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Posts published by “Fred Gardner”

The War On Plants

The Conventional Wisdom is that marijuana prohibition was first imposed early in the 20th century by sheriffs in southwestern states seeking to increase their power over Mexican immigrants who had brought the herb from south…

‘Reefer Madness’ In Mexico

The conventional wisdom is that marijuana prohibition was first imposed early in the 20th century in the southwestern United States by sheriffs seeking to increase their power over Mexican immigrants. Stories of marijuana use leading…

Last Call At The Vapor Room

As the sun was going down over Twin Peaks on the last day of July, two staffers took down the Vapor Room sign. Handpainted and hung on a wrought iron bracket, the sign had not…

The Arraignment Of Jose Gutierrez

“Not guilty,” said Jose Gutierrez on Friday, July 13, when Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu asked how he was pleading to the felony charge of assaulting a federal officer. The alleged crime had occurred on April…

An Irreplaceable Man

Alexander Cockburn, the most incisive political journalist of our time died on Friday, July 19. The cause was cancer. We were friends for many years. Shellacked on a file cabinet in the garage is a…

Issa v. Holder

All my life I would have felt for the Black man trying to maintain his dignity while being snapped at by a vicious Caucasian who happens to be the richest man in the United States…

What Cassie Sees

The corporados have their deadly Predators and Reapers, but declassed workers in the East Bay are developing a Cassandra drone that is capable — at least in theory — of sending back images from days…

Last Waltz Out-Takes

In 1976 The Band staged a farewell-to-the-road concert, “The Last Waltz,” at Winterland in San Francisco. Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson played a dozen of their own great songs…

The Vioxx Settlement

Q: Who killed more Americans —al Qaeda crashing airplanes into the World Trade Center, or Merck push­ing Vioxx? A: Merck, by a factor of 18. One of the most downplayed stories of our time ended…

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