CHANGE: Politicians from both sides back Virginia attorney general’s call for decriminalizing marijuana.

The call from the state’s top lawyer to decriminalize marijuana possession could be enough to break the question free from the General Assembly committees where it has died in recent years, politicians and lobbyists who follow the issue say.

Attorney General Mark Herring said in a Sunday op-ed essay in the Daily Press and Virginian-Pilot that racial disparities in enforcement and the number of young lives ruined mean it is time to stop putting people in jail for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

“I’m wide open to looking at it,” said Del. Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach, who as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s public safety panel keeps an eye on law enforcement issues.

“I could see handling it like a traffic violation, with a fine,” he said.

It’s not smart to smoke the stuff, but it’s even dumber to send people to jail for it.

SALENA ZITO: What Happens When Joe Stops Being Joe?

What if he starts being no different from his 20-plus competitors?

One month after Biden rolled out a near-perfect presidential announcement, bookending his tour in his home state of Pennsylvania, Biden started to become a little less Joe. His opponents, special interest groups and his own campaign staff leaned him on the question of abortion subsidies, and so he flipped, abandoning his longtime support for the Hyde Amendment.

Keep in mind that pressure came from people who, for the most part, do not live in proximity to the very voters who will likely decide a presidential election, who instead live in the same super ZIP codes that surround Washington and New York City. Everyone they know supports federal subsidies for abortion. That taxpayer dollars for abortion would upset some Democrats or independents is unthinkable to this crowd.

This same crowd that advised Hillary Clinton persuaded Biden.

And that is when Joe stopped being Joe.

Read the whole thing.

YUGE: Line for Trump’s 2020 Launch Rally Forms More Than a Day and a Half Early.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Why 3 Woke Comedy Flops Won’t Stop Hollywood.

This year isn’t half over yet, but we’ve already seen three comedies brimming with social justice posturing.

• “Long Shot” resembles a standard rom-com, but the love story repeatedly pauses for progressive bromides.

• “Booksmart” riffs on the “Superbad” formula, but with female students sharing feminist talking points and empowerment mantras.

• “Late Night” stars Mindy Kaling as a Millennial trying to crack the all-male writing team for a talk show legend. Her character rails against the “patriarchy” and demands diversity … or else.

“Long Shot” under-performed with a $30 million haul. “Booksmart” fared worse, managing a measly $19 million to date. “Late Night’s opening weekend proved dismal, too, with a $5.1 million haul.

See a pattern here?

Yeah. Not a whole lot of humor in those comedies.

DON’T BE EVIL: Genius accuses Google of copying its lyrics data.

Have you found yourself using Google’s lyrics results more than visiting individual lyrics sites? You’re not alone — and Genius thinks underhanded tactics are involved. The company has accused Google of not only hurting its traffic with its lyrics cards, but of sometimes grabbing Genius’ lyrics verbatim. The evidence is in the apostrophes, Genius said. It purposefully alternated between straight and curved apostrophes as a form of watermarking (they typically spell out “red handed” in Morse code), and there were reportedly over 100 instances where Google’s lyrics included those exact apostrophes.

Clever.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Say What? ‘Multiple Security Incidents’ Involved with Hillary Homebrewed Email Setup. “Wow, guys, I’m shook. I was told that it is perfectly acceptable to set up a homebrewed email server with the same security protection as a mid-90s hotmail account, to manage highly classified communications to skirt government reporting and archiving requirements. I was told that its not criminal to transmit and print out highly classified information, even if one is briefed on and signed off on the protocol for handling classified information and material. And furthermore, I was told that it was no big deal (quick squirrel!) that President Obama knew about and engaged with these unsecured communications.”

Spoiler: It isn’t perfectly acceptable, it was criminal, and it is a big deal.

NICE: Low-cost Valkyrie unmanned aircraft completes second test flight. “Billed as a ‘low-cost’ drone, the XQ-58A met all test objectives during a 71-minute flight last week at Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona.”

BJORN LOMBORG: Sorry, banning plastic bags won’t save our planet.

A 2018 study by the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food looked not just at plastic waste, but also at climate-change damage, ozone depletion, human toxicity and other indicators. It found you must reuse an organic cotton shopping bag 20,000 times before it will have less climate damage than a plastic bag.

If we use the same shopping bag every single time we go to the store, twice every week, it will still take 191 years before the overall environmental effect of using the cotton bag is less than if we had just used plastic.

Even a simple paper bag requires 43 reuses to be better for the environment – far beyond the point at which the bag will be fit for the purpose.

The study clearly shows that a simple plastic bag, reused as a trash bag, has the smallest environmental impact of any of the choices.

Don’t bother the Gaia-worshippers with facts — they’ve made up their minds.

HMM: A Wall Street firm handicapped the impact of Big Tech regulation — and it’s bad news for Facebook.

Facebook and Google have come under increased scrutiny in recent months over the companies dominant position in the online advertising market.

Martin estimates that Google would be worth 50% more if its broken up, but Facebook wouldn’t be so lucky. There’s also broader concern about big tech’s upcoming battle against regulators globally and the impact it will have on growth.

“We believe FAANG growth rates are decelerating and they will increasingly enter each other’s business to drive growth,” she said. “We believe that not all FAANG ‘s will survive this battle.”

Martin also warned that Facebook’s margins are falling as costs are growing at 50% per year.

I bet they could save a lot of money by getting out of the Thought Police business.

SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED: Rep. Eric Swalwell rolls out gun control plan.

A 48-hour cooling-off period between the time a person purchases a firearm and the time they take possession of it.

Implement background checks for all firearm and ammunition purchases.

Require that liability insurance be purchased before a person can buy, trade, or otherwise receive a firearm.

Create a national firearm registry that is linked to individual firearms, and require that all purchases, transfers, and donations of firearms be mandatorily registered.

Prohibit individuals from purchasing more than one handgun per 30-day period.
Prohibit the online sale of ammunition.

Ban and buy back bump stocks, large-capacity magazines that are capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition, and silencers.

Prohibit individuals from hoarding ammunition in quantities exceeding 200 rounds per caliber or gauge.

Repealing the Protection for Lawful Commerce in Guns Act.

Prohibit states from arming teachers.

I think the only thing he missed was Danny Davis’s 50% ammo tax.

VENEZUELA: A Humanitarian Crisis The Left Couldn’t Care Less About.

Try to imagine this scenario. A once-wealthy country spirals downward over the course of several years into a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. Starvation and violence are rampant. The economy has collapsed. Millions have already fled. And all the while, an autocratic ruler acts with complete indifference, when he’s not trying to crush dissent and blame other countries for the misery he’s inflicting on his own.

Under normal circumstances, there would be regular protests in Washington. Hollywood actors would be busy creating tear-jerker videos and making emotional award ceremony speeches. Musicians would be putting on global benefit concerts. The corruption, desperation and daily human misery would be above the fold in newspapers and leading the nightly news. It would be on everyone’s mind.

But in this case, the catastrophic suffering is being almost completely ignored. Why? Because it’s happening in Venezuela — a socialist state that the left has for years championed and now refuses to admit has been a monumental failure.

It was fun until the other people’s money ran out.

VIDEO: Biden Says ‘First Thing I’ll Do as President is Eliminate the President’s Tax Cut.’

President Walter Mondale could not be reached for comment.

YES: Harvard Demonstrates Once Again That Post-Christian America Is Post-Forgiveness America.

COCAINE MITCH: McConnell Explains Congress Stuff to Jon Stewart Regarding 9/11 Victims Fund.

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: Democratic Presidential Clown Car Update for June 17, 2019. “The lineup for the first two debates are set, Warren pulls ahead of Sanders for second place in early states, Castro and Klobuchar can’t even crack the top three in their own states, and Gabbard’s childhood in a white surfer dude’s Hari Krishna cult.”

JUSTICE: Supreme Court avoids new case over same-sex wedding cake in Oregon. “The Supreme Court is throwing out an Oregon court ruling against bakers who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The justices’ action Monday keeps the high-profile case off the court’s election-year calendar and orders state judges to take a new look at the dispute between the lesbian couple and the owners of a now-closed bakery in the Portland area.”

VIDEO: “My Teacher Kicked Me Out of Class for Saying There are Two Genders.”

FLASHBACK: Obama Was Losing to ‘Republican Candidate’ by a Significant Margin a Year Before He Was Reelected.

HMM: Calpers’ Dilemma: Save the World or Make Money? “California’s public pension system wrestles with new doubts about divestments based on social concerns.”

In the last two years, its directors have opposed proposals to sell stocks in private prisons, gun retailers and companies tied to Turkey because of the potential for lost revenue and skepticism about whether divestment forces social change. One of these directors is now urging the system, also known as Calpers, to end its ban on stocks tied to tobacco, a policy in place since 2000.

“I do see a change,” said that director, California police sergeant Jason Perez, in an interview. “I think our default is to not divest.”

Calpers isn’t the only system wrestling with these new doubts. Rising funding deficits are prompting public officials and unions across the U.S. to reconsider the financial implications of investment decisions that reflect certain social concerns. The total shortfall for public-pension funds across the U.S. is $4.2 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve.

New York state’s Democratic comptroller and unions representing civil service workers oppose a bill in the Legislature to ban fossil fuel investments by the state pension fund. In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, vetoed legislation last year that would have forced divestment of state pension dollars from companies that avoid cleaning up Superfund sites by declaring bankruptcy.

There is some evidence that divesting from certain holdings can be costly for systems that oversee retirement savings for millions of public workers.

No bailouts.

THEY GO WHERE THE MONEY AND POWER ARE: Estimated 10,000 people in DC are spies.

CLIMATE DENIERS: The Seattle Times Story on Massive Heat Wave Deaths in Seattle: Does it Make Sense?

On Friday, the front page of the Seattle Times had a terrifying story about Seattle heat waves that could kill hundreds— in fact, over 700 per event. One suggesting that only by rapidly cutting greenhouse gas emissions, might our fellow citizens be saved.

Their online headline deepened the angst, telling us that Seattle was “unprepared” for the “deadly heat waves” that were being stoked by global warming.

As I describe in detail below, there are profound issues with that paper and with the Seattle Time article that promoted it. And as I will discuss, such poor journalism and problematic papers have the potential to undermine progress in dealing with the actual threats accompanying global warming.

Much more at the link.

RICK MORAN: Are Hong Kong’s Days of Freedom Numbered?

KRUISER: Ocasio-Cortez Says House Progressives’ Frustration with Pelosi Regarding Impeachment is ‘Quite Real.’

THE RESPECT GOVERNMENT DESERVES: Pakistan government meeting streamed on Facebook Live with cat filter turned on.

TRUE: ‘Latinx’ is not a word in Spanish and Hispanics will never accept it as one. “Progressives have now decided that the binary nature of Spanish is incompatible with wokeness and they intend to bury what they believe is a remnant of colonial patriarchy. Since there is no discernible limit to what the far Left is willing to do in the name of equality of outcome, everything is on the table. In Latin America, there are now efforts on college campuses to upend the entire Spanish language.”