Alaska's tax revenues for Marijuana growers in December reaches $145,000. Up from $81,000 in November.

Courtesy of ADN: 

The second full month of marijuana tax revenue has entered the state treasury. 

In December, 13 marijuana cultivators paid $145,800 to the Alaska Department of Revenue's Tax Division, revenue audit supervisor Kelly Mazzei wrote Tuesday. 

Under Alaska law, growers pay the state's tax. Bud is taxed at $50 per ounce, and other parts of the plant, like the stems and leaves, are taxed at $15 per ounce. 

A total of 167 pounds of marijuana bud and 46 pounds of other parts were sold in December, Mazzei wrote.

You may remember that back in November I reported that Alaska had collected $81,100 in tax revenue from the growers.

So this is a significant increase and a real indication that the marijuana industry is likely to inject some serious money into the rapidly emptying Alaska state coffers.

As I have explained before there is no way it will replace the dwindling oil tax revenue, but at least it is something. 

Bernie Sanders, who is vying for the Democratic nomination, is suing the DNC for an incident that happened months ago.

Courtesy of TPM: 

The campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) officially served the Democratic National Committee on Thursday with a lawsuit over the decision to suspend the campaign's access to voter data after a staffer viewed confidential information back in December. 

A source told The Hill the move was "very procedural" as Thursday was the deadline to file paperwork given to the campaign by a federal judge. 

The DNC temporarily revoked the campaign's access in mid-December to all voter information after a staffer inappropriately accessed voter data compiled by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

Of course the Sanders campaign DID regain access to the data, and one of their staffers was fired, which sort of illustrates that there was wrongdoing on the part of the campaign. Though of course nobody is accusing Sanders himself of doing anything unethical.

However I find myself a little confused as to why an incident since resolved would inspire the Sanders campaign to file a lawsuit simply because time is running out for them to do so.

I mean I confess to not having any legal training which might make this seem reasonable, but from a purely public relations point of view this seems like something that just makes it easier to point out that Sanders is NOT a Democrat and that he does not always respect or support the Democratic party.

People magazine flatly states out loud that Bristol Palin's newest child was born in November.

So People magazine has up a rather innocuous article about some new photos that Bristol posted to Instagram featuring Tripp holding Sailor Grace.

It's all mostly fluff of course, until you get to this portion:

Palin welcomed the newest addition to her family in November, announcing the news in a sweet Instagram snap of herself and her bundle of joy. 

Wait, November? 

Well that is certainly not in line with the official Palin family version of events, now is it?

Of course we have long argued that the baby was born on November 4th, but the official, Palin family approved, version states that Sailor Grace was born on December 23, 2015.

So did People magazine make a boo boo? Or do they know something that we are not supposed to know?

Yes Bristol Palin we know you lied about when you gave birth to Sailor Grace Palin.

As has been pointed out multiple times here this is the image that showed up on Dakota Meyer's Facebook page on December 24th with the message: 

Best Christmas present ever!! I couldn't be more proud of this little blessing.

Now take a moment to blow that up as large as you can and take a very careful look at the tape attached to the IV on the bottom of what appears to be Bristol Palin's right hand.

Do you see the date?

If you have the tools and the know how you can also lighten it, like this.

Do you see it now?

Now there has been a VERY aggressive effort to suggest that this image is photoshopped. However if you can lighten it yourself you will see a very similar image as well.

So that would appear to indicate that Sailor Grace Palin was born NOT on December 24th, 2015 but instead on November 4th, 2015.

Which would reinforce the gossip saying that she had already given birth when she was posted baby bump selfies in late November....

And also help to explain why she did not appear at the final custody hearing on December 21st, and instead participated by telephone.

Which leaves open the question, why?

After all Bristol was first photographed being all chummy with Dakota back on January 25th.

I think most of us assume that once she met the guy she also probably....you know....MET the guy.

However Bristol was not formally engaged to Dakota until the middle of March, which means that even if she got pregnant that night her baby should not have been born until mid December.

So is THAT it? Is she so determined to cling to the last vestige of Christian purity that she would lie about the birth of her new baby simply to create the impression that she would not give up the goods until Dakota put a ring on it?

I have to admit I'm not really sure exactly why.

But I Do know that if you go ask Bristol on Instagram, that she will ask you if you are high, and then tell you to "go fuck yourself."

Well she certainly preserved that Christian purity thing didn't she? 

Tweeted by NDT yesterday morning. Update!

On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton b. Dec 25, 1642
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 25, 2014

Well at least he was actually born on December 25th.

Personally I would love to see Christmas changed to celebrate the birth of Sir Isaac Newton rather then the mythological birth of the Christ child.

Update: Apparently Professor Tyson's tweets did not go over well with everybody.

Of course that just makes me like them all the more.

Russians in blind panic in anticipation of Earth's end as "predicted" by Mayan calendar.

Courtesy of the Guardian:  

For more than a month, Russians around the country have been buying up candles and matches, salt and torches in an effort to outsmart the apocalypse some believe will come when the Mayan calendar runs out on Friday. 

In the coalmining town of Novokuznetsk, shelves nearly emptied of salt stocks last month as the city's residents prepared to ride through the end of the world. "60 tonnes were bought in one week," Yelena Zuyeva, a city official, said last week in comments carried on the local administration's website. "Today all trade companies are working and are ready for any level for consumer activity." 

Online forums have been buzzing with people exchanging tips on what to eat after the entire human population is wiped out on Friday. "If I'm not mistaken, Russia makes all sorts of dehydrated products that are rich in all kinds of vitamins," a user named Yelena Portnenkova wrote on a forum called "How to live? What to eat?" on VKontakte, the Russian version of Facebook. "Yet filling a garage with stocks of food is not just pointless, but dangerous. If the apocalypse comes, then crowds of hungry, angry, terrified and horrified people will sweep into your garage just because they suspect they might find something edible." 

Government officials have been called upon to calm fears. Vladimir Puchkov, Russia's emergency situations minister, urged Russians to call his ministry's hotline if they had any fears. His deputy, Sergei Anikeyev, added: "We don't believe in the 'end of the world' fable," adding hastily: "But we're ready to help people with any emergency situation." 

With the end of the world just days away, Russians have moved from buying stocks to thinking long and hard about where to be when the lights go off. In Moscow, an underground bunker built during the second world war for the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin has offered its services: "We invite you to survive the apocalypse on 21 December in Bunker-42 on Taganka at 65 metres underground!" a note written in ominous red on its website cheerily reads. 

Wow, and here I thought Americans had more than their fair share of undereducated morons.

You know you would think with so MANY predictions of an apocalypse or destruction of the earth, which NEVER pan out, that people would sort of take the hint that these predictions are simply a bunch of poppycock.

Oh well, I guess it gives the little brains among us something to do with their spare time.

However perhaps we could help out our Russian brothers and sisters by proving them with a dose of Neil deGrassee Tyson.