Mon: How is Challenging a Law a Crisis?

Was It a Tumor or a Rumor?

In 2020, a high-profile children's charity was closed down. Just two years earlier, its young founder had died in mysterious circumstances, leaving everyone involved desperate for answers. Only now is the truth becoming clear - a story of medical deception and celebrity obsession, exposed by a group of concerned parents determined to protect the cancer community from imposters.


Her illness fooled celebs. The truth may be even darker

Aren't We Supposed to Be Importing Illegal Drugs?

Nearly a year after Thailand decriminalised cannabis amid promises of an economic bonanza, Thai growers and sellers say they are being undercut by illegal imports from the United States that sell for a fraction of the price of homegrown buds.

Thailand struck cannabis from its list of banned narcotics in June 2022 after a high-profile campaign by Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to establish the kingdom as a global hub for cannabis for medical purposes.

But Thailand’s parliament has yet to pass a long-awaited cannabis bill, leaving the regulatory framework for the industry in limbo.

Local businesses say foreign money is filling the gap, with many dispensaries across the country pushing low-cost cannabis imported illegally from the US.

Foreign brokers are approaching local dispensaries to hawk cheap, smuggled weed that is untaxed and then sold at two to five times its original price, according to local cannabis entrepreneurs.

“A decent locally grown strain goes for 300 baht [$9] per gram but imports are only 150-180 baht [$4.50-5.30] per gram,” Prajya Aura-ek, a cannabis entrepreneur with several licensed dispensaries in Bangkok, told Al Jazeera.

Europe Already Does This.

The Biden administration on Monday announced plans for new regulations to require airlines to provide compensation and cover expenses for meals and hotel rooms to stranded passengers when the companies are at fault for travel disruptions.

“When an airline causes a flight cancellation or delay, passengers should not foot the bill,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “This rule would, for the first time in U.S. history, propose to require airlines to compensate passengers and cover expenses such as meals, hotels, and rebooking in cases where the airline has caused a cancellation or significant delay.”

According to the Transportation Department, the proposals are aimed at requiring airlines to provide compensation to passengers when there is a “controllable airline cancellation or significant delay, including meals, transportation to and from the hotel and fees incurred when rebooking on another flight.

Airlines currently do not guarantee cash compensation when an airline-related issue causes a significant delay or cancellation. Airlines often guarantee frequent flyer miles, travel credits or vouchers to passengers who experience delays or cancellations caused by an issue within the airline’s control, such as a mechanical issue. The Transportation Department said it seeks to ensure that passengers are better protected against financial losses with the proposed rules, and that it plans to define “controllable cancellation and delay” in this rulemaking.

Showing Initiative on Abortion

A coalition of abortion rights advocates in Florida is set to push a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion protections into the state’s constitution, with the launch of a public campaign to get the issue on the Florida 2024 ballot expected next week.

The coalition has already filed necessary paperwork with the state to begin collecting signatures and fundraising for the effort, said Nikki Fried, the chair of the Florida Democratic Party, who first pitched the ballot measure last August.

Fried said the language in the ballot measure would be unveiled in the coming week, but said it would enshrine the right to choose an abortion and reflect survey data showing that 75 percent of Floridians oppose the six-week abortion ban approved by Republican lawmakers last month. The ballot effort was first reported by Politico.

The campaign faces an uphill battle to passage: It’s launching with just nine months to go until the deadline to collect about a million signatures to make the 2024 ballot.

The time crunch is exacerbated by new restrictions on citizen-led ballot initiatives levied by the state's Republican-controlled legislature. Among other hurdles, lawmakers upped the vote threshold needed for passage to 60 percent. Republicans are considering proposals to further increase the threshold, which could effectively kneecap the campaign before it even makes the ballot.

How Biden Can Win the Debt Ceiling Standoff

Now that’s not to say that Biden should capitulate — far from it. But he needs to be able to say to the American people, look folks (yes, anything Biden would say includes folks), I negotiated in good faith. But they wanted me to cut funding for cancer research, to take food out of the mouths of hungry Americans, to set back our path to energy independence and addressing the climate crisis, and to rip medical care away from the neediest among us. And I won’t do that. You didn’t elect me to do that, and I won’t sell out our long term well being or the Americans struggling most to appease legislative terrorists.

That’s the kind of message that won Bill Clinton the budget fight in the winter of 1995 and 1996. Paint House Republicans as cruel and heartless for targeting their budget demands at the neediest in society. This time Biden can also make them look foolish for demanding a reduction in funds for science and technology as we enter into a new Cold War type competition with China — which won’t be sparing any expenses.

If Biden can say that, even if the economy tumbles, he’s less likely to bear the brunt of the blame than if he says, “sorry I’m not negotiating, because they’re being irresponsible.” For those not immersed in the world of Washington politics, who don’t know the history of the debt ceiling, and who don’t understand that Republican comparisons to credit limits and credit cards are flat out lies, that position makes it sound like Biden is being the petulant, unreasonable one.

Now there is a caveat here: if Biden is willing to resort to extraordinary measures to head off any sort of economic cataclysm — claiming the 14th Amendment gives him authority to ignore the debt ceiling, etc — and dare the courts to block him, then his strategy may be more workable.

So A Constitutional Crisis Is Worse Than Tanking the World Economy?

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned against President Joe Biden invoking the 14th amendment to end debt limit brinksmanship and said such a move could result in a “constitutional crisis.”

“There is no way to protect our financial system and our economy other than Congress doing its job and raising the debt ceiling and enabling us to pay our bills,” Yellen said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” reiterating her stance that Congress is the only authority able to raise the debt ceiling.

“We should not get to the point where we need to consider whether the president can go on issuing debt. This would be a constitutional crisis.”

And How Exactly is Challenging a Law as Unconstitutional a Crisis? It Happens All the Time.