Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Posted By on Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 9:44 AM


The Marijuana Policy Project put together a list of what it's calling the Top 50 Most Influential Marijuana Consumers, inspired by Out magazine's Power 50 list of LGBT Americans, and intended to showcase individuals who have talked openly about having used marijuana at some point in their lives, or had their use confirmed by some "legitimate source," and yet still went on to do great things professionally and personally.  

For the most part, the list consists of politicians running for office who have had to announce, as Jeb Bush did in the recent GOP debate, that they've used the demon weed at some point in their lives, lest some old stoner friend come out of the woodwork and surprise them with a well-timed press conference. Given marijuana's acceptance, at least medically, across many states in 2015, it's not nearly as hot a "gotcha" issue as just 10 or 20 years ago. 

That's why I was more interested in some of the non-politicians on the list, such as: 

OPRAH WINFREY. She said it was back in 1982 the last time she did it. 

KATY PERRY. She did a song with Snoop Dogg, so, uh, it kind of goes without saying. 

LEBRON JAMES. The King can basically do whatever he wants in Cleveland, and his puffing apparently happened as a high schooler in an Akron hotel room. 

RUSH LIMBAUGH. He claims he only inhaled twice, and didn't like it. We believe him, since pills seem more his thing

MORGAN FREEMAN. Can you imagine That Voice turning into a high-pitched giggle? That's something I'd like to hear. 

MARTHA STEWART. I'd imagine her crafting skill makes her the go-to when her smoking friends need to MacGyver a pipe out of a corn cob. 

GLENN BECK. America's moral scold says he quit when he joined AA in 1994. I kind of wish he would start again. 

Check out the whole list here

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Posted By on Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 9:11 AM

click to enlarge City Council's recognition of Islamic civil rights group draws ire from Matt Shea
Jake Thomas
State Rep. Matt Shea speaks out against Spokane City Council recognizing an Islamic Civil Rights organization.

State Rep. Matt Shea, R- Spokane Valley, along with about 70 activists, some bringing guns and flags, came all the way out to Northeast Community Center to protest the Spokane City Council recognizing the work of an Islamic civil rights group and the local Muslim community.

The rally, held last night, was organized by the Spokane chapter of ACT! for America, a groups that’s drawn concern from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
click to enlarge City Council's recognition of Islamic civil rights group draws ire from Matt Shea
Jake Thomas
Some people came to the rally armed.


Speaking to the crowd, Shea insisted that he didn’t have a problem with Islam, noting he made friends with Muslims while serving in the military in Iraq. Instead, he had a problem with the council recognizing the Council on American Islamic Relations, which Shea said has documented ties to terrorist groups, specifically the Muslim Brotherhood.

“I don’t think that an organization that in a court of law –– that has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood –– should be honored by the city of Spokane, do you?” he asked the crowd.

Shea said that you can’t pledge allegiance to the Constitution and Allah, and the council, he added, should instead be recognizing men and women who serve in the military.

The City Council normally meets in council chambers in City Hall. But this week, it held its meeting at the Northeast Community Center in a town hall format, which is designed to hear from local neighborhoods. The room was overflowing with people.

After the meeting was gaveled to order, the council voted to suspend the 
click to enlarge City Council's recognition of Islamic civil rights group draws ire from Matt Shea
Jake Thomas
People listen to Matt Shea speak.
first open forum, where anyone has three minutes to tell the council what’s on their mind, so that they could spend more time hearing from neighborhoods and attend to other council business.

Shortly afterwards the, council passed the salutation recognizing the work of CAIR to improve relations and understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.

“We’re here to celebrate America, our diversity and our common American principles of freedom, liberty and justice for all,” said Admir Rasic, a local Muslim, after receiving the salutation.

As the meeting went on, people trickled out of the room. The council debated and passed its neighborhood notification ordinance, which requires to the city to notify neighborhood councils of large developments and makes it easier for them to appeal land use decisions.

Stuckart said that he received emails earlier that day conflating the CAIR resolution and the ordinance. Some of these emails, he said, suggested that the ordinance would impose Sharia law on Spokane. The emails, said Stuckart, were some of the weirdest he’d ever received.

click to enlarge City Council's recognition of Islamic civil rights group draws ire from Matt Shea
Jake Thomas
Admir and Azra Rasic and their daughter Najla, a local Muslim family, received a salutation from Spokane City Council last night.


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Posted By on Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 7:54 AM


FROM INLANDER.COM
• 5 video games coming soon that we're really excited about
• How you can help Syrian refugees
• Doctor Who’s biggest problem? Too many cool ideas
• Pullman artist Cori Dantini's designs are now at Target

• Washington's initiative guru Tim Eyman violated campaign laws, state officials say
He got secret payments from a signature-gathering firm and illegally used campaign donations for personal expenses, according to an investigation by the Public Disclosure Commission. The PDC referred the case to the state attorney general.

• Scott Walker ends presidential bid
The Wisconsin governor called on some of the other 15 candidates to do the same, so the party could unite behind a more "optimistic" leader (a not-so-subtle jab at Donald Trump). 

• Expected tomorrow: an announcement that Spokane will host major skating competition
U.S. Skating officials, including 1992 Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi, are expected to announce that Spokane will host the inaugural 2016 Team Challenge Cup. (KREM) Watch Yamaguchi skate for the gold in 1992 below.


• 1 in 4 women experience sex assault on campus
The figure comes from a newly released survey of150,000 students at 27 colleges and universities. The Inlander published an opinion column on the issue earlier this month.

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Monday, September 21, 2015

Posted By on Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at 3:40 PM

click to enlarge Monday Morning Place Kicker: Something is really wrong with the Seahawks, you guys, but let's calm down
seahawks.com

If you were anything like me, you spent the minutes following the Seahawks' loss last night staring at the ceiling. You'd just realized that Seattle has lost two games, which is the maximum possible amount of games they could have lost at this point. It's mid-September and it felt like that ceiling is already falling down on your team's season. What in the hell are you going to do every Sunday for the rest of the calendar year?

The Green Bay Packers were at times dominant (and weirdly non-dominant at other moments) in a 27-17 win out in Wisconsin last night on a night when things just didn't look right for the Seahawks. You were probably wondering about certain things, like...

• What the hell is wrong with Michael Bennett? The dude jumped offsides twice on big downs that gave the Aaron Rodgers and his mustache "free plays" to bomb it down the field into the Seahawks secondary...speaking of which...

• What the hell is up with our secondary? Yes, Kam Chancellor continues his ill-advised quest to not make any money this season, but even the fire-proof Richard Sherman got burned a couple of times.

• Where is Beast Mode? We got a few whiffs of Beast last night, but he only amassed 41 rushing yards. That might have more to do with the Hawks offensive line than Marshawn, though. He had guys in his face before he ever got the handoff on several occasions. He does have a funny new Pepsi commercial out now, so that's a plus.

• They know they paid a lot of money for Jimmy Graham, right? The towering tight end only caught one ball last night on two targets.

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Posted By and on Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at 3:15 PM

Besides the spectacular graphics and (expectedly) awesome gameplay in Star Wars Battlefront — out in mid-November, but starting beta testing next month — that basically everyone is hyped about, there are many other great games to get excited about as cooler weather sets in and we're all spending more time indoors, controllers in hand. Here's a roundup of game releases a few Inlander staffers are looking forward to through the rest of 2015 and into next year. You'll want to add them to your Steam wish list right now:

King's Quest Chapter 2: Rubble Without a Cause (and three chapters to come in 2016)
Release date: Chapter 2 in quarter four of 2015; other chapters TBA
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3/4; Xbox 360/One
Game style: Single-player adventure

My love for video games can be directly traced back to King's Quest. Starting with the first text command-based game on my family's Tandy computer, I played every single one of the series' installments with my family as I grew up. They were clever and funny, filled with challenging puzzles and fairytale references.

Considering the company that made KQ released its last game in 1998, and (as far as I knew) was no longer a company, I never considered that King's Quest would come back. But, apparently, 2015 is the year of Video Game Miracles!

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Posted By on Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at 3:01 PM

It’s happening on the other side of the world. In the past four and a half years, 250,000 Syrians have died and 12 million have fled their homes because of intense civil war — numbers incredibly challenging to wrap your head around. Especially in the last month, stories of refugees and migrants dying while trying to reach Europe have made international headlines. This weekend alone, Austria received 20,000 newcomers.

Speaking from Berlin Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry said the Obama Administration plans to increase the number of worldwide refugees the United States accepts each year from 70,000 to 100,000 by 2017.

But this is a slow and arduous process. How can people in the Inland Northwest help in the meantime?

DONATE: Here are a number of organizations working to bring relief to Syrian refugees across the world. Donations of any monetary value work to provide refugees with food, clothing and shelter while getting them to a safe place.

- USA for United Nations Human Rights Organization
- UNICEF United States Fund
- International Rescue Committee
- Save the Children Federation
- World Vision
- Islamic Relief USA

TIME: World Relief Spokane has recently helped to resettle Syrian refugees, along with many other refugees from around the world, in Spokane. Once here, the organization gets refugees set up with ESL classes,housing support, job training and  Christians from local churches. You can find out more about offering your time and energy with this organization at the next volunteer orientation happening this Wednesday from 5-6 pm at the World Relief office, 1522 N. Washington. Register at http://worldreliefspokane.org/volunteer

SPREAD THE WORD: This is tough stuff, but talking about the crisis makes it real. Urging Congress to take action is another way to spread the word. 

National Geographic recently released a stunning Syrian refugee photo gallery. View that here.

For a list of many other organizations and charities helping people in need locally, check out the recent Inlander Give Guide.

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Posted By on Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at 12:53 PM


This season’s Doctor Who premiere had, at its core, a very compelling, tried and true sci-fi idea: The Doctor realizes that by abandoning a young boy to certain death, he created Davros, creator of the genocidal Daleks. In order to stop Davros, the villain, the Doctor has to go back in time and save Davros, the boy.

But getting to that conclusion so full of stuff, so full of free-floating Cool Ideas, that describing the plot easily sounds like a 7-year-old delivering a single-sentence stream-of-consciousness monologue about the adventures he made up about his action figures. Something like this: 

So the Master is freezing planes in mid-air in present day England and so Clara Oswald leaves school to go to UNIT and then finds the Master, and the Master says she and the Doctor are actually friends but the Doctor is going to die, and so then they travel back to medieval times where the doctor is facing down a knight with a tank and a guitar, but at the same time Davros’s messenger is trying to find the Doctor and going through all these planets and places like the Maldovarium and the Shadow Proclamation, and then the messenger finally finds the Doctor in medieval times and tells them Davros is dying, and then they go to what they think is a spaceship but is actually an invisible planet named Skaro and the Daleks kill Clara, and the knight turns out to be a Dalek in disguise and the Dalek’s destroy the Master and the TARDIS, and the Doctor travels back in time to save the Davros as a boy, who he’d previously abandoned.

Now, there are much more coherent recaps than the one delivered by my hypothetical 7-year-old. But the point remains that to someone who’s never seen Doctor Who before, the episode would be completely unintelligible. To someone who’s seen every episode of Doctor Who since 2005, the result is basically unintelligible. And Saturday’s episode was just part one of two! Who knows what nonsense will come next week?

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Posted By on Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at 12:35 PM

Since making her professional artistic debut many years ago by selling out of her paper collage-style prints at the first arts and crafts show she ever attended, Cori Dantini's artistic profile has only climbed. The Pullman-based graphic designer and illustrator has racked up nearly 7,000 sales on her Etsy shop, had her work printed on Kleenex boxes, and now fans can find her whimsical and playful designs on bedding sold by mega-retailer Target. Besides this impressive list, Dantini's art is also found on fabrics and greeting cards.

The Inlander knew Cori's work was special early on, having commissioned her to design the cover of our 2012-13 Annual Manual, along with inside artwork for that year's issue. 

Currently, an online search at Target.com shows that Dantini has eight bedding items showcasing her work, sold as part of the DENY Designs line. Many of the Denver-based company's artist-designed housewares products are also sold through Target. Four of Dantini's soft, nature-inspired designs are printed onto duvet covers ($140-$180) and pillowcase sets ($30), which as of this posting are on sale for 10 percent off.


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Posted By on Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at 11:09 AM


Do you realize the first day of autumn arrives on Wednesday? That means it's time to send summer out with a bang and greet the new season the same way. We have many opportunities to do so in our event listings and Staff Picks

Here are some highlights for the week ahead: 

Monday, Sept. 21


WORDS | It's Spokane Poetry Slam night at The Bartlett, where you can turn the $5 cover charge to get in to $50 for winning the audience vote for best performance. 

LIVE BANDS | The WSU Humanitas Festival is off and running in Pullman, and tonight you can catch the "ethno-chaos" Ukrainian crew DakhaBrakha. Chances are you haven't heard them, so here's a little sample
click to enlarge THIS WEEK: WSU Humanitas Fest, Alvin brothers, trivia showdown, Greek Dinner Festival and more
Ukrainian band DakhaBrakha

Tuesday, Sept. 22


BENEFIT | Experience a night of Rwandan history and joyful music at One Night with Impanda, a Spokane-based organization raising funds to help Rwandan street kids learn life skills through art education. You can read a bit more about Impanda right here

WORDS | Pulitzer Prize-winning author Diane McWhorter, who penned Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution, is the headliner of the 12th Annual Northern Idaho Distinguished Humanities Lecture and Dinner and Coeur d'Alene Resort. 

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Posted By on Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at 8:49 AM


FROM INLANDER.COM...
Proper etiquette for rock concerts
Can a zombie stop a slapshot?

• Seahawks fall to Packers, dropping to 0-2
Is it time to panic?

• The pope visits Cuba; on Tuesday, heads to Washington
Pope Francis met with Fidel Casto, gently criticized the communist system and celebrated a Mass in the Plaza of the Revolution. Tomorrow Francis goes to Washington, D.C., where leaders from both parties hope to capitalize on his visit.
• The Emmys
click to enlarge 5 stories you need to know as you start your week
Viola Davis

Viola Davis became the first African-American woman to win an Emmy for best lead actress on a drama series. Jon Hamm also got his.

• Man charged in fatal crash to appear in court today
Ryan Turner, 27, of Hayden is expected in Kootenai County Superior Court today. He faces vehicular manslaughter charges after officials say he crashed in the car of Mathew-Michael Baroni, 33, and his two young daughters, killing all three. A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family. (KXLY)

• The weather forecast
Mid 70s to start the week, dropping into the mid 60s by the weekend.


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El Mercadito @ A.M. Cannon Park

Last Saturday of every month, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
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