So, President Trump has announced his nominee for the bench: Judge Neil M. Gorsuch.
A lot can happen between announcement and confirmation, so obviously nothing is certain yet, but it’s worth taking a look.
There are a lot of potential problems with this nominee, but there are also some potential bright spots (all from a surface and cursory reading of his Wikipedia entry).
He tends to favor state power over federal power, which is a bonus in this particular phase of drug policy reform. Additionally, he has written against judicial activism – in particular the notion of using the courts as a way to change culture in a way to serve society best, when that should be done at the ballot box. That also seems positive considering most drug policy reform has been happening at the ballot box and in the states. Additionally, he has written against the notion of federal agencies interpreting ambiguous laws instead of the courts.
In criminal law, he understands the importance of mens rea (the idea that the defendant knows that they are breaking a law), something which has been noticeably disappearing from a lot of drug laws.
Again, it’s important to note that Supreme Court rulings that affect drug policy cannot be neatly categorized as right vs. left, but rather tend to focus on more complicated issue of state vs. federal power, individual freedom, the power of federal agencies, etc.
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Oh my word, when I first glance at the headline above for a moment I thought it said Newt Gingrich. I might be lucky to still be alive because that almost gave me a friggin’ heart attack.
Here’s some info I compiled on Gorsuch’s rulings in three interesting marijuana cases: https://massroots.com/blog/trumps-supreme-court-pick-on-marijuana
Thanks, Tom!
Yes, thanks for that. If you get find more information, great.
Well maybe, finally, we can use the “F” word in public. Fascism!
In 2013, the 10th Circuit threw out a lawsuit against the city of Lafayette, Colorado, and its police. The parents of Ryan Wilson, a 22-year-old who died after being stunned with a Taser as he ran from officers, brought the suit. Gorsuch ruled that an officer didn’t use excessive force when he hit Wilson in the head with the stun gun—and killed him—in 2006. The court upheld a District Court’s decision that the officer had qualified immunity
A Look at Neil Gorsuch, Possible Trump SCOTUS Nominee
Marge Baker, executive vice president of People for the American Way, says Gorsuch’s record “clearly shows that he puts his own ideological views above the Constitution and laws.†She adds: “His decisions routinely support the interests of corporations over those of everyday Americans. If appointed and confirmed to our nation’s highest bench, he’d seriously endanger civil rights, women’s rights, and workers’ rights.â€
Gorsuch wrote. “Given the direction we have from the Supreme Court and this court’s precedent, and in light of the state of the law as of 2006, we cannot say the district court erred in its decision to grant qualified immunity.†The Supreme Court, he said, “has directed the lower federal courts to apply qualified immunity broadly†to protect all officers except “the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.â€
Death by Taser: The Killer Alternative to Guns
Long touted as a safer alternative to handguns for law enforcement, tasers are potentially deadly weapons that have a growing history of abuse by police and security guards.
Ryan is one of nearly 200 people who have died in the last five years after being shot by a Taser stun gun. In June, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would review these deaths.
Over the same period, Taser has developed a near-monopoly in the market for non-lethal weaponry. Increasingly, law enforcement officials use such weapons to subdue society’s most vulnerable members: prisoners, drug addicts and the mentally ill, along with “passive resisters,” like the protesters demonstrating against Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s attendance of a Rick Santorum fundraiser in Pittsburgh on Oct. 9.
Amnesty International and other human rights groups have also drawn attention to the use of Tasers on captive populations in hospitals, jails and prisons.
Taser deployment in jails and prisons has become increasingly commonplace, raising concerns about violations of 8th Amendment prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment.
As increasing numbers of police departments obtained Taser stun guns, the weapons started to be deployed against civilians with greater frequency.
Taser has triumphed in more than 20 liability dismissals and judgments in favor of the company
The DEA scheduling system has no scientific basis at all
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/2063
What the WHO doesn’t want you to know about cannabis
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/503
WASP! (white Anglo-Saxon prohibitionist—and Protestant). Neil Gorsuch downplays his religion (Episcopalian), as it doesn’t show up in his Wiki bio. However, if appointed to the Supreme Court, Gorsuch would pursue a right wing authoritarian religious agenda that would likely target recreational drug consumption, as well as other types of drugs for other purposes.
From Carrie Johnson at NPR:
The Episcopal Church describes itself as “Protestant, yet Catholic”[8] (Episcopalian-ibid). It would seem Neil Gorsuch is Catholic (anti-LGBT), yet Protestant? In such a case, Gorsuch might be expected to support Catholic Catechisms 2289-91:
Contrary to the moral law indeed. Fascism is noted for its lack of a separation of powers, and it’s typical of fascism to lack a separation of state and corporations (Mussolini’s corporatism). Another fascism indicator is no separation of church and state. Gorsuch is being selected as a supreme court justice to help overturn Roe v. Wade. If that occurs, we can expect new drug prohibitions to arise.
RU-486, and the morning-after pill, will be removed from the pharmacies, and will instead be offered on the black market. Natural abortifacients such as the seeds of the Bird of Paradise plant, will come under DEA control, along with the plant itself. Drugs used for euthanasia also face federal obstruction, as Gorsuch has written extensively against the practice of assisted suicide. Given his visible ideological tendencies, placing Neil McGill Gorsuch on the Supreme Court will usher in a new, long-lasting era of Supreme Court political activism and neo-fascist drug prohibition. He must be Borked.
@Pete and DDC and Drugwarrrant commenters
Just letting everyone know, Richard Mullinax a former Straight Inc patient who later became National Director at Straight Inc has died, he committed suicide 4 days ago, for anyone who do not know what he did, 10 years ago he responded to a request from the Survivors of Straight Inc and even issued a apology letter to the survivors, from what I was told it destroyed Richard Mullinax’s marriage.
http://survivingstraightinc.com/survivors_request_for_apology_1_apology_received
Mr. Mullinax’s Public Acknowledgment and Apology to Straight, Inc. Survivors
January 1, 2009
An Apology to Survivors of Straight Inc. from a Former Executive Staff Member
This letter is in response to the Straight, Inc. Survivor’s Letter Requesting
Acknowledgement and an Apology.
My name is Richard Mullinax. From 1985 – 1989, I was a staff member at Straight Incorporated, a drug and alcohol treatment facility for adolescents. If my memory serves me correctly, the dates, locations and positions of my employment were as follows:
Fall 1985 – Group Staff Trainee, Springfield, VA
Fall 1985 – Spring 1986 – Junior Staff, Springfield, VA
Spring 1986 – Winter 1987 – Senior Staff, Springfield, VA
Winter 1987 – Spring 1987 – Executive Staff, Springfield, VA
Spring 1987 – Fall 1987 – Executive Staff, Cincinnati, OH
Fall 1987 – Spring 1988 – Executive Staff, Springfield, VA
Spring 1988 – Spring 1989 – Executive Staff, Atlanta, GA
There were brief periods between 1985 and 1989 that I was not employed by Straight, and I may have some of the months wrong above.
For 19 years, I gave very little thought to my actions as a staff member of Straight. Then, in the Spring and Summer of 2008, I began to interact with Straight Survivors and listened to their experiences. As the weeks and months progressed, I became increasingly aware of the damage I caused to Straight Survivors as a staff member. After much reflection on the events of the 1980’s I have become very much aware that many Straight Survivors lost their integrity, innocence, sense of self worth, youth, ability to trust others, family relationships and more as a result of my actions as a staff member, and I deeply regret that I am responsible for this as a Staff Member.
I realize now that many Survivors still suffer from diagnosed psychological disorders such as post traumatic stress disorder, severe depression, social phobias, panic disorders, etc. caused by imprisonment in Straight, Inc, and that many Survivors still endure vivid Straight, Inc. nightmares, can still hear the screams of children as they were abused, and cannot forget the abuse they personally endured or witnessed as vulnerable children. I am deeply ashamed of my role in this, including not putting a stop to it.
By publishing this this letter in a public forum, I publicly acknowledge that
Straight, Inc. unjustly committed various crimes, abused children, and utilized
extremely unethical practices against innocent young clients, which included,
but were not limited to the following:
1) Brainwashing (aka coercive thought reform);
2) Physical abuse;
3) Usage of illegal and or unethical restraints – children routinely restrained children at the direction of staff for minor infractions (i.e. not motivating, not paying attention, etc.);
4) Unethical forms of extreme humiliation, including but not limited to; beltlooping, no privacy/watched while urinating, defecating, or bathing, motivating;
5) Food deprivation (ie. peanut butter diets, inadequate portions of food);
6) Sleep deprivation – caused by unwarranted, prolonged daily group hours (12), other time spent in the building (up to at least 3 additional pre and/or post group hours), lengthy commuting time, and in many cases, due to intentionally withholding sleep as punishment for not “cooperating†to coerce compliance;
7) Verbal abuse – unduly harsh confrontational tactics that included swearing, screaming, yelling, spitting, belittling, humiliating, etc., a child in front of a large group of child clients;
8.) Sexual abuse; (while I was not aware of this while on staff, in recent months I have become aware, through the testimony of other Straight survivors, that this did happen)
9) Psychological abuse;
10) Coerced confessions;
11) Unjustifiable and lengthy isolation in intake and/or time out rooms;
12) Denial of necessary medical care;
13) Kidnapping;
14) False Imprisonment;
15) Accepting clients with little/no drug history (the so?called “dry druggie†theory);(Specifically, I was personally responsible for conducting client intakes that resulted in children with little history of drug or alcohol use);
16) Employing uneducated, unprofessional teenage staff. Specifically, I allowed myself to be employed by Straight as a counselor, knowing full well that I had no outside training and no education.
Additionally, I apologize for the allowing the abuse, unethical practices and
crimes to continue for years, and lending my name to, sponsoring, recommending,
and endorsing Straight Inc., and for admitting children, their siblings and
parents to Straight Inc., and for failing to properly and adequately oversee
and monitor Straight, Inc.
I regret my decision to go on staff and I regret my actions as a Straight staff
member. I made the decision to go on staff and I made the decision to advance
to Executive Staff. I am responsible for these actions and take full
responsibility. As a former Straight client myself, I, of all people, should
have known better.
I am aware of several former Straight clients who have taken their own lives.
Many of these people I knew personally. I can’t begin to understand the
circumstances of each death, but I have no doubt that in some of these deaths
Straight had a role in this. My heart aches for the victims of suicide and
their loved ones. I wish I could bring them back.
I would like to turn the clock back to 1985 and make better decisions. However,
I am unable to undo the damage I have caused. I am unable to make any financial
restitution to former victims, as well. However, in recent months, I have had
the honor and privilege of interacting with former Straight clients who were
victims of my actions and the actions of other Straight staff. It is my hope
that these interactions have been a step toward healing the wounds that have remained for 2 decades.
Along those lines, there is something I can do; I can make myself available to
Straight Survivors. If you or someone you know feels it would be productive to
communicate privately with me for any reason, please contact the moderator of this web site.
It is my hope that other Executive Staff and administrators will take this
opportunity to acknowledge and apologize for their part in Straight, Inc. If
any former staff would like to communicate with me privately for any reason,
please contact the moderator of this web site.
In closing, it is my sincere hope that survivors of Straight can find the
healing and closure that they need and deserve. I look forward to being a part
of that healing.
Sincerely,
Richard Mullinax
Straight Inc. Staff
1985 – 1989
January 18, 2011 – Amendment to Letter of Acknowledgment & Apology dated 12/31/2008
It has been 2 years since I issued the above letter of acknowledgment and apology. After very careful consideration, I feel it necessary to amend my letter so as to avoid causing any further harm to Survivors of Straight, Inc.
In the third to the last paragraph, I stated,
” … there is something I can do; I can make myself available to Straight Survivors. If you or someone you know feels it would be productive to communicate privately with me for any reason, please contact the moderator of this web site and request that I contact you. I am happy to do so, especially if it would help in the healing process.” In some public postings of the letter, I later added contact information.
I believe now that I was in error in making this commitment for 2 reasons:
1. This statement can be interpreted in many ways, one of which is that I was offering to counsel others on their own experiences in Straight, Inc. I am most certainly not a mental health professional. I was not a mental health professional in 1989 and I am not a mental health professional today. I did not intend to imply that I am qualified to, or would, offer advice, counseling, suggestions or direction of any kind.
Since writing this letter, I have had numerous interactions with Survivors regarding the letter. While I have shared my own experiences, I have been cautious never to offer advice, counseling, suggestions or direction of any kind. Nonetheless, I believe it necessary to amend this letter for this clarification.
2. By some estimates, there are over 50,000 former Straight clients. Had I considered this 2 years ago as I should have, I would have not made the offer of private interaction. To the best of my knowledge, I have kept my commitment to interact with Survivors, thus far. However, extending such an invitation to so many will eventually result in an inability on my part to meet that commitment. I believe this would be detrimental to Survivors and cause yet further harm. I was wrong to make a commitment I may eventually not be able to keep.
I stand by the public nature of this letter and all other statements it contains, including and especially the second to the last paragraph.
Respectfully,
Richard Mullinax
Now if he had any morals
Sembler would make reservations to join him.
Apart from his scantly-known views on pot legalization, it is worth noting that the Daily Beast referred Neil Gorsuch as the “dream candidate of the Christian Right†who is “enthusiastically pro-life and conservative on all other issues near and dear to evangelicals who held their noses and who elected a morally flawed president.â€
Where Does Trump’s Choice for the Supreme Court
Stand on Weed Legalization?
“This case owes its genesis to the mixed messages the federal government is sending these days about the distribution of marijuana,†Gorsuch explained. “So it is that today prosecutors will almost always overlook federal marijuana distribution crimes in Colorado but the tax man never will.â€
Joint Blog, which reported that a former student of Gorsuch’s asked him several years ago whether or not he supported legalization. Gorsuch responded by saying that, at the very least, he supports “the federal government getting out of the business of prohibiting in.â€
A Chicken Coup: Chicken Hawks and Chicken Littles
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/1155
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“This case owes its genesis to the mixed messages the federal government is sending these days about the distribution of marijuana,†Gorsuch explained.
Since we already know that President Trump is not known for subtlety or nuance, his administration needs to make a black or white decision regarding cannabis. No more “grey area” policies of the previous administration.
So, the only choices are;
a) Decide that any and all cannabis related businesses that are operating in states where cannabis is legalized — recreational, medical or both — exist in flagrant violation of federal law(s) with respect to the CSA. Notify those businesses, and the people who own them, that their illegal activity needs to end. The only rational and humane way to do this is to allow these businesses a period of time (30 days? 90 days? or?) to unwind their operations. However, any remaining businesses still in operation after the ‘cease and desist’ grace period will subject themselves to the full array of enforcement methods the federal government has at its disposal. Basically it’s game over for state level legalized cannabis, full stop. One possible deviation: With President Trump’s stated support for medical cannabis he might decide to allow large pharmaceutical companies to take over all research and development of future cannabis based drugs — if they choose to — going through the already established FDA approval process.
–Or, conversely–
b) Take a good look at the 800 hundred pound legalized cannabis gorilla in the room and realize that federal prohibition of cannabis is no longer enforceable. Momentarily ruminate (but not too long) on the fact that with 29 states and Washington, D.C. having some kind of legal cannabis laws on the books, it’s game over for federal cannabis prohibition. Especially since the trend is undeniably moving toward even more states likely to legalize cannabis, for whatever purpose, in the future. Based on these observable facts (no ‘alternative facts’, please) the only solution is for President Trump to issue an executive order removing cannabis from the CSA entirely. No mamby-pamby rescheduling to II or III or any of that nonsense. No long and drawn out special investigative committees to look into the plausibility of such an action. Worried about violating ‘international treaties’? Mr. ‘Art of the Deal’ can renegotiate, revoke or ignore them. “Very simple, not a problem” his tweet should read. The states then take over and eliminate, modify or strengthen cannabis laws as they see fit.
Finally an end to the Obama administration’s pathetic lack of solid guidance and definitive action on the subject. It’s yes or no time for the Trump administration. Time to choose one way or the other and get it done. Next!
Anne Gorsuch-Burford, deceased mother of Supreme Court nominee Neil McGill Gorsuch, is receiving media attention for her disastrous two-year role as Reagan’s EPA director, wherein she was forced to resign after being cited for contempt of Congress. Both Ms. Burford and her son Neil appear to have been highly capable humanities majors in college who didn’t need no stinkin’ science, something obvious in Ms. Burford’s botched tenure as head of a science oriented government agency.
Neil Gorsuch’s attitudes about marijuana might hinge on his mother’s cancer and death at 62 that likely resulted from Anne being a two-pack-a-day cigarette smoker. Since Neil Gorsuch appears willfully ignorant of science, he may be like some prohibitionists who regard marijuana as being no different from tobacco in its long term health effects. After all, joints sometimes look like cigarettes. It’s doubtful Gorsuch ever read the Tashkin study, where it was shown that smoking marijuana in combination with tobacco reduces the incidence of certain types of cancers known to be induced by smoked tobacco.
The political destinies of Ms. Burford and her son would have been conditioned by right wing politics in Colorado. During the McCarthy era and beyond, 15% of Colorado citizens belonged to the John Birch Society. Contact with the John Birch Society would have meant contact with Fred Koch and later the Koch brothers, Charles and David. Failed Interior Secretary James G. Watt was closely associated with Anne Burford. The Gorsuch-Burford family would have been well acquainted with Colorado’s arch-right–wing Coors family, owners of the Coors beer company, and famous big donors to right wing political causes.
It was the social milieu of extreme know-nothing politics that spawned the man now being considered for a position on the Supreme Court. He wouldn’t be its current nominee without it. We cannot expect Neil Gorsuch to have a clue about how the world or universe works, but we can expect his diminished intellectual capacity to further empower anti-environmentalists and prohibitionists.
Bios of Anne Burford:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3418-2004Jul21.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/02/01/neil-gorsuchs-mother-once-ran-the-epa-it-was-a-disaster/?utm_term=.b8cde571d002
…We cannot expect Neil Gorsuch to have a clue about how the world or universe works…
And these nut jobs wonder why we do drugs.
Now that Donald Trump has nominated right-wing extremist Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, we need an all-out effort to stop his nomination. And that requires mobilizing immediately to demand Senate Democrats do everything they can to stop him.
Support efforts to stop changing Senate rules
https://www.ofa.us/support-efforts-to-stop-changing-senate-rules
Santa Cruz REJECTS Trump’s nominee
http://action.dccc.org/petition/trump-supreme-court
Call Senators: Filibuster Trump’s Supreme Court nominee
http://act.democracyforamerica.com/call/filibuster-trump-nominee
Unfortunately, some Senate Democrats are already squishy on using a filibuster to stop Gorsuch. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said “We should not repeat the Republican wrong. Two wrongs don’t make a right,” referring to Republican obstruction of Merrick Garland last year.
Senate Dems block today’s Pruitt confirmation hearing
League of Conservation Voters
https://www.lcv.org/
Senators: Reject Judge Gorsuch and any SCOTUS nominee who will not protect our fundamental rights and liberties!
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/issues/judges/
Gorsuch Nomination an ‘Affront to All Who Care About Women’s Health and Rights,’ Ness Says, Urging Senate to Refuse to Confirm Him
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/news-room/press-releases/gorsuch-nomination-an-affront-to-all-who-care-about-womens-health-and-rights-ness-says-urging-senate-to-refuse-to-confirm-him.html
WisDems
Should Democrats accept Donald Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee?
https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dpw-survey
“The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer.” Henry Kissinger, August 29, 1967.
From the school yearbook of Neil Gorsuch who founded his elite school’s “Fascism Forever Club” which combatted left-wing faculty.
A fan of Kissinger and unconstitutional acts. Sounds like a perfect fit for Empire.
Might also note that Gorsuch has been a fascist from the jump. .
As if they’re giving him enough rope to hang himself.
So the infrastructure of Drumpf Inc is led by a Billionaire and highly goyish, hardcore conservative evangelical Khristzions. After all, in the minds of the Supremacist, the Jews killed Jesus and were given the Christian Holy Land from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Take out the 7 “radical Muslim” countries and claim Israel as a state. With Faux News Bill O’Really all out of sorts that there are actually other religions holidays. The Liberals are always trying to kill Christmas for Bill and now his GOPerversions are behind a group of creepy old white dudes not even recognizing Christmas or Halloween. Down right UnAmerican.
☛ Meet the Evangelical Christians Behind TedcRUzMP
— They’re Super Jewy
On the one hand, surely it feels creepy to watch a group of highly goyish, hardcore conservative evangelicals blow the shofar, wear the tallit and observe Passover. These aren’t Jews for Jesus; they’re not here to convert us. These are Jesus people for Judaism, creating a new hybrid religion in front of our eyes
And their politics are indeed extreme. Wilks’s foundation is bankrolling far-right anti-abortion groups, Kim Davis’s lawyers and several organizations that have been designated as hate groups.
They sleep in tents on Sukkot, but reject Christmas and Halloween.
Of the remaining Republican presidential hopefuls, Ted Cruz has emerged as the candidate of the Christian right. Yet he is also the candidate of the 1%, with just four people donating over $31 million to his campaign: eccentric billionaire Robert Mercer, longtime friend Toby Neugebauer, and two brothers, Farris and Dan Wilks.
The Wilks brothers are billionaires, after all. And they use their money to promote a Christian-Dominionist-anointed presidential candidate, to use the apparatus of the state to enforce a theological view of conception, and to continue to fight the lost legal cause of “traditional marriage.†They’re not into “live and let live.â€
More on the Anne Gorsuch Burford connection, Trump is imitating Ronald Reagan in his choice of appointments. Neil Gorsuch is a double whammy appointment, anti-environment and anti-Roe v Wade. More on the Gorsuch family links to Coors and Watt. From Jeffrey St Clair at CounterPunch:
Former drug czar and anti-education secretary Bill Bennett’s career was launched by Reagan:
If Betsy DeVos doesn’t get to be education secretary on Monday, she can always become the new drug czar.
If they’re dumbing down the population with alternative facts 24/7. They may as well profit on it too. Like Rayguns selling Peeble Beach Betsy DeVoid can sell the schools to the Koch Prison Industrial Complex or Haliburton School of Fracking or Monsanto Frankenfud. I just saw released tapes on Trump You! Now the King of Debt has the briefcase with the red button. Is it any wonder why America has a prescription drug and drinking problem?
Candid discussions with the Heartland Institute’s director Joseph Bast about why they’re so vehemently anti-science on climate change.
Secretive Computer Scientist-Turned-Hedge Fund CEO
“We realized that if the science was true that would allow liberals to justify pretty much any kind of regulation, so we took another look at the science.â€
Naomi Klein – Bill Moyers Interview
In World War II, the government quickly restructured the biggest U.S. industries for the war effort. That fear—of federal intervention—appears to a major driver behind Mercer’s career path and political activism.
Why Do YOU Think They Call it DOPE?
* Cannabis Hemp: The Invisible Prohibition Revealed
* The Elkhorn Manifesto
* Marijuana and Hemp: The Untold Story
* The Nation of Apathetic Puppets By John Pilger
* Maintaining Dysfunction
Reagans 100th birthday
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1671
Nancy Reagan’s Role in the Disastrous War on Drugs
Resident Ronald Reagan, at the urging of then Vice Resident George Bush, appointed Carlton Turner as the White House Drug (czar) Advisor in 1981. Soon after Turner left office, Nancy Reagan recommended that no corporation be permitted to do business with the Federal government without having a urine purity policy in place to show their loyalty.
The Lost Opportunities of Iran-Contra
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1785
Documents: Feds allegedly allowed Sinaloa cartel to move several tons of cocaine into United States in exchange for information about rival cartels, according to court documents filed in a U.S. federal court. Drug kingpin Joaquin “Chapo†Guzman and the son of Ismael “Mayo†Zambada-Garcia, believed to be the brains behind the Sinaloa cartel. George H. W. Bush The Mena Connection – Exposing the CIA, Bush, Clinton and Criminal Conspiracy Coverup.
John P. Walters is uniquely qualified for his “Drug Czar” job. He was actually involved in the Iran-Contra Drug Trafficking Cover-up. John Negroponte covered up reports on human rights abuses committed by the U.S.-backed Honduran military linked to “death-squad activities.” Otto Reich “Under Reagan, headed the Office of Public Diplomacy. “The purpose of his office was none other than to get the American people to side with war over peace, using propaganda methods determined to be ‘improper,”
“A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends.†– Vice President Henry Wallace, 1944. — https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/03/americanism-us-writers-imagine-fascist-future-fiction
Trump will expect Neil Gorsuch to support White House anti-immigration, anti-drug policies, and the wall. Much about Trump’s border wall and his views on illegal immigration can be laid at the feet of Gen. Kelly, the new US secretary of Homeland Security, who has focused on drug interdiction. General John Francis Kelly filled General McCaffrey’s old job as head of the US Southern Command overseeing Latin America and the drug war. From a July 5, 2014 article by Molly O’Toole:
Why a Mexican border wall and not a Canadian border wall?
And then there is this:
Wall or no wall, Trump (and Bannon) want to turn Mexico into the next Syria, ostensibly to stem the flow of illicit drugs. More likely, they just want to beat up on Mexico. The threat of a 35% tax on goods shipped from Mexico has already caused a devaluation of the peso.
The Wall we NEED is around the 4th-grade intelligence of Agent Orange. We’re being led by someone who can’t read and is basically a functional illiterate. A functional illiterate who is also a malignant narcissist.
What could possibly go wrong? Walls are for pussy grabbers who need sanctuary from blowback.
Why a Mexican border wall and not a Canadian border wall?
Canada is primarily white. Terrorist are Brown.unless they’re elected or super rich, The only time they threatened Canada with border sanctions is when they threatened to legalize pot during Clinton and Bush. Now they’re threatening again so maybe he’ll make an exception at the risk of losing KKK support.
Canada’s Supremes Cower Under DEAth Threats
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/384
I’ve predicted Endocannabinoid Deficiency is the root cause of the DNC groupies and republicans fear centers growing in size. With Drumpf lies making it worse on citizens and his ability to kick his own Authoritarian Addiction. Now his agenda to terrorize 7 countries who have never attacked America leaving out the main country supporting terrorism, Saudi Arabia. Still the worst terror attack on Americans was the Controlled Substance Act terrorizing 30 million citizens with arrest records and sick people living in stressful conditions caused by the prohibitionist government.
Trump’s Lying Is Changing Our Brains Like It Or Not
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvlmg4O493c
Unreported airstrikes and collateral damage or in reality dead people. Terrorists come in all shapes and then jerk flags to justify it.
US not reporting all airstrikes in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan
The U.S. Military’s Stats on Deadly Airstrikes are Wrong.
Thousands Have Gone Unreported
A Chicken Coup: Chicken Hawks and Chicken Littles
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/1155
By far the most numerous and most flagrant violations of personal liberty and individual rights are performed by governments … The major crimes throughout history, the ones executed on the largest scale, have been committed not by individuals or bands of individuals but by governments, as a deliberate policy of those governments … that is, by the official representatives of governments, acting in their official capacity.
–John Hospers
Has Trump Set the Table for the Reichstag Fire?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7zJjDjOtt0
On tonight’s Big Picture, Thom discusses how Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch could be dangerous for the separation of church and state with Rev. Barry Lynn. Then, Thom talks to Sarah Badawi of Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Nuchhi Currier of the Woman’s National Democratic Club about Steve Bannon’s dangerous nationalist views, and how the public is reacting to Republican pushes to repeal Obamacare.
How Trump is Blowing Up the Separation of Church & State
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgZxJ5VH5mY
Could this Kill the Anti-Trump Resistance Before It Ramps Up?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw3m6TTsSjY
Indivisible: A Practical Guide For Resisting Trump
https://t.co/9EFwPBwLkD
12-29-2008, Wall Street journal. Igor Panarin,
a Russian professor predicted the USA break up.
“I’ve been in this town for 26 years. I have never seen anything like this. I genuinely do not think this is a mentally healthy president.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-administration-leaks_us_589a45f1e4b04061313a1fbb?
Elizabeth Warren barred from Senate debate for ‘impugning’ Jeff Sessions
https://t.co/0LNREBWBoT
The irony of Mr. Sessions’ nomination is that, if confirmed, he will be given life tenure for doing with a federal prosecution what the local sheriffs accomplished twenty years ago with clubs and cattle prods.
The scope and character of the investigations conducted by Mr. Sessions also warrant grave concern. Witnesses were selectively chosen in accordance with the favorability of their testimony to the government’s case. Also, the prosecution illegally withheld from the defense critical statements made by witnesses. Witnesses who did testify were pressured and intimidated into submitting the “correct” testimony.
Twitter: #LetLizSpeak.
The Coretta Scott King letter Elizabeth Warren was trying to read
Transcript of the letter, as read by Sen. Elizabeth Warren
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/08/politics/elizabeth-warren-coretta-scott-king-letter-jeff-sessions/
Coretta Scott King’s 1986 statement and testimony
on Jeff Sessions’s U.S. District Court nomination in Alabama
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3259988-Scott-King-1986-Letter-and-Testimony-Signed.html#document/p1
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III AG
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/1142
… to our courts. Mr. Sessions has used the awesome power of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters …
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris)
https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/829157729696677888
Sessions won confirmation almost exclusively along party lines. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) was the only Democrat who supported him and no Republicans voted against him.
Amid deep partisan rancor, Senate confirms Sessions for attorney general
GOP elevates Warren’s standing by ordering her silenced
52 47
A glimmer of sanity in a wag the dog world of an infowars president.
H.R.715 – Compassionate Access Act
115th Congress (2017-2018) | Get alerts
Sponsor: Rep. Griffith, H. Morgan [R-VA-9] (Introduced 01/27/2017)
Committees: House – Energy and Commerce; Judiciary
Latest Action: 01/27/2017 Referred to House Judiciary (All Actions)
☛ Bill Seeks to Reschedule Marijuana Under the CSA
☛ Thousands Call for Full Weed Legalization at Tel Aviv Rally
☛ Meet the ‘Nuns’ Who Grow Medical Marijuana
☛ The CEO of the ‘Uber for weed’ says These Mints are the Next Big Thing in Marijuana
☛ Joints on Your Pillow: The Growing World of Cannabis Tourism
DdC, I’m having trouble finding any glimmer of sanity in H.R. 715. What am I missing because it looks like stuff you’ve trashed in the past? I think NORML is wrong to ask people to support this incremental bullshit.
Marijuana is NOT two cannabinoids isolated from the rest of the plant and NEVER will be. Marijuana equals whole-plant or it’s a meaningless term.
You’re right NCN
I first heard of it on the CA NORML site and then looked it up. Since Ryan has already stopped any new cannabis legislation I don’t think it has a chance. I do agree with you after a second look at it. More incrementalism. At best its a missleading headline. Sorry and thanks for the catch. Now we need warning labels on NORML?
Do your favorite songs no longer produce the same feelings? Something may be amiss with your opioid receptors. From McGill University in Quebec:
In the U.S., pleasure is a major taboo. It’s also known as hedonism. So it’s no wonder research on the topic doesn’t get funded by the NIDA. Also, the study probably couldn’t have been done in the U.S. because the college students in the study were given opioids for research reasons rather than medical needs.
In a separate study that was funded by the NIDA, “…the commercial weight-loss drug lorcaserin, when given to rats who had been self-administering oxycodone, appeared to reduce their use of and craving for the opioid. â€â€”AAAS Public Release: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-02/acs-cwd020817.php .
The idea that someday pills may be mailed from a doctor’s office to a person’s home that can alleviate opiate addiction must be driving the addiction treatment industry mad with fears of their own obsolescence.
Chocolate is in the news as the chemical connoisseurs at the American Chemical Society present their latest video on the chemistry of people’s favorite guilt-ridden pleasure.
Chocolate, or cacao, has a history of prohibition. It was among the many ethnobotanicals banned by the Spanish Inquisition during the colonial period in Central and South America as part of a successful effort by the Spanish that enslaved indigenous Americans by robbing them of their identity and culture. The process is analogous to robbing Joe of his six-pack identity by prohibiting cheap beer. The sordid history of chocolate may be why we don’t hear much about Spanish chocolate. Heretics such as the Dutch, Belgians, and Germans stepped in to seize the chocolate market, which has been profitable ever since.
Chocolate has many scary chemicals, about 800 in the aroma alone, making it a prime target for fear-mongering prohibitionists. It also has a psychoactive chemical or ‘love-drug’ in it called phenylethylamine, which sounds suspiciously like 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenylethylamine, commonly known as mescaline. From the ACS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rSaOv8vZyY
Not all things bode well for the chocolate industry. Here is CNN’s take on the St. Valentine’s Day confection:
The dark ingredient in your chocolate.
More on the healthy passion of chocolate:
https://srch.eurekalert.org/e3/query.html?qt=chocolate+genetic&pw=100.101%25
Marijuana Law Reformers React to Attorney General Jeff Sessions https://t.co/b87Zq1sUZ3
Supreme Court nominee Gorsuch says Trump’s attacks on judiciary are ‘demoralizing’
https://tinyurl.com/gq5pwsj
Seems comforting somehow.
Dems said they would block anyone not standing up to Trump yesterday. Like Trump, what they say is what is needed to be said. It has little or no bearing on what will be done or what has been done. End justifies Means. Since Sessions its clear they care less about what the people think. They have the majority. Now the gutting and cage filling. Black and @hite TV and purity tests.
The Violence of Silence
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/02/08/the-violence-of-silence/
It’s not just Trump. It’s his trusty sidekick, de facto führer, and failed movie maker Stephan Kevin Bannon. Andrew Breitbart called Bannon the Leni Riefenstahl of the Tea Party movement. Bannon is determined to malign science by linking it to its use by Nazis in genetics experiments, and the pseudoscience of the past. I suspect he fears genetics experiments on fruit flies, much as Sarah Palin cautioned in her statement on fruit flies eight years ago. Palin’s religion also promotes belief in witches. Bannon’s movie career is profiled in the DailyBeast:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/02/09/steve-bannon-wanted-mel-gibson-for-his-movie-about-nazis-abortion-mutants.html
Business The Huffington Post
An Open Letter to Jeff Sessions From A Doctor Concerned About Marijuana
Let me start by introducing myself. I am Dr. David Bearman, I am considered to be one of the most clinically knowledgable physicians in the field of medical cannabis in the United States. I have spent 40 years working in substance and drug abuse treatment and prevention programs. I was a pioneer in the free and community clinics that are now available to Americans everywhere. I was even a member of then-California Governor Ronald Reagan’s Interagency Task Force on Drug Abuse. I urge you, if confirmed, to take medical cannabis seriously and not only allow state programs to continue to flourish but urge the president, the DEA, Congress and FDA to work on seriously reconsidering America’s current drug laws and policies. continued
‘Come after me’: Pennsylvania pol goes off on ‘gibbon’ Trump in profanity-laced Facebook post
Pennsylvania state Sen. Daylin Leach went after President Trump on Tuesday, branding him a “fascist, loofa-faced, s***-gibbon,†and challenging him to “come after me.â€
Leach, a Philadelphia-area Democrat, posted a Politico report on Facebook about the president’s recent White House meeting with county sheriffs from across the country. During the meeting, one sheriff brought up civil asset forfeiture, a practice allowing law enforcement to seize money and property belonging to individuals accused of committing a crime, even before a verdict is handed down.
The sheriff, from Rockwall County, Texas, griped about a Texas state senator seeking to change the law so that a conviction would be required before a suspect’s assets could be seized.
The sheriff joked that “the cartel would build a monument†to the legislator.
“Who is the state senator? Do you want to give his name? We’ll destroy his career,†Trump responded.
President Trump Speaks to Sheriffs Like an Old School Drug Warrior https://tinyurl.com/jzf9mfl
The simple minded thinking of the drug war warriors sounds like an old rerun of Nixon era strategic thinking on fighting a drug war.
We have left the simpleton solutions to the simpleton minded.
“THE PRESIDENT: How much of your crime is caused, do you think, by drugs generally?”
“SHERIFF MAHONEY: Eighty percent?”
“THE PRESIDENT: Eighty percent. So without drugs, you would have a whole different ballgame.”
“SHERIFF MAHONEY: I have a jail, over 1,000 beds. Eighty percent suffer from chronic drug and alcohol addiction.”
“PARTICIPANT: Mr. President, I hate to interrupt — it used to take 90 days to take a load of heroin from the border to get it into the (inaudible) mainstream. Now it’s taking 14 days.”
“THE PRESIDENT: Okay, well, we’ll have it take infinity, okay? (Laughter.)”
Mr. Trump also signalled again that the push to end the abuse of civil asset forfeiture is over and we’ll be returning to swiping innocent people’s stuff to enrich police departments …
– Right up the alley of the eager justice minded sheriff’s crews who listen to Trump with visions of dollar signs in their happy simple minds.
Trump appears to be ushering in an era of ignorant drug war bliss. Even Barnum and Baily is ending their circus. Trump needs some lessons in how to end a circus. https://tinyurl.com/z8d2ymn
Right now he sounds like PT Barnam. There’s a sucker born every minute in the world of drug war.
https://tinyurl.com/zfkwts9
… “Trump shouldn’t let a member of his own cabinet pigeonhole him into flip-flopping on his campaign position and promises, nor should the president buy into Sessions’ ridiculous and outdated approach to cannabis. If Trump does anything other than responsibly work to reform our nation’s failed drug policies, Americans must remember to speak out against these unjust laws and continue to fight for our country’s most disenfranchised. We must remind each other and our elected officials of our moral obligation to disobey unjust laws, and to respect the will of the voters and what the majority of Americans want: End cannabis prohibition now.”
And this part of the exchange TC;
.
PARTICIPANT: You shouldn’t be allowed to profit from the illegal proceeds. So if you’re going to sell narcotics and sell illegal drugs in our country, you also cannot profit from that. And so we seize those profits.
THE PRESIDENT: So do we need any legislation or any executive orders for that, would you say, Dana — to put that back in business?
MR. BOENTE: I don’t think we need any executive orders. We just need kind of some encouragement to move in that direction.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Good. You’re in charge. (Laughter.) I love that answer, because it’s better than signing executive orders and then these people take it and they make it look so terrible — “oh, it’s so terrible.†I love it. You’re encouraged.
PARTICIPANT: Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Asset forfeiture. You’re encouraged. Okay. Yes, sir.
———————-
So, now we’re back to the Simpleton-In-Chief, who needs no in-depth description of the scope of the issue (nothing about seized assets without a criminal conviction). Just ask for what is needed. Get the shortest, most simplistic answer possible — “just need kind of some encouragement”. Then, “You’re encouraged” is uttered and the problem is solved.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he eventually asks if an executive order is all that’s needed to ‘delete’ the 4th Amendment.
Donald Trump Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch on Marijuana
http://www.weednews.co/donald-trump-supreme-court-nominee-neil-gorsuch-on-marijuana/
*
Donald Trump Removes Marijuana Opposition from White House Website
*http://www.weednews.co/donald-trump-removes-marijuana-opposition-from-white-house-website/
Will Donald Trump Nominate Marijuana Legalizer to Head the FDA?
*http://www.weednews.co/will-donald-trump-nominate-marijuana-legalizer-to-head-the-fda/
Donald Trump Is Too Authoritarian to Trust His Marijuana Policy
*http://www.weednews.co/donald-trump-is-too-authoritarian-to-trust-his-marijuana-policy/
Searching for Jack Herer, the ‘Emperor’ of American Cannabis
https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/searching-jack-herer-emperor-american-cannabis