TRUMP DISLIKED BY FOREIGN TOURISTS

Fears Las Vegas is DYING as hotel bookings crater due to rip-off prices and tourists angry at Trump

 

By Alyssa Guzman 

 

Daily Mail

Aug 1, 2025

  

One of the reasons Sin City's businesses are hurting is because international visitors have continued to shun the US - including some upset over the presidency of Donald Trump 

 

One of the most popular hotel and resort chains in Las Vegas experienced a startling drop-off in business as the tourist mecca continues to reel from a loss of visitors.

Caesars Entertainment, which runs eight casino resorts and one non-gaming hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, reported a 3.7 percent year-over-year decline in net revenue in the second quarter of 2025, SEC filings revealed. 

The company, which owns Caesars Palace and Harrah's Las Vegas, also saw a 21- percent yea-over-year drop in net income in the second quarter. 

From April to June, the company brought in $1.054billion in Las Vegas, down from $1.095billion in the same time period in 2024. 

One of the reasons Sin City's businesses are hurting is because international visitors have continued to shun the US - including some upset over the presidency of Donald Trump. 

Las Vegas welcomed 3.39 million visitors in March, down almost eight percent from 3.68million in February, according to a report by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. 

Hotels were 82.9 percent full the same month, compared with 85.3 percent full in March 2024. 

Midweek occupancy recorded a decline of 2.5 percent in the same period, despite more than half a million people attending conferences there.

 

Caesars Entertainment, which owns Caesars Palace and Harrah's Las Vegas, reported a 3.7 percent year-over-year decline in net revenue in the second quarter of 2025

 

Casinos also reported an almost five percent drop over the past year. Statewide, the figure fell by 1.1 percent.

Despite the slow start, Caesars CEO Tom Reeg said on an earnings call on Tuesday that the quarter started 'strong' before declining in May and June, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. 

The company reported a net income of $212million in the second quarter. This is down from $268million at the same time last year. 

In the first six months of the year, Caesars' Las Vegas operations brought in $2.057billion, a 2.8 percent loss compared to the first six months of 2024. 

Its net income was $389million compared to $462million in 2024 - a whopping 15.8 percent decrease year-over-year.  

Reeg believes some of the decline could be from the lack of big-name performers, like Adele, who had a residency last year. 

It appears the CEO doesn't have a good feeling going into the next quarter, as he told people on the call: 'I’d expect the third quarter to be soft.' 

However, he's positive Vegas will turn around in the future. 

 

Las Vegas welcomed 3.39 million visitors in March, down almost eight percent from 3.68million in February 

Caesars CEO Tom Reeg said on an earnings call on Tuesday that the quarter started 'strong' before declining in May and June 

Another reason tourists might be skipping the Strip is its high prices 

 

'I’ve been around Vegas a very long time…(and) this is normal seasonality that we haven’t seen in a while here. It's nothing that leaves me concerned,' he said on the call. 

Another reason tourists might be skipping the Strip is its high prices.  

A visitor recently shared her shock after she was charged $26 for a bottle of Fiji water from the minibar in her room at the Aria Resort & Casino.

And a British magician was left outraged after he was billed $74.31 for two drinks at Sphere in Las Vegas.

A 2024 study found that the average income of Las Vegas holidaymakers is now $93,000, with many budget travelers priced out of the gambling capital. 

Homelessness in Las Vegas has also exploded, with a conservative estimate of around 8,000 people unhoused across a city of just over half a million. 

Walk along the busy Las Vegas Boulevard at any time of day and you will see people who are clearly homeless and often under the influence of drugs. 

Daily Mail has reached out to Caesars Entertainment for comment.  

MOM DOESN'T LIKE PLAYFUL AQUARIUM OCTOPUS

Octopus attacks boy, 6, at aquarium then makes EYE CONTACT with him from glass tank

 

By Martha Williams 

 

Daily Mail

Aug 1, 2025 

 

 

An octopus attacked a 6-year-old boy at an interactive exhibit at the San Antonio Aquarium, according to his mother — who also claimed workers brushed off the incident involving what they called the “super playful” creature.

 

An octopus wrapped itself around a young boy at an aquarium in Texas and wouldn't let go, leaving the terrified child with bruises along his arm and frighteningly staring at him.

Britney Taryn said her son Leo, 6, was ambushed by the creature on July 14 at the San Antonio Aquarium, where visitors are allowed to interact with various animals.

The mother told KSAT that employees would encourage guests to play with the octopus in its tank, but that none were present when the incident occurred. 

Taryn and a friend who was there at the time panicked when the octopus suddenly gripped onto Leo. 

'It was suctioned onto him and so I tried to help him get down and away from the glass,' the mom told KSAT.

The women began to yell for help while Taryn tried to the animal to free her son.

When an employee eventually arrived, he said 'oh - she's super playful today' before struggling to get the octopus off the boy, Taryn recalled.

The worker called for back-up and more staffers showed up to try to pry the creature away.

 

Britney Taryn said her son Leo, 6, was ambushed by an octopus on July 14 at the San Antonio Aquarium, where visitors are allowed to interact with various animals

Taryn told her story on TikTok and earned millions of views

 

Taryn said the octopus wrapped around other employees before releasing its grip, but refused to let go of her son, who is an animal lover and regular visitor of the aquarium. 

When the animal finally let go, Leo had bruises from his wrist up to his armpit.

Taryn said her son remained calm during the entire ordeal.

'He was very relaxed about the whole thing, so I was relaxed... because he knows so much about animals, so much about octopuses,' she told KSAT.

When they returned to the tank two hours later, Taryn said the octopus made eye contact with her son, swam over to him and turned white. 

Taryn said she contacted the aquarium several times to see if they had closed the tank or removed the octopus, but 'we were not contacted back.'

When she returned to the aquarium days later - after telling her story on TikTok and earning millions of views - she was shocked to find the octopus still on display.

'I'm just really worried that something worse is going to happen,' the mother said.

 

Trayn told KSAT that employees would encourage guests to play with the octopus in its tank, but that none were present when the incident occurred

When the animal finally let go, the boy had bruises from his wrist up to his armpit

 

Taryn has since filed a complaint with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). She also said she filed a report with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, contacted her local congressman and reached out to other aquariums. 

She told KSAT that she learned the aquarium is not accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to the aquarium for comment. 

The aquarium posted its own TikTok showing a staff member playing with an octopus and letting it grip onto her arm. 

The octopus incident is just the latest in a series of controversies at the San Antonio Aquarium. 

Surveillance video from July 2018 captured three people stealing a horn shark – a species of bullhead shark that grows up to four feet and 20 lbs – from an open pool where visitors could touch the animals, KSAT reported.  

The suspects disguised the female shark as a baby and placed it in a stroller. It was not returned to the aquarium until two days later. 

In the days following the theft, the aquarium said it would not shut down touch pools.

OAKLAND IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE GOLDEN STATE MORPHING INTO THE TRASHY STATE ..... 'YALL GIT OUT AND HEAD FER TEXAS

Dem-run city that's so squalid terrified seniors now have to ride their wheelchairs on busy STREETS

 

By James Cirrone 

 

Daily Mail

Aug 1, 2025

 

Barbara lee was elected mayor of Oakland in April

 

A trio of terrified disabled seniors say the sidewalks in their Oakland neighborhood are so squalid that they're being forced to dice with death and ride their wheelchairs on the main road.

Cathy Harris, Shaaron Green-Peace and Rose Luster-Brooks all use motorized wheelchairs and live at a senior living facility off International Boulevard at 105th Avenue.

They all told KTVU that the sheer amount of garbage is making it impossible for them to get around safely in their own community.

'We have to ride in the street as if we’re cars. It's unsafe,' Luster-Brooks said.

And they claim it's not all down to the homeless people in the area. They say that since the trash heap has grown so much, even regular passers by have been casually contributing to it.

'People are dumping, I mean everything in the world you can find right here on this corner,' Luster-Brooks said.

The women have said that the garbage has even stopped them from being able to use a bus with East Bay Paratransit, a transportation method funded by the city that specifically serves disabled residents.

 

Pictured: Disabled residents of a senior living community in Oakland ride through the street, against traffic, because the sidewalk is full of trash

Pictured: The encampment blocks the entire sidewalk making it impossible for them to get around

Rose Luster-Brooks said this has been going on for around a year and there has not been a permanent solution despite repeated calls to city authorities

 

'They no longer can pick us up there. A couple of them have tried and we’re like, "how are you going to let us out in this trash?"' Luster-Brooks said.

The bus driver now picks them up at the next corner of the intersection, which the women said is riddled with oncoming traffic and isn't as safe.

Luster-Brooks said this has been going on for around a year and in that time, they've called the city, the mayor's office and their city councilmember Ken Houston.

None of their requests for help have been answered, they said.

'They say they’re for us. We voted for these people, and we’re not being recognized,'  Luster-Brooks said. 'You go further into Piedmont, Dimond District, all of that’s fine, but what about us?'

City spokesperson Sean Maher confirmed to KTVU that the location has received repeated requests from constituents for clean-ups and that Oakland's Encampment Management Team is aware of the site.

Houston, who represents deep East Oakland in the city council, said the encampment has been removed twice but keeps returning.

'It’s on the radar and we’re going to come out, and these seniors should be protected,' Houston said in front of the pile of trash.

 

The number of homeless people in Oakland has jumped nearly 18 percent since 2019. The problem has gotten so bad that gigantic shantytowns have formed in certain parts of the city 

Oakland is also prone to crime sprees, with residents growing quite accustomed to chaotic smash-and-grab robberies (pictured) 

 

One thing that could be hamstringing cleanup crews is that they're generally not allowed to remove people's personal property from encampments under city policy, Maher said.

According to a regulation passed in 2020 by the city council, employees tasked with 'deep cleaning' encampments must 'make reasonable efforts to mitigate any individual or group property loss.'

They're allowed to clean up 'debris, trash, waste, illegal dumping, hazmat' and other items, but any personal property they come across that doesn't appear abandoned needs to be stored.

'The City will make reasonable efforts to store up to one (1) square yard of such property per individual,' the regulation states.

Oakland had the eighth largest homeless population of all major cities in the US last year, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The number of homeless people in Oakland has jumped nearly 18 percent since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the problem in most US cities.

The problem has gotten so bad that gigantic shantytowns have formed in certain parts of the city.

Oakland is also prone to crime sprees, with residents growing quite accustomed to chaotic smash-and-grab robberies.

The city also has a high rate of car theft, with a civil grand jury recently finding that 9,400 vehicles were reported stolen in 2024.

ISRAEL WILL BE ACCUSED OF WAR MONGERING

IDF launches wave of strikes after Hezbollah attempts to rebuild in Southern Lebanon

Targets struck included a site for producing explosives, as well as an underground facility for developing and storing strategic weapons.

 

Israel Today

Aug 1, 2025 

 

An Israeli F-15I fighter jet takes off to attack Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon 

 

The Israel Defense Forces launched a wave of attacks on Thursday night on targets of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Southern Lebanon, including its largest missile production site, the military confirmed.

“A short time ago, the IDF attacked infrastructure for the production and storage of strategic arms in the Beqaa region and Southern Lebanon,” it stated, accusing Hezbollah of rebuilding the sites in violation of the November truce understandings between Jerusalem and Beirut.

Among the targets struck were a site for producing explosives, as well as an underground facility for developing and storing strategic weapons.

“The IDF continues to act in order to protect the State of Israel,” it said.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that the military was “powerfully striking” Hezbollah terror infrastructure, including the Iranian-backed terrorist group’s “largest precision missile production site, which was previously attacked, along with additional sites Hezbollah is attempting to restore.

“As I emphasized, the maximum enforcement policy against Hezbollah will continue,” he said. “Any attempt by the terror group to rehabilitate, reestablish itself or threaten will be met with uncompromising force.”

The defense minister said Jerusalem would hold the official Lebanese government responsible for Hezbollah’s terrorism in the border area.

The Jewish state will not allow Hezbollah terrorists “to threaten the residents of the north and all citizens of Israel,” Katz stated.

On Nov. 26, Jerusalem and Beirut reached a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending more than a year of cross-border clashes between the IDF and Hezbollah. The terrorist organization began attacking the Jewish state in support of Hamas following the terror group’s attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Since the ceasefire, the IDF has carried out regular strikes to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its capabilities in violation of the deal.

 

 

Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem said that anyone calling for surrender of weapons is serving Israeli interests.

 

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem has rejected demands to disarm in line with the truce. Earlier this month, he warned that the terror group was “recovering and ready now” to confront the IDF.

Qassem stated on Wednesday that calls for his group to disarm served Israeli interests, following renewed international pressure on Tehran’s Lebanese proxy army.

“Anyone calling today for the surrender of weapons, whether internally or externally, on the Arab or the international stage, is serving the Israeli project,” AFP quoted the terrorist leader as saying in a televised address.

SMOTRICH IS RIGHT ..... HAMAS IS DRAGGING THE NEGOTIATIONS ON AND ON IN ORDER TO CAPITALIZE ON THE DAILY MEDIA IMAGES OF STARVING CHILDREN

No more hostage deal talks with Hamas, Smotrich says

Israel’s finance minister announced “unequivocally” that “it’s over.” The prime minister’s office has yet to comment.

 

By Canaan Lidor 

 

Israel Today

Aug 1, 2025 

 

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, right, attends a Knesset conference discussing Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 22, 2025.

 

Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli finance minister, said “unequivocally” that Israel will no longer negotiate with Hamas.

“There will be no more negotiations with Hamas on a deal for the release of hostages,” the minister, who leads the Religious Zionism party, said at a conference on Thursday night.

“From here on, the only possible deal is a total surrender of Hamas, the unconditional return of all our hostages, the dismantling of its armed force, the demilitarization of Gaza, the exile of the head of Hamas and to allow all those who want to leave Gaza to do so,” Smotrich said at the event, focused on the 20th anniversary since Israel pulled out of Gaza.

Smotrich’s party has opposed previous rounds of hostage deals with Hamas led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party. The minister has nonetheless remained in the coalition.

His remarks came as Steve Witkoff, the US Middle East envoy, is in Israel, in the wake of ceasefire negotiations between the Jewish state and Hamas in Doha law week.

Netanyahu has not ruled out another deal with Hamas to free the 50 Israelis believed to remain Hamas captives, including 20 who are thought to be alive. (JNS sought comment from Netanyahu’s office.)

“The left-wing protests and the media campaign benefitted Hamas and made it harden its stance, as did the leaders of Europe that blew wind into its sails and promised it that if it only holds out and waits a little longer, the reality in Gaza will remain unchanged,” when Hamas “will be gifted a Palestinian state” in September, Smotrich said.

The European countries have taken actions that take a hostage deal “completely” off the table, according to the Israeli minister.

“I say this also to those of us who thought it was the right thing to do. That’s it. It’s over,” he said. “There’s a limit to how much we can humiliate our national dignity. There’s a limit to how long we can beg those Nazis for a deal. To how much we can compromise, more and more and more and to let them fool us.”

Smotrich cited several cabinet achievements, including creating or recognizing 50 Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and a motion that passed the Knesset last week in favor of full Israeli sovereignty over that territory. He said he supports such sovereignty, including in Gaza.

Israel has neutralized much of Hamas’s military force in Gaza, Hezbollah, the Syrian army in the north, and “the head of the octopus in Iran,” Smotrich said.

The event came two days before the Jewish mourning day Tisha B’Av, which commemorates the destruction of the Jewish temples, among other tragedies.

Many of the event speakers spoke in disillusioned terms about what they said is Israel’s failure to eradicate Hamas more than 20 months after the start of its military campaign in Gaza.

Erel Segal, a prominent journalist who delivered the opening speech, drew attention to Arab organized crime, which he said “could, and left unopposed will, flip on us as a terrorist group, creating an existential threat.”

Segal also criticized Haredi leaders for not “recognizing the greatness of the hour” and heeding demands that young Haredi men enlist in the Israeli military.

Yariv Levin, the Israeli justice minister, also addressed the conference. “There is now an opportunity to complete the move of applying sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” he said. Israel Ganz, chairman of the Yesha Council, called on the government to do so.

Ditza Or, whose son Avinatan is believed to be held in Gaza, drew on the biblical account of the prophet Elijah’s plea for Jew to decide whether to believe in God or adopt paganism, but to refrain from “living on the fence.”

Israel “is on the fence, fighting a war for almost two years now that should have ended long ago. We’re not winning the war, and we’re not surrendering,” she said. “But if we’re not fighting, we’d better surrender and at least get the hostages back.” (She said that she prefers that Israel fight and defeat Hamas.)

“I have this animalistic drive to protect my son, and all I can think of is of him in the tunnels of hell,” she told attendees. “But I have another part of me that looks at this from above. I see Avinatan as an emissary, fighting the war of light to survive.”

Had no hostages been taken, “there would just be another round of hostilities, and we wouldn’t be reshaping the Middle East,” she said. “That fact that there are hostages allows us to do this.”

RELEASED ISRAELI-BRITISH HOSTAGE TO STARMER : RECOGNITION OF A PALESTINIAN STATE EMBOLDENS EXTREMISTS AND UNDERMINES ANY HOPE FOR GENUINE PEACE. SHAME ON YOU

Rewarding terror only fuels more bloodshed

Emily Damari’s remarks to Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer echo growing concern in Israel over Europe’s push to recognize a Palestinian state.

 

By Fiamma Nirenstein 

 

JNS

Jul 31, 2025 

Released Israeli hostage Emily Damari ahead of surgery for injuries sustained by Hamas on Oct. 7 at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, March 2, 2025.

 

By legitimizing a Palestinian state at the United Nations, the United Kingdom and other European powers risk emboldening terror, prolonging conflict and making the recovery of Israel’s hostages harder. That’s the stark warning delivered by Emily Damari—an Israeli-British citizen and survivor of 471 days in Hamas captivity—directly to Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“This move does not advance peace—it risks rewarding terror. It sends a dangerous message: that violence earns legitimacy,” she wrote on X.
“By legitimizing a state entity while Hamas still controls Gaza and continues its campaign of terror, you are not promoting a solution; you are prolonging the conflict. Recognition under these conditions emboldens extremists and undermines any hope for genuine peace. Shame on you.”

Damari posed a damning question to Starmer on Instagram. “Prime Minister Starmer is not standing on the right side of history. Had he been in power during World War II, would he have advocated recognition for Nazi control of occupied countries like Holland, France or Poland?” she asked, adding, “This is not diplomacy—it is a moral failure.

Damari’s remarks echo growing concern within Israel over Europe’s accelerating push to recognize a Palestinian state—regardless of Hamas’s continued hold on Gaza, its refusal to release hostages, or its unrepentant calls for Israel’s destruction.

Starmer’s proposal to vote for recognition of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations, alongside calls for a ceasefire, was met with outrage from Israel’s Hostages and Missing Families Forum. The group warned that this diplomatic pressure only aids Hamas by weakening Israel’s negotiating leverage.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar put it bluntly: “If a terrorist organization embraces you, you’ve ended up in the wrong place.”

France is leading the charge for a U.N. vote in September, with President Emmanuel Macron reportedly working behind the scenes to build majority support for Palestinian statehood. But critics point out that the timing—while Israeli troops are still engaged in combat and dozens of hostages remain in captivity—is deeply troubling.

The humanitarian narrative is crumbling under scrutiny. The New York Times recently retracted a widely circulated image of a starving Gaza child, which had fueled outrage abroad. Meanwhile, Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia are facilitating massive humanitarian airdrops and aid deliveries. Hundreds of trucks of food and supplies continue to cross into Gaza. But Hamas diverts much of this aid for military use or internal control, undermining relief efforts.

Calls for Palestinian statehood aren’t new. Yet history is clear: when Egypt occupied Gaza and Jordan ruled the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), no Palestinian state was proposed. Since 1948, Israel has offered statehood on at least ten occasions. Each time, Palestinian leadership—from the PLO to Hamas—rejected peace in favor of armed struggle.

Even after the failed Oslo Accords and the bloodshed of the Second Intifada, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, dismantling 21 communities and evacuating 9,000 Israelis. Greenhouses and infrastructure were left intact, intended to form the backbone of a future Palestinian economy. Instead, Gaza became a launchpad for terror—armed, financed, and entrenched by Iran.

The world never asked Hamas—or even the Palestinian Authority—the basic questions: Will the future Palestinian state be democratic? Demilitarized? Will it stop indoctrinating children to hate Jews? Will it protect women and minorities? Will it cease paying stipends to terrorists?

Today, Macron and Starmer move forward with recognition efforts without demanding a single concession in return. No promise to end incitement, no guarantee to release hostages, no commitment to rewrite textbooks or dismantle terror tunnels.

In 1988, several Eastern European states recognized a Palestinian state on paper. In 2014, Sweden joined. In 2024, Spain and Ireland followed. The result? No peace—only further violence. Recognition without reform is not diplomacy. It’s appeasement.

Israel has made painful concessions in pursuit of peace. What it cannot accept—and what no democracy should accept—is legitimizing a terror state that rejects coexistence and seeks its destruction.

If the West truly wants peace, it must demand accountability, not reward brutality.

RURAL TEXANS OPPOSED TO A THC BAN ARE IGNORAMUSES ..... EVEN IF THC HELPS SOME PEOPLE, THEIR NUMBERS ARE DWARFED BY THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE HARMED BY THC, INCLUDING THOSE KILLED OR INJURED IN THC-INDUCED AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS

Some rural Texans see THC as a lifeline for their health and economy

As lawmakers continue to debate banning hemp-derived THC, some rural Texans say it helps ease addiction, health concerns and economic woes that hit their communities the hardest.

 

By Stephen Simpson

 

The Texas Tribune

Aug 1, 2025

 

 

Romana Harding greets goats and miniature horses on her farm outside of Midway, on Tuesday, July 29, 2025. Romana plans to use the 10 acres she owns to make a farm for other veterans to visit and experience healing.

 

MIDWAY — Some who live in Texas’ small towns say that if someone looks close enough, they will see why hemp-derived THC has taken root in rural regions.

Faded crosses on the side of the road and faces of once-promising teens on “Don’t drink and drive” and fentanyl overdose billboards reveal the scars left behind in the isolated parts of Texas, where tight-knit communities have been permanently changed.

Anti-drug hardliners can argue rural Texas’ struggle with substance abuse is why THC has proliferated there and why it needs to be banned, but many cannabis users in the state’s small communities say it has spared them from spiraling further into the destruction of alcoholism and drug addiction.

“I spent over 10 years in the fire service, and I can tell you have seen more fatality and messed up accidents because of alcohol than any other drug,” said Timothy Mabry, a hemp proponent from Canyon Lake. “Also, the difference between someone who is violently drunk and someone who is happily high is drastic. And many of us here have seen it firsthand.”

Hemp supporters say a ban on THC, which lawmakers are mulling, would be catastrophic to rural Texas.

The lack of access to the Texas Compassionate Use Program, the state’s tightly regulated medical marijuana program, and other traditional forms of medical care in those communities has steered users — even those who qualify for prescription drugs — toward consumable hemp products. This has unfolded as rural areas are home to some of the state’s sickest and oldest populations, many of whom are looking for relief from mental illness or chronic pain and find an antidote in cannabis use.

Amid growing addiction problems that hit rural communities harder than their urban peers, some have used hemp products to wean off alcohol or opioids, and farmers and small-town retailers are eager to meet those needs in hopes of boosting their downtown economies.

“My family lives in Belleville in Austin County, a big farm community with maybe 4,000 people total. That little town has maybe 30 storefronts, and three of them are hemp CBD shops. It’s a big part of the economy in these rural areas,” Andy “Doc” Melder, a Navy veteran and founder of Warriors Integrating Possibilities, a group aimed at ending veteran suicide and the opioid epidemic, especially in rural Texas.

On Wednesday, the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 5 by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, which would criminalize products containing any “detectable amount of any cannabinoid” other than cannabidiol and cannabigerol, better known as CBD and CBG, non-intoxicating components of cannabis. This bill would eliminate the majority of hemp products, including those that are legal under the federal definition.

Hemp opponents have given various reasons for a ban, saying the industry is unregulated, caters to children, and that the long-term health effects of cannabis use are still unknown.

The effort by Republican lawmakers who support a ban has spurred blowback from their usual ardent political allies: rural Texans, from farmers to veterans, and the older generation.

 

Zach Lindeen pets Ruger, one of Romana Harding’s dogs, as he listens to his mom, Piper Lindeen, speak about how cannabis quiets Zach’s seizures. 

Limited access to medical marijuana

Texas has one of the largest rural populations in the country, with about 5 million of its approximately 31 million people living in rural areas. The health outcomes of Texans who live in these regions are significantly worse than their urban peers, partly due to the lack of physical and mental care access.

The inability to find help has driven some people to seek relief elsewhere.

“The funny thing is, my parents sent me to rehab when I was 15 for my cannabis use, and they hated the thought of it. Now they are using cannabis themselves for pain relief,” Melder said.

Some lawmakers have insisted the Texas Compassionate Use Program is the best route for cannabis users with mental illness and chronic pain. However, those who live in rural parts of the state don’t have access to those dispensaries, and if they do, products are expensive and limited.

“We don’t have additional options,” said Ramona Harding, a Navy veteran who lives on a 10-acre farm in Midway.

Currently, the state has two medical marijuana dispensaries, both of which are based in Central Texas, and a third one that has been deactivated, according to lawmakers. Because state law requires those dispensaries to drive products they sell in other parts of Texas back to a designated storage site every day, overhead costs are high, which has contributed to the expensive medical marijuana products.

A $15 bag of hemp-derived THC gummies purchased online could be more effective than a $75 bag of medical marijuana gummies, hemp supporters have said.

Many rural Texans also don’t have insurance to pay for the doctor’s visits required to sign up for the program and medical marijuana usually isn’t a covered benefit under most plans. The costs to participate start to add up, Mabry said.

“There is only a select number of doctors who can do it, so you have to travel, and anytime something touches a doctor's hand, it costs more,” he said.

Legislation passed earlier this year expanded the medical marijuana program by increasing the number of dispensaries and satellite locations while offering more types of products to users and removing the storage restriction. Medical marijuana producers say the law will help drop prices and increase accessibility but that it could take a few years to happen, including in rural Texas.

Even when the dispensaries expand, some families are unsure if it will still meet their complicated needs.

When Piper Lindeen’s son Zach became the second child to be accepted into the state’s medical marijuana program, she felt pride. After fighting for several years, she and her husband finally had legal access to medical cannabis products that could slow down their son’s severe seizures.

At least that’s what they thought.

Although the Lindeens still participate in the program, Zach needs to supplement it with other CBD because some of the chemicals removed the medical marijuana under state regulations are needed to stop their son’s seizures. They order hemp products from Oregon, which could become illegal if lawmakers approve a ban.

“There is no hope to control his seizures, and we tried,” the Sugar Land resident said of the medical marijuana program.

 

 

Amy Harper and Romana Harding embrace during an interview on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, outside of Midway 

 

Combating alcohol and opioid addiction

In June, the Texans for Safe and Drug-Free Youth, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council of Deep East Texas, the Andrea’s Project in Amarillo, the Sheriffs Association of Texas, along with other anti-drug groups, sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott asking him to ban THC due to concern for children and the risk of impaired driving increasing.

Perry has said multiple times that cannabis might be responsible for veteran suicide, not preventing it, and has questioned the medical benefits since studies he has seen show long-term use causes dementia.

With all those risks and the lack of resources in rural communities to address them, some rural lawmakers like Perry fear THC could wreak havoc in the neighborhoods they represent.

Research has yet to definitively show what long-term impacts of THC use in a community can be, but rural users said they envision safer environments free from more dangerous addictions like alcoholism and opioid abuse.

“I know so many people who have used [hemp-derived THC] to get off tobacco, alcohol, or other pills… and I think that is one of the biggest things it could be used for,” Harding said.

All 177 rural counties in Texas are federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas for Mental Health, meaning there are not a lot of addiction treatment options in these regions.

A 2022 study by UT Health San Antonio’s substance use disorder response program, Be Well Texas, found that more opioid prescriptions are dispensed to rural Texas residents per capita than to urban residents, contributing to increasing overdose rates and illegal drug markets.

For Harding, cannabis is how she can function each day, as she bears the physical and mental scars from a rape she endured while in service. If cannabis is taken away, she said her only other options are either the pills that were killing her liver slowly or alcohol, which killed her mother, father and brother.

“I have run into so many people and lawmakers who are like, ‘Well, go have some whiskey’. No. It killed my family, and it almost killed me. Alcohol isn’t the answer for everyone in Texas,” she said

 

  

Rural Texas farmers told The Texas Tribune earlier this year that banning THC would mean they would have to stop growing hemp altogether.  

 

The economic costs of a ban

While there isn’t specific data on how many THC shops have opened in the rural parts of the state, a 2025 report by Whitney Economics, which studies data and does economic reports on global hemp and cannabis industries, found the number of physical locations had increased from 5,072 in 2022 to 7,550 in 2024 and was steadily growing all around Texas.

Hemp-related licenses have increased steadily since 2022 for both retailers and manufacturers, the latter of which are usually located in the rural parts of the state. The $5.5 billion industry is estimated to employ more than 53,000 workers, receiving $2.1 billion in wages.

Rural Texas farmers told The Texas Tribune earlier this year that banning THC would mean they would have to stop growing hemp altogether, even if it’s not going to be consumed, because there’s no way to have or manufacture this plant with no detectable THC in it.

Whitney Economics estimated a complete THC ban would shift $10.2 billion in economic activity out of the state, and it would disrupt the hemp supply chain throughout the United States.

“The worst part is if this ban goes through, it’s going to send thousands of farmers, workers, retailers, and more around here and all over the state, belly-up, and for what? No reason,” said Mabry.

GOVERNOR GAVIN HAS ANNOUNCED HOW HE INTENDS TO FUCK THE VOTERS

By Bob Walsh

 

Gavin Newsom, the God-Emperor of the formerly great state of California, announced today how he intends to do a work-around in violation of the voter's expressed wishes in order to attempt to fuck with Donald Trump some more.

He will attempt to enact a special election for the first week of November and present to the voters a new set of congressional boundaries in hopes of making them effective for the 2026 election.  The expressed intent is to cancel out a similar change being made in Texas to enhance Republican presence in the House of Representative.  Newsom doesn't care that the actions in Texas are completely legal under Texas law and the actions he is trying to take in California are in specific violation of CA law and the CA constitution.  

Since the Democrat-Socialists have super-majorities in both houses of the CA legislature and since the Democrat-Socialist Attorney General will both write and approve the Newsom proposition it will pretty much for sure be approved and get on the ballot for the very expensive special election.  Strange how CA has plenty of money to fuck with President Trump and to give money to illegal aliens to fight deportation but can't fix the fucking pot holes in the freeway.

Whether the proposition will survive various legal appeals and court scrutiny is another matter.  The way Newsom is trying to do this would leave the Citizen Redistricting Commission theoretically intact and it would again do it's job but only AFTER Donald Trump is no longer in office, unless of course he is elected to a third term, which Newsom has said Trump is trying to arrange.  I guess he has never read the U. S. Constitution either.