​  Patient and advocate, Chris Moe, is reporting a series of threats of harm were communicated to him over the weekend. On Friday night he exposed a series of narratives of illegal distribution in the Oklahoma medical marijuana industry. ​

  While Moe (known as Uncle Grumpy) did not name anyone specifically, he did give enough details to make many 'bad actors' feel very threatened. Some bad actors are going after Moe, rather than cleaning up their practices and apologizing to those Oklahoma patients being harmed. Moe suffers severe chronic pain & relies on the medicine, now that physicians are forced to stop treating most chronic pain conditions with opiat-based pain pills.
​
  SoonerPolitics wants to set the record straight about Moe's words. We read into his video statements that he might reveal conspirators at another time, if needed.

  The Oklahoma Medical Board(OMB) has published an announcement for an upcoming 'training session' entitled "Pills, Pot and the Politics of Pain".

  The content listed in the program is devoted completely to Opiate addiction and black market crime details. No medical training on Cannabis alternatives for pain management is mentioned anywhere in the program.

  The course offering has been certified (by the OMB) to suffice as meeting a state requirement of renewed licensure of continuing healthcare education. The title, however seems more like a political indoctrination meeting. It focuses on politics and the impact of political events upon the treatment of pain, and the medical use of Cannabis, which they still insist on referring to as 'pot'.
  To this point, no Oklahoma medical school or state licensure exam requires or offers any actual education on the endocannabinoid system or the proper dosing & safeguards for incorporating cannabis medicines.
  The event is scheduled for March and will be held in the Embassy Suites hotel. Members will get an early registration discount if they sign up & pay before Valentines Day.
  The OMB (a state agency which governs medical licensure) is not conducting the course. They are merely promoting it for the Oklahoma Medical Association (a trade group which is hostile toward the new medical marijuana laws).
  It appears to demonstrate a bias of yet another state agency.  They reward a physician with education credits for attending a political rally.
  Chip Paul, of Oklahomans for Health said; "This is more of 'same ol'... same ol' blurring the lines between agencies and entrenched trade groups."

  The Oklahoma legislature recently authorized a profit splitting deal with a division of a Sweden-based high tech company; to scan every vehicle in our state and issue threatening citations and a demand for $174 because the owner didn't buy a liability insurance policy from an approved list of underwriters.
  But exemptions were made for:

• corporately-owned fleets
• out-of-state registration
• tribal license plates.

Sensys Gatso Group is making similar contracts with other governments all over the world, to provide the equipment, training, and other options, in exchange for a percentage of the fines collected by our court systems and other agencies.
  Civil liberties groups decry the Orwellian tactics which target the little guy and give a pass to corporate violators.  Tribal plates on the vehicles of Oklahoma residents already limit our state of needed funds.
  The driver of the vehicle is not ticketed; the registered owner is. Hence, even after selling a vehicle, a citizen can be cited if the new owner fails to comply. The Sweden-based corporation gets to divvy up their windfall from the fines, and stockholders in the global corporation should see dividends rise along with the escalation of tickets written.

A recent article in the Tulsa World confirms this report.

  The Oklahoma-based think tank founded by former US Senator, Tom Coburn, and his old D.C. roommate & colleague, Rep. Steve Largent; have published a strong endorsement of Senator Rand Paul's Festivus-themed report of massive and harmful federal spending.
  Coburn was noted for his expose's on federal waste when he was a US Senator. The problem is so serious that Coburn is now a leading advocate of a federal constitutional amendment for a mandated balanced budget amendment.
  Adam Kazda published the think tank's press release.

  Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) was in epic snarky form, this weekend; when he posted his annual Festivus-Airing of Grievances. 
 Paul is a rather young senator, the son of former Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. Both of them are medical doctors and proponents of a brand of libertarian  principles. In 1988, Ron Paul was the Libertarian Party's nominee for president.
  Ron later rejoined the Republican party and ran in 2008 & 2012 for the Republican nomination for president.
  Then-candidate Donald Trump used the opening moments of a televised debate to single out Rand Paul's looks while trying to say that he doesn't belong on a debate state with the top polling candidates.
  Since becoming president, Trump has courted Paul's collaboration on several matters; recognizing that Paul is driven by principles that may be frustrating, but are, nonetheless, heart-felt and compelling to many leading conservatives.
  Rand Paul has close alliances with Senators, Ted Cruz & Mike Lee. But Rand has also promoted some civil liberty initiatives than Democrats like Cory Booker of New Jersey are committed to.
​   Here are some captures from Rand Paul's epic Twitter Storm.

  In this weekend's edition of the SP Weekend Report, we cover many stories which made the headlines.

• Female Teachers are molesting students at a high rate, and getting very light sentences from judges (compared to male teachers).
• Muskogee Schools are arresting truant students ... at the school! Hauling them to the county lockup, instead of letting them return to the classroom.
• The Oklahoma legislature has an enormous freshman class, and 3/4 of the House has 2 years or less of experience in lawmaking.
• The Republican House membership shares a 'group hug' in their Kumbayah caucus retreat.
• The Budget surplus is more than double what the tax increases were said to be needed for.
• We picked a Citizen of the Year for 2018.
• We uncovered a terribly inhumane practice at the state cemetery, at the state's largest mental hospital.

  The new faces at the Oklahoma capitol are many, this winter. 36 Republicans and 9 Democrats were sworn into office for the first time, last month and are busy learning their new duties, protocols, colleagues, and legislative assistants.
  Many of them are already busy reading and writing legislation for consideration by the various committees they are being appointed to. These folks will not get wealthy by means of their legislative pay. The oversight committee which sets legislative compensation took a drastic turn last spring, last year, and cut the base pay of all legislators. It is now well under $40K for the entire year. They do, however; get reimbursed for travel & lodging expenses, based upon their district's proximity to the state capitol.
   This is the largest group of freshmen legislators since the state's very first session, back 110 years ago. It is also the largest Republican caucus in state history. The legislature was solidly  Democrat for about the first 100 years. Two of the current legislators have served as both Democrat and Republican members. About 75% of the current House membership has only 2 years or less of experience. And some of them are chairing very influential committees.
  We've linked each new member's portrait to the House webpage devoted to the district they serve. By clicking on that link, you can read an informative bio of the new member and about the district they now represent.

  Speaker Charles McCall made some key appointments known this week. Among them are two significant chairmanships of House committees. Sean Roberts will chair the Public Health Committee, and Tom Gann will chair the Administrative Rules Committee.  These two conservative leaders were esteemed among the House Platform Caucus, of the last two years.
  But The Journal Record tells a narrative of the big picture within the 76-member Republican Caucus in the House of Representatives. Journalist Catherine Sweeney of the Journal Record reports that caucus members are now specifically banned from actively seeking the ouster of their caucus colleagues. Speaker McCall intends to enforce this rule, but details are sketchy about how that discipline would manifest.

Attorney Ronald Durbin thought he was done with politics when he relocated to Oklahoma from his native Mississippi. He had been an associate to many notable political figures in the ascendancy of Hayley Barber, Trent Lott & others.
  In Oklahoma he wanted to practice law & advocate for the restoration of those seeking justice. For years Mr. Durbin has litigated & negotiated resolutions in Oklahoma's courts, board rooms, and in govt. agencies.
  But last spring he was asked to collaborate with a citizens group who was seeking a new ballot initiative to restore a measure of liberty for the citizens of this state.  He ended up being the state's most consistent legal advocate for a just implementation of a new law for cannabis medicine treatments.
  When political activists had completed a successful campaign for SQ788 and won a major victory, Ron Durbin was just starting his most impacting work as a defender of the new law.
  While entrenched state agencies were conspiring to sabotage the rollout of patient rights and treatment options, Durbin met them at every turn. He forced the State Board of Health to cease & desist. He drew the Attorney General into the battle on the side of constitutional limits of agency powers. He guided the legislative discourse in the first two weeks of a historic bicameral interim study.

 Another female Oklahoma teacher made national news this week when she managed to get just a sentence of 7 years for multiple counts of statutory rape of a young boy from her school.  The average sentence female teachers get is less than 4 years.

Keri May Hoffman, 36, was arrested in April on multiple charges related to the rape.  She is more than 20 years older than the boy she repeatedly exploited.
 A  national study of similar crimes & sentences reveals that female teachers are treated very leaniently compared to male teachers. A typical male charged for multiple statutory rape of a student will be sentenced to nearly 20 years, but female perpetrators rarely get a 10 year sentence.
  Hoffman was a public school teacher in Clinton, OK. She was married at the time and her husband confronted her before school or law enforcement were aware of the multiple crimes.
  She was allowed to remain free on 'house arrest' with an ankle monitor, despite the crime being listed as a violent felony. 
He husband filed for divorce 3 days after the OSBI pressed charges in Custer County.  The family court awarded the husband full custody of the children & almost all the marital assets. She will only be allowed supervised visitation when she finishes serving her prison term. She will not have to pay any child support until she is released from confinement.
KJRH has further details on today's sentencing

  In a previous report on a Muskogee School arresting a student while attending school, we noted that the official spokesman for the school district, Steve Braun, claimed that the district is following "a statute which has been on the books for decades".

  We found a clause in §70-10-109 which was written into the state code in 1989. It allows for the temporary placement of a child into a juvenile detention facility, but not for being in school, but rather for habitually being found out in the community unsupervised during a time when they are obviously supposed to be in classroom studies.

​ Note:  We don't have a staff of lawyers at SoonerPolitics, but our own journalistic research did come up with a few statutory findings. And the Muskogee School Board may not be happy with what we've found.

A Muskogee junior high principal utilized public school police powers to place a boy in handcuffs in front of the student body and detain him indefinitely, in order to compel a parent to come to the school and sign a notice of absence.  Parental rights advocates are outraged, along with Stephanie, the mother of the 14 year old. 
  The mother, Stephanie, says her son was ill for some of the absences. They produced a physician's note to the schools when that happened. But he also had a relapse (perhaps from resuming school attendance too soon), which the family did not seek a doctor's note for. And her family lacks automobile transportation to facilitate the travel to school, which an ill child may need when recovering. She did not reveal to media outlets about any mental or emotional issues her son faces, but she did say that he was left with marks on his body from the shackles. These are marks which would otherwise be used by DHS investigators to take her son out of her custody, if they would have responded to child abuse complaints in the home.
  And the child being humiliated is hauled to the County Jail's unit for juvenile incarceration.  The school district presumably pays the cost of that indefinite incarceration. Keep in mind that no indictment was ever issued and no hearing was conducted. It's essentially a criminal contempt order issued on a child.

  Attorney Ron Durbin announced a significant development for Cannabis medicine patients and their caregivers. He reports that the City of Grove, OK is relenting on their former intent to clamp down on the rights of patients to get and keep their medicines in the city.

 This issue became serious for medical patients late last summer when the Grand Lake News reported some details from a meeting of the Grove City Council.
  The voters of the county were almost evenly split about SQ788. Supporters of cannabis medicine patient rights fell just short, garnering 49.45% of the 9350 votes cast.  We have no way of knowing how many were too ill to get to the polls?

  The Chairman of the Agency Performance Audit Commission, Bob Sullivan; reports that his team's first batch of audits on 6 agencies will be released to the Legislature & the public early in January.   Sullivan was one of 9 members appointed over a year ago by Pro Tem Schultz, Speaker McCall, & Gov. Fallin. 
  Last spring the commission was appropriated their first budget and the 9 volunteer members followed a bidding process to award the contracts for these audits. Those auditing firms who were selected had until this month to complete their investigations and assess their findings.
  The commission expressed their desire to give the next round of audits a longer period of time to do their work. The belief is that the mere 6 months given to this year's audits was not optimal to the scope of auditing that is in the state's best interests.
   SoonerPolitics just learned of this status of the audits over this weekend and included the news in our new video report format.
  SoonerPolitics is developing a video format half hour program on Saturdays. The webcasts will review state news of the week and preview developments expected to transpire in the days to come.  The content will also be archived for podcasting devices, on SoundCloud,  The videos are archived on Youtube & Facebook.

  In a unanimous vote of support by the membership, The Tulsa Area Republican Assembly weighed in on the efforts of many other grassroots Republicans, who are rallying to the support of the Canadian County Republican Committee(CCRC).
 Last month the Canadian County Republicans issued an open letter to the Oklahoma Legislature. Their letter included a 4-point directive. The substance of the letter is seeking reforms.

  The letter from the CCRC made national news when the Washington Post took issue with the audacity of questioning whether public education could be privatized, in the manner that President GH Bush advocated in 1991.
  Then president Bush pressed for a "G.I. Bill For Kids", when federal education funds would follow the child, in the same way that the military issues military education benefits to veterans. 
The federal PAL grants also follow this same system of funding higher education.
​  The CCRC also echoed Lieutenant Governor Todd Lamb's call for higher efficiency in getting state education funds to the classroom.  Lamb calls for a 65% efficiency. CCRC endorsed that point. Currently Oklahoma's aggregate efficiency is 55%, which  lags behind the national average of 61%. 

  The CCRC presses the matter of Property taxes as an immoral means of taxing the same purchased property over and over again, unlike income tax, which is only assessed once.   This regressive tax harms the elderly who face confiscation & eviction by the county sheriff, if they cannot continually pay the rising tax assessments from their fixed incomes.  This tax also thwarts the American dream of home ownership and contributes to the foreclosures which can topple our banking system, as it did in the 2008 crash.
  The CCRC advocated for strong reforms to limit unnecessary licenses  on marginal occupations. This is a matter that the 1889 Institute has spent a lot of effort to address. Senator Nathan Dahm has also written legislation to curtail restriction on license mandates, for things like hair braiding or other cottage industries.