“Former Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) discusses Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to rescind the Obama-era policy of non-interference in marijuana-friendly states.”
“In the 1970s, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act shifted the focus of the Bureau of Land Management from resource extraction to conservation. The policy marked the beginning of the Sagebrush Rebellion, a grass-roots revolt among ranchers, loggers and miners against environmental laws, like the 1964 Wilderness Act and the 1973 Endangered Species Act. Rural communities believed these new restrictions and regulations undermined their prosperity and shifted the fate of small-town economies into the hands of the federal government.”
“The group of 54 lawmakers sent a letter to the president on Thursday asking him to go against Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ attempts to roll back protections on state marijuana laws, reports Marijuana Moment‘s Tom Angell.
As a candidate, you stated: ‘I really believe we should leave [marijuana] up to the states’ and that ‘it’s got to be a state decision.’ We trust that you still hold this belief, and we request that you urge the Attorney General to reinstate the Cole Memorandum,
wrote the group of lawmakers led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO).”
“Attorney General Jeff Sessions is actively lobbying Congress to overturn existing law prohibiting federal interference in state medical-marijuana policy. As someone who believes in strong constitutional limits on federal power and the rights of patients to choose, I am deeply disappointed. And as a cancer survivor who wanted the choice for myself, I wonder: does Sessions have any idea what it’s like?”
Read more: https://fee.org/articles/jeff-sessions-should-ask-cancer-patients-about-cannabis/
“Today Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed a bill making his state the ninth to legalize marijuana for recreational use and the first to do so through the legislature rather than a ballot initiative. The new law, which takes effect on July 1, allows adults 21 or older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana in public, to grow up to six plants (two of them mature at any one time) per household, and to keep whatever they produce.”
Read more: https://reason.com/blog/2018/01/22/vermont-becomes-the-ninth-state-to-legal
“Many of the heavily-armed activists who flocked to the scene feared that the FBI snipers had a license to kill the Bundys. Their reaction cannot be understood without considering a landmark 1990s case that continues to shape millions of Americans’ attitude towards Washington: the federal killings and coverups at Ruby Ridge.”
“Federal officers would look to arrest more than 1,500 undocumented people while sending a message that immigration policy will be enforced in the sanctuary state, according to a source familiar with the operation. Officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, declined to comment Tuesday on plans for the operation. The campaign, centered in the Bay Area, could happen within weeks, and is expected to become the biggest enforcement action of its kind under President Trump, said the source, who requested anonymity because the plans have not been made public.”
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Feds-planning-massive-Northern-California-12502689.php
“With legal marijuana enjoying consistent majority support in opinion polls—a Pew poll released Friday at support at 61%–the blowback has been immediate, fierce, and across the board. Feeling particularly vulnerable, legal pot state Republicans howled especially loudly.”
Read more: https://www.alternet.org/drugs/america-declares-war-jeff-sessions-threatened-war-weed
“A federal judge ruled Monday that the federal government may not retry Cliven Bundy and his sons after rebuking prosecutors for withholding evidence during their felony trial stemming from an armed standoff four years ago. She said the attorneys were in violation of the Brady rule, which requires prosecutors to disclose evidence that could be favorable to a defendant, and told them it wasn’t possible to proceed with the case. On Monday, she dismissed the case ‘with prejudice,’ meaning the government cannot retry the defendants.”
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-bundy-mistrial-2018-story.html
“Stefan Buck isn’t the only Swiss banker who has been acquitted of this newly created crime by Swiss bankers of conspiracy to deprive the IRS of money. Federal juries also acquitted two other Swiss bankers, which undoubtedly has shaken the IRS and federal prosecutors who have dozens more prosecutions pending.”
Read more: https://www.fff.org/2018/01/08/irs-tyranny-swiss-bankers/