Nimbin, New South Wales, Australia
Full site / Mobile. To Top or End. Click Full site for more images, bottom text, table of contents, categories, site navigation (sidebar or bottom). Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security all came from Democrats. You pay the taxes while healthier. Republicans prefer you die. 50% in U.S. Fear Bankruptcy Due to Major Health Event. [23]
Country | Life expectancy. 2019 | Under-5 mortality rate per 1000 live births. 2019 | Maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births. 2017 |
---|---|---|---|
Canada | 82.3 years | 4.9 | 10 |
USA | 78.9 years | 6.5 | 19 |
Table top[edit]
Featured photos |
---|
See videos too. For more photos see: Flat list of event graphics and photos. Alphabetical order by city. There are many more images there than are shown below. Click Full site for images below.
|
News. 2020 events. 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
News. Sources. GMM Facebook. Vote for cannabis! [27]. Ballotpedia: marijuana and minimum wage. US minimum wage has 35% less buying power than in 1969. [28]. ‘A Tale of 2 recessions’: Rich Americans get richer. Bottom half struggles. [29][30][31][32]. Real democracy is ranked-choice voting (instant-runoff). And: Eliminate the US Senate filibuster. And: Remove Presidential veto power. 21 Feb 2021: Massachusetts lawmakers want to decriminalize all drugs, raise soda tax. 20 Feb: India’s love-hate relationship with cannabis. [33].
9 Feb 2021: Bernie Sanders Clears Path in Congress to Raise Minimum Wage. [38][39][40]. 6 Feb 2021: Virginia Lawmakers Pass Marijuana Legalization Bills. The Democrat governor is expected to sign it.
28 Jan 2021: Rise in Storefront Marijuana Dispensaries Associated with Declines in Opioid-Related Deaths. [44][45].
24 Jan 2021: 14 States Where Marijuana Remains Entirely Illegal. "These 14 states all either currently have Republican leadership or have often leaned red in past elections. Furthermore, only three of these 14 states (Idaho, Nebraska, and Wyoming) use the initiative and referendum process."
22 Jan 2021: Op-ed: Forgiving student debt will help senior citizens, too. Senators Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren See comments. "Student debt isn't just crushing our kids. 6.3 million borrowers 50-64 and nearly a million over 65 are still paying for a loved one’s education or their own." 17 Jan 2021: France launches public consultation on legalising cannabis. "In 2016, 41 percent of French people aged 15 to 64 had consumed it at least once – compared to the European average of 18.9 percent." 16 Jan 2021: National Rifle Association files for bankruptcy. See also: Republican-NRA-led drug war, mandatory minimum sentences, and handguns. And: Canada's murder rate is 1/3 the US rate. Handguns per household by country. Households with handguns: Canada: 3%. USA: 22%. And Canada does not have the NRA's drug war. Wikipedia: Percent of households with guns by country.
13 Jan 2021: Virginia's Democratic Governor Unveils Bill To Legalize Marijuana As Democratic Lawmakers Schedule First Hearing. Legislators plan to move quickly to advance it.
12 Jan 2021: Mexico. After 3-year delay, medical marijuana will be legal as of Jan 13, 2021. 10 Jan 2021: Call for UK prisons to trial free cannabis to see if it cuts drug deaths.
30 Dec 2020: New Georgia Senate runoff poll finds Democrats' leads widening . "Everybody fundamentally understands that it's going to become an issue of partisan turnout".
21 Dec 2020: Robert E. Lee statue removed from U.S. Capitol. Virginia plans to replace the statue of Confederate general Lee with one of civil rights icon Barbara Johns. 17 Dec 2020: High Times Greats: Milla Jovovich. Story republished from November, 1994 issue of High Times. In honor of Milla Jovovich’s birthday on December 17, 1975.
Action Alert: Start Making Calls for Georgia GOTV! (Get Out The Vote!) - SSDP. Students for Sensible Drug Policy. And donate money. [67][68]. "Students for Sensible Drug Policy is encouraging all of our U.S. members, alumni, and supporters to start making calls and get out the vote for Georgia’s special election on January 5th. ... The MORE Act, ... is looking to face a much more difficult fight in the Senate. ... We can not afford to wait two, four, or six more years for better legislators while marginalized people are being arrested for minor marijuana offenses." 11 Dec: What 100 Years of History Tells Us About Racism in Policing. "Again and again, commissions convened to examine why police brutality sparks unrest have come to the same conclusion: We must address the poverty and systemic racism that go hand in hand with policing communities of color."
9 Dec 2020: Man believed to be the longest-serving nonviolent cannabis prisoner, with a 90-year sentence, released: ‘I’m a blessed human being, a survivor’. [69]. Richard DeLisi released in Florida at age 71 after serving 31 years. See also: FreeDeLisi.com. 4 Dec 2020: New Jersey Legislature, Democratic Governor Murphy Reach Agreement on Marijuana Legalization. Final legalization bill expected to pass, and be signed by governor.
2 Dec 2020: Morocco Votes ‘Yes’ in Historic Successful UN Vote on Medical Cannabis.
22 Nov: California cannabis industry banking on bills stalled in Republican Senate. A proposal to ease the federal ban on marijuana could encourage more banks to do business with cannabis companies.
19 Nov 2020: Vote in Mexico brings world's largest legal weed market one step closer. [77][78][79].
16 Nov: Democrat Northam: ‘We are going to move forward with legalizing marijuana in Virginia’. [80].
12 Nov 2020: Israel announces plan to legalize recreational cannabis within 9 months. [83]. 12 Nov: Argentina to Allow Medicinal Marijuana to Be Grown at Home. Will also allow pharmacies to sell cannabis-derived oils, creams and other products. Insurance must cover the cost of prescriptions.
4 Nov 2020: 1 in 3 Americans now lives in a state where recreational marijuana is legal - POLITICO. "New Jersey, Arizona and Montana passed measures to legalize adult-use marijuana. South Dakota became the first state to authorize both medical and recreational sales at the same time. ... South Dakota and Mississippi voters also approved measures to legalize medical marijuana on Election Day." 30 Oct: Germany firmly rejects recreational marijuana legalization bill as hope fades for reform.
Google searches: Racism and drug war. [86][87]. And: ICU beds at capacity. [88][89]. 2020 Ballot Initiatives.
How to Track Your Absentee Ballot by State. See if ballot received. 26 Oct 2020: Jubilation as Chile votes to rewrite constitution. "Chileans have voted overwhelmingly in support of rewriting their constitution, which dates to the dictatorship of Gen Augusto Pinochet [installed in a CIA-aided coup in 1973 that killed Salvador Allende, a democratically elected President]." 14 Oct: Tampa business, Disco Dolls, joins coalition to raise minimum wage via Amendment 2.
9 and 15 Oct: Bernie Sanders Facebook page graphics below. 7 Oct 2020. Dumping Trump is the only way marijuana legalization will happen | Leafly. 1 Oct 2020: OSU Hemp Trial Could Change Livestock & Hemp Industries. 28 Sep: Top 9 arguments in support of marijuana legalization and regulation.
26 Sep: Biden says Amy Coney Barrett will overturn Obamacare if confirmed to the Supreme Court.
Republicans have declared War on the Middle Class. 22 Oct 2019: Average French households 'more wealthy than Americans and Germans', new study reveals. See median-wealth chart. See graphic below about how Trump Republicans transferred wealth from average American households to the rich. Trump signed tax law that gave 83% of benefits to the top 1%. Germany has a much lower murder rate than the USA. Also, Germany has better health indicators, and its healthcare cost per person is half US cost (all costs, public and private). US Republicans Voted Often to Kill Coverage of Pre-Existing Conditions. [94][95][96]. Medicare spends less than 2 percent on bureaucracy. 1.4% to be exact. See chart. We need Medicare for All. Nearly a third of our health care dollars go to something other than health care. See also:
Vote out most Republicans and their cannabis war. CannabisVoter.info - Click your state to see which anti-cannabis Republicans to vote out. This news feed may have long lapses.
Full site / Mobile. To Top or End. Click Full site for more images, bottom text, table of contents, categories, site navigation (sidebar or bottom). |
Contents
- 1 Table top
- 2 Top
- 3 Links
- 4 Info
- 5 Global Marijuana March
- 6 2020
- 7 2019
- 8 2018
- 9 2016
- 10 2014
- 11 2013
- 12 2012
- 13 2010
- 14 2009
- 15 2008
- 16 2007
- 17 More info, links, years
- 18 Site navigation
- 19 Cannabis is safer.
- 20 Trump's far-right Republicans
- 21 GOP taxes screw middle class
- 22 Falling inflation-adjusted wages
- 23 US has stingiest minimum wage
- 24 US has high wealth inequality
- 25 US has high income inequality
- 26 Massive US household debt
- 27 Massive US medical debt
- 28 Progressive Republicans:
- 29 President Eisenhower. 1953
- 30 His 91% top marginal tax rate
- 31 Equaled prosperity for more
- 32 President Abraham Lincoln
- 33 Categories
Top[edit]
![]() |
Share link: Nimbin. Local or regional cannabis-related links wanted. See: Australia.
See cities by country on GMM map of all cities. See all cities (not just Global Marijuana March). See the yearly city and event lists for additional Facebook and other links.
Click for more Nimbin event graphics and photos by year. |




































Links[edit]
Facebook:
- Nimbin MardiGrass. Group.
- Nimbin MardiGrass. Fan page.
More links:
- Nimbin MardiGrass. Past and present.
- commons:Category:MardiGrass - free images.
- Global Marijuana March Nimbin Australia. History of GMM.
- youtube.com search for Nimbin Mardi Grass
- hempembassy.net - Nimbin HEMP Embassy.
- Youtube: youtube.com/NIMBINTELEVISION
- nimbinwave.com and blog
- AustralianHempParty.com
- nimbingoodtimes.com
- Australia. Cannabis-related links.
- Wikipedia: MardiGrass.
- Wikipedia: Cannabis in Australia.
Wikipedia: Cannabis by country.
Search for: marijuana march videos. And more.
Find GMM graphics and other event graphics.
Global Marijuana March Links.
Flat list: Event graphics & photos. Alphabetical.
-Category: Cannabis-related links.
Medical Cannabis Worldwide. (zoomable English map). And: Spanish.
-Commons: Category: Cannabis by country.
See: Google Translate. And: Firefox addon.
Add local or regional links
Info[edit]
- Google Maps: Nimbin.
- Google images: Nimbin.
- Wikipedia: Nimbin.
- Wikitravel: Nimbin.
- Wikivoyage: Nimbin.
Search: Wikipedia. Wikitravel. Wikivoyage.
CannabisVoter.info -- Vote for cannabis
- Cannabis news sources. And: Cannabis event lists and calendars.
- Drug Policy Organizations (from MAP). US cannabis organizations. And: Canada. State, province, nation from Area menu. Can also sort by topic. See advanced power search. It can search news, and it can Google search many organizations (choose one from menu).
- News Source Directory (from MAP). State, province, nation from Area menu. Or A-Z from Source menu. Google search MAP site for news, sources, topics, city, state, province, nation, organizations, etc..
- Marijuana Travel Database. Marijuana and travel reports, cities, countries, smoking laws, legality.
- WeBeHigh.org - Click "Travel Guides" button at top for continents. By U.S. state. And: Google site search.
- Marijuana Dispensary & Strain Reviews - Leafly.
- SmokeShops.com | Smoke Shops, Head Shops, Vape Shops, CBD Stores, Dispensaries.
- PotGuide.com | Comprehensive Guide to the World of Marijuana.
- LonelyCannabis.com - World's best cannabis travel guide.
- Facebook: Global Marijuana March. [97][98][99].
Global Marijuana March[edit]
Google site search no longer works well. It does not find all the yearly city lists containing a city name.
Special:Search works well. Click: "Global Marijuana March maps". Add city name to search, and state/province/nation as needed. This is an advanced search of main pages and templates. This will pull up all yearly maps in which the city is listed. Except for 2015, 2016, or 2017 in which only countries were listed for the most part. Putting quotes around multi-word city names helps focus the search: "New York City".
This city, nation, or subnational area participated or signed up one year (or more) for the Global Marijuana March (GMM), Million Marijuana March (MMM), or 420. Cities and nations holding 4/20 events are also included in later years. Yearly maps: 41 nations participated on April 20 and May 4, 2019, or thereabouts. 42 nations participated on May 5, 2018, or thereabouts. 42 nations participated on May 6, 2017, or thereabouts. 45 nations participated on May 7, 2016, or thereabouts. 43 nations participated on May 2, 2015, or thereabouts. 213 cities from 43 nations signed up for May 3, 2014 or thereabouts.
1035 cities have participated from 85 nations or subnational areas since 1999.
Browse GCM city lists and maps: ~ 1999. 2000. 1.2.3.4.5. 6.7.8.9.10. 11.12.13.14.15. 16.17.18.19.20. Yearly event links in most cases will no longer be added to city pages due to the amount of work involved. Such links are found in the yearly city lists and maps. Graphics and crowd photos will also no longer be added to city pages in most cases. Graphics and photos can be found in this alphabetical flat list.
2020[edit]
Return to top. See 2020 Global Cannabis March and 420 map. And: 420 event lists.
May 1-3: Facebook event: 2020 Nimbin MardiGrass.
2019[edit]
Return to top. See 2019 Global Marijuana March and 420 event map. And: 420 event lists.
- GMM: [100].
2018[edit]
Return to top. See 2018 Global Marijuana March and 420 events. And: 420 event lists.
- GMM: [101].
2016[edit]
Return to top. See 2016 Global Marijuana March and 420 events. And: 420 event lists.
- April 29 - May 1: [102]
2014[edit]
Return to top. See 2014 Global Marijuana March and 420 map. And: 420 event lists.
May 3, GMM:
2013[edit]
Return to top. See 2013 Global Marijuana March map. And: 420 event lists.
GMM MardiGrass, May 4-5:
Facebook:
2012[edit]
Return to top. See 2012 Global Marijuana March map.
GMM:
2010[edit]
Return to top. See 2010 Global Marijuana March map.
Nimbin: Max Stone Australian Cannabis Law Reform Movement aclrm(at)nimbinaustralia.com ph: 61 266 891842. See links at top.
2009[edit]
Return to top. See GMM 2009, GlobalMarijuanaMarch.org archive, 2.
Nimbin: Max Stone of the Australian Cannabis Law Reform Movement aclrm(at)nimbinaustralia.com ph: 61 266 891842. See links at top.
- Link: http://www.nimbinmardigrass.com/2009
- Report: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Entheogens/message/4804
- Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCZxcBc4TbI
Wikipedia: Cannabis by country.
Search for: marijuana march videos. And more.
Find GMM graphics and other event graphics.
Nimbin MardiGrass. May 1-3. 2009 Global Marijuana March. Youtube link.
2008[edit]
Return to top. See 2008 GMM, GlobalMarijuanaMarch.org archive, 2.
Nimbin: Max Stone of the Australian Cannabis Law Reform Movement aclrm(at)nimbinaustralia.com ph: 61 266 891842. See links at top.
- Report (from old GMM site):
As you can imagine, having the H*E*M*P Bar and its live web cam shut down and a sign on it's door saying "Gone to Mardi Grass" meant I was in a bit of a sticky situation from an 'organizational' point of view. Fortunate for me, the previous decades worth of 4 20's had left such an impression in the minds of all the hardcore repeat MardiGrassers, that I almost didn't need to mention it, but, mention it I did. At 20 minutes past the hour ,every hour, on the main festival sound system I talked up the event. MardiGrass Saturday was a very POLICE intensive atmosphere, road blocks around the town, riot squad in bullet proof sunglasses every where you looked. I urged everyone if they was going to smoke one joint all day, let it be at 420 today when they could light that joint in global unity with the millions of other people all around earth who will also be lighting up at 420. And I always make a point of asking that when you do light up at 420, let it not be an act of defiance, let it be an act of peace, a sharing, a celebration and a thing you do every day at 420 until the law is changed.................... Peace for Pot ------------ Pot for Peace
Best part is that outside the H*E*M*P Bar wasn't the only venue for the 420 Demonstration, H*E*M*P President Michael Balderstone did a HUGE 420 Demo in Peace Park, Captain Reefer did another in Allsop Park, the Stage down in the Markets did a 420 and pretty much everyone everywhere was part of the Demonstration and if I had to add one last thought it would be that 4.20 PM on Saturday was about the only time that the main street of Nimbin had that traditional smoky mardigrass look to it, no arrests were recorded by the police at 4.20 or in the 30 minutes after. Over 15,000 people attended this years www.NimbinMardiGrass.com and everyone of them
till 2009
2007[edit]
Return to top. See 2007 Global Marijuana March map.
- Many arrests at Nimbin Mardi Grass. May 7, 2007. The Age.
More info, links, years[edit]
Nimbin tale: Site of the annual "First weekend in May" Nimbin MardiGrass, Nimbin is unique. Once a sacred initiation site for the Bundjalung tribe, it was originally "settled" by white Europeans in the very late 19th Century. Basically that means we clear-felled as much of the forest as we possibly could, fenced it off from the local Kooris and proceeded to wipe out any of them that objected to being uprooted, brain-washed and totally cut off from their traditional lands and way of life... It's a familiar story.
Within a couple of decades the white guys had pretty much run out of trees and so they started looking around for a NEW way to turn a buck. Sticking a whole bunch of heavy-footed European cows on the recently cleared slopes seemed like a good idea at the time, and so within ANOTHER few decades the once pristine forests surrounding this area had been transformed into an expanse of denuded, eroding cow pastures. Meanwhile the arse was busily dropping out of the international market for Australian meat and dairy produce. Ho-hum...
By 1973, Nimbin was almost a ghost town. Luckily for the local real estate agents, a bunch of long haired student radicals from the Australian Union of Students arrived seeking a site for a national student counter culture life style event called the Aquarius Festival. They had taken a left turn at Mullumbimby, chose Nimbin promising the village residents that Aquarius would "recycle the town".
Cut to 1993 - the same deserted dairy town has been transformed. The building and shop fronts are a garish yet somehow compelling collage of full blown psychedelia and traditional Bundjalung art. There's more cafes, craft shops and backpackers than you can wave a traveler's cheque at and the stinky sweet smell of ganja is positively enveloping the street. This definitely AINT Byron Bay.
Down the centre of the main drag of this tiny, tripped out tourist town, there's a huge throng of people, laughing, drumming, chanting, DANCING towards the local cop shop.
Dozens of them are helping to carry a huge smoking joint with "Let It Grow!" painted in 4 foot high letters on the side. Others are holding banners and placards calling for change - an end to drug prohibition, the legalisation of cannabis, an end to the drug war.
Many are openly smoking pot as they drum, sing and humba their way towards the suddenly vacant-looking police station. One dude is on stilts, wearing a huge cardboard helicopter he's made in mockery of the annual pot raids that Nimbin has suffered for more than a decade. Paradoxically, not one person looks angry.
What the f*ck is happening here?
Why, it's the first annual "Let It Grow!" MardiGrass Fiesta and drug law reform rally.
A thousand local "alternatives" (the politically correct way to say "hippies") finally spitting the dummy, coming out of the closet and in true 60s in-your-face street theatre style pointing out to the jaded apathetic mainstream that the drug wars just aren't working.
That night on the national news the Australian general public was faced with the bizarre spectacle of a bunch of aging hippies, their off-spring and an ever-growing army of young and old recruits joyously breaking the cannabis laws en masse and demanding a change to the drug laws. Not only has the war on drugs left a deep and unpleasant impression on our idyllic, lotus-munching existence (the hippies seemed to be saying) but these days it's seriously f*cking with YOUR way of life as well.
Ever since the '73 Aquarius Festival, Nimbin has had a strong tradition of civil disobedience of the drug laws. The cops tried to bust someone for pot in the middle of the festival, but were quickly (and peacefully) overpowered by the crowd and the "criminal" disappeared into the seething hairy melee. This was nothing new at the time.
The same kind of spontaneous rebellion had happened at the Sunbury rock festival the year before, and was of course a regular ingredient in the Vietnam protest movement of the sixties and early seventies.
By the late 80s however, people's willingness to take these kind of measures had markedly diminished... even in a place as supposedly pot-soaked as Nimbin. The U.S.-driven "War On Drugs" was in full swing. In the cities, the psychedelic, sacramental dealing circles of the sixties had long ago been replaced by more commercial, well-oiled interests. Smack was available everywhere in Australia. Hope was extremely unfashionable.
Those in Nimbin still clinging to their hippy ideals were pretty much trying to keep their heads down... at least as far as drugs were concerned. Regular invasive police helicopter raids were just a fact of life. The general wisdom seemed to be that showing an interest in drug law reform was as suicidal as walking into a police station smoking a joint.
Despite this generalised paranoia, a few brave souls were consistently stirring the pot.
Beginning in 1988, a series of public demonstrations, press releases and politically motivated events kept emanating from Nimbin, all of them hammering the same basic point ... the drug laws are a miserable, socially destructive failure.
At first, these words of wisdom only seemed to be coming from one person, Bob Hopkins, a Nimbinite who conducted a vigorous and extremely effective one-man campaign against the drug laws.
Gradually other folk began to get involved. Michael Balderstone (the owner of the local "hippy" museum) and David Heilpern (a lawyer and activist who later became a magistrate) were among the early ones.
By 1993, a small but dedicated bunch of folk had coalesced around the name "The Nimbin HEMP Embassy". Their press releases and activities had consistently kept the issue of drug law reform in the spotlight of the local media and more and more people were coming out in support of what they had to say. The time seemed right for a larger display of local public feelings. Hey presto, the first annual Let It Grow! MardiGrass and Drug Law Reform Rally was born.
The first MardiGrass attracted a crowd of about 1000 people and much publicity. The day went off without a hitch. It was a huge success. By the next year, many more local people were openly supportive of the event. That year, the MardiGrass rally was preceded by a conference and seminar which attracted politicians, academics and health professionals from all over Australia. In a tradition that has continued to this day, the crowd doubled over the previous year's numbers... 2000 people paraded through Nimbin calling for an end to the madness, prejudice and social chaos that masquerades as drug prohibition.
In 1995 the first MardiGrass Cannabis Grower's Cup was held.
The year 1996 saw the beginnings of many events that have since become intrinsic to the Mardi Grass. The HEMP Olympix had its inaugural year, as did the Kombi Konvoy and the Hemp Traders Trade Fair. The now-legendary HEMP Olympix comprised pothead contests around joint rolling, bong throwing and, for the more physically-minded, a Growers Ironperson competition. For this contestants pitted themselves against the odds in outlandish tests of strength such as crawling through lantana tunnels dragging large bags of fertiliser.
The Kombi Konvoy opened the 96 Mardi Grass and has done ever since. A procession of variously decorated Kombi vans winds its way from nearby Lismore, arriving at dusk in the crowded lantern-lit streets of Nimbin. Led by the Olympix torch-bearer, the Kombis eventually park in a circle and the crowd forms for the opening ceremony.
Thus begins a weekend of song, dance, speeches, workshops, poems, pot art exhibitions, hemp trade and fashion shows, drug law and drug health information exchanges, seed swaps, magick, myth and joyous, stoned civil disobedience and political demonstration.
Finally on the last day, a lucky few settle down for the Cannabis Cup.
Based (very loosely) on the Amsterdam event of the same name, the Nimbin Cannabis Cup is a nice mellow wrap-up to the heightened chaos of the previous few days. A rather broad selection of the best local buds is tasted, toked and tested by a smattering of card-carrying "expert" judges, eventually choosing a winner. If you don't make it as a judge however it doesn't really matter. Just like in Amsterdam, there's so much good pot everywhere that anyone that does make it to judge status is usually too stoned to tell anyway.
The MardiGrass has grown stronger and larger every year and the Nimbin HEMP Embassy has continued to stay at the forefront of drug law reform activism worldwide. Several large scale smoke-ins and demonstrations have been held outside police stations and courthouses, political candidates have been run (and polled quite highly), a television ad campaign was run requesting people to dial-in to a safe number and report any cases of police harassment or corruption. All this plus maintaining a high-profile drug education outlet in Nimbin's main drag.
One of the more interesting actions was the helicopter blockade in January 1997. Finally sick of the annual hippy-bashing helicopter raids that the police had been mounting every year, the HEMP crew and friends decided to do something about it. With a little ingenuity, they found out where the chopper squad was staying and where they'd parked the chopper for the night. Early the next morning, the cops awoke and opened their motel room door only to be greeted by the rather unnerving sight of one or two hippies chained underneath their wagons, a whole bunch of hippies waving and laughing at 'em from across the car park and a veritable swathe of camera-toting press all clicking and whirring and taking notes right next to those god damned hippies.
Needless to say the hippies had a very articulate and convincing press release ready about the waste of public money inherent in sending a bunch of gung-ho cops on double-pay in a very expensive helicopter to circle and swoop above the local communes and come back with a pathetic payload of what could only be described as personal stash.
Meanwhile on the other side of Lismore another couple of Hempsters were slowing things down by chaining themselves to the chopper. The press loved this story, and the cops?
Well, the cops just shook their heads, got in their little, blue wagon and went away. To this day, the helicopter squad has not returned to Nimbin.
All of these events lend colour and strength to the MardiGrass.
Last year's was a huge success and this year promises even more. As time goes on and the crowd grows, it's interesting to watch the demographic changing. These days, the old-school hippies are well and truly out-numbered by the whole array of society's archetypes. Many of these are just as counter or sub cultural as the hippies (punks, ferals etc). The vast number of them however are just plain, ordinary suburban working people. Many of them are there with their kids. Not all of them smoke pot, but they all know someone who does and they all agree that it's time for the drug laws to change.
It's ironic but somehow typical that the drug law reform movement should find it's most vocal and public face in a place like Nimbin. The MardiGrass gives voice to frustrations and problems that are vexing the whole of mainstream society, but most people aren't quite brave enough to express this to their neighbours. In the anonymity of a "freak-fest" like MardiGrass, many people are quite prepared to stand up and be counted. This is vitally important as a first step, but it's only when there's a MardiGrass happening in every town and when every pot smoker puts their hand up that the laws will change. It's too easy for the mainstream to ignore protest when it just happens in Nimbin.
So come this year to MardiGrass, but remember that it's a drug law reform rally and not just a pot party. We're there to make some points not just to get out of it, and remember to take some of the magick, idealism and commitment home with you when you go, there's enough to spare. Neil Pike 2004 http://www.nimbinmardigrass.com
[edit]
Full site / Mobile. To Top or End. Click Full site for more images, bottom text, table of contents, categories, site navigation (sidebar or bottom).
Cannabis is safer.[edit]
Return to top. See article: Cannabis is safer.
16 Dec 2019: Majority Of Americans Support Marijuana Legalization, Two More New Polls Show. "Voters who supported President Trump in the 2016 election expressed greater opposition to the policy than Republicans and Republican-leaning independents as a whole."
2 May 2019: Time to Admit It: Trump Opposes Cannabis Legalization. He opposed latest 3 bills for veterans’ access to medical cannabis. |
23 Feb 2019: Trump Continues to Flip-Flop on Medical Marijuana.
See: Reagan's war on cannabis. And: Holy War on Drugs, Republican-led mass incarceration.
Ronald Reagan, 1980 campaign speech: "Leading medical researchers are coming to the conclusion that marijuana, pot, grass whatever you want to call it, is probably the most dangerous drug in the United States, and we haven't begun to find out all of the ill effects, but they are permanent ill effects. The loss of memory for example." |
Share link: Obama.
- Obama correctly said that cannabis is safer than alcohol. See: Cannabis is safer. He also said marijuana should be treated more as a public health issue than a criminal one. And: Obama signals support for legalizing medical marijuana. [103]. See video.
- USA. 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults are alcohol-related (disease, overdose, car crashes, falls, violence, etc). 87,798 per year, 2006 to 2010. [104][105][106][107][108].
See longer article: Cannabis is safer.
- Imagine if Mitt Romney had been elected President in 2012 instead of Obama.
- Obama on marijuana legalization. [109]. "My suspicion is that you’re gonna see other states start looking at this". The Washington Post. Jan. 22, 2015.
Above quote is from Sanjay Gupta interview of Obama on April 15, 2015. Interview aired on CNN on April 19, 2015. [110][111][112].
- Obama administration asks Supreme Court to reject lawsuit filed by Republican governments in Oklahoma and Nebraska to stop legal marijuana in Colorado [113]. December 2015.
![]() Obama helped turn around the Reagan-Bush War on Pot, mandatory minimums, mass incarceration. See: US incarceration peaked in 2008. |
- Holder's Legacy: Steering Away From the Drug War and Mass Incarceration. [114]. Attorney General Eric Holder (2009-2015) under President Obama. 25 Sep 2014.
Vote out most US Republicans and their cannabis war.
Register and vote for cannabis.
Trump's far-right Republicans[edit]
Return to top. See: Happy alternatives to Republican-led poverty, mass incarceration, food insecurity, debt, ill health, intense concentration of wealth, endless wars.
News: Americans want universal healthcare and progressive taxation. Democratic Presidents Roosevelt and Truman worked for both. Roosevelt and Truman, followed by Eisenhower, a progressive Republican, had steep progressive taxation where the prosperous middle class paid less taxes as a percent of their income, because the rich paid more. All 3 Presidents increased the minimum wage, [115], which pushed up middle class wages too. Under Trump, inflation-adjusted wages are declining [116].
|
For info to continue below click Full Site link:
GOP taxes screw middle class[edit]
Trump signed tax law that gave 83% of benefits to the top 1%.
Chart below. 2017 Republican tax and individual mandate repeal bill. Yellow is for an average increase in cost for people in those groups. Higher costs hitting more people each year. Up to incomes of $75,000.
Vote out most Republicans! Ballotpedia issues: marijuana and minimum wage. | |
Republican tax bill hurts the poor more than originally thought, Congressional Budget Office finds. | "By 2019, Americans earning less than $30,000 a year would be worse off under the Senate bill, CBO found. By 2021, Americans earning $40,000 or less would be net losers, and by 2027, most people earning less than $75,000 a year would be worse off. On the flip side, millionaires and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 would be big beneficiaries". |
2 polls: Only 29% of Americans approve of Republican tax plan. 2. |
Falling inflation-adjusted wages[edit]
- Return to top. See: Income inequality and drug war. And: Under Trump, inflation-adjusted wages are declining (especially for Republican states with low minimum wages).
The Trump Matrix. Wage slaves waking up.
28 Feb 2020: PolitiFact: Rep. Mark Pocan is on point that wages haven't moved much in the last 30 years. "The cost of everyday goods like rent, groceries and cars have outpaced median wage growth. ... Accounting for inflation, the median wage has only increased $3 since 1990 — and the cost of living expenses has far outpaced that number."
Real pay data show Trump's 'blue collar boom' is more of a bust for US workers, in 3 charts. 7 Feb 2020. |
25 Sep 2018: Real Wage Growth Is Actually Falling. Forbes.
14 Aug 2018: Stagnating salaries: Real US wages are essentially back at 1974 levels, Pew reports. Daniel B. Kline. USA Today. |
In U.S., wage growth is being wiped out entirely by inflation. 10 Aug 2018. Washington Post.
7 Aug 2018: For most U.S. workers, real wages have barely budged in decades. Pew Research Center. |
Top line in timeline below is hourly wages adjusted for inflation. It is flat: Bottom of chart below says: "Data for wages of production and non-supervisory employees on private non-farm payrolls."
US has stingiest minimum wage[edit]
Return to top. See: More charts.
2 Jul 2019: There’s More Evidence That Raising the Minimum Wage Won’t Cost Jobs.
"The U.S. has one of the stingiest minimum wage policies of any wealthy nation." Dec. 29, 2017. Washington Post. Chart below is from the article.
Chart below. USA. Inflation-adjusted federal minimum wage over the years.
Source. See also: Wikipedia: List of minimum wages by country.
17 June 2019: US federal minimum wage has 35% less buying power than in 1969. 10 years since last increase. A record. CNN. [117].
- 2020 State Minimum Wage Rates. Plus map showing lower minimum wages in Republican states. [118][119].]]
US federal minimum wage timeline below. Top line is adjusted for inflation. Middle class prosperity peaked under Truman and Roosevelt in the 1950s due to steep progressive taxation where the middle class paid less. And the minimum wage was increased. That also pushed up middle class wages.
US has high wealth inequality[edit]
See the median wealth by country chart:
Wikipedia: List of countries by wealth per adult - 2019 publication: The average median wealth per adult for Canada ($107,004) is much higher than that of the former great nation, the USA ($65,904). It's due to Republican trickle-down voodoo economics: Giving tax cuts to the rich instead of to the middle class and poor who actually need them. Plus predatory mortgage loans and foreclosure. And predatory unforgivable student loans. Google News search: student debt.
Republicans waste $$-trillions on health insurance companies, and ground wars ($5.6 trillion). Instead of paying higher wages, and higher minimum wages. As Canada does.
US middle-class wealth has collapsed. [120]. See chart below. See: Income inequality and drug war. And: Wikipedia: List of countries by wealth per adult.? Median wealth is exactly in the middle. 50% of adults have more, and 50% have less. Wealth is all assets (money, stocks, property, etc.) minus all debts.
- Middle class wealth collapsing. [121]. And: Just 8 men own same wealth as half the world. See Wikipedia: Wealth in the United States.
-
Median wealth per adult. Credit Suisse. 2019 report. Country links are to Wikipedia articles. Click red column headers to sort. Link.
Country Median wealth
per adult.
US dollars1 Switzerland 227,891 2 Australia 181,361 3 Iceland 165,961 4 Hong Kong 146,887 5 Luxembourg 139,789 6 Belgium 117,093 7 New Zealand 116,433 8 Japan 110,408 9 Canada 107,004 10 Ireland 104,842 11 France 101,942 12 United Kingdom 97,452 13 Singapore 96,967 14 Spain 95,360 15 Austria 94,070 16 Italy 91,889 17 Malta 76,016 18 South Korea 72,198 19 Norway 70,627 20 Taiwan 70,191 21 Qatar 69,671 22 United States 65,904 23 Denmark 58,784
US has high income inequality[edit]
Timeline below of real (inflation-adjusted) average US household income by quintile and top 5 percent in 2018 dollars. Note that the bottom 60% of households (bottom 3 quintiles) have had little improvement in real income. While the top 20%, and especially the top 5 percent, have had large, even exceptional, increases in real income.
Median income by country charts:
- Median GDP per capita: how much does the typical person earn in different countries? A look at Global Inequality - the Giving What We Can Blog. By Hauke Hillebrandt. 25 May 2016
- The World Bank’s Poverty Statistics Lack Median Income Data, So We Filled In the Gap Ourselves — Download Available. February 6, 2016. Anna Diofasi and Nancy Birdsall. Center for Global Development.
- Above chart. United States leads in income inequality, and lack of economic mobility. Increasing income inequality on the horizontal axis. Increasing economic immobility on the vertical axis. Note the Scandinavian countries on the bottom left.
26 Jul 2018: As Workers' Wages Continue to Fall Under Trump, Analysis Shows CEO Pay Is Way Higher Than Typically Reported. Jake Johnson, Common Dreams.
17 Jul 2018: Bernie Sanders: Trump’s economy is great for billionaires, not for working families. By Bernie Sanders. USA Today. 17 Jul 2018: If the economy is 'roaring', why are so many Americans still struggling? Bernie Sanders. The Guardian.
Real wages are not just flat, they are falling. 15 Jun 2018. Jeff Stein and Andrew Van Dam. Washington Post.
Workers’ wages fall after Republican tax cuts. 13 Jun 2018. Tax cuts went mostly to the rich. Should have gone mostly to the middle class who would have had more money free to plow back into the economy. For the biggest group of American workers, wages aren’t just flat. They’re falling. June 15, 2018. Washington Post. [122][123][124]. |
Increasing income inequality over time. Chart below from:
17 Dec 2017: A Republican Tax Plan to Turbocharge Inequality, in 3 Charts. New York Times.
1 Jul 2016: Income Inequality Is At The Highest Level In American History. By Bryce Covert. ThinkProgress. "Incomes for the 99 percent have only recovered about 60 percent of what they lost. But the rich are doing great. ... They captured more than half of all the income growth in the country."
- Commons: Category: Median income. Charts, graphs, maps
Massive US household debt[edit]
Return to top. See Wikipedia: Household debt.
US household debt at all time high. Chart below is from the PDF.
Total household debt. From 1st quarter 2003 through recent times.
Total Household Debt by Type:
- Click to enlarge. Timeline is by quarters.
Massive US medical debt[edit]
Return to top. See: Canadian single-payer universal healthcare versus US healthcare.
This doesn't happen in Canada, due to single-payer universal healthcare.
17 Jan 2019: US. 34 Devastating Stories About How People Are Still Crushed By Medical Debt. By Venessa Wong. BuzzFeed News.
Progressive Republicans:[edit]
President Eisenhower. 1953[edit]
Wikipedia: Dwight D. Eisenhower. President: January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961.
Viral meme says 1956 Republican platform was pretty liberal. Article by PolitiFact says it is mostly true. See Wikipedia: PolitiFact.
President Eisenhower followed progressives like President Roosevelt. Roosevelt and General Eisenhower had worked together to crush the far-right of their day, the Nazis.
Quote source: Franklin Roosevelt's Statement on the National Industrial Recovery Act. June 16, 1933. "No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country."
Unlike today's Republicans, Eisenhower understood that trickle-down economics does not work.
14 Oct 2018: Bernie Sanders video: Trickle-Down Economics Does Not Work.
12 Oct 2018: Bernie Sanders video: Disney Heiress Abigail Disney Says The Wealthy Don't Need Another Tax Break.
His 91% top marginal tax rate[edit]
Equaled prosperity for more[edit]
Eisenhower, the progressive Republican President, had a 91% top marginal income tax rate.. He participated in one of the greatest eras of economic prosperity-for-more in the US in the 1950s.
That era had lower overall taxes on the middle class.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Hires Former Marijuana Lobbyist As Senior Advisor. By Kyle Jaeger. January 7, 2019. Marijuana Moment. From the article: "Both believe that marijuana should be legalized at the federal level".
Ocasio-Cortez floats 70 percent tax on the super wealthy to fund Green New Deal.
7 Jan 2018: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is floating a 70 percent top tax rate — here’s the research that backs her up. And: Haters. And: Dancegate.
As Poll Shows Majority Back 70% Top Marginal Tax Rate for Ultra-Rich, Ocasio-Cortez's "Radical" Proposal Proves Extremely Mainstream. [125][126].
Chart below. Highest marginal income tax rates over time.
- Above chart source. And: Source 2.
USA. Since 2001, labor’s share of national income has suffered a sustained decline. 11 Sep 2018.
- See above chart source. [127]. And source article.
Chart below: Top 10% of earners receive 50% of all income. When capital gains are included.
- Above graph source. And: Source 2.
10 Jul 2018: National (US) Pay Trends. "Since 2006, wages have risen 12.9 percent overall in the US. But when you factor in inflation, real wages' have actually fallen 9.3 percent. In other words, the income for a typical worker today buys them less than it did in 2006." |
2 Jul 2018: An Update for 2018: More Evidence That Half of Americans Are In or Near Poverty. Paul Buchheit. Common Dreams.
For most U.S. workers, real wages have barely budged in decades. 7 Aug 2018. By Drew DeSilver. Pew Research Center. Chart below is from the article. Bottom of chart says: "Data for wages of production and non-supervisory employees on private non-farm payrolls."
The top line in the chart below is for hourly wages adjusted for inflation
President Abraham Lincoln[edit]
Abraham Lincoln. From a message to the U.S. Congress, 3 December 1861:
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."
More sources: [128]. The full speech. See: Facebook image.
Full site / Mobile. To Top or End. Click Full site for more images, bottom text, table of contents, categories, site navigation (sidebar or bottom).