Marijuana is now legal for recreational and medicinal use in New York State. This news is both welcome and long overdue. This is great news for New Yorker residents of color against whom low-level drug "offenses" were by design used to search, seize, detain, harass, and arrest. For pale people like me being caught with weed was never a huge concern -- we have enjoyed complexion protection our whole lives -- this change in the law makes all NYS residents a bit safer from unequal policing and injustice, and that's worth celebrating.

In other good news, I went out and played pinball on Wednesday ending 55 weeks of Total Flipper Deprivation. It was glorious, especially since the venue has put in precautions and protocols (shower curtains between machines, fans everywhere circulating the air, rules limiting the number of people in the pinball area at any given time, etc.) above and beyond what one might expect from a neighborhood bar. I went just after opening, so there was pretty much no one else there, which also contributed to the feeling of being safe.

The NYC Mayoral race is kicking into gear and our fearless NYC journalists are continuing to hammer the candidates with questions about the big issues like their favorite bagels.

Finally, Florida Republican Matt Gaetz is in serious trouble after it was reported this week that he "dates" teens and is "very generous" with said teens, possibly luring them across state lines with drugs and other goodies for sex, using campaign funds for these wholesome family values trips, and of course showing images still and moving of these unclothed exploits to fellow congressional assholes on the floor of the House.  This is the schmuck who at the start of the pandemic made of show of wearing a gas mask on the floor of the House to mock mask wearing. The guy is an asshole, a proud asshole, someone who goes out of his way to annoy others and never passed up an opportunity to publicly fellate his lying incompetent orange idol. I'm so glad that it looks like his political career (and personal freedom) appears over before he reaches age 40. Let's hope Gym "I believe Matt Gaetz" Jordan and Ron "I'm afraid of black people, not of white people who gouge out the eyes of policemen protecting the Capitol" Johnson are not far behind.

Today we will debut new music by Death From Above 1979 (Toronto, Canada, @dfa1979), Dinosaur Jr. (Amherst, MA, @DinosaurJr), Ex-Norwegian (Miami Beach FL, @ExNorwegian), Fake Fruit (Oakland, CA, @FakeFruitBand), Fishboy (Denton, TX, @YoFishboy), Nick Waterhouse (Los Angeles, CA, @NickWaterhouse), and Tune-Yards (Oakland, CA, @TuneYards).

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