Dealin’

In his business column in today’s NY Post, John Crudele reveals interesting info from north of the border. Pot is now legal in Canada. In the first year, designated sellers had $2 billion in sales, while the black market brought in $5 billion. Tax avoidance is the reason why folks still opt for the latter. Still, government comes out ahead. The minuses of legalization will be elsewhere, such as the long term effects on heavy users, accidents caused by impairment. As macabre as it may sound, I think the pluses will outweigh them, the same as with gambling, although each certainly has the feel of a deal with the devil. I’ll be surprised if prostitution isn’t legal widely in the U.S. by the time I leave this world. Liberalism requires a huge revenue stream, especially since everything in the future will be “free.”

The Post’s Weird But True column has come up with another gem, edited by yours truly. A British woman at a flight check-in was told her bag was overweight. Rather than pay an extra 85 pounds, she donned nine layers of clothing. The ingenuity of humans should never be underestimated.

The floating book shop had good fortune on this glorious day. My thanks to the gentleman who purchased about 25 books and CDs in Russian; and to the one who bought ZEALOT: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan and What the Dog Knows: The Science and Wonder of Working Dogs by Cat Warren; and to Marie, who selected 101 Reasons Cats Are Better Than Kids by Lynda Tiedtke and Rick Menard, a title with which she, sadly, agrees; and to Wolf, sans cane, who chose a total of seven books and CDs in Russian; and to Cabbie, who did a one-for-one swap of paperback thrillers; and to the gent who did a two-for-three swap of books in Russian; and to the couple who did a four-for-three.

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