectories. “I’m also still very much figuring things out,” she humbly replies, in what I’ve come to realise is a typically understated Lili fashion. “I know what I want, but I have no idea where I’m going to end up in a couple years… Things could go terribly wrong. Who knows?” Currently shooting season four of her hit show, and with Hustlers in theatres now, from here it looks like Reinhart’s name is only going to keep rising, with her feet planted firmly on the ground.

Source: Wonderland

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 162

Well, Vegeta wanted Perfect Cell, and by garn, he got Perfect Cell.    Trouble is, Vegeta can’t handle this guy.    He kicked him in the head really hard, and everyone kept going on about how awesome that kick was and how he definitely hit a vital area (as if anyone knows anything about Cell’s anatomy), and Cell just smiled at him

Fortunately, there’s still a chance.   Krillin knows that Trunks is holding back, because he didn’t want to embarass his father by revealing that he had surpassed him

But Trunks still doesn’t want to step in.   He’d rather wait for Cell to beat the shit out of Vegeta, and then save his dad while he’s unconscious.   So this proves that Trunks really is Vegeta’s son, since he inherited his father’s dominant trait of doing stupid horseshit for the sole purpose of protecting Vegeta’s fragile ego.

Trunks figures that even if Vegeta dies first, it would still be better this way, because if he were to rob Vegeta of his pride then it would be worse than death for him.    Again, these aren’t hypothetical scenarios, here.   Vegeta’s been humbled and killed before.    Frankly, he’s being humiliated here anyway, whether Trunks intervenes or not.    This whole fight was Vegeta’s dumb idea, and he was all “Durr, I’ll fight Perfect Cell, bring him on!” and now he’s getting his ass handed to him and he knows exactly who to blame.    

Trunks also says that it’s Vegeta’s pride that motivates him, and he thinks it’s what his mother always saw in him.   And this is sort of where I have trouble with Vegeta’s redemption arc.    Around this point in the story, it’s really more about other characters struggling to find positive things to say about Vegeta, while he continues to be a giant asshole

Let’s face it, he doomed the world by allowing Cell to become complete.    Not only that, but he attacked his own son to facilitate this.    Then Cell beat up Krillin and absorbed 18, all while he floated there with a stupid grin on his face.   But hey, he’s got plenty of self-esteem!   That’s admirable, right?  

The problem, I think, is that the word “pride” keeps getting used as a catch-all term for Vegeta’s attitude.    What Bulma and Trunks appreciate about him is probably his drive.   Vegeta’s a self-starter.   He doesn’t sit around and wait for others to solve his problems, he tackles them himself, usually head on.    He embraces adversity and rises to the occasion. 

What keeps making Vegeta a dick is his arrogance.   He puts down the other Z-Figthers--including Goku sometimes-- saying that they’re unnecessary and unimportant.    He routinely underestimates his opponents, as Cell is currently demonstrating.   He’s a valuable ally, but only up to a point.    When things go a little too well, Vegeta starts looking for ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  

I don’t think this is a translation issue, since the story here clearly involves Trunks’ inability to separate the two qualities.   He admires his father’s drive, but what he’s doing right now--plotting to rescue him in secret--is designed to placate his arrogance.    He’s calling them both “pride”, which is why he thinks his intentions make sense.    But Vegeta isn’t entitled to his arrogance right now.    He fucked up royally, and he deserves to get upstaged.   It’s going to happen anyway, whether it’s Trunks or Cell or Goku or whoever.    All Trunks is doing is allowing Vegeta to take a beating, and that’s fine by me, but I don’t think that’s what he really wants right now.

At last, Cell starts going on the offensive a little, just to show Vegeta what he’s up against, and he takes the time to thank him for being foolish enough to make this moment possible.  

Desperately, 16 tries to sneak up on Cell to sucker punch him, but Cell notices him before he can even get close.    I’m not sure what sort of condition 16 is in right now, but he seemed to have trouble standing before.    He’s completely out of his league here, but he seems to have recognized that Vegeta is too, so he’s determined to do whatever he can.   

Then Vegeta goes for broke.   He calls up all of his power at once, gathering it into a single attack.  

Then he dares Cell to take the blast head-on, since Cell’s already proven he can dodge just about anything Geets throws at him.   Credit where it’s due, this is pretty clever on Vegeta’s part.   At last, he’s finally started thinking like his opponent.   Cell wants to test his perfect form, and he has surpreme confidence in his perfect form, so he doesn’t actually think anything can hurt him.    So instead of trying to fistfight the guy, Vegeta is merely challenging him to a test of endurance.   

And Cell is all for it.   Why shouldn’t he be?   He’s been winning so far, and he’s not even trying.   Besides, he’s perfect now.     Dr. Gero’s computer told him so, and it hasn’t been wrong so far.

There’s just one problem with Vegeta’s scheme: He’s using so much juice that he might destroy the whole world whether he hits Cell or not.  

But hey, YOLO, right?  Vegeta lets it rip, and Cell seems genuinely shocked by the intensity of the blast.   

Hyperbolic Time Chamber Update: The Chamber has a fridge now, and apparently it’s been stocked with pineapples.     Goku just grabs an armload of food, and I like the part where he’s picking things and he goes “Gohan likes this!”  I’d like to think it’s the enormous radish.     Gohan’s all “Oh boy, my favorite!”

Then Goku asks Gohan to cook a cartoon hambone with a ki blast, and he ends up setting Goku’s hair on fire.   

Back at the battle, Trunks is pleased to see that Vegeta managed to confine his attack to spare the Earth, so at least that’s not a problem.

And Vegeta seems pleased with the results of his attack.  Did it work?

Cell’s alive, but he doesn’t look too happy.  

Probably because a huge chunk of him is gone.   I don’t remember when I first saw this, because I watched these episodes out of order around the time they aired on Cartoon Network, but this was amazing.   

Krillin’s all like “Yay we won!”  

Look at this.   Are we seeing Cell’s innards, or is this some sort of seared flesh left behind from the Final Flash?    Who can tell?   Vegeta starts laughing with relief.     He’s won this.   There’s no way Cell can fight in this condition.  

And he knows it.    Cell bet everything on his perfect form, and it still wasn’t enough to--

LOL j/k, he’s fine.   

Yeah, he’s got Piccolo’s DNA, which means he can just regenerate the part of his body Vegeta destroyed.   Neat huh?

What was really dumb was when they basically recreated this moment in Dragon Ball Super with Vegeta and Jiren.     Jiren was kicking everyone’s ass, and Vegeta dared him to stand still and take his best shot, and Jiren did, and it didn’t work, and...... they all just kept fighting anyway.  

It was stupid for two reasons.    First, it was just a retread of a classic DBZ moment.   Someone probably thought it’d be cute to do a callback to this episode, except it’s not.   It just looked like they ran out of ideas and dipped into the nostalgia well.    

Second, the whole point of Vegeta’s Final Flash ploy was that he could only do it the one time.    He hurt Cell with it, and I suppose if he could repeat that attack several more times, it would be enough to kill Cell, except he put everything he had into that blast.     He can’t do it again, and even if he could, Cell wouldn’t be stupid enough to stand still and let it hit him again.

Dragon Ball Super’s mistake was in having Vegeta use a desperation tactic on Jiren, and then he just keeps fighting Jiren, defeats Toppo, and fights Jiren some more, and then he gave his remaining energy to Goku when he got eliminated from the Tournament of Power.     That’s all fine, except it makes you question what Vegeta was trying to accomplish with his Final Flash.  He clearly didn’t put everything into it, like he did against Cell here.    Maybe he just baited Jiren so he could get a free hit in and take his measure at the same time?   

Anyway, this is why DBZ is always better than Dragon Ball Super.   The Tournament of Power was really good, but it’d have to stand on a chair to kiss the Cell Saga’s butt.     We’re not recycling old ideas here.   Cell was created from the genes of other characters, the Final Flash is new, and so is Cell completely dismantling Vegeta.   Spirit first, then body.

And that does it for “Super Vegeta”.    Wotta maroon.

So now Vegeta has been knocked out, or maybe he’s already dead.    Cell thinks he’s still alive, so he’s about to finish him off, so if Trunks is going to act, now’s the time.  

And so Trunks starts powering up.

And this catches Cell’s attention.   Good thing too, because he could easily kill Vegeta in the time it’s taking Trunks to get into gear.  

So far, Cell seems pretty impressed...

[news4usonline]

Kobe Bryant's legacy is a Hall of Fame celebration

The accolades are many but they don't quite tell the whole story of greatness. There are a lot of reasons Kobe Bryant deserves to be in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Bryant is one of the greatest NBA players of all time. During his 20-year career before he retired, Bryant was an 18-time All-Star, NBA Finals MPVP twice and picked up a regular season honor. It makes you wonder, though, for all the greatness Bryant treated fans to on the court for two decades, he should have had more league MVPs.    For 20 years, Bryant was NBA basketball. He led the way. He was a slam dunk champion in 1997. Both of the numbers (8, 24)he wore on the back of a Los Angeles Lakers uniform are retired. That's why he's one of the best ever!  "No amount of words can fully describe what Kobe Bryant meant to the Los Angeles Lakers,” Lakers Governor Jeanie Buss said. “Kobe was not only a proven winner and a champion, he gave everything he had to the game of basketball. His fierce competitiveness, work ethic and drive were unmatched. Those qualities helped Kobe lead us to five titles – and have now brought him to the Hall of Fame, where he will be enshrined with the greatest to have ever played the game. No one deserves it more.” Bryant deserves the Hall of Fame because he won five NBA titles. Before Bryant's tragic passing in 2019, he was one of the influential human beings ever. He deserves to be treated with respect no matter what happens. 

Hall of Famer and Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant with his former coach Phil Jackson at Shaquille O'Neal's statute ceremony in front of STAPLES Center in 2017. Photo credit: Dennis J. Freeman/News4usonline When Bryant was in high school, he was one of the most highly touted high school wing players in the nation. He was also one of the best players in high school. When you combine what he did during his prep career and his NBA portfolio, this shows why he deserves to be part of the Hall of Fame with the other NBA players that also won in the past. Think about it: Bryant once scored 81 points in an NBA basketball game (Toronto Raptors), which is the second-highest scoring mark in the history of the game. Bryant's 81 points make him the only Laker to score 80 points and over in one game.     The Hall of Fame ceremony was emotional with Bryant's wife, Vanessa, giving a moving tribute to her late husband. When she concluded her nearly 13-minute speech, Mrs. Bryant effectively brought out the humanity of her Kobe as she received a standing ovation for reminding all of us of the man No. 24 was. The sadness of not Bryant not being present to be part of his big night seemed to be overwhelming to all.   On Saturday, May 15, this day will go down as one of the biggest days in the history of the Lakers franchise.  It will also be remembered in the hearts of those who bleed Purple and Gold because those fans have been waiting to see Bryant inducted into the Hall of Fame since the day he retired. That day could not come fast enough, especially for those who witnessed Bryant dropped 60 points on the Utah Jazz at STAPLES Center in the very last game he ever played. Bryant was the best player of his generation, and arguably the best ever! Kobe Bryant is now officially an enshrined member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. #20HoopClass pic.twitter.com/oJkVZEZAV0 — Basketball HOF (@Hoophall) May 16, 2021 It's unfortunate that due to Bryant's untimely passing from a helicopter crash that also took the life of his daughter Gianna and seven other people, that fans will not have the opportunity to see and hear the Black Mamba talk about his accomplishments. I believe that everybody really wants Bryant to get the Hall of Fame honor even if they aren't Kobe fans. The debate will linger if Bryant or Michael Jordan are the two best players. It is sad to note that Bryant was not able to be in the Hall of Fame ceremony with Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, his two chief contemporaries and rivals.  As great as both Duncan and Garnett were during their heyday, Bryant will be remembered as the best of the 2020 Hall of Fame Class. Indeed, it is a sad occasion. But it is also a time to appreciate Bryant as both an iconic basketball star as well as what he meant to so many people worldwide. Let's start with the basketball side.    Bryant showed lots of improvement in his game during his playing career. He went from a hotshot talent to a world champion. He was just about everyone's hero. He could make plays that only Bryant could. He was special. He was one of us. Bryant was the epitome of Los Angeles: grit, glamour and greatness.  Kobe Bryant: Hall of Famer pic.twitter.com/dk8rtjX8b4 — Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) May 15, 2021 People wanted to see Bryant get into the Hall of Fame because of what he meant to the game. He never cheated the fan out of their hard-earned money. Think about all of the awards and honors he picked up while he played? Bryant deserves the Hall of Fame because he gave us moments that will always be embedded into the back of our memory. He played with such ferocity that his will to win outdid his will not to lose.  He may not be here, but he is here with us in spirit.  It is good that Bryant gets to have his Hall of Fame moment five years (actually four years) after he announced his retirement from playing the NBA. The ceremony for the annual Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2020 was supposed to take place last year but was moved to this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Bryant is a legend. His legacy was captivated nicely by Vanessa, who battled back emotions of her own. This was indeed a sad moment with Vanessa and Michael Jordan honoring Bryant. I do think that Vanessa and Jordan should have been allowed to honor Bryant first before Duncan and Garnett received their accolades because of the unfortunate way the world lost the two-time Olympic gold medal winner and Oscar achiever.        Bryant broke barriers across the board in basketball and off the court. Now it's time to do our part. If we want to truly pay homage to the best basketball player in the world then we should celebrate his legacy. “Kobe was always one to downplay his professional accomplishments – MVPs, NBA championships, gold medals, Oscars, and on and on and on,” said Lakers Vice President of Basketball Operations and general manager Rob Pelinka. “But all of us can trust that this Basketball Hall of Fame honor is one Kobe would, and will, deeply appreciate. The highest of congratulations to you, dear friend. This one is so well deserved -- for all the hard work, sweat and toil. Now, a part of you will live in the Hall with the rest of the all-time greats, where your legend and spirit will continue to grow forever.” Read the full article

[filmgamer]

Although actual nominations won’t be in until Tuesday I added a mix of predicted favourites and personal choices of mine for wishful thinking purposes. Read to get some sort of context and personal filter on what to expect and hope for come January 23rd for the 90th Annual Academy Awards.

Best Picture

Blade Runner 2049 * – Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove, Bud Yorkin

Call Me By Your Name – Emilie Georges, Luca Guadagnino, James Ivory, Marco Morabito, Howard Rosenman, Peter Spears

Dunkirk – Emma Thomas

The Florida Project – Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch, Kevin Chinoy, Andrew Duncan, Alex Saks Francesca Silvestri, Shih-Ching Tsou

Get Out – Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr., Sean McKittrick, Jordan Peele

Lady Bird – Eli Bush, Evelyn O’Neill, Scott Rudin

Mudbound – Carl Effenson, Sally Jo Effenson, Cassian Elwes, Charles D. King, Christopher Lemole, Kim Roth, Tim Zajaros

The Shape of Water – J. Miles Dale, Guillermo del Toro

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri – Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, Martin McDonagh

Wonder Woman – Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder, Richard Suckle

Blade Runner 2049

Call Me By Your Name

Dunkirk

The Florida Project

Get Out

Lady Bird

Mudbound

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

Wonder Woman

Blade Runner 2049 was my favourite movie of the year, Three Billboards was my second favourite, Lady Bird and Get Out were good too. I found Dunkirk to be overrated, confusing and far from Nolan’s best. I am the only person besides my mom that didn’t like Wonder Woman. Mudbound was very boring to me. I like the idea of The Florida Project which has landed on several best of lists winning because of its underclass nature & humble beginnings, a true underdog. I have not seen The Shape of Water but its awards attention has caught my interest and Call Me By Your Name has as much chance of winning as it does being interest to me.

Actress In A Leading Role

Jessica Chastain – Molly’s Game

Gal Gadot – Wonder Woman

Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water

Frances McDormand* – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

Saoirse Ronan – Lady Bird

Jessica Chastain

Gal Gadot

Sally Hawkins

Frances McDormand

Saoirse Ronan

This is a runaway for Frances McDormand who gives her best performance since Fargo. Gal Gadot is good but her nomination would be the story here. Sally Hawkins gives an impressive performance as a deaf-mute. I think Saoirse only gets acclaim because she has a flawless american accent. Jessica Chastain does good character work and deserved the Oscar for Zero Dark Thirty which Jennifer Lawrence won for Silver Linings Playbook (which I love but is not Best Actress worthy).

Actress in A Supporting Role

Octavia Spencer – The Shape of Water

Holly Hunter – The Big Sick

Laurie Metcalf – Lady Bird

Hong Chau – Downsizing

Allison Janney – I, Tonya

Octavia Spencer (Right)

Holly Hunter (Right)

Laurie Metcalf

Hong Chau

Allison Janney

Allison Janney all the way here. Holly Hunter is good in The Big Sick and Octavia Spencer always knows what she’s doing (still haven’t seen Shape of Water or it would fill up the supporting actor category). Hong Chau got raves out of Downsizing, additionally annoying and unfair because the Oscars have become so politicized in recent years this would be seen as a win for diversity after the 87th & 88th #OscarsSoWhite controversies. It’s ironic that her possible nomination would come from writer/director Alexander Payne indulging in his stereotypical racist tendencies. I guess Hollywood takes diversity where they can get it.

Actor In A Leading Role

Hugh Jackman * – Logan

Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out

James McAvoy – Split

Gary Oldman – The Darkest Hour

Denzel Washington – Roman J. Israel Esq.

Hugh Jackman

Daniel Kaluuya

James McAvoy

Gary Oldman

Denzel Washington

This race is Gary Oldman’s to lose. He has turned in a career full of good performances and this is icing on the cake. If anything would hamper him from winning it’d be that the choice is too obvious playing historical figure Winston Churchill. Denzel always makes a great oscar campaign push and he has been hungry for a third win despite being the weakest reviewed movie of the bunch. I didn’t include Timothy Chalamet from ‘Call Me’ because I think his praise is due to the fact that reviewers aren’t aware he’s playing himself in role better written than he is like all first time actor nominees. Hugh Jackman deserves it for Logan even though I’m not a huge fan of that movie he deserves recognition for what he brought to the character. Daniel Kaluuya gives a subtle understated performance that rewards repeat viewings. And James McAvoy has been close to forgotten for his memorable turn in Split as someone with multiple personality disorder I���d like him to get recognized.

Actor In A Supporting Role

Willem Dafoe – The Florida Project

Jamie Foxx – Baby Driver

Christopher Plummer – All the Money In the World

Sam Rockwell – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

Patrick Stewart * – Logan

Willem Dafoe

Jamie Foxx (saying “that’s Oscar worthy”)

Christopher Plummer

Sam Rockwell

Patrick Stewart

At the beginning of the campaign I would have said this was an easy win for Willem Dafoe’s warm performance in The Florida Project but another career character actor Sam Rockwell has upstaged him for Three Billboards. Christopher Plummer is good I imagine many people are still amazed he’s in themovie after the Kevin Spacey debacle. I thought Jamie Foxx gave one of his best performances in Baby Driver, he even makes an Oscar reference. Patrick Stewart was so good in Logan that it’s impressive he makes you believe his senile swearing version of Professor X is the same person.

Directing

Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

Jordan Peele – Get Out

M. Night Shyamalan – Split

Guillermo del Toro – The Shape of Water

Denis Villeneuve – Blade Runner 2049

Jordan Peele, Get Out

M. Night Shyamalan, Split

Martin McDonaugh, Three Billboards

Denis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049

Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water

Denis Villeneuve made a sequel to a classic that was better than the original while making it his own thing. He received a BAFTA (British Oscars) nomination for this and might repeat all the categories for last year’s Arrival. Jordan Peele, Guilllermo del Toro, and Martin McDonaugh are shoe-ins for the nomination and Greta Gerwig is likely to actually be nominated for Lady Bird, a movie I liked a lot but has modest aims. I threw in a Shyamalan twist because not only has he been nominated for but Split is a legitimately good movie that is unique enough I feel another director couldn’t replicate, and being the best means you’re special.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Hampton Fancher and Michael Green – Blade Runner 2049

James Ivory – Call Me By Your Name

Aaron Sorkin – Molly’s Game

Stephen Chbosky and Steve Conrad and Jack Thorne – Wonder

Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber – The Disaster Artist

I think side by side with Three Billboards, Blade Runner is the best script this year and they happen to qualify for two different categories so yay! The Disaster Artist, Molly’s Game and Call Me are all favourites because it’s a weak year for this category which is why there will likely be a few surprises. I threw in Wonder because it’s high on the betting pool, commercially and critically successful, and it’s the movie every book lover expected to love and every movie lover expected to hate (but surprisingly didn’t) and The Perks of Being A Wallflower was pretty decent. Mudbound could score a nomination here to but I didn’t put it personally because its incremental pacing felt like a slog for me that just didn’t flow.

Adapted – Michael Green (who also wrote Alien Covenant, Logan, and Murder On The Orient Express all this year) rewrote Hampton Fancher’s screenplay (right)

Original – Greta Gerwig Writer/ Director of Lady Bird

Original – Martin McDonagh Writer/ Director of 3 Billboards

Original – Kumail Nanjiani & Emily V. Gordon wrote The Big Sick together. In writing credits the use of an ‘&’ denotes simultaneous collaboration while the use of ‘and’ indicates someone rewrote someone else’s screenplay

Original – Vanessa Taylor (co-writer of The Shape of Water with Del Toro)

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Greta Gerwig – Lady Bird

Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani – The Big Sick

Jordan Peele – Get Out

Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor – The Shape of Water

If Lady Bird doesn’t end up getting completely shut out come Oscar night for being good enough to get noticed but not enough to take home (typical Lady Bird amirite?) it’ll win here as Get Out and Shape muscle in on their visual splendor. Of course I don’t think any movie this year takes as many risks as the unpredictable 3 Billboards does in its screenplay so it should win. The Big Sick was in my top list for this year but original? C’mon its based pretty much on the real life story of its writers, it should be adapted if anything however rules are rules.

Best Cinematography

Roger Deakins – Blade Runner 2049

The 68 year old is the closest thing to a sure thing this year and has been nominated 13 times before without winning and this is his best work which everyone has said from the beginning. Some of his previous nominations include: The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, A Beautiful Mind, No Country For Old Men, Skyfall & Sicario. He absolutely deserves this one.

Best Original Score

Hanz Zimmer – Dunkirk

I didn’t like this movie but I listened to the score countless times while putting together my harsh review of it. The rarely idle Hans does the devil’s work here. And his Inception score was much better than Trent Reznor’s The Social Network which won that year. #robbed

Best Visual Effects

War for the Planet of the Apes

Another much hyped movie on my website I was let down by. I have never seen a director so obviously confident behind the camera its annoying that this series now so well realized spends its last chapter doing a prison break riff. Good Visual Effects are all about enhancing the story and I’ve never seen effects pushed so hard in that regard. Surprisingly, this rebooted series with state of the art effects that take YEARS to render has yet to win but unless members of the academy decide to feel sorry for Blade Runner or reward the epic looking latest Transformers: The Last Knight this should be a steal.

A Perfect and Backlash-Free Choice Oscar Nomination List Although actual nominations won’t be in until Tuesday I added a mix of predicted favourites and personal choices of mine for wishful thinking purposes.

[the-master-cylinder]

  I Eat Cannibals (1980) Ted Nicolaou’s forgotten action comedy. This was to be the “the most ferocious story of revenge ever filmed.”

Leatherbabies (1984) Story unknown at this time.

Alter Ego (1985) Directed by Peter Manoogian (Arena), another early Paul De Meo and Danny Bilson effort that was to star Jeffrey Byron (of Empire’s The Dungeonmaster) as a sci-fi hero pitched halfway between Mandroid and Jack Deth. The film never got beyond initial planning due to lack of interest from international buyers. Brian Yuzna (Re-Animator) and Rob Goethals (Swamp Thing) were also attached as producer & writer at a stage prior to Bilson/De Meo coming on board.

Crimelord (1985) Some kind of crime/cop movie .

Decapitron (1986)  Interchangeable technology is a popular theme at Empire. One of the more ambitious films is Decapitron, currently subtitled “The Devastation Creation” and also written by Paul De Meo and Danny Bilson. The Decapitron is a robot with five different heads: a surveillance head, which is an extremely sophisticated information gathering and observation device, an omnitech head, which is an all-purpose utility-super analyzer unit useful for biochemical breakdowns, medical diagnosis and crime detection; a humanoid head, which can simulate the appearance of any human male in his mid-thirties; a war head with advanced firepower, and finally, a doomsday head, the ultimate weapon of last resort.

The film was to be directed by Peter Manoogian, however, following the collapse of Empire Studios in 1989, and no doubt fueled by the cool reception given to Empire’s other ‘big’ picture Robot Jox, the script was finally shelved. Bilson & De Meo then went on to write the screenplay for the Disney’s The Rocketeer in 1991. The character of Decapitron was, however, to re-appear in micro-form as one of the puppets in Jeff Burr’s entry in the Full Moon killer toy franchise Puppet Master 4 and Puppet Master 5.

Paul De Meo acknowledges that “Decapitron” is an outgrowth of Eliminators, which was an intriguing idea. Charles Band wanted to go further with it. While the Mandroid is half man, half machine, the Decapitron is all robot. Unlike the Terminator, he’s the good guy. He has a kid sidekick, and they go into a city which has its own rules there’s been a plague in the city and it is under quarantine. The inhabitants are survivors of a biological disaster.”

Bilson and De Meo believe that a good sense of humor delicately applied can compensate for a less than generous budget. Trancers derives humor from its bizarre situation and future slang. In Eliminators, the Mandroid keeps commenting on how unbelievable and comic-book-like the whole thing is, putting the audience on his side. De Meo is aware that the proper tone for a picture is important. He and Bilson like to add humor but they are making action pictures, not comedies. Also, I may be wrong, but I remember hearing this film would’ve been Charles Band’s most expensive picture ever.

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Why then are you spending $10 million on Decapitron? Charles Band: If one or two pictures out of 25 cost that much and all the rest average $2-3 million, we’re still pretty true to our formula. There are pictures that will cost more only because of what it’ll take to make them. It’s not because we’re putting in a $4 million star or spending a million dollars on a director. Decapitron has huge amounts of special effects, pyrotechnics, pieces of city blocks getting blown up it’s just an expensive movie to make. Sometimes a project comes along that we’re so excited about that we want to do it justice. Many pictures we make are designed to be made on a budget, but we don’t want to short- change the story or the movie itself. You can make, in theory, a brilliant horror film if your location is a house. You don’t need $20 million and a lot of special effects. On From Beyond, for example, we have not only John Buechler, who is our close effects associate involved, but we have three other FX teams, too. There’s a huge amount of special effects half the budget of this expensive picture Is going to effects. But again, if your picture takes place In a house in this case, a very large house it’s limited in many potential costs. But If your picture takes place in the future on some planet, in Los Angeles on city streets, with many effects, it costs money. In the case of Decapitron and one other picture that we’ll be announcing soon, the budgets are up there. But everything else is averaged out at about $3 million.

“I did read the DECAPITRON script. It was pretty good though there was a fundamental flaw in the premise. The central character was supposed to carry 5 or 6 replacement heads capable of different functions. Since, in reality, the heads would be masks worn by an actor, they would have to be larger than normal. The script described him carrying them in something the size of a briefcase when it would really have to be the size of a footlocker. Imagine a character dodging bullets and running through action scenes lugging something that big!” – Kenneth J. Hall (film-maker)

  Barbarian Women (1986) Another sword and sorcery film, probably set in the future or another dimension.

Bloodless (1986) Jungle/Ancient horror maybe. Slasher or vampire. Anyone got anything?

Journeys Through The Darkzone (1986) Written by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo (Eliminators), I got nothing much on this. The title was used later as a tagline for Trancers 4.

Show No Mercy (1986) Would be action flick directed by Peter Manoogian.

Tomb (1986) Unmade jungle thriller.

Murdercycle (1986) Originally titled BATTLE BIKES, info is unknown on this version, but fans would later see this art and title recycled for a future Full Moon release about soldiers fighting a robotic alien.

Vulcana (1986) Action/fantasy about a warrior woman.

Charles Band & Jack Kirby Unfilmed Projects

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Mindmaster (1986) involves a scientist who is caught in an accident which leaves him debilitated, and must use a thought-controlled robot he invented to stop a crazed fellow scientist.

Doctor Mortalis (1986) is an all-powerful wizard, the leader of a secret sect of sorcerers known as The Dark Order. His faithful sidekick, “Egghead,” is a witty half-human, half computer genius who possesses fantastic special powers.

Legion of Doom This was going to be Charles Band’s superhero team movie. He once stated that films like Mandroid and Invisible: The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight were efforts to slowly build characters for a team movie. So it’s entirely possible Dark Angel and Doctor Mordrid could have been on the team as well in this movie.

Berserker (1986) Unfilmed A big fan of RE-ANIMATOR, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli wrote BERSERKER, about a bodybuilder who abuses steroids and becomes a mutant.

Bloody Bess (1987) Unfilmed Stuart Gordon planned this adventure movie around the time he was making From Beyond, and also first attempting to raise a decent budget for his pet project The Shadow Over Innsmouth. It was to star Jeffrey Combs, and Barbara Crampton as a female pirate, out to drink rum, steal gold, and generally show the boys a thing or two about buckling swashes. Rumour has it ex-Empire director Renny Harlin (Prison, Die Hard 2) must have liked the idea, since he lifted it for his 1995 box-office bomb Cutthroat Island, which I have never bothered to watch.

Pand Evil (1987) To be produced and directed by Gorman Bechard (Psychos In Love, Cemetery High).

Fiends (1987) Info not known at this time.

  PULSEPOUNDERS (1988) Incomplete An unfinished Empire Pictures film directed by Charles Band, and starring Tim Thomerson, Helen Hunt, Jeffrey Combs, Barbra Crampton, and Richard Moll.

Here’s what I’ve heard Charles Band had to say about PulsePounders: “PULSEPOUNDERS is completely shot, it just needs post-production,” says Band. “I still hope to get it out of the mess it’s tangled up in and release it. David Gale is terrific in it, and with him gone now, it’s all the more reason to get it out where people can see him one last time.”

Now here’s what Jeffrey Combs had to say: “Pulsepounders is a real curiosity,” Combs says. “It’s a movie – or a segment of a trilogy – that i did back in the 1980’s while over in Italy. As far as I knew, that movie never got finished. Empire Pictures, Charlie Band’s company at that time, tanked. So that film was in pieces and incomplete, and so far as I’d heard just lost in the wars. Now it’s showing up on the internet as something that’s coming out. I did my segment soon after Re-Animator with Barbara Crampton, the late David Gale and David Warner. Other than the dailies I saw at the time, I never heard or saw anything about it again until information about it suddenly turned up on the internet. So who knws about that. Maybe the next time I talk to Charlie Band, I’ll ask him about it.”

“I was in a segment called ‘The Evil Clergyman‘, based on a Lovecraft story, Combs continues. “They did a short Trancers / Jack Deth story “Trancers: City of Lost Angels” which Helen Hunt was in. And they did one more with Richard Moll, based on another Empire Pictures movie [Dungeonmaster] that had been successful. So it would have been three little odd and hastily connected pieces. They’d all been shot, but they were never able to finish them up.

Zombie Hotel (1989) “Spend a night with the Living Dead.” Subspecies director Ted Nicolaou was set to direct.

Apparatus (1989) A Futuristic thriller that was to have been directed by Larry Cohen (It’s Alive) that apparently concerned “Big Brother'” types controlling the masses through apparatus attached to their bodies. Abandoned also when Empire Pictures folded.

Hotel Dick (1989) Another Empire comedy to be produced by Frank Yablans (Buy & Cell, The Caller).

Bimbo Barbeque (1989) A planned sequel to Assault of the Killer Bimbos, a girls on the run sex comedy that inspired THELMA & LOUISE. It’s mentioned in ASSAULT’s end credits.

Entangled (1989) Would’ve been produced by Irwin Yablans (Halloween).

Floater (1989) Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1 & 2) signed on to make a $6 million supernatural thriller, one of Band’s occasional attempts at ‘top-drawer’ quality product. Again, the project was abandoned when Empire ceased. Tobe went on to direct Spontaneous Combustion instead.

Subterraneans (1989) Heard this was to be the first of a trilogy about a culture of small evolved apes that live in the NYC Subway Tunnels.

Empire Films Never Made Undated

Arsenal A no doubt action adventure.

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Cassex Virtual reality sex comedy.

The Colony Apparently about yuppie witches.

Dolls 2 Director of the original Stuart Gordon was, at one point, very interested in directing a sequel. The initial storyline would have followed surviving characters Judy and Ralph back to Boston in which Ralph would have indeed married Judy’s mother and they would all become a family. Until, one day Judy would receive a box sent from England which would contain the toy makers, Gabriel and Hilary, as dolls. Gabriel was played by Guy Rolfe (Andre Toulon in Puppet Master 3, 4, 5, 7) by the way. It’s unknown to me why it was never made.

InHuman Info unknown at this time.

  L.A.B.C. Anyone got anything? I suspect this to be a post-apocalyptic film, which were big in the 1980’s.

Parasite II Following the Charles Band/Demi Moore original, the sequel never hit the script stage after Embassy Pictures fell apart. According to the poster below, actor Robert Glaudini was expected to return.

Shadows and Whispers Unknown about this possibly erotic thriller, to be directed by David Schmoeller (Crawlspace).

Space Sluts in the Slammer Possibly part of Charlie’s uncredited erotic Sci-Fi adventures like Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity.

Strange Magic I got nothing other than this poster. “The King of Evil is dead. Long live the Queen.”

-tomboftheunproducedhorrormovie

The History of Empire Films Part Seven – Films Never Made (1980-1989) I Eat Cannibals (1980) Ted Nicolaou's forgotten action comedy. This was to be the "the most ferocious story of revenge ever filmed."

[jamlessness]

bunny hunt.

summary: when jungkook goes extra to make you smile. pairing: jungkook x reader word count: 1.7k content: fluff, best friend!jungkook a/n: when too much sugar in your veins hype your head and makes you write crazy stuff. this one goes out to my precious bean @seoulscapes ♥ happy easter, y’all!

“Are you sure?” his firm tone was a known way to push you to speak the truth but you were way too tired to fight your way to prove him wrong so you simply hummed in response. “Keep the door unlocked just in case.”

“In case of me wanting to be robbed?” you joked, not being able to control the coughs that came along with that.

“In case I need to send someone to check on you but, on a second thought, you better lock it up, brat. If anything, I’ll send the police.” Jungkook declared and you couldn’t help but to sigh, releasing a smile at his absurd, authoritarian display of affection.

“As if someone would drop a party on a saturday night to check on my lazy ass.” the lame attempt to get rid of his concerned remarks seemed to have some success once you heard him taking a deep breath. “Aren’t you supposed to go on court any time by now?”

“I still have a couple minutes left.”

“And is it your intention to spend them annoying the hell out of me?” you accused, pretty sure his lips were lifting up by now.

“I mean, that’s my job.” your roommate and best friend contently stated. “But seriously, Y/N, let me ask you one last time: are you sure you wanna stay in?” he seemed to be more careful this time around but it still was the tenth time he made you answer that question.

“I am. I need to go through some paperwork first but my body is asking for the greatest amount of sleep I can possibly give.”

“Sleep tight then, kid.” he simply replied on that call me if anything tone you’ve got so used after years.

“Win the game.” you snapped back before hanging up and inhaling deeply, releasing the air almost painfully shortly after.

Jungkook was not supposed to worry about you with such an important game ahead of him and, as selfish as it may sound, you found yourself quite glad he did. To be honest it felt nice to have someone to think about how you were doing after being cheated on by a guy that didn’t even bother to show up or apologize before wandering around the campus with a new girl under his wing. Your friends told you he wasn’t worth it, that you’d get over him in no time and all that shit but no one actually cared enough to check on your feelings - no one but Jungkook and you couldn’t be more grateful for that.

Guilt bite you the second you recalled how you refused to leave your room for the weekend after reading the known expression that asked about your presence on the stands for the next game in his face. Jungkook didn’t even ask it a second time, probably aware that you wanted to avoid running into Baekho, and assured you he wouldn’t miss you since you weren’t that much of a lucky charm.

As you shuffled through the pages of the research reports you had to hand out on wednesday, your mind dragged you to wonder about your current state and what have you done to deserve being cheated on. You knew Baekho was a dick to say at least but where did you fail to be rewarded with such a thing? You were not that bad of a person, you were sure of it but you had no clue if you were someone worth loving at all.

Just a few weeks ago you thought you’d be spending easter feeling dear, just like the year before, but now all you had was paperwork due this week, a stab on your back and a killer heartache.

Before you drowned in warm tears and poisonous thoughts, you drove yourself to dreamland in order to forget about the world.

During your extended time of sleep, flashes of nightmares and burning tears were interrupted by soft strokes in your arms and gentle lips in your forehead before sweet hums guided you back to a much better dream. Whenever the worst of feelings came back to surround you in your sleep, that embrace and those words soon followed as a strangely familiar lullaby, working its wonders on you.

A whispered plea for you to not let him hurt you like that and a death sentence hissed for Baekho’s name were the last things you heard before calling it a night without further nightmares.

Before the sunlight could even greet the building, a loud bang coming from the kitchen of the small apartment you shared with Jungkook woke you up.

The first thought that crossed your mind once it was alert enough to formulate anything was that he had convinced someone to actually break in to check on you. But even before you could figure out what should your next move be, a very long list of curses echoed until it reached your ears.

“J-Jungkook?” you called in a whisper, being answered by a metallic noise and another round of swearing with a lot more of energy this time.

That was enough for your eyes to widen up as you jumped out of the bed and followed the familiar sound of Jungkook blaming the placement of something around the flat for his eventual clumsiness. You expected to see him with his fists held high towards whatever almost took him out of the playoffs, according to his complaints but you stopped in your tracks and asked yourself in what universe were you on to find your roommate scolding a skillet while dark, long bunny ears rose up from his hair.

You blinked slowly and even pinched yourself only to realize it was the real world, whether you liked it or not. You looked around in order to find a good explanation for what had just seen but it became weirder when the few sources of light allowed you to localize a trail of footsteps - that you supposed to belong to be injured bunny - coming all the way from your room.

“Oh God…” you reached for your chest and your forehead at the same time, laughter rising all the way from your stomach until it left you breathless.

Jungkook froze once he realized you were up before you should and how the whole surprise he had set for you was now a huge frustrating failure. But something in the way you laughed snapped him out of his self-blaming moment before it even begun. It was a sound he hadn’t heard in a few weeks - since Baekho made the worst mistake of his life - and to say it was heavenly was an understatement.

You were sincerely laughing and to know he had a parcel of credit for it made his chest puff with pride.

“W-what… In the world… Are you… Are you doing?” you managed to speak between bursts of giggles that still escaped you even though you tried to stop yourself and search for air to your lungs instead.

“Apparently losing my spot on the court for at least a week!” he hissed, lifting the skillet with his left hand and shaking his right hand. You shook your head as he spoke, stretching your arms to point out the stickers on the floor and his big fake ears.

“I mean, what’s all this? Are you setting up an easter egg hunt? For me?” you retreated in disbelief as each one of those words came out.

“Of course not!” Jungkook quickly retorted, crossing his arms over his chest while his eyes narrowed at you in forged offense. “Just because I treat you like a child, doesn’t mean you are one.” you could protest but you were more interested in getting a decent response, so you to just keep digging.

“What would I be hunting then?” he immediately tilted his head to the side, a smirk growing in his lips.

“What do you think?”

Your eyes were back to the trail in order to find where it led you to and you snapped the first conclusion out of your head once you saw where it ended. It couldn’t be it. So  you just risked on the second option.

“What’s in the stove?” his face frowned as soon as your guess came out of your mouth and he couldn’t help but to ask you how dumb you were. “But that’s where it ends!” you pointed your index finger to the stove right behind him and Jungkook rolled his eyes to the back of his head.

“Me, dumbass, you’d be hunting me! Geez is it so hard to understand that you were supposed to go bunny hunting?” he asked while grabbing the ears above his head and after pointing at himself.

The fact that his eyes mirrored seriousness was enough to convince you to not let yourself laugh again, not just yet. It was hard. Jungkook had just called himself bunny and told you you were supposed to follow the trail until you found him, so it was so damn hard but you managed to keep your tone and posture plausible unto that amount of nonsense that left his mouth just a couple seconds ago.

“And why is that?” you raised your eyebrows, clenching your jaw as if it would keep you from cracking in front of him.

“Because chocolate is such a lame reward.” his answer was agreeable and you had to give him that but in no time he added: “And because there’s no gift in the world to top this one.” Jungkook motioned both his hands since his thighs to his chest while saying this and that was it.

You burst out in laughter to the point of gasping for air in just a few seconds, his satisfied gaze on you as you had so much fun with something that, theoretically, didn’t work out.

But once you recovered your consciousness - and your breath - your arms found their way around his body, pulling him into a tight and grateful hug as the real meaning behind Jungkook’s actions seemed more and more clear to you. No words left your mouth even when he responded by embracing you tighter but you knew he could read between the lines.

Your best friend loved you in his own way and you were going to pay him back just by loving him as much - as if you didn’t do that already.

Minutes later, your chin met his chest the moment you looked up to find his eyes and he soon answered to your stare.

“Guess the hunt is over, then?” you grinned as you saw his eyebrows cock suggestively.

“Says who?”

[wetrumpfeed]

Afternoon MAGAthread: YOUR WEEKLY PRESIDENTIAL RECAP!

HAPPY SATURDAY PATRIOTS!

Welcome to your weekly Presidential Recap! This is u/Ivaginaryfriend here and I'm back to deliver all things dank and spicy from the past week. For those that missed any past recaps you can check those out here!

Now onto the show!

Sunday, January 20th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

2 Years of Accomplishments

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

Always heard that as President, “it’s all about the economy!” Well, we have one of the best economies in the history of our Country. Big GDP, lowest unemployment, companies coming back to the U.S. in BIG numbers, great new trade deals happening, & more. But LITTLE media mention!

Be careful and try staying in your house. Large parts of the Country are suffering from tremendous amounts of snow and near record setting cold. Amazing how big this system is. Wouldn’t be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned Global Warming right now!

Nancy Pelosi and some of the Democrats turned down my offer yesterday before I even got up to speak. They don’t see crime & drugs, they only see 2020 - which they are not going to win. Best economy! They should do the right thing for the Country & allow people to go back to work.

No, Amnesty is not a part of my offer. It is a 3 year extension of DACA. Amnesty will be used only on a much bigger deal, whether on immigration or something else. Likewise there will be no big push to remove the 11,000,000 plus people who are here illegally-but be careful Nancy!

Nancy Pelosi has behaved so irrationally & has gone so far to the left that she has now officially become a Radical Democrat. She is so petrified of the “lefties” in her party that she has lost control...And by the way, clean up the streets in San Francisco, they are disgusting!

Nancy, I am still thinking about the State of the Union speech, there are so many options - including doing it as per your written offer (made during the Shutdown, security is no problem), and my written acceptance. While a contract is a contract, I’ll get back to you soon!

Wow, just heard that my poll numbers with Hispanics has gone up 19%, to 50%. That is because they know the Border issue better than anyone, and they want Security, which can only be gotten with a Wall.

Don’t forget, we are building and renovating big sections of Wall right now. Moving quickly, and will cost far less than previous politicians thought possible. Building, after all, is what I do best, even when money is not readily available!

Thank you David!

The Media is not giving us credit for the tremendous progress we have made with North Korea. Think of where we were at the end of the Obama Administration compared to now. Great meeting this week with top Reps. Looking forward to meeting with Chairman Kim at end of February!

(video)

Thanks James!

A truly great First Lady who doesn’t get the credit she deserves!

Congratulations to Bob Kraft, Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the entire New England Patriots team on a great game and season. Will be a fantastic Super Bowl!

Curt Schilling deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Great record, especially when under pressure and when it mattered most. Do what everyone in Baseball knows is right! @marklevinshow

“No President in modern times has kept more promises than Donald Trump!” Thank you Bill Bennett @SteveHiltonx

Last year was the best year for American Manufacturing job growth since 1997, or 21 years. The previous administration said manufacturing will not come back to the U.S., “you would need a magic wand.” I guess I found the MAGIC WAND - and it is only getting better!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

The MAGA Kids did nothing wrong and people are using it to push their Anti Trump Agenda

The NYT tried to destroy the life of an innocent child! SUE THEM!

CNN reporter calling for violence on white kid

Where was the Mainstream Media when 2 teenagers harassed and assaulted an Old Man supporting Trump? 🧐

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Happy second anniversary Pedes, it’s been an honor shitposting with you

Jake Tapper Tweeting out Article that says the media wildly mischaracterized the Covington video

4chan has a knack for synthesizing situations down to the roux

Today marks the two year anniversary of the godfather of all reeeeeeeeeeeeeees

Who is it that was triggered?

Monday, January 21st:

TODAY'S ACTION:

President Trump & Vice President Pence Visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

President Trump Delivers Remarks on the Humanitarian Crisis on Our Southern Border (Spanish)

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

Today we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for standing up for the self-evident truth Americans hold so dear, that no matter what the color of our skin or the place of our birth, we are all created equal by God. #MLKDay

Democrats campaigned on working within Washington and “getting things done!” How is that working out? #2020TAKEBACKTHEHOUSE

To all of the great people who are working so hard for your Country and not getting paid I say, THANK YOU - YOU ARE GREAT PATRIOTS! We must now work together, after decades of abuse, to finally fix the Humanitarian, Criminal & Drug Crisis at our Border. WE WILL WIN BIG!

Today, it was my great honor to visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial with @VP Mike Pence, in honor of #MLKDay

China posts slowest economic numbers since 1990 due to U.S. trade tensions and new policies. Makes so much sense for China to finally do a Real Deal, and stop playing around!

If Nancy Pelosi thinks that Walls are “immoral,” why isn’t she requesting that we take down all of the existing Walls between the U.S. and Mexico, even the new ones just built in San Diego at their very strong urging. Let millions of unchecked “strangers” just flow into the U.S.

Four people in Nevada viciously robbed and killed by an illegal immigrant who should not have been in our Country. 26 people killed on the Border in a drug and gang related fight. Two large Caravans from Honduras broke into Mexico and are headed our way. We need a powerful Wall!

Democrats are kidding themselves (they don’t really believe it!) if they say you can stop Crime, Drugs, Human Trafficking and Caravans without a Wall or Steel Barrier. Stop playing games and give America the Security it deserves. A Humanitarian Crisis!

Looking like Nick Sandman & Covington Catholic students were treated unfairly with early judgements proving out to be false - smeared by media. Not good, but making big comeback! “New footage shows that media was wrong about teen’s encounter with Native American” @TuckerCarlson

(Retweeting Kaya Jones) I want to show other celebrities who voted for @realDonaldTrump it’s ok to come forward. Better yet let’s show the world how many Americans stand with him. Bullies shouldn’t be allowed for almost a year and a half to bully us without cause. If you voted for him just Like or RT

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Recap of the last 48hrs, or How I Learned to Stop Trusting Reddit and Love The_Donald

This content is being shadowbanned all over Reddit. It breaks ZERO rules.

MASSIVE REDPILL OVER AT R/NEWS

Disney producer Jack Morrissey advocates putting MAGA hat kids in wood chipper, sets his tweets to private.

Blue Checkmark leftists quietly deleting their violent tweets aimed at the Covington students

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Accurate.

1/1024th honest

Hi TD, Think You All May Have Finally Won Me Over

Make it happen, Daddy

Silver Fox Lays it Down

Tuesday, January 22nd:

TODAY'S ACTION:

President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Judicial Nominees

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be. They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good - maybe even to bring people together. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream!

“The Democrats are playing politics with Border Security.” @foxandfriends

Without a Wall our Country can never have Border or National Security. With a powerful Wall or Steel Barrier, Crime Rates (and Drugs) will go substantially down all over the U.S. The Dems know this but want to play political games. Must finally be done correctly. No Cave!

FBI top lawyer confirms “unusual steps.” They relied on the Clinton Campaign’s Fake & Unverified ���Dossier,” which is illegal. “That has corrupted them. That has enabled them to gather evidence by UNCONSTITUTIONAL MEANS, and that’s what they did to the President.” Judge Napolitano

Marist/NPR/PBS Poll shows President Trump’s approval rating among Latinos going to 50%, an increase in one year of 19%. Thank you, working hard!

Never seen @senatemajldr and Republicans so united on an issue as they are on the Humanitarian Crisis & Security on our Southern Border. If we create a Wall or Barrier which prevents Criminals and Drugs from flowing into our Country, Crime will go down by record numbers!

Last time I went to Davos, the Fake News said I should not go there. This year, because of the Shutdown, I decided not to go, and the Fake News said I should be there. The fact is that the people understand the media better than the media understands them!

The United States has a great economic story to tell. Number one in the World, by far!

The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the “podium” much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press. I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway! Most will never cover us fairly & hence, the term, Fake News!

Former FBI top lawyer James Baker just admitted involvement in FISA Warrant and further admitted there were IRREGULARITIES in the way the Russia probe was handled. They relied heavily on the unverified Trump “Dossier” paid for by the DNC & Clinton Campaign, & funded through a... ... ...big Crooked Hillary law firm, represented by her lawyer Michael Sussmann (do you believe this?) who worked Baker hard & gave him Oppo Research for “a Russia probe.” This meeting, now exposed, is the subject of Senate inquiries and much more. An Unconstitutional Hoax. @FoxNews

Congratulations to Mariano Rivera on unanimously being elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame! Not only a great player but a great person. I am thankful for Mariano’s support of the Opioid Drug Abuse Commission and @FitnessGov. #EnterSandman #HOF2019💯

Deroy Murdock, National Review: “We are now exporting oil, which is the first time in my lifetime - we are right now the largest producer of oil and gas. This is not good if you’re Vladimir Putin where your chief export is oil. W.H. Agent - Not good for Kremlin.” @TuckerCarlson

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Covington MAGA Kids To Meet With Trump; Families Plan To Sue After MSM Witch Hunt Results In Death Threats

Mad Maxine Flying First Class During Govt.Shutdown ALL YOU PEONS GO TO THE BACK OF THE PLANE

SUPREME COURT LET'S PRESIDENT TRUMP'S TRANSGENDER MILITARY BAN TAKE EFFECT!!!

Just finished a conversation with someone from Covington Highschool

First "reporter" fired for fake news allegations against Covington highschoolers.

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

What watching the news today feels like I am really watching.

4chan anon is 3-D printing a Roman bust of Trump!

First, we fought Taxation without Representation...

Believe In Something: Just Smirk

🚨THE ABSOLUTE MADMAN🚨

Wednesday, January 23rd:

TODAY'S ACTION:

Nominations Sent to the Senate

President Trump Participates in a Fair and Honest Pricing in Healthcare Roundtable

President Trump Meets with Conservative Leaders on his Immigration Proposal

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

Great unity in the Republican Party. Want to, once and for all, put an end to stoppable crime and drugs! Border Security and Wall. No doubt!

BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL! This is the new theme, for two years until the Wall is finished (under construction now), of the Republican Party. Use it and pray!

BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL!

The citizens of Venezuela have suffered for too long at the hands of the illegitimate Maduro regime. Today, I have officially recognized the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the Interim President of Venezuela.

Even Trump Haters like (MS)NBC acknowledge you “BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL!”

“The Historic Results of President Donald J. Trump’s First Two Years in Office”

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Fuck you Cuomo you commie butcher.

Huckababe: President Trump’s letter to Speaker Pelosi on the State of the Union

r/news tries to spread more fake news tonight and is immediately put in its place. The red pills are dispensing themselves!

"Pelosi doesn't want to hear the truth or let the American people hear the truth" --- POTUS 🇺🇸🇺🇸

Sue the bitch: Kathy Griffin deletes tweet about Covington teens 'throwing up the new nazi sign'

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

"It wasn't REAL socialism"

drumming up some controVersy

Sandmann is already smarter and more mature than 99% of Congress.

Recon Ranger Saving the Fridge

Maga

Thursday, January 24th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

Six Nominations Sent to the Senate

Statement Recognizing Juan Guaido as the Interim President of Venezuela

President Trump Hosts a Meeting on Trade

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

As the Shutdown was going on, Nancy Pelosi asked me to give the State of the Union Address. I agreed. She then changed her mind because of the Shutdown, suggesting a later date. This is her prerogative - I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over. I am not looking for an.... ... ....alternative venue for the SOTU Address because there is no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber. I look forward to giving a “great” State of the Union Address in the near future!

A great new book just out, “Game of Thorns,” by Doug Wead, Presidential Historian and best selling author. The book covers the campaign of 2016, and what could be more exciting than that?

“This is everything FDR dreamed about, the New Deal to put America back to work. Think of LBJ, he gave people food stamps & welfare. Donald Trump’s giving them a job. He’s got a lot of good things to talk about. News stories do not accurately cover him, should correct.” @DougWead

The economy is doing great. More people working in U.S.A. today than at any time in our HISTORY. Media barely covers! @foxandfriends

So interesting that bad lawyer Michael Cohen, who sadly will not be testifying before Congress, is using the lawyer of Crooked Hillary Clinton to represent him - Gee, how did that happen? Remember July 4th weekend when Crooked went before FBI & wasn’t sworn in, no tape, nothing?

The Fake News Media loves saying “so little happened at my first summit with Kim Jong Un.” Wrong! After 40 years of doing nothing with North Korea but being taken to the cleaners, & with a major war ready to start, in a short 15 months, relationships built, hostages & remains.... ... ...back home where they belong, no more Rockets or M’s being fired over Japan or anywhere else and, most importantly, no Nuclear Testing. This is more than has ever been accomplished with North Korea, and the Fake News knows it. I expect another good meeting soon, much potential!

Without a Wall there cannot be safety and security at the Border or for the U.S.A. BUILD THE WALL AND CRIME WILL FALL!

Nancy just said she “just doesn’t understand why?” Very simply, without a Wall it all doesn’t work. Our Country has a chance to greatly reduce Crime, Human Trafficking, Gangs and Drugs. Should have been done for decades. We will not Cave!

Great earnings coming out of Stock Market. Too bad Media doesn’t devote much time to this!

A third rate conman who interviewed me many years ago for just a short period of time has been playing his biggest con of all on Fake News CNN. Michael D’Antonio, a broken down hack who knows nothing about me, goes on night after night telling made up Trump stories. Disgraceful!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

House Democrats block Republicans' attempts to pay federal workers during the government shutdown

Schumer blocks bill to pay Coast Guard

Nancy Pelosi gives House members a three-day weekend, no deal to end government shutdown on the table

German forklift maker planning to expand manufacturing in the United States to avoid being hit with tariffs in China that Trump imposed to protect American industry and jobs

Boom. The entire HuffPost Opinion section is being eliminated.

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Not a shitpost!: The MAGA Teen’s Smirk is Indelible in My Hippocampus (article link in comments)

Anderson Cooper in Vietnam times

Art of the Deal

They’ll do it to our wives and daughters too.

That smile

Friday, January 25th:

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country! NO COLLUSION! Border Coyotes, Drug Dealers and Human Traffickers are treated better. Who alerted CNN to be there?

President Trump delivers remarks regarding the Government Shutdown

I wish people would read or listen to my words on the Border Wall. This was in no way a concession. It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the Shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it’s off to the races!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Voter fraud alert! Don’t let illegal voters destroy the integrity of our elections.

MSM: crickets

Sarah Sanders: In 21 days President @realDonaldTrump is moving forward building the wall with or without the Democrats. The only outstanding question is whether the Democrats want something or nothing

RELEASED ON BOND: Judge has released Roger Stone on $250,000 bond. His travel is restricted to NYC, DC, and South Florida.

TEXAS Pedes...This Vet has no next of kin and is being buried Monday Morning. You know what to do.

Melania Trump - An Apology

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

MFW I re-open the government just long enough to shit on the Dems at the SOTU, then shut it down and declare a National Emergency anyway

CNN EXCLUSIVE: Roger Stone arrested in front of our cameras

TFW you realize President Bush just pulled a fast one on you and can proceed with the SOTU....

So that's how they figured it out

Fibtell Madbrow on watch!

Saturday, January 26th:

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

If Roger Stone was indicted for lying to Congress, what about the lying done by Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Lisa Page & lover, Baker and soooo many others? What about Hillary to FBI and her 33,000 deleted Emails? What about Lisa & Peter’s deleted texts & Wiener’s laptop? Much more!

“I like the fact that the President is making the case (Border Security & Crime) to the American people. Now we know where Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer & the Democrats stand, which is no Border Security. Will be big 2020 issue.” Matt Schlapp, Chair, ACU. Bigger than anyone knows!

21 days goes very quickly. Negotiations with Democrats will start immediately. Will not be easy to make a deal, both parties very dug in. The case for National Security has been greatly enhanced by what has been happening at the Border & through dialogue. We will build the Wall!

We have turned away, at great expense, two major Caravans, but a big one has now formed and is coming. At least 8000 people! If we had a powerful Wall, they wouldn’t even try to make the long and dangerous journey. Build the Wall and Crime will Fall!

Thank you to the Republican National Committee, (the RNC), who voted UNANIMOUSLY yesterday to support me in the upcoming 2020 Election. Considering that we have done more than any Administration in the first two years, this should be easy. More great things now in the works!

“We absolutely need a physical barrier or Wall, whatever you want to call it. The President yesterday laid all that out. We need to do it all, including the Wall. I provided the same information to the previous administration, & it was ignored.” Mark Morgan, Border Chief for “O”!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Every news network sends 5+ "journalist" and spends an entire day broadcasting from all the other marches...650k strong March For Life... crickets

Nancy Pelosi's bill for alcohol on her flights from Washington to San Fran every week? We pay for it. 1000 dollars. On average 52,000 Bucks, a year for BOOZE. Tax payer money. Thank you very much.

Roger Stone was charged with LYING TO CONGRESS. Can we get a list of every swamp creature who has done the same since BENGHAZI, help them prepare for their own - surely imminent - heavily-armed FBI/CNN pre-dawn raids?

Let’s not forget Bob Mueller lied to congress about Iraq’s WMD’s in 2003.

Our Based Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Facial Expression Guide

Just remember: these losers will wake this morning believing they've won. But the countdown is on. 20 days left until a wall with ZERO concessions. The MASTER dealmaker.

Daily RBG Counter

3 WEEKS.......

LEFTIST WAKE UP CALL: This man has top clearance and has seen military advancements ten years ahead of anything on the market... so yes, liberals, he DOES know more about technology than you do.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEW LAD!

Without further ado, some music for all you beautiful deplorables:

House Of Gold

Why iii Love The Moon

Let Me Go

Stressed Out

Tequilawine

Holding Onto You

MAGA ON PATRIOTS!

submitted by /u/Ivaginaryfriend [link] [comments]

[robgrayofficial]

HAPPY SATURDAY PATRIOTS!Welcome to your weekly Presidential Recap! This is u/Ivaginaryfriend here and I'm back to deliver all things dank and spicy from the past week. For those that missed any past recaps you can check those out here!Now onto the show!Sunday, January 20th:TODAY'S ACTION:2 Years of Accomplishments🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Always heard that as President, “it’s all about the economy!” Well, we have one of the best economies in the history of our Country. Big GDP, lowest unemployment, companies coming back to the U.S. in BIG numbers, great new trade deals happening, & more. But LITTLE media mention!Be careful and try staying in your house. Large parts of the Country are suffering from tremendous amounts of snow and near record setting cold. Amazing how big this system is. Wouldn’t be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned Global Warming right now!Nancy Pelosi and some of the Democrats turned down my offer yesterday before I even got up to speak. They don’t see crime & drugs, they only see 2020 - which they are not going to win. Best economy! They should do the right thing for the Country & allow people to go back to work.No, Amnesty is not a part of my offer. It is a 3 year extension of DACA. Amnesty will be used only on a much bigger deal, whether on immigration or something else. Likewise there will be no big push to remove the 11,000,000 plus people who are here illegally-but be careful Nancy!Nancy Pelosi has behaved so irrationally & has gone so far to the left that she has now officially become a Radical Democrat. She is so petrified of the “lefties” in her party that she has lost control...And by the way, clean up the streets in San Francisco, they are disgusting!Nancy, I am still thinking about the State of the Union speech, there are so many options - including doing it as per your written offer (made during the Shutdown, security is no problem), and my written acceptance. While a contract is a contract, I’ll get back to you soon!Wow, just heard that my poll numbers with Hispanics has gone up 19%, to 50%. That is because they know the Border issue better than anyone, and they want Security, which can only be gotten with a Wall.Don’t forget, we are building and renovating big sections of Wall right now. Moving quickly, and will cost far less than previous politicians thought possible. Building, after all, is what I do best, even when money is not readily available!Thank you David!The Media is not giving us credit for the tremendous progress we have made with North Korea. Think of where we were at the end of the Obama Administration compared to now. Great meeting this week with top Reps. Looking forward to meeting with Chairman Kim at end of February!(video)Thanks James!A truly great First Lady who doesn’t get the credit she deserves!Congratulations to Bob Kraft, Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the entire New England Patriots team on a great game and season. Will be a fantastic Super Bowl!Curt Schilling deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Great record, especially when under pressure and when it mattered most. Do what everyone in Baseball knows is right! @marklevinshow“No President in modern times has kept more promises than Donald Trump!” Thank you Bill Bennett @SteveHiltonxLast year was the best year for American Manufacturing job growth since 1997, or 21 years. The previous administration said manufacturing will not come back to the U.S., “you would need a magic wand.” I guess I found the MAGIC WAND - and it is only getting better!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:The MAGA Kids did nothing wrong and people are using it to push their Anti Trump AgendaThe NYT tried to destroy the life of an innocent child! SUE THEM!CNN reporter calling for violence on white kidWhere was the Mainstream Media when 2 teenagers harassed and assaulted an Old Man supporting Trump? 🧐🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Happy second anniversary Pedes, it’s been an honor shitposting with youJake Tapper Tweeting out Article that says the media wildly mischaracterized the Covington video4chan has a knack for synthesizing situations down to the rouxToday marks the two year anniversary of the godfather of all reeeeeeeeeeeeeeesWho is it that was triggered?Monday, January 21st:TODAY'S ACTION:President Trump & Vice President Pence Visit the Martin Luther King Jr. MemorialPresident Trump Delivers Remarks on the Humanitarian Crisis on Our Southern Border (Spanish)🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Today we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for standing up for the self-evident truth Americans hold so dear, that no matter what the color of our skin or the place of our birth, we are all created equal by God. #MLKDayDemocrats campaigned on working within Washington and “getting things done!” How is that working out? #2020TAKEBACKTHEHOUSETo all of the great people who are working so hard for your Country and not getting paid I say, THANK YOU - YOU ARE GREAT PATRIOTS! We must now work together, after decades of abuse, to finally fix the Humanitarian, Criminal & Drug Crisis at our Border. WE WILL WIN BIG!Today, it was my great honor to visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial with @VP Mike Pence, in honor of #MLKDayChina posts slowest economic numbers since 1990 due to U.S. trade tensions and new policies. Makes so much sense for China to finally do a Real Deal, and stop playing around!If Nancy Pelosi thinks that Walls are “immoral,” why isn’t she requesting that we take down all of the existing Walls between the U.S. and Mexico, even the new ones just built in San Diego at their very strong urging. Let millions of unchecked “strangers” just flow into the U.S.Four people in Nevada viciously robbed and killed by an illegal immigrant who should not have been in our Country. 26 people killed on the Border in a drug and gang related fight. Two large Caravans from Honduras broke into Mexico and are headed our way. We need a powerful Wall!Democrats are kidding themselves (they don’t really believe it!) if they say you can stop Crime, Drugs, Human Trafficking and Caravans without a Wall or Steel Barrier. Stop playing games and give America the Security it deserves. A Humanitarian Crisis!Looking like Nick Sandman & Covington Catholic students were treated unfairly with early judgements proving out to be false - smeared by media. Not good, but making big comeback! “New footage shows that media was wrong about teen’s encounter with Native American” @TuckerCarlson(Retweeting Kaya Jones) I want to show other celebrities who voted for @realDonaldTrump it’s ok to come forward. Better yet let’s show the world how many Americans stand with him. Bullies shouldn’t be allowed for almost a year and a half to bully us without cause. If you voted for him just Like or RTSIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Recap of the last 48hrs, or How I Learned to Stop Trusting Reddit and Love The_DonaldThis content is being shadowbanned all over Reddit. It breaks ZERO rules.MASSIVE REDPILL OVER AT R/NEWSDisney producer Jack Morrissey advocates putting MAGA hat kids in wood chipper, sets his tweets to private.Blue Checkmark leftists quietly deleting their violent tweets aimed at the Covington students🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Accurate.1/1024th honestHi TD, Think You All May Have Finally Won Me OverMake it happen, DaddySilver Fox Lays it DownTuesday, January 22nd:TODAY'S ACTION:President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Judicial Nominees🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be. They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good - maybe even to bring people together. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream!“The Democrats are playing politics with Border Security.” @foxandfriendsWithout a Wall our Country can never have Border or National Security. With a powerful Wall or Steel Barrier, Crime Rates (and Drugs) will go substantially down all over the U.S. The Dems know this but want to play political games. Must finally be done correctly. No Cave!FBI top lawyer confirms “unusual steps.” They relied on the Clinton Campaign’s Fake & Unverified “Dossier,” which is illegal. “That has corrupted them. That has enabled them to gather evidence by UNCONSTITUTIONAL MEANS, and that’s what they did to the President.” Judge NapolitanoMarist/NPR/PBS Poll shows President Trump’s approval rating among Latinos going to 50%, an increase in one year of 19%. Thank you, working hard!Never seen @senatemajldr and Republicans so united on an issue as they are on the Humanitarian Crisis & Security on our Southern Border. If we create a Wall or Barrier which prevents Criminals and Drugs from flowing into our Country, Crime will go down by record numbers!Last time I went to Davos, the Fake News said I should not go there. This year, because of the Shutdown, I decided not to go, and the Fake News said I should be there. The fact is that the people understand the media better than the media understands them!The United States has a great economic story to tell. Number one in the World, by far!The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the “podium” much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press. I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway! Most will never cover us fairly & hence, the term, Fake News!Former FBI top lawyer James Baker just admitted involvement in FISA Warrant and further admitted there were IRREGULARITIES in the way the Russia probe was handled. They relied heavily on the unverified Trump “Dossier” paid for by the DNC & Clinton Campaign, & funded through a... ... ...big Crooked Hillary law firm, represented by her lawyer Michael Sussmann (do you believe this?) who worked Baker hard & gave him Oppo Research for “a Russia probe.” This meeting, now exposed, is the subject of Senate inquiries and much more. An Unconstitutional Hoax. @FoxNewsCongratulations to Mariano Rivera on unanimously being elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame! Not only a great player but a great person. I am thankful for Mariano’s support of the Opioid Drug Abuse Commission and @FitnessGov. #EnterSandman #HOF2019💯Deroy Murdock, National Review: “We are now exporting oil, which is the first time in my lifetime - we are right now the largest producer of oil and gas. This is not good if you’re Vladimir Putin where your chief export is oil. W.H. Agent - Not good for Kremlin.” @TuckerCarlsonSIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Covington MAGA Kids To Meet With Trump; Families Plan To Sue After MSM Witch Hunt Results In Death ThreatsMad Maxine Flying First Class During Govt.Shutdown ALL YOU PEONS GO TO THE BACK OF THE PLANESUPREME COURT LET'S PRESIDENT TRUMP'S TRANSGENDER MILITARY BAN TAKE EFFECT!!!Just finished a conversation with someone from Covington HighschoolFirst "reporter" fired for fake news allegations against Covington highschoolers.🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:What watching the news today feels like I am really watching.4chan anon is 3-D printing a Roman bust of Trump!First, we fought Taxation without Representation...Believe In Something: Just Smirk🚨THE ABSOLUTE MADMAN🚨Wednesday, January 23rd:TODAY'S ACTION:Nominations Sent to the SenatePresident Trump Participates in a Fair and Honest Pricing in Healthcare RoundtablePresident Trump Meets with Conservative Leaders on his Immigration Proposal🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Great unity in the Republican Party. Want to, once and for all, put an end to stoppable crime and drugs! Border Security and Wall. No doubt!BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL! This is the new theme, for two years until the Wall is finished (under construction now), of the Republican Party. Use it and pray!BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL!The citizens of Venezuela have suffered for too long at the hands of the illegitimate Maduro regime. Today, I have officially recognized the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the Interim President of Venezuela.Even Trump Haters like (MS)NBC acknowledge you “BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL!”“The Historic Results of President Donald J. Trump’s First Two Years in Office”SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Fuck you Cuomo you commie butcher.Huckababe: President Trump’s letter to Speaker Pelosi on the State of the Unionr/news tries to spread more fake news tonight and is immediately put in its place. The red pills are dispensing themselves!"Pelosi doesn't want to hear the truth or let the American people hear the truth" --- POTUS 🇺🇸🇺🇸Sue the bitch: Kathy Griffin deletes tweet about Covington teens 'throwing up the new nazi sign'🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:"It wasn't REAL socialism"drumming up some controVersySandmann is already smarter and more mature than 99% of Congress.Recon Ranger Saving the FridgeMagaThursday, January 24th:TODAY'S ACTION:Six Nominations Sent to the SenateStatement Recognizing Juan Guaido as the Interim President of VenezuelaPresident Trump Hosts a Meeting on Trade🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:As the Shutdown was going on, Nancy Pelosi asked me to give the State of the Union Address. I agreed. She then changed her mind because of the Shutdown, suggesting a later date. This is her prerogative - I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over. I am not looking for an.... ... ....alternative venue for the SOTU Address because there is no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber. I look forward to giving a “great” State of the Union Address in the near future!A great new book just out, “Game of Thorns,” by Doug Wead, Presidential Historian and best selling author. The book covers the campaign of 2016, and what could be more exciting than that?“This is everything FDR dreamed about, the New Deal to put America back to work. Think of LBJ, he gave people food stamps & welfare. Donald Trump’s giving them a job. He’s got a lot of good things to talk about. News stories do not accurately cover him, should correct.” @DougWeadThe economy is doing great. More people working in U.S.A. today than at any time in our HISTORY. Media barely covers! @foxandfriendsSo interesting that bad lawyer Michael Cohen, who sadly will not be testifying before Congress, is using the lawyer of Crooked Hillary Clinton to represent him - Gee, how did that happen? Remember July 4th weekend when Crooked went before FBI & wasn’t sworn in, no tape, nothing?The Fake News Media loves saying “so little happened at my first summit with Kim Jong Un.” Wrong! After 40 years of doing nothing with North Korea but being taken to the cleaners, & with a major war ready to start, in a short 15 months, relationships built, hostages & remains.... ... ...back home where they belong, no more Rockets or M’s being fired over Japan or anywhere else and, most importantly, no Nuclear Testing. This is more than has ever been accomplished with North Korea, and the Fake News knows it. I expect another good meeting soon, much potential!Without a Wall there cannot be safety and security at the Border or for the U.S.A. BUILD THE WALL AND CRIME WILL FALL!Nancy just said she “just doesn’t understand why?” Very simply, without a Wall it all doesn’t work. Our Country has a chance to greatly reduce Crime, Human Trafficking, Gangs and Drugs. Should have been done for decades. We will not Cave!Great earnings coming out of Stock Market. Too bad Media doesn’t devote much time to this!A third rate conman who interviewed me many years ago for just a short period of time has been playing his biggest con of all on Fake News CNN. Michael D’Antonio, a broken down hack who knows nothing about me, goes on night after night telling made up Trump stories. Disgraceful!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:House Democrats block Republicans' attempts to pay federal workers during the government shutdownSchumer blocks bill to pay Coast GuardNancy Pelosi gives House members a three-day weekend, no deal to end government shutdown on the tableGerman forklift maker planning to expand manufacturing in the United States to avoid being hit with tariffs in China that Trump imposed to protect American industry and jobsBoom. The entire HuffPost Opinion section is being eliminated.🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Not a shitpost!: The MAGA Teen’s Smirk is Indelible in My Hippocampus (article link in comments)Anderson Cooper in Vietnam timesArt of the DealThey’ll do it to our wives and daughters too.That smileFriday, January 25th:🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country! NO COLLUSION! Border Coyotes, Drug Dealers and Human Traffickers are treated better. Who alerted CNN to be there?President Trump delivers remarks regarding the Government ShutdownI wish people would read or listen to my words on the Border Wall. This was in no way a concession. It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the Shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it’s off to the races!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Voter fraud alert! Don’t let illegal voters destroy the integrity of our elections.MSM: cricketsSarah Sanders: In 21 days President @realDonaldTrump is moving forward building the wall with or without the Democrats. The only outstanding question is whether the Democrats want something or nothingRELEASED ON BOND: Judge has released Roger Stone on $250,000 bond. His travel is restricted to NYC, DC, and South Florida.TEXAS Pedes...This Vet has no next of kin and is being buried Monday Morning. You know what to do.Melania Trump - An Apology🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:MFW I re-open the government just long enough to shit on the Dems at the SOTU, then shut it down and declare a National Emergency anywayCNN EXCLUSIVE: Roger Stone arrested in front of our camerasTFW you realize President Bush just pulled a fast one on you and can proceed with the SOTU....So that's how they figured it outFibtell Madbrow on watch!Saturday, January 26th:🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:If Roger Stone was indicted for lying to Congress, what about the lying done by Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Lisa Page & lover, Baker and soooo many others? What about Hillary to FBI and her 33,000 deleted Emails? What about Lisa & Peter’s deleted texts & Wiener’s laptop? Much more!“I like the fact that the President is making the case (Border Security & Crime) to the American people. Now we know where Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer & the Democrats stand, which is no Border Security. Will be big 2020 issue.” Matt Schlapp, Chair, ACU. Bigger than anyone knows!21 days goes very quickly. Negotiations with Democrats will start immediately. Will not be easy to make a deal, both parties very dug in. The case for National Security has been greatly enhanced by what has been happening at the Border & through dialogue. We will build the Wall!We have turned away, at great expense, two major Caravans, but a big one has now formed and is coming. At least 8000 people! If we had a powerful Wall, they wouldn’t even try to make the long and dangerous journey. Build the Wall and Crime will Fall!Thank you to the Republican National Committee, (the RNC), who voted UNANIMOUSLY yesterday to support me in the upcoming 2020 Election. Considering that we have done more than any Administration in the first two years, this should be easy. More great things now in the works!“We absolutely need a physical barrier or Wall, whatever you want to call it. The President yesterday laid all that out. We need to do it all, including the Wall. I provided the same information to the previous administration, & it was ignored.” Mark Morgan, Border Chief for “O”!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Every news network sends 5+ "journalist" and spends an entire day broadcasting from all the other marches...650k strong March For Life... cricketsNancy Pelosi's bill for alcohol on her flights from Washington to San Fran every week? We pay for it. 1000 dollars. On average 52,000 Bucks, a year for BOOZE. Tax payer money. Thank you very much.Roger Stone was charged with LYING TO CONGRESS. Can we get a list of every swamp creature who has done the same since BENGHAZI, help them prepare for their own - surely imminent - heavily-armed FBI/CNN pre-dawn raids?Let’s not forget Bob Mueller lied to congress about Iraq’s WMD’s in 2003.Our Based Secretary of Housing and Urban Development🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Facial Expression GuideJust remember: these losers will wake this morning believing they've won. But the countdown is on. 20 days left until a wall with ZERO concessions. The MASTER dealmaker.Daily RBG Counter3 WEEKS.......LEFTIST WAKE UP CALL: This man has top clearance and has seen military advancements ten years ahead of anything on the market... so yes, liberals, he DOES know more about technology than you do.WEEEEEEEEEEEEEW LAD!Without further ado, some music for all you beautiful deplorables:House Of GoldWhy iii Love The MoonLet Me GoStressed OutTequilawineHolding Onto YouMAGA ON PATRIOTS! #robgray

[flyrtreynolds]

Noisey: PnB Rock and His Lonely Hearts Club Bangers

Very Vice-y anecdote about the creation of this story: After interviewing Rock, we went downstairs to Vice's new theater to record some drops for Noisey's Beats 1 show. The theater was full, but I had it booked, so I kicked everyone out —— including (and I didn't know this beforehand) director Spike Jonze.

(Photos by Matt Seger) 

PnB Rock's first and only meaningful relationship began in the same place that it would end: a grocery store. It was located Northeast Philadelphia, about 30 minutes from Germantown, the section of the city that Rock, born Rakim Allen, was raised in until his mid-teens. He was there with a court-appointed chaperone, a result of a recent arrest, and was doing some shopping. His single mom had recently moved the family, five boys in total, to the area to get away from the streets that had consumed Allen after his uncle, a father figure, was murdered. The suburban neighborhood's manicured lawns served as a stark contrast from the broken sidewalks of the Pastorius and Baynton Streets that his stage name derives from. "It was like two different worlds," he remembers. 

While there, he spotted a beautiful girl who happened to live across the street. She didn't seem to notice the chaperone, and the tall and lanky 15-year-old with an easy smile was able to nab her number. Coincidentally, he was not the first Allen boy to do so; while riding the bus a few weeks earlier, his younger brother met the same girl and also bagged her digits. His bro tried to play it cool, however, and waited to call, leaving the door open for a chance encounter with Rakim, who had no idea it was the same girl that his sibling had come home and exuded about. For a time, both tried courting her from the same number (their home landline). The young girl had already made up her mind, however, and started dating Rakim not long after.

"She was looking for a street-edgy guy, and I was looking for a nerdy girl," he says. "That was the only time I fell in love. Everything else felt like lust."

Despite being from a safer part of town and having a mother who was "heavy on church," she accepted him into her life. Little did she know that he was still frequently traveling back to Germantown to maintain his role in the streets. He managed to keep it a secret, too, until one day he made the bold decision to rob an unsuspecting kid in his new suburbia neighborhood. Feeling nervous afterward, he hastily ran into a nearby store—the same one where he met the girl he loved—and tried to dump the stolen goods. It was a futile effort; Allen's tattoos made him an easy culprit to identify. The police rolled up soon after and put him in cuffs.

The serendipitous nature of this story only gets heightened from here. On pure chance, his girlfriend saw the whole thing go down from her bedroom window across the street. And in what could be taken straight from a page in a movie script, she then ran over and demanded what was going on, exclaiming to the officers that they had the wrong guy—that there was no way Rakim would do such a thing. Today, sitting across from me while sipping a cup of tea, a tool to help rejuvenate his vocal cords in midst of his first big tour, Allen still expresses guilt over the ordeal.

"She was 100 percent sure [I didn't do it]," he says with a sigh. "I was living a double life. I didn't want to scare her and her family. They accepted me into their house."

His relationship with her would never be the same. Although she continued to support him during the small bid he did for the robbery, things began to sour when, not long after, he was sentenced to 33 months upstate in a maximum security prison for more serious crimes. Their parting would inspire a bevy of hard-hitting songs by Allen centered around the topics of love and separation, including multiple on RNB 3, his latest release and first since signing to Atlantic Records. His lingering feelings of their time together tie into what seems to be a theme in the young artist's life, which is whenever something honest and good happens, something bad from his past rears its ugly head. Even now, at the age of 23 and on the cusp of making it big, Allen is seemingly still struggling to outrun his demons.

But you wouldn't know that from sitting with him. As we talk in Vice's bustling lobby about these topics and his January 13 release GTTM: Goin Thru the Motions, the warble-voiced singer, who's often regarded as the Philly version of auto-tuned trappers like Fetty Wap and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, remains calm and personable, never taking his concentration off my questions. Any sign of anxiety or guilt is buried beneath his perpetual relaxed posture, even when we broach uncomfortable subjects. His ability to converse open and genuinely, regardless of the topic, can be attributed to his time upstate, he tells me. There, as nearly the youngest prisoner amid a population of long-serving convicts, he learned to make friends fast. Within a few months, he became known for being "just a cool person that people wanted to be around," he tells me. He credits the older prisoners for teaching him how to be confident in his own lane, even in a place where his options were limited.

This newly instilled confidence is partially why Allen returned to singing and rapping—two things he'd been doing since he was a kid but never felt comfortable telling anyone about. The other driving factor? Time, and lots of it. Within the concrete walls of his cell, he used a small, $200 keyboard—one of the few luxuries prisoners could purchase as part of a program—to make simple, string-laced beats to write to. He took the melodies he secretly appreciated growing up made by crooners like Trey Songz, Chris Brown and Mary J. Blige—artists that dominated pop radio but didn't fit into the "hardcore" lifestyle he and his partners were living at the time, he says—and added street-focused lyrics. The results were songs both melodic and real, a hardened version of the catchy R&B he used to overhear on loudspeakers at department stores and hum along with. These weren't just scribbles on paper, either; Allen eventually gained the courage to perform them for other prisoners, who began to view him as a voice for their struggle.    

"Those guys up there…they got a lot of frustration," he says. "It's easy for me to come out here on the streets and perform for crowds because them critics up there are going to keep it 100."

Some of his most well-known songs were cultivated in his cell, including "Alone," a somber earworm off RNB 3 highlighting the perils that fame can bring upon a relationship, and "Fleek," named after an elderly prison nurse who once fired back at one of Allen's prison mates for calling her ugly ("She was like, 'You just mad cause I'm on fleek,'" he remembers). But these were only the sketches of the polished jams that have racked up tens of millions of plays on Soundcloud and helped Allen gain a spot on a nation-wide tour this winter alongside fellow up-and-comers Shy Glizzy and Dae Dae. It was Allen's attention to detail (as we talk, he continuously checks his phone for messages from an engineer mixing one of his songs that he's sent copious notes to) that morphed them from simple ideas into big-time anthems. What's more, it helped that artists like Fetty, whom Allen would eventually create a whole project with called Money, Hoes and Flows, had established a blueprint for vocalists that mixed singing and MCing over trap production. R&B no longer had to be clean and glossy; upon getting released, Allen found that his edgy lyrics and catchy harmonies now had a place within the pop landscape.

But does he? The night of our interview, I catch Allen performing at a nearby venue as part of his current tour with Shy and Dae, and he looked every bit the part of a hit maker, enamoring the crowd with his infectious ballads and tough-as-nails bangers, including a few from his new EP, Going Thru The Motions, dropping January 13. A highlight of his set is his rendition of "Playa No More," the first single from Going Thru, which features Migos member Quavo and New York's A Boogie, whom he brings out to help perform the song. Its thudding bass line and snap snares remind me of heyday T-Pain, when the Tallahassee rapper turnt singer soundtracked summers with playful singles that catered to both the mainstream and street.    

As I watch Allen, though, I can't help but think of the last thing he told me during our conversation earlier in the day, which was that his older brother had recently been murdered. Due to legal proceedings around the case, he revealed little more to me about the situation. He did admit, however, that he struggles sometimes to continue to chase stardom when much of his family is still living in a dangerous area that he's tried to leave behind. "[My brother is] supposed to be here [with me], you feel me?" He said. "I miss him."

On stage, he seems genuinely cheerful, smiling widely as he bounces back and forth with his fans. This, he would add, is his one release from the stress of everything that has happened to this point. Here he's free to be PnB Rock—the boy from Germantown who's finally letting his voice be heard. With any luck, that version of him is here to stay.

"All this keeps me going. If I didn't have all this shit going on, it would be way harder for me."

https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/pnb-rock-and-his-lonely-hearts-club-bangers

[tragicbooks]

Why guidelines regulating legal cannabis businesses may be doing more harm than good.

<br>

Matt Walstatter fell into the cannabis business like many people do; he got sick. Really sick.

In 2003, a bad case of flu and pneumonia turned into painful gastrointestinal symptoms that wouldn't go away. For 10 years he vomited every day. He lost 50 pounds in the first six months.

After trying everything and seeing multiple doctors, acupuncturists, and naturopaths, cannabis was the only thing that provided relief. He applied for the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program to grow cannabis for himself and soon started growing for others. For nearly three years, he's run Pure Green dispensary in Portland, Oregon.

A "budtender" helps a customer at Pure Green dispensary (left). Walstatter (right). Photos via Matt Walstatter, used with permission.

As much as he enjoys his new career, it's not without challenges.

"I liken operating a cannabis business to running with ankle weights," Walstatter says, "because everything is a little harder."

Medical and recreational marijuana are legal in Oregon but not at the federal level, putting businesses like Walstatter's at odds with the government and the financial industry.

Cannabis-related businesses operate in a challenging limbo, able to grow, produce, and sell products but bound by piecemeal rules and regulations. Since marijuana is still an illegal Schedule I substance at the federal level (grouped together with the likes of heroin, LSD, and ecstasy), providing banking services for these entrepreneurs violates multiple federal statutes and laws including the Controlled Substance Act, the Bank Secrecy Act, and even the Patriot Act.

A vendor weighs buds for card-carrying medical marijuana patients at Los Angeles' first-ever cannabis farmer's market. Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images.

This means cannabis businesses often have to operate without routine banking services like checking accounts, payroll assistance, or credit cards and instead work entirely in cash.

"The biggest hassle is paying bills. Instead of just writing a check and being done with it, you have to walk and drive somewhere," Walstatter says. "Money moves from place to place, but most of the time it happens electronically. But when you don’t have a bank account, if you want money to get from point A to point B, you’ve gotta bring it there yourself.”

But it's more than an issue of inconvenience, it's a matter of feeling safe.

"You’re always at risk," says Sally Alworth, co-owner of Luminous Botanicals, a Portland-based company that makes natural medicinal cannabis serums. "Anybody who looks around and sees where you’re located and that you’re a cannabis business knows that you likely have a stockpile of cash on site, and even if it’s in a safe, it just feels like you’re a target. There’s a big bull's-eye on you."

And while dispensary robberies are rare, they do occur. In Portland last August, a dispensary owner was robbed, bound, and held at gunpoint in his own store. It's enough to keep proprietors on edge.

Jars of medical marijuana at Sunset Junction medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles. Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images.

Though zoning varies from state to state and region to region, cannabis businesses and dispensaries are located in every corner of Portland, with 100 licensed medical dispensaries in the county alone. No one is immune to the potential criminality.

"It feels like it creates a real risk to us and our business and our assets but also to the neighborhoods our businesses are operating in," Alworth says. "Once you have thieves in the neighborhood, you just don’t know what else they’re gonna do."

Traditional banking is happening in the industry, if you know where to look.

Walstatter says it’s happening very quietly.

Two years ago, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) part of the Department of the Treasury, gave banks permission to work with cannabis businesses and professionals as long as certain guidelines and provisions were met. Most national banks (think Chase or Wells Fargo) are chartered, regulated, and insured at the federal level. But smaller, local banks and credit unions are chartered at the state level and answer to state and federal regulators.

Different strains of marijuana for sale on a digital board at a dispensary in Eugene, Oregon. Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images.

Since the legality of cannabis is still a state-to-state issue, some community banks are willing to take the risk, follow FinCEN guidance, and offer accounts to marijuana-related businesses or, as they're called in the financial industry, MRBs.

Walstatter works with a community bank to manage his funds but declined to share which one. "They actually make most clients sign an NDA for some reason," he says, likely out of fear of drawing unwanted attention from regulators.

But not every financial institution is so secretive about its forays into the industry.

"We saw it as a really good opportunity and the way to advance the medical research behind cannabis. We do think it has some medicinal benefits, but unfortunately the testing has been limited due to its federal illegalities," says Carmella Murphy Houston, vice president of business services for Washington-based Salal Credit Union.

Salal works with more than 300 MRBs in Washington and Oregon, most of them larger producers, processors, and retail businesses.

Per FinCEN guidelines, financial institutions that elect to work with MRBs have to vet and monitor the businesses closely to ensure none of the money is going toward criminal enterprises.

"We have monthly, quarterly, and annual ongoing monitoring that we do on the businesses as well," Houston says. The hefty monthly fees for the MRB accounts help offset the cost of this additional due diligence.

While some banks are willing to take the chance, it's simply not enough to manage the needs of a nearly $7 billion industry.

Less than 3% of the country's 11,954 federally regulated banks and credit unions service the cannabis industry, a total of 301 in 2016.

Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images.

Seven additional states legalized medical or recreational marijuana during the last election, bringing the total up to 28. This is quickly becoming an issue of national concern, and it's finally getting some attention in Washington, D.C.

The first week of January, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts led a cadre of senators to push FinCEN to issue additional guidance to banks wishing to work with MRBs.

"You make sure that people are really paying their taxes. You know that the money is not being diverted to some kind of criminal enterprise," Warren said recently, The Associated Press reported. "And it’s just a plain old safety issue. You don’t want people walking in with guns and masks and saying, 'Give me all your cash.'"

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) speaks in Las Vegas. Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images.

Those in the cannabis business say these changes can't come soon enough.

For retailers and producers like Walstatter and Alworth, the uncertainty and challenges of the business are worth it to provide a product they believe in. A fix would mean big changes for their businesses and might allow them to focus on other challenging regulations like the tax code, which doesn't allow cannabis businesses to deduct typical business expenses like marketing or administrative costs.

"We’re transitioning from the black and grey markets, so there’s just obstacles and bumps that most businesses don’t encounter," Walstatter says. "Sure, you have to pay taxes like everybody else, but you don’t get to deduct anything. You wanna pay bills, you probably don’t have a bank account. We’re in the hyper-regulated environment, and about two or three times a year, the rules just change in a way that often turns our business model upside down."

Rules may change. Policies may shift. And with the new administration, the way legal marijuana (medical or otherwise) exists in this country may change dramatically. But Walstatter's been through worse. And he's not giving up now.

"We’ve made it this far," he says. "And we’re not turning back."

A man shops at Farma, a marijuana dispensary, in Portland, Oregon. Photo by Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images.

<br>

Many thanks to Sally Alworth, Matt Walstatter, and Carmella Murphy Houston for the interviews.

[socialviralnews]

Why guidelines regulating legal cannabis businesses may be doing more harm than good.

<br>

Matt Walstatter fell into the cannabis business like many people do; he got sick. Really sick.

In 2003, a bad case of flu and pneumonia turned into painful gastrointestinal symptoms that wouldn't go away. For 10 years he vomited every day. He lost 50 pounds in the first six months.

After trying everything and seeing multiple doctors, acupuncturists, and naturopaths, cannabis was the only thing that provided relief. He applied for the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program to grow cannabis for himself and soon started growing for others. For nearly three years, he's run Pure Green dispensary in Portland, Oregon.

A "budtender" helps a customer at Pure Green dispensary (left). Walstatter (right). Photos via Matt Walstatter, used with permission.

As much as he enjoys his new career, it's not without challenges.

"I liken operating a cannabis business to running with ankle weights," Walstatter says, "because everything is a little harder."

Medical and recreational marijuana are legal in Oregon but not at the federal level, putting businesses like Walstatter's at odds with the government and the financial industry.

Cannabis-related businesses operate in a challenging limbo, able to grow, produce, and sell products but bound by piecemeal rules and regulations. Since marijuana is still an illegal Schedule I substance at the federal level (grouped together with the likes of heroin, LSD, and ecstasy), providing banking services for these entrepreneurs violates multiple federal statutes and laws including the Controlled Substance Act, the Bank Secrecy Act, and even the Patriot Act.

A vendor weighs buds for card-carrying medical marijuana patients at Los Angeles' first-ever cannabis farmer's market. Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images.

This means cannabis businesses often have to operate without routine banking services like checking accounts, payroll assistance, or credit cards and instead work entirely in cash.

"The biggest hassle is paying bills. Instead of just writing a check and being done with it, you have to walk and drive somewhere," Walstatter says. "Money moves from place to place, but most of the time it happens electronically. But when you don’t have a bank account, if you want money to get from point A to point B, you’ve gotta bring it there yourself.”

But it's more than an issue of inconvenience, it's a matter of feeling safe.

"You’re always at risk," says Sally Alworth, co-owner of Luminous Botanicals, a Portland-based company that makes natural medicinal cannabis serums. "Anybody who looks around and sees where you’re located and that you’re a cannabis business knows that you likely have a stockpile of cash on site, and even if it’s in a safe, it just feels like you’re a target. There’s a big bull's-eye on you."

And while dispensary robberies are rare, they do occur. In Portland last August, a dispensary owner was robbed, bound, and held at gunpoint in his own store. It's enough to keep proprietors on edge.

Jars of medical marijuana at Sunset Junction medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles. Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images.

Though zoning varies from state to state and region to region, cannabis businesses and dispensaries are located in every corner of Portland, with 100 licensed medical dispensaries in the county alone. No one is immune to the potential criminality.

"It feels like it creates a real risk to us and our business and our assets but also to the neighborhoods our businesses are operating in," Alworth says. "Once you have thieves in the neighborhood, you just don’t know what else they’re gonna do."

Traditional banking is happening in the industry, if you know where to look.

Walstatter says it’s happening very quietly.

Two years ago, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) part of the Department of the Treasury, gave banks permission to work with cannabis businesses and professionals as long as certain guidelines and provisions were met. Most national banks (think Chase or Wells Fargo) are chartered, regulated, and insured at the federal level. But smaller, local banks and credit unions are chartered at the state level and answer to state and federal regulators.

Different strains of marijuana for sale on a digital board at a dispensary in Eugene, Oregon. Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images.

Since the legality of cannabis is still a state-to-state issue, some community banks are willing to take the risk, follow FinCEN guidance, and offer accounts to marijuana-related businesses or, as they're called in the financial industry, MRBs.

Walstatter works with a community bank to manage his funds but declined to share which one. "They actually make most clients sign an NDA for some reason," he says, likely out of fear of drawing unwanted attention from regulators.

But not every financial institution is so secretive about its forays into the industry.

"We saw it as a really good opportunity and the way to advance the medical research behind cannabis. We do think it has some medicinal benefits, but unfortunately the testing has been limited due to its federal illegalities," says Carmella Murphy Houston, vice president of business services for Washington-based Salal Credit Union.

Salal works with more than 300 MRBs in Washington and Oregon, most of them larger producers, processors, and retail businesses.

Per FinCEN guidelines, financial institutions that elect to work with MRBs have to vet and monitor the businesses closely to ensure none of the money is going toward criminal enterprises.

"We have monthly, quarterly, and annual ongoing monitoring that we do on the businesses as well," Houston says. The hefty monthly fees for the MRB accounts help offset the cost of this additional due diligence.

While some banks are willing to take the chance, it's simply not enough to manage the needs of a nearly $7 billion industry.

Less than 3% of the country's 11,954 federally regulated banks and credit unions service the cannabis industry, a total of 301 in 2016.

Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images.

Seven additional states legalized medical or recreational marijuana during the last election, bringing the total up to 28. This is quickly becoming an issue of national concern, and it's finally getting some attention in Washington, D.C.

The first week of January, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts led a cadre of senators to push FinCEN to issue additional guidance to banks wishing to work with MRBs.

"You make sure that people are really paying their taxes. You know that the money is not being diverted to some kind of criminal enterprise," Warren said recently, The Associated Press reported. "And it’s just a plain old safety issue. You don’t want people walking in with guns and masks and saying, 'Give me all your cash.'"

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) speaks in Las Vegas. Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images.

Those in the cannabis business say these changes can't come soon enough.

For retailers and producers like Walstatter and Alworth, the uncertainty and challenges of the business are worth it to provide a product they believe in. A fix would mean big changes for their businesses and might allow them to focus on other challenging regulations like the tax code, which doesn't allow cannabis businesses to deduct typical business expenses like marketing or administrative costs.

"We’re transitioning from the black and grey markets, so there’s just obstacles and bumps that most businesses don’t encounter," Walstatter says. "Sure, you have to pay taxes like everybody else, but you don’t get to deduct anything. You wanna pay bills, you probably don’t have a bank account. We’re in the hyper-regulated environment, and about two or three times a year, the rules just change in a way that often turns our business model upside down."

Rules may change. Policies may shift. And with the new administration, the way legal marijuana (medical or otherwise) exists in this country may change dramatically. But Walstatter's been through worse. And he's not giving up now.

"We’ve made it this far," he says. "And we’re not turning back."

A man shops at Farma, a marijuana dispensary, in Portland, Oregon. Photo by Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images.

<br>

Many thanks to Sally Alworth, Matt Walstatter, and Carmella Murphy Houston for the interviews.

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