A Texas man faces up to life in prison for making pot brownies?
This is the kind of story that leaves you shaking your head.
19 year old Jacob Lavoro was arrested and charged with making and selling pot brownies. He’s charged with a first degree felony. Why is the charge so severe?
Because Lavoro’s recipe includes hash oil.
That allows the state to use the sugar, cocoa, butter and other ingredients to determine the weight of the drugs.
“They’ve weighed baked goods in this case. It ought to be a misdemeanor,” Lavoro’s attorney Jack Holmes said.

New Jersey Attorney General John J. Hoffman, on behalf of the secretary of state’s office, has filed a motion to dismiss a complaint challenging the constitutionality of New Jersey’s primary election system. Secretary of State Kim Guadagno argues that U.S. citizens in New Jersey do not have a right to vote in primary elections, but political parties have a right to use taxpayer dollars to fund them.

Ben broke the news of this lawsuit nationally when he reported on the “End Partisanship” coalition and lawsuit just a few months ago.

To see the full “End Partisanship” Truth in Media report about the control of a closed, taxpayer funded primary system, watch below:

What happens when you take one of the wealthiest men in the world and you make him one of the biggest backers of a political party? You have politicians doing his bidding to eliminate business competition.

That is exactly the threat online gambling is facing.

Sheldon Adelson is one of the richest men in the world, worth an estimated $38 billion. Adelson is also a Republican and poured roughly $100 million into Republican campaigns in 2012. Now, in 2014 he is backing Senator Lindsey Graham

How is Graham responding to Adelson’s support? He and Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz are co-sponsoring a bill that would reinstate federal law to prohibit “all forms of Internet gambling.”

In December 2011 Justice Department issued an opinion that the Interstate Wire Act of 1961, covers only sports betting. That opinion dramatically changed the landscape, sparking moves by states, casino interests and technology vendors to explore online markets. Nevada and two other states have legalized forms of in-state Web gaming, and 10 states are considering the same.

Among the lawmakers pushing for this is Tea Party and Liberty Republican favorite Mike Lee who is considered to be strong on the Constitution and an advocate for states rights.

The legislation does not contain a grandfather clause that would permit Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware to continue offering online gamin as they do now, and would bring to a halt the recent Nevada-Delaware agreement to pool online poker. Those states and any others would be required to get Congress to sign off.

It all comes back to Sheldon Adelson. Why? Because Adelson and his wife just threw a large fundraiser for Graham. Meanwhile, the bill that Graham is pushing was written by Sheldon Adelson’s lobbyist.

Benswann.com’s Evan Mulch confronted Lindsey Graham about this in South Carolina.

Ben takes a look at Neel Kashkari, running as a Republican for Governor of California. Kashkari says he is ready to cut wasteful spending and scale back the size of government. What he isn’t tell voters is that Kashkari was the one who oversaw the Federal Government’s TARP program which bailed out huge financial institutions including Kashkari’s former employer Goldman Sachs.

Billions flowed to those financial institutions, were those billions ever paid back?

The Florida Wholesale Beer Association has helped to craft a law that will restrict how micro-brewries sell beer. The Florida State Senate just passed SB 1714, a bill which was crafted and supported by Florida Wholesale Beer Association.

The bill restricts how much craft breweries can sell directly to consumers

The way the bill is constructed micro breweries can sell up to 2,000 kegs a year of their own brew in any size container. But if they sell more than 2,000 kegs a year, the bill prohibits them from selling their beer in sealed cans or bottles for home consumption directly from the microbrewery.

So they can only sell 2,000 kegs a year? Not quite. Once they hit the 2,000 keg mark, they must now use a wholesale distributor that’s right a distributor who would be a part of the Florida Wholesale Beer Association.

The bottom line here once they hit the 2,000 keg mark, the micro breweries would end up having to buy back their own beer from the distributors at a marked up price. Why would lawmakers do this? They are doing it in the name of consumer protection claiming they are protecting a three-tier system between breweries, distributors and retailers.