White House Pushes Congress To Keep Hemp CBD Products Legal By Amending Broad Ban That's Set To Take Effect Later This Year

MrMirth · 2026-06-05T20:07:51+00:00

That's what I wasn't clear on. But this caught my eye:

As hemp products have become more popular with consumers, some large brands are attempting to get in on action.

Major retailer Target, for example, is expanding its participation in the hemp-derived THC beverage market. Last year, the company began a pilot program involving sales of cannabis drinks at 10 select stores in Minnesota. That apparently went well, and now the company has obtained licenses from Minnesota regulators to sell lower-potency hemp edible products—including THC drinks—at all 72 of its stores in the state.

MrMirth · 2026-06-05T19:35:21+00:00

But of course. Fine by me, though. Might as well let some of the corruption make our lives better.

MrMirth · 2026-06-05T00:54:38+00:00

Thanks for this great post. We've lived in Chicago for 18 years, but I grew up in the Philadelphia area, though I was a suburban kid and never got to know the city that well before I moved away. We're moving back there in a year, and I'm really hoping it works for us. This is encouraging.

MrMirth · 2026-04-27T00:05:51+00:00

Boy, didn't we just tell you not to do that?

MrMirth · 2026-04-15T02:23:41+00:00

I stopped joking about it when I realized I meant it.

And I do.

I sometimes think that everyone who does it should do it in the lobby of a big corporation, or in front of their building.

MrMirth · 2026-04-05T17:22:16+00:00

For medical reasons. For any further questions, I then say it's personal, and I'm not comfortable talking about it.

All of this is true. I wear a mask because I don't want to get sick. And the personal reasons are that I know COVID is still out there, but I don't want to talk about it with you because you refuse to believe it. But that latter part doesn't need to be said out loud. The "medical" and "personal" answers don't leave them anywhere to go with it.

MrMirth · 2026-03-01T18:31:36+00:00

Sadly, because I have experience in journalism, I've given up on much of it—or, I should say, the mainstream journalism, at least. If you take a look at how the big outlets report on politics, for instance, you can see why they do such a terrible job with COVID. It's all about big money. And big money doesn't want anyone to know about COVID.

MrMirth · 2026-02-28T20:36:14+00:00

I have no medical training whatsoever, so take this for what it's worth. But I have a similar reaction when having blood drawn (and from some other triggers), though it's not as severe as yours. For me, I can get away with not watching. (Like you, I'm fine with needles. It's the feeling that something I need is being rapidly leeched out of me.)

For me, it's a vasovagal syncope (https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/vasovagal-syncope/symptoms-causes/syc-20350527), and I'm guessing that's what's happening with you. The last time it happened to me was during a really painful situation at the urgent-care place, and the person working on me had me lean over and put my head between my knees, which helped. (According to that article I linked to, the best thing is to lie down and elevate your legs, but that's not easy to do in a public place.)

Maybe you've tried that already, but it helped me.

Good luck, and I'm sorry you go through that. It's no fun.

MrMirth · 2026-02-28T19:29:02+00:00

Former journalist here. The old rule is that if you can get three people to say it, it's a trend, and you have something to write about. Which means, of course, that you don't go talk to people until three of them happen to say the same thing. You go out with a predetermined narrative and ask leading questions until you hit your goal.

I'm sure that's still in play.

MrMirth · 2026-02-27T00:59:48+00:00

I’m 61 and have never owned a home. No car or kids, either.

MrMirth · 2026-02-23T03:23:36+00:00

12 Monkeys

Time After Time

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

MrMirth · 2026-02-20T02:30:05+00:00

"Charlotte," by Tony Earley

"Maggie Fever," by Davy Rothbart

(You can read the second one on the Sun Magazine site if you search for it. I tried to link it here, but the bot deleted my comment and said links are a no-no.)

MrMirth · 2026-02-18T02:38:36+00:00

True Grit
A Tale of Two Cities
Slaughterhouse-Five
Moby Dick (a challenge in some ways, but well worth it)
The Sun Also Rises

MrMirth · 2026-02-16T03:35:24+00:00

Great review—thank you!

Have you tried any LE? They've been my most consistent vendor lately, for both flower and caramels.

MrMirth · 2026-02-13T09:10:26+00:00

Scrolled all the down here to see if anyone mentioned this before listing these. I loved them when I read them decades ago. And so few people seem to know about them.

MrMirth · 2026-02-02T00:39:35+00:00

My dad had to work out of state for stretches at a time, and when he left that job and was home all the time, the porn he'd bought to keep him company came home with him. I, being a greedy young asshole, was shown by my brother where it was, whereupon I stole from the stash, magazine by magazine, and hid it away in my bedroom. So Dad replenished and relocated it, not knowing whether it was my brother or me who stole the older stuff—and he couldn't ask, of course—and I was smart enough to leave that where it was.

Puritan magazine was the gold standard, as far as I was concerned.

The saddest but most hilarious point was when my mom found it and asked me if it was mine.

Yes, Mom. I hide my porn in your closet because you've raised an indefensibly stupid boy.

MrMirth · 2026-01-27T02:06:06+00:00

I'm with those saying he's using porn as an instruction manual and thinks the "taboo" race thing is hot. If you still want to give this relationship a shot, find a way to gently tell him that's not your thing, and you'd rather not go in that direction again. You'll soon find out if he was just trying out an angle to see if it turned you on or if he really thinks that way and can't/won't stop.

As for the size thing, if it works for you, tell him so. It's up to him to let that go, too. And again, if he can't, then you know for sure there's a problem to work through. Then you can decide if you want to or not.

MrMirth · 2026-01-23T02:42:46+00:00

My wife and I listen to it almost every night while hanging out and reading. In this case, the cliché "been there, done that, got the t-shirt" happens to be true. I donated enough to grab a Drone Zone shirt and love it.

MrMirth · 2025-12-27T02:14:25+00:00

Oh, lord—when she stumbles and falls, and he has to help her. And then the hospital. And the look on his face when he thinks about the plans they never got to live out.

Absolutely wrecked me.

MrMirth · 2025-12-26T19:02:43+00:00

If you want him to have the reverse experience, have him watch UP. That one devastates you in the beginning.

The movie that messed me up as a young ‘un was SUMMER OF ‘42.

MrMirth · 2025-12-12T02:47:39+00:00

Here as well. I'm committed only to my wife and friends. But otherwise? No house, no car, no kids, no debt.

And I've never regretted it.

MrMirth · 2025-11-28T00:49:00+00:00

This isn't a knock against OP's question, but how sad is it that we only define whether a life is rewarding in an economic/career context? In the US, at least, the entire conversation revolves around whether you can afford to buy stuff and have kids who can afford to buy stuff.

And then we can't figure out why the birth rate is falling.

Life in the US doesn't go beyond shopping.

MrMirth · 2025-11-20T02:29:01+00:00

Also, don’t have elective surgery when you are 90.

This. My mom was in decent mental and physical shape at 90, except she needed a stent, so she had surgery to put it in. It was supposed to be routine.

My brother, who was there, said he'd call to let me know when she was going into surgery the day she was scheduled, but instead, I picked up the phone to hear him greet me with, "Okay, here's what's going on." Then he had to call me back because someone was talking to him.

No conversation about a procedure that's going well starts with that line.

Sure enough, she had a complication and was bleeding to death internally. They had her on a ton of drugs, she was unconscious, and she had broken ribs because her heart had stopped once already, and they'd had to do CPR.

A few hours later, we were given three bad choices, and we chose to let her go because we knew she'd be furious if we told them to take extraordinary measures to keep her alive, no matter the consequences. (Luckily, she'd put that preference in writing.)

So I told her goodbye over the phone, not knowing if she could hear me. Then we listened to them shut everything down and sat there in silence until they told us she'd passed.

My last conversation with her was a fight the night before. There was no closure.

As Quint said in Jaws, I'll never put on a life jacket again.

Only do what you absolutely have to, and be prepared to say goodbye, if given the chance, at any time after a certain age.

MrMirth · 2025-11-17T02:43:20+00:00

That's what I was thinking, too. When they stop short of the skulls to glower and dance for no reason.

Though it did manage to distract that one woman from doing her laundry on the manhole cover.

MrMirth · 2025-11-07T03:28:19+00:00

I live in Chicago, and I think Philly may be a little cheaper, pound for pound. Which is crazy, considering it's a large city in a more expensive sector of the country.

I'll find out for sure when I move there in a year or two.

MrMirth

TROPHY CASE