Last week contained a great deal of important headlines, for both Oklahoma and the nation. OKC was profiled on Politico, the Tulsa Frontier found some sticky data on civil asset forfeiture, and while you weren’t paying much attention, the federal government decided to quit persecuting medical marijuana dispensaries in states where the drug has achieved that sort of health-related legality.
Seriously.
Meanwhile, four Oklahoma legislators condemned a planned and permitted Festivus Pole at the State Capitol. You can see the media posturing pictured above. The phrase “war on Christmas,” has been bandied about.
Sigh.
When do we get to air our grievances?
Things we saw
Congress quietly ends federal government’s ban on medical marijuana — Los Angeles Times.
Sheriff’s Office seizes citizens’ cash, guns through unclaimed property law — Tulsa Frontier.
How America’s Top Junk Food City Went on a Diet (and Fattened Its Economy) — Politico on OKC.
Quotes to note
Beijing first issued a code red on air pollution last week. The measures further raised awareness of toxic air in this city of 22 million and underscored for the rest of the world the dismal state of the environment here. The measures took effect from Dec. 8 to Dec. 10, and they included the shutdown of more than 3,200 schools, the pulling of about half the city’s five million cars off the road each day and the temporary closing of factories and construction sites in the municipal area. The same is expected to be in place during the second crisis period.
— New York Times reporter, Edward Wong
There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t think of Ricky. I think about him every morning when I wake up, and I think about him every night when I go to bed.
— Nora Mcadams, mother of Richard Lee Sanchez who died in 2005. (Mcadams contacted NonDoc following the publication of this piece.) 12/18/15
Given how often this garbage is prescribed for chronic back pain, I would take a look at OK’s (and the US’s) cultural values regarding healthy eating, physical fitness, and good posture. Preventive health care measures in this scenario could not only improve the quality of but also quite literally save lives.
— Evan Bigbie, NonDoc commenter discussing opioids, 12/17/15
The week ahead
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, as in, “Man, I should probably go shopping instead of writing a commentary about shopping.”
Merry Christmas, of course, and happy holidays, if that’s not your thing. Write us a Letter to the Editors if you’re seeking an outlet for your seasonal sacrimony.
We added two videos to our YouTube page last week, and if you didn’t get a chance to see them, you might take a look (and maybe subscribe to our channel to keep abreast of new editions to our video library). Beneath one of the new videos, two complete strangers have entered a rhetorical battle of immense pointlessness.
We continue to seek high-quality opportunities for presenting multimedia content on NonDoc.
Highlights from NonDoc
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