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You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III’s Anti-Marijuana Mandate Unites All Parties

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III’s Anti-Marijuana Mandate Unites All Parties

by Anne Laurie|  January 5, 20188:25 am| 123 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, Fables Of The Reconstruction, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, The War on Your Neighbor, aka the War on Drugs

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The empire strikes back.

Jeff Sessions is obsessed with cannabis, and with locking up people of color. He may perceive California as the tipping point in legalization. This very well could be his last chance to preserve mass incarceration as he knows it. https://t.co/QfzdOMyopO

— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) January 4, 2018

GOP states rights:

You can’t force us to recognize & protect people’s rights & freedoms.

We can force you to restrict & deny people’s rights & freedoms. https://t.co/S1d0HIPwwg

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) January 4, 2018

Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent — all agree: Sessions’ motives are the worst. And apart from all the (poor, powerless, mostly not-white) people he’s going to hurt, the Republican “brand” will suffer because of his regressive obsession with “the demon weed”.

No idea if Jeff Sessions actually cares about pot but he and cops deeply care about cops being able to arrest and imprison the "wrong" people whenever they want to and petty possession charges are a tool for that.

— Michael T Sweeney (@mtsw) January 4, 2018

Are we about to see Bilbo Biggot ride in on a horse to lead federal troops to set fire acres of marijuana crops and arrest growers in legalization states? https://t.co/ruvAKXhSzk

— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) January 4, 2018

Marijuana industry in chaos as Sessions plans to pull Cole Memo, legalization states looking at their legal options – https://t.co/sdrDO8KuXd

— Reid Wilson (@PoliticsReid) January 4, 2018

Swing states Nevada, Colorado have recreational cannabis Swing states Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Arizona and more have medical cannabis. https://t.co/KEnw6n8pTF

— Tom Matzzie (@tommatzzie) January 4, 2018

Marijuana IS a gateway drug…
To voter registration.
Swing states: NV, CO… you just got overruled by fascist elf, Jeff Sessions.
306 days until the mid-terms.https://t.co/JBW9pZwMTK

— Steve Marmel (@Marmel) January 4, 2018

Marijuana legalization is one of the most popular and least polarizing issues in the electorate today. https://t.co/MowGszGKX3 pic.twitter.com/XkWcoUCFct

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) January 4, 2018

I’m proud that so many Democratic legislators are stepping up…

Attorney General Sessions, your unjust war against Americans who legally use #marijuana is shameful & insults the democratic processes that played out in states across the country.

— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) January 4, 2018

DOJ should investigate how pharma helped create the opioid crisis, not institute policies that take marijuana based medicines from patients and needlessly target non-violent minority youths.

— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) January 4, 2018


At the California Department of Justice we intend to vigorously enforce our state's laws and protect our state's interests. 2/2

— Xavier Becerra (@AGBecerra) January 4, 2018

The simplest solution, and stay with me here, is to vote for Democrats. https://t.co/Saf2dYDq1V

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) January 4, 2018

Dean Heller's primary challenger attacks the Sessions marijuana order: "It’s time for Big Brother to back off." pic.twitter.com/nIbKmjPYAR

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) January 4, 2018

Instead of using taxpayer resources to go after a drug that's safer than alcohol, Jeff Sessions should focus on political corruption and white collar crime. Seems like there's plenty of that to go around in DC.

If only there was some way we could mellow him out ??

— Colorado Senate Dems (@COSenDem) January 4, 2018

.

… but the Repubs recognize the damage he’ll do, as well:

Murkowski, Gardner, Paul, and Coffman are all unhappy with the move. https://t.co/jW0IvXTmpj via @thinkprogress

— Melanie Schmitz (@MelsLien) January 4, 2018

Rep. @mattgaetz, who's been one of Trump's strongest allies in the House, blasts DOJ over the new marijuana guidelines. pic.twitter.com/W7xN2IeuxU

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) January 4, 2018

Sen. Cory Gardner: "I will be putting today a hold on every single nomination from the Dept. of Justice until Attorney General Jeff Sessions lives up to the commitment that he made to me" on legalized marijuana in Colorado. https://t.co/NkJuIoh4fP pic.twitter.com/GSE8N85YoP

— ABC News (@ABC) January 4, 2018

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Reader Interactions

123Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    January 5, 2018 at 8:30 am

    Sessions allowed U.S. attorneys to decide. I assume that means that U.S. attorneys in swing states will not prosecute, but those in blue states will.

  2. 2.

    ThresherK

    January 5, 2018 at 8:32 am

    Bilbo Biggot

    I should have heard this moniker before, simply by dint of where I hang out. Just when I think the nicknames for all the assholes in this admin can’t be topped, someone does it anyway!

  3. 3.

    Darkrose

    January 5, 2018 at 8:32 am

    @Baud: The U.S. attorneys are employed by the DoJ, though. If the KKKeebler Elf hires anti-weed zealots, they’ll prosecute, regardless of where they are.

  4. 4.

    ThresherK

    January 5, 2018 at 8:33 am

    Okay, I can’t un-bold my sentences above. Ugh. Sorry.

  5. 5.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 5, 2018 at 8:35 am

    GOP Senator who voted to confirm him knowing he would do this puts on shocked face, says he would lie to. Film at eleven

  6. 6.

    Jeffro

    January 5, 2018 at 8:39 am

    That Colorado Senate Dems tweet is pretty funny, brassy, and spot-on.

  7. 7.

    mai naem mobile

    January 5, 2018 at 8:41 am

    The Twitter RW Machine is abuzz about the Arkansas USA investigating the Clinton Foundation. Sessions was involved in appointing him. At what point can the Clintons sue the Dolt45 admin for harrassment? Also isn’t the Foundation headquarters in NY. I am assuming this is because the WJC library is in Little Rock.

  8. 8.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 5, 2018 at 8:44 am

    Murkowski, Gardner, Paul, and Coffman are all unhappy

    Ooh, they’re unhappy. What’s next, the furrowed brow of concern? Maybe a sternly-worded letter after that?

    Put your votes where your mouth is, assholes.

  9. 9.

    magurakurin

    January 5, 2018 at 8:50 am

    that chipmunk the Shitgibbon put in at Justice isn’t going to stop this train. It left the station at full speed January 1 when California went on line. Keebler elf is gonna keebler, but he and his boss…they aren’t all that.

    fuck Shitgibbon and fuck the chipmunk.

  10. 10.

    eclare

    January 5, 2018 at 8:52 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Exactly, everyone knew what Kkkeebler Elf would do.

  11. 11.

    magurakurin

    January 5, 2018 at 8:54 am

    @Major Major Major Major: how’s Lisbon treating you?

  12. 12.

    kindness

    January 5, 2018 at 8:55 am

    The actual attorneys named matters. For the first 5 years of Obama we in N. Cal had a Chief Federal Attorney Melinda Haag. Melinda hated legal weed and did everything she could to eliminate it. Even after the Cole memo, she was still trying to convict landlords of Medical Marijuana shops of harboring criminal activity. I figure who ever Sessions names will be worse.

    Our best fight is going to be making sure people are registered to vote, have the ID’s needed for the state they live in and then providing a way to get people to the polls come November. It is this year ya know.

  13. 13.

    B.B.A.

    January 5, 2018 at 8:56 am

    There are 46 states with some form of medical marijuana. 46! Including the AG’s home state of Alabama!

    Actually I found it surprising that the entire South has signed on to medical pot, and the laggards are in the Great Plains (plus Idaho for some reason).

  14. 14.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 5, 2018 at 8:59 am

    @magurakurin: rainy today, but quite well, thanks. Went to one of the restaurants you recommended out past the mall, earlier in the week, very tasty.

  15. 15.

    Percysowner

    January 5, 2018 at 8:59 am

    @Baud: What it means is a “suggestion” will go out that all the AGs look at the accused “background” i.e. complexion, accent and if they can find it, party they are registered for, and make the decision based on those factors. All the nice white, Republican people will be fine, everyone else, will find themselves declared felons and unable to vote. Easy, peasy.

  16. 16.

    eclare

    January 5, 2018 at 9:01 am

    @B.B.A.: Not surprising to this southerner

  17. 17.

    magurakurin

    January 5, 2018 at 9:02 am

    @Major Major Major Major: cool. That’s a pretty funky area isn’t it? Out there in the middle of all those modern apartment complexes is that little island of old. How was Sintra? Which spots did you visit?

  18. 18.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 9:05 am

    The empire strikes back.

    Jeff Sessions is obsessed with cannabis, and with locking up people of color. He may perceive California as the tipping point in legalization. This very well could be his last chance to preserve mass incarceration as he knows it. https://t.co/QfzdOMyopO

    — Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) January 4, 2018

    truth

  19. 19.

    B.B.A.

    January 5, 2018 at 9:14 am

    @eclare: I figured Sessions represented a largish bloc of prohibitionists, and that they’d have enough clout to block any proposal for MM in at least one southern state. Turns out he’s an outlier even for Alabama.

  20. 20.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 5, 2018 at 9:15 am

    @magurakurin: Sintra was great, we hiked up to the moorish castle and then the palace. By the time we were back down (we took the bus, it was raining), according to my phone, we’d done the equivalent of 97 flights of stairs vertical, and my knee was done for the day, or else we’d have seen the old well too.

  21. 21.

    mai naem mobile

    January 5, 2018 at 9:15 am

    @B.B.A.: Idaho has a lot of Mormons.IIRC second or third highest percentage of Mormons per statw.

  22. 22.

    magurakurin

    January 5, 2018 at 9:18 am

    @Major Major Major Major: sounds like the weather gods were with you. I really liked the Moorish castle. Great views. What’s on the agenda next?

    ETA. or did it rain the whole time not just on the way down? Maybe the gods weren’t with you?

  23. 23.

    Quinerly

    January 5, 2018 at 9:22 am

    READ.THIS.PIECE. on Wolff’s access: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/04/donald-trump-michael-wolff-book-216245

    Apologies if already posted. Answers so many questions.

  24. 24.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 9:27 am

    I already..um..looked up the Black Panther toys on Amazon..

    For Peanut, of course…

    Yeah,…for Peanut..LOL

  25. 25.

    magurakurin

    January 5, 2018 at 9:32 am

    @Quinerly: interesting.

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 9:32 am

    I’m still tickled that it’s confirmed that Reince was the snitch that we always knew him to be. He’s not remotely going to jail for anyone.

  27. 27.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 9:36 am

    The wheels on the bus are coming off, day 2

    This morning, as promised, the Hollywood Reporter published an extended essay by Michael Wolff based on his upcoming tell-all about the Trump regime, Fire and Fury.

    We all read or saw snippets yesterday, mostly concerning Steve Bannon. This piece, “You Can’t Make This Shit Up: My Year Inside Trump’s Insane White House”, is even more revelatory, and frightening.

    It details a government in free-fall. At the center is Trump, a man not only supremely unfit for the office he stole, but seen as so by everyone around him. Reading the piece, I’m reminded of nothing so much as the late Western Roman Empire, when factotums were placed on the throne in Ravenna and generals and courtiers plotted around them to be the real power behind the throne. And we all know what happened to Rome.

    ………………………………………..

    What is also stunning is that it took someone regarded as a mere gossip to write a book like this. Again, for all the good reporting coming out of the mainstream media, the one glaring blind spot it has is still trying to treat Trump like a normal politician. He’s not. And Wolff dispenses with that pretense. He shows Trump in all his dysfunctionality and hubris. This Trump is not remaking the Presidency; he’s destroying it. Expect journalists to attack Wolff, not to dig in to what he has written and verify accounts.

  28. 28.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 5, 2018 at 9:36 am

    @magurakurin: it drizzled on and off on the way up (maybe ten minutes total of umbrella weather) so yeah!

    Right now it’s coming down so I’m gonna just stay in and work on revising my book for a little while.

  29. 29.

    laura

    January 5, 2018 at 9:38 am

    @rikyrah: I’m making preparations for Session’s mass arrest of the entirety of the West Coast like we’re the Cartersville GA New Year’s Eve Party.

  30. 30.

    Jeffro

    January 5, 2018 at 9:39 am

    @rikyrah: My 12-year-old already has two Black Panther LEGO sets and BP is kicking all the other minifigures’ rear ends on a near constant basis. Of course. =)

  31. 31.

    magurakurin

    January 5, 2018 at 9:41 am

    @Major Major Major Major: sounds good. It’s important to remember to just kick back and chill when on vacation. The second time I went to Lisbon it was sunny the whole time, but the first time I went it rained damn near everyday. I ended up with bronchitis when I got home. I still loved it though…. that’s why I went back again.

  32. 32.

    magurakurin

    January 5, 2018 at 9:44 am

    @laura: ain’t gonna happen. Chipmunk is tripping. Money talks and bullshit walks. Legal pot is now big revenue for these states. Chipmunk gonna need some new walking shoes.

  33. 33.

    Tenar Arha

    January 5, 2018 at 9:45 am

    @rikyrah: I’m a book collector. But if I collected Funkos I’d already have a pre-order and a wishlist!

  34. 34.

    geg6

    January 5, 2018 at 9:46 am

    Saw a news report on this last night and the gun people are freaking out over this. Apparently, they want to smoke pot and, if Sessions goes ahead with this, they will get busted and lost their rights to carry.

    LOL! When even the gun humpers are against you…

  35. 35.

    eclare

    January 5, 2018 at 9:47 am

    @B.B.A.: All of my retired neighbors get high…I live in a blue city (Memphis) in a red state

  36. 36.

    eclare

    January 5, 2018 at 9:49 am

    @Major Major Major Major: 97 flights? Holy!

  37. 37.

    eclare

    January 5, 2018 at 9:51 am

    @B.B.A.: Also don’t discount the heavy influence of the “you ain’t the boss of me!” attitude in southern states regarding the feds

  38. 38.

    SFAW

    January 5, 2018 at 9:56 am

    @rikyrah:
    Maggie Haberman was this close to revealing all these things in her expose, but Wolff beat her to it by the smallest of intervals.

    Well, “smallest of intervals” if you’re talking geologic time. Real time, we’re talking 10 or 20 years. If that.

  39. 39.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 5, 2018 at 9:57 am

    @Baud: If juries are involved, I assume Blue state jurors will not find any defendants guilty of marijuana-related charges. This may end up backfiring on Sessions.

  40. 40.

    Mnemosyne

    January 5, 2018 at 10:00 am

    @rikyrah:

    What is also stunning is that it took someone regarded as a mere gossip to write a book like this.

    Like I was saying all day yesterday, this book is humiliating for the New York Times. Their star reporter’s book got scooped by a guy who freelances for a Hollywood trade paper.

  41. 41.

    SFAW

    January 5, 2018 at 10:00 am

    So, a question I’ve recently been pondering:

    Is KKKeebler Elf a racist who’s also a fascist moron, a fascist who’s also a racist moron, or a moron who’s also a racist and fascist?

    And none o’ that “All of them, Katie!” shit from you jackals.

    NB: I left out “evil” — which he certainly is — because it’s an adjective in his case.

  42. 42.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 5, 2018 at 10:03 am

    HAHA

    JUST IN: Vermont House passes bill to legalize marijuana hours after Sessions announces ant-pot policy https://t.co/yjzxdBkFHm pic.twitter.com/viyeFBNY7R

    — The Hill (@thehill) January 5, 2018

  43. 43.

    magurakurin

    January 5, 2018 at 10:03 am

    @SFAW: the last one…but mostly he is a chipmunk.

  44. 44.

    eclare

    January 5, 2018 at 10:04 am

    @SFAW: I would go with racist above all.

  45. 45.

    SFAW

    January 5, 2018 at 10:08 am

    @magurakurin:

    but mostly he is a chipmunk

    That’s a TERRIBLE thing to say. WTF have chipmunks ever done to YOU to deserve that?

  46. 46.

    magurakurin

    January 5, 2018 at 10:12 am

    @SFAW: I knew someone was going to say that. I knew it. How about an evil zombie chipmunk?

  47. 47.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 5, 2018 at 10:12 am

    @SFAW:
    He’s a hyper-racist and all around bigot who is at least nominally competent. That goes easily with fascism, because you need a certain amount of Unquestioned Authority to have Those People all shot or rounded up and thrown in jail. It’s hard to figure out how smart he is, because A) his extreme ideals require impractical decisions, and B) he’s surrounded by and working for the stupidest people ever given government jobs.

  48. 48.

    SFAW

    January 5, 2018 at 10:14 am

    @magurakurin:

    How about an evil zombie chipmunk?

    Well OK then

  49. 49.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 5, 2018 at 10:17 am

    @SFAW:
    SQUIRREL!

  50. 50.

    Vhh

    January 5, 2018 at 10:18 am

    @B.B.A.: Mormons are big in Idaho. They are against coffee and alcohol, too.

  51. 51.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 10:25 am

    @Quinerly:

    that’s a good one

  52. 52.

    Jager

    January 5, 2018 at 10:26 am

    @Vhh:

    Except for the “Jackleg” Mormons, they drink coffee, alcohol and smoke pot.

  53. 53.

    opiejeanne

    January 5, 2018 at 10:28 am

    @Major Major Major Major: I’m sorry I haven’t gotten my notes to you yet. I have been so sick that I s[ent all day yesterday sleeping or throwing up. Bad reaction to the cough syrup, to the codeine in it. I’d forgotten why I hated the stuff, only remembered the high as a kite initial reaction. I think I may have recovered enough to get it to you today. At least I can stand to read now as long as I don’t make any sudden moves. Ugh!

  54. 54.

    trollhattan

    January 5, 2018 at 10:29 am

    @SFAW:
    Hanta virus.

  55. 55.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 10:30 am

    “This is Going To Be Fun”
    Bannon Banished for Telling Truths About Trump as MAGA Monsters Turn on Each Other

    Watching Bannon fall victim to the claws of the monster he helped create mostly invokes the response of ‘Alexa, order all the popcorn.’
    01.05.18 5:00 AM ET

    Steve Bannon’s spectacular fall from grace in Trump World is a big, salty, delicious bowl of schadenfreude from the political gods in celebration of the new year.

    Bannon wasn’t just one of Trump’s most senior aides and an architect of the destruction of the Republican Party; he was the multi-shirted, red-eyed White House troll, leaking tales of his brilliance to a constellation of reporters in the ostensibly hated mainstream media. His house organ Breitbart and a host of Trump-right websites and news outlets sang praises to his dank genius. Bannon, they proclaimed, was Trumpism in its distilled essence: revanchist, ahistorical, racially inflected, and consumed with an imaginary war on the media and America’s broader society.

    Now, like two rats in a bag, Trump and Bannon are tearing at one another in a delicious public spat that has every possible bit of drama, except Bannon drunkenly bellowing for a round of fisticuffs with all comers and Trump offering to compare the length of their relative manhoods on live television. They deserve one another in so many ways.

  56. 56.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 10:31 am

    Trump Spoke to Rebekah Mercer on the Phone. Then She Knifed Steve Bannon.
    Steve Bannon may have no GOP donors left to fund his ‘war.’
    LACHLAN MARKAY
    ASAWIN SUEBSAENG
    01.04.18 9:06 PM ET
    Republican mega-donor Rebekah Mercer publicly rebuked Steve Bannon on Thursday in a rare, and brutal, public statement. But before she did, Mercer spoke to President Donald Trump.

    During the conversation, which took place Thursday afternoon and was relayed to The Daily Beast by a senior White House official, Mercer and Trump addressed Bannon’s scorched-earth comments that appear in Michael Wolff’s new book on the Trump White House, and the donor reaffirmed her support for Trump’s presidency and his agenda.

    White House spokesman Raj Shah declined to confirm the call or its details, but did not deny that it took place.

    The interaction underscored the high stakes of the very public and very ugly feud between the president and his former chief strategist. Bannon, again the chairman of the right-wing, pro-Trump Breitbart News, has in two days been publicly scorned by his most high-profile political ally in Trump, and his most deep-pocketed financial backer in Mercer.

    “My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements,” Mercer said, in a statement to The Washington Post published Thursday evening.

    While it was clear that the Mercers were publicly distancing themselves from Bannon this week, two people with knowledge of their past meetings and conversations disputed the claim of “many months.” According to these sources, Bannon and Mercer met in New York as recently as October. And right around the time of Bannon’s ejection from the Trump White House in August, Bannon met with patriarch Robert Mercer for a five-hour-long meeting “to plot out next steps,” according to a report in Axios at the time.

  57. 57.

    retiredeng

    January 5, 2018 at 10:31 am

    @rikyrah: Reince is the weasleiest of weasels.

  58. 58.

    trollhattan

    January 5, 2018 at 10:32 am

    @kindness:
    Get a load of McGregor Scott, fearless Eastern District weed fighter for Bush and now Trump-Sessions. I predict bad times ahead.

  59. 59.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 10:34 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/4/18
    Comey notes claims about Trump confirmed by Priebus notes: NYT
    Michael Schmidt, reporter for The New York Times, talks with Rachel Maddow about his reporting about Donald Trump’s pressure on Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from the Russia probe, and Reince Priebus notes confirming James Comey’s notes about encounters with Trump.

  60. 60.

    Amir Khalid

    January 5, 2018 at 10:34 am

    @Vhh:
    Sometimes I wonder about that. I know the idea must sound risible, but is there a caffeine-prohibition movement in Utah, or any place with a lot of devout Mormons?

  61. 61.

    trollhattan

    January 5, 2018 at 10:34 am

    @rikyrah:
    Heard on my radio this a.m. that sugar mama Mercer is yanking support from Bannon-Breitbart. If true, he’s toast at least in the short term.

  62. 62.

    laura

    January 5, 2018 at 10:35 am

    @magurakurin: in my city of Sacramento, in a period of just a few months, millions of dollars (MILLIONS in cash!) flowed into the department of finance for permits for dispensaries and grow operations. Sales tax receipts should begin flowing shortly.
    Medical devil’s lettuce experienced rocord sales prior to January 1st as most stockpiled expecting that recreational jazz stick sales would crowd dispensaries and make it extremely inconvenient to make a wellness purchase.
    Our AG came out with a strong statement to Jeffbo. Jeffbo’s respect for state’s rights is limited to the confederate states.

  63. 63.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 10:35 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/4/18
    Priebus notes confirming Comey another tool for Robert Mueller
    Chuck Rosenberg, former U.S. attorney, talks with Rachel Maddow about how former Trump chief-of-staff Reince Priebus’s notes corroborating James Comey’s notes about meetings with Donald Trump might be used in a court case.

  64. 64.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 10:36 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/4/18
    Trump wanted Sessions’ protection from FBI investigation: NYT
    Chuck Rosenberg, former U.S. attorney, talks with Rachel Maddow about the pressure Donald Trump put on Jeff Sessions to protect him from investigation, and lengths to which Trump staffers went to try to stop him from firing James Comey.

  65. 65.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 10:37 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/4/18
    Devastating Trump book offers reporting leads
    Rachel Maddow looks at some of the reportable, find-out-able claims in Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury, beyond the salacious stories that have left the Trump team sputtering with rage and humiliation.

  66. 66.

    NorthLeft12

    January 5, 2018 at 10:38 am

    Up here in Canada, we are preparing for a summer 2018 legalization of cannibas. Even the Conservative party is not making a lot of noise against it. Don’t get me wrong, they are against it, but the Con leadership is leaving the public opposition up to their more loony right wing [including my own MP] members.
    Every province except Saskatchewan, has a plan for dealing with legalization. They have even divided up the tax windfall that is expected.

  67. 67.

    NorthLeft12

    January 5, 2018 at 10:41 am

    @laura: As someone tweeted or commented above, the respect for states rights only extends to laws that infringe on minority citizen rights or are platform planks of the Republican party.

  68. 68.

    ? Martin

    January 5, 2018 at 10:42 am

    We’re not surprised by Sessions decision. We see this less as him going after pot broadly and more of a targeted attack on CA. They had a year to change their position but waited until we legalized to act. Coincidentally we get decisions on offshore drilling and the head of ICE threatening increased presence in California and the arrest of state and local officials, and the tax bill seems almost specifically punishing to CA residents (though I have always felt that open-ended mortgage interest deduction was regressive, so some day I’ll be happy with that decision).

    This looks like a full-bore assault on CA by the federal government, and that’s how its being interpreted here. CA House Republicans are truly fucked.

  69. 69.

    Lee

    January 5, 2018 at 10:44 am

    @SFAW:

    Racist with a huge dollop of fascism. I don’t necessarily think he is a moron. He just really wants to be both a racist and a fascist and does not care what it does to his party.

  70. 70.

    Amir Khalid

    January 5, 2018 at 10:45 am

    @NorthLeft12:
    Why not Saskatchewan? Is it because of a conservative provincial government?

  71. 71.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 10:45 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/4/18
    Legal marijuana states prepare to resist new Sessions policy
    Mayor Jenny Durkan, former U.S. attorney who helped draft President Obama’s marijuana policy, talks with Rachel Maddow about her city and state’s preparedness to resist Jeff Sessions’ plan to enforce federal drug laws in states that have legalized marijuana.

  72. 72.

    KickBoxBanana

    January 5, 2018 at 10:51 am

    Our country is in the midst of an political crisis and Kirsten Gillibrand is going to divert attention to something Franken did? This is either willfully ignorant or cowing to red state constituents.

    –Not Kirsten Gillibrand

    And why is she no longer calling for Twitlers resignation over all the much worse stuff he allegedly did? I thought that was a red line zero tolerance blah blah yada yada thing for her?

  73. 73.

    laura

    January 5, 2018 at 10:51 am

    @? MartinCA:
    CA House Republicans are truly fucked.
    Sideways twice with a rusty shovel works for me. They brought this on themselves and deserve to be tossed out on their ear.

  74. 74.

    kindness

    January 5, 2018 at 10:51 am

    @Jager: – Jack Mormans. Yup. I’ve had several friends here in CA who are Jack Mormans and proud of it. Nice folk too. Truth is though…

    If you go fishing, you can’t just take one Morman with you. He’ll drink all your beer. If you take two Mormans with you, your beer is safe.

  75. 75.

    Lee

    January 5, 2018 at 10:54 am

    @KickBoxBanana: She wants to be the next President. She’s knifing anyone that might stand in her way.

    If Trump runs again, she thinks it makes it easier for her to win. So she knifes Franken, and ignores Trump.

  76. 76.

    SFAW

    January 5, 2018 at 10:56 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    SQUIRREL!

    [head whips around]
    WHERE???!!??!?!?!?!???

  77. 77.

    kindness

    January 5, 2018 at 11:01 am

    @trollhattan: I live in Modesto. This is the red part of California. The local DA’s and the police still think it’s the 1950’s out here. When I moved here in 78 there were 66,000 people here. Now there are over 210,000 yet the local paper, police and right wingers still act like it’s the old country. This area would be blue except for the fact that the poor people in California (at least out here) don’t vote. They refuse to vote. They just like to bitch about what happens to them. It’s hard to be a liberal out here and not get cynical about those you are trying to help who do nothing to help themselves.

  78. 78.

    Jager

    January 5, 2018 at 11:01 am

    @kindness:

    Never fished with two Mormons. Your Mormon pals ever tell you about girlfriend tracing?

  79. 79.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 5, 2018 at 11:05 am

    @rikyrah:

    Republican mega-donor Rebekah Mercer publicly rebuked Steve Bannon on Thursday in a rare, and brutal, public statement.

    Pity nobody who gives a fuck about public statements gives a fuck what Rebekah Mercer thinks.

  80. 80.

    Leto

    January 5, 2018 at 11:05 am

    @SFAW:

    Is KKKeebler Elf a racist who’s also a fascist moron, a fascist who’s also a racist moron, or a moron who’s also a racist and fascist?

    FTFY. Yes, he’s a moron.

  81. 81.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 11:06 am

    Monday – Michael Wolff on LarryO’s show.

  82. 82.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 11:07 am

    Wolff’s Trump book dominates Amazon charts

    Source: The Hill

    BY MAX GREENWOOD – 01/05/18 10:19 AM EST

    As of late Friday morning, the hardcover edition remained in the No. 1 slot, while the audiobook sat at No. 13.

    Discussions of “Fire and Fury” consumed Washington this week as excerpts were published in the news media ahead of its official release. Those excerpts painted a portrait of a White House in chaos and contained provocative accounts of Trump’s campaign and time in the Oval Office.

    http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/news/367585-new-trump-book-dominates-amazon-charts

  83. 83.

    kindness

    January 5, 2018 at 11:09 am

    @? Martin: Did you see what was proposed in the Ca state legislature yesterday to end run the new Republican Tax bill? It’s hilarious and will work! A law was introduced yesterday that would allow Californians to donate the amount they would have paid in State and local taxes to the California Excellence Fund. Then we can write that off on our state taxes and still get the Federal tax cut by claiming it is a charitable donation.

  84. 84.

    trollhattan

    January 5, 2018 at 11:09 am

    @laura:
    In their infinite wisdom they’re putting all their energies into expanding their base by focusing on the gas tax and vehicle registration raises, at the same time our federal income taxes will be going up due to their tax bill shenanigans. Another installment of Short Attention-Span Theater.

  85. 85.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 11:09 am

    ‘I think the rest of the world will never see us quite the same’
    01/04/18 11:20 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said something in a radio interview yesterday that’s worth remembering.

    SiriusXM’s Pete Dominick asked Haass, who used to be a preeminent voice in Republican foreign policy circles before taking over the non-partisan CFR, about how foreign officials perceive Donald Trump’s presidency. Haass briefly reflected on international bewilderment before concluding:

    “I think the rest of the world will never see us quite the same. I know that sounds quite strong, but if this could happen once, why couldn’t it happen again?

    “I think the rest of the world will never put so many eggs in America’s basket again. I think the rest of the world will adopt something of a hedging strategy – because if this happened once, how do they know that there won’t be elements of this again in our future?”

  86. 86.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2018 at 11:13 am

    @kindness:

    really?
    This will work?

  87. 87.

    trollhattan

    January 5, 2018 at 11:14 am

    @kindness:
    Yeah, I don’t get it. Fresno shows a similar pattern, although they’re big enough that IIRC the city has a Dem rep in congress while the Commie moron Nunes comes from a district that wraps around the city, picking up the burbs and rural surroundings.

    I so hope Mueller sweeps him up with the rest.

  88. 88.

    Aleta

    January 5, 2018 at 11:15 am

    @Quinerly: This question is in the piece without a proposed answer.

    How can it be that Murdoch never volunteered to Trump in one of their phone calls that Wolff would smile in his face but ultimately stab him?

    But revealing to consider that he’s Trump’s phone buddy; setting fires is his business. Makes me remember that the people who remain with Trump (despite what they see) are in it for proximity to the power to destroy.

    Thanks for the link.

  89. 89.

    kindness

    January 5, 2018 at 11:16 am

    @rikyrah: Check out the WaPo I linked to. Sounds legit.

  90. 90.

    trollhattan

    January 5, 2018 at 11:17 am

    @rikyrah:
    If it does work, it will be equal parts hilarious and awesome, given every other similar state will do the same.

    “Deficits don’t matter.”–R. Cheney

  91. 91.

    tobie

    January 5, 2018 at 11:19 am

    @KickBoxBanana: @Lee: None of the tweets above say anything about Franken. Are you trolling?

  92. 92.

    Amir Khalid

    January 5, 2018 at 11:20 am

    @rikyrah:
    After Brexit and her first good close look at Herrn Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten Amerika Scheißgibbon Angela Merkel gave a speech last year saying, in essence, that the West couldn’t count on the Anglo-Saxons any more and needed to get on without them. She didn’t seem happy about it.

  93. 93.

    danielx

    January 5, 2018 at 11:22 am

    @rikyrah:

    Got that right. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. Come to think on it, Beau Bigot would be MUCH happier if simple possession was still a felony in every state.

  94. 94.

    Chip Daniels

    January 5, 2018 at 11:24 am

    @rikyrah:
    Our best histories of Rome were written by palace gossips.

  95. 95.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    January 5, 2018 at 11:24 am

    @tobie: Senator Gillibrand must be stopped! /snark

  96. 96.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 5, 2018 at 11:27 am

    @rikyrah: I am not Haas and have no professional foreign policy expertise than say Nicky Haley.However, I have lived in another country and know many more people from every part of the globe than your average T voter. I can tell you this, that T and his Rs minions are pissing away American soft power and prestige every second that Doll Hands remains in the WH.
    ETA: I predict a gradual move away from the $ as the international reserve currency.

  97. 97.

    Patricia Kayden

    January 5, 2018 at 11:31 am

    @Cheryl Rofer: Can Sessions override state legislation? This could become very interesting.

  98. 98.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    January 5, 2018 at 11:31 am

    @schrodingers_cat: It’s like it was with Dubya, but times a zillion.

  99. 99.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 5, 2018 at 11:32 am

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: T is much worse than W and W was bad.

  100. 100.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 5, 2018 at 11:39 am

    @schrodingers_cat: My travels outside the US and conversations with non-USian friends confirm exactly what you’re saying.

  101. 101.

    les

    January 5, 2018 at 11:40 am

    @kindness:

    A law was introduced yesterday that would allow Californians to donate the amount they would have paid in State and local taxes to the California Excellence Fund. Then we can write that off on our state taxes and still get the Federal tax cut by claiming it is a charitable donation.

    Interesting approach. Shouldn’t work–if you get something of value, it’s not charitable; that’s why you only get partial deduction for paying $100 for a $10 rubber chicken charity dinner–but the IRS is so gutted they can’t audit any great number of returns and will have problems addressing any argument between IRS and the states.

  102. 102.

    chopper

    January 5, 2018 at 11:41 am

    @kindness:

    if they can get that to work, expect every blue state to follow suit. genius. of course it’ll cause the federal gubbermint’s receipts to plummet even more than it already would under this bullshit tax bill.

  103. 103.

    J R in WV

    January 5, 2018 at 11:44 am

    @magurakurin:

    “How about an evil zombie chipmunk?”

    Nope, not enough. RABID evil zombie chipmunk is the least I will accept. I love chipmunks. We used to have multiple tribes of them all over the rocks around the house, but then one of our rescue dogs, who never even met a grassy lawn before moving to our farm decided she had to catch and eat all the evil chipmunks.

    I regret the loss of chipmunky life, but the other 200 acres is still covered with them, and squirrels too. Plus Alice really had fun learning to climb and leap on the rocks. And I’m not a vegan, anyway. That wouldn’t be fair to the carnivores in the household.

    But the KKKeebler Elf, he’s rabid whatever else he is.

  104. 104.

    les

    January 5, 2018 at 11:44 am

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Can Sessions override state legislation?

    yes–Supremacy clause, US constitution.

  105. 105.

    Mnemosyne

    January 5, 2018 at 11:47 am

    @les:

    IANAL, but does that apply to state tax law?

  106. 106.

    sherparick

    January 5, 2018 at 11:48 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Gardner is looking at reelection in 2020. He ran as a faux “moderate” and “both sides” need to work together “stop the excessive spending” Republican and beat Mark Udall, who unfortunately listened to to much to to Mark Putnam, one of the Democratic political consultants who infest the Beltway. They tried to apply the themes that had worked with clumsy right-wing zealots in Missouri and Indiana, but Corey was far to slick for them. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/11/05/how-mark-uterus-lost-in-colorado/?utm_term=.75fa06749c0b Of course since his his election he has voted as a complete right wing zealot and corporate stooge, while keeping a low rhetorical profile. Corey, who was adamantly anti-marijuana for years, senses bot the popularity, and the large donations from what is becoming “Big Pot.” Still, you use what you can when you can in politics.

  107. 107.

    Quinerly

    January 5, 2018 at 11:52 am

    @Aleta: And Wolff all chummy a year ago at a dinner party with Ailes before his death. You would think Ailes wouldn’t have been hanging with Wolff because of the Murdoch book. That Min gal’s Twitter feed is worth a look. She was at the same party and corroborates Wolff.

  108. 108.

    Quinerly

    January 5, 2018 at 11:54 am

    @J R in WV: Been trying to catch you on a thread. Thank you for all your kind words re my little Ivan. Read your Harvey post from last night this AM.?

  109. 109.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 5, 2018 at 11:59 am

    @Mnemosyne:
    Sessions doesn’t set tax law, so his opinion is irrelevant there.

  110. 110.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 5, 2018 at 12:01 pm

    @Quinerly: RIP Ivan. How are the other critters and you coping? {{{ }}}

  111. 111.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 5, 2018 at 12:03 pm

    @J R in WV:

    I also love chipmunks.

    You know where chipmunks live, don’t you?

    .

    .

    .

    Chipmonasteries.

  112. 112.

    Quinerly

    January 5, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Thanks. Poco and John Lennon seem ok. They are buddies and will snuggle a bit. Little Ivan was a loner and kept to himself. He hated John Lennon. Ivan was here first. Got JL to be a friend for him. It never worked out.

  113. 113.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 5, 2018 at 12:09 pm

    @Quinerly:

    Quinerly, I’m finally catching up with the overnight and early-morning threads, and wanted to let you know how sad I am that you had to say goodbye to little Ivan. From some of your comments, it’s clear you did what you had to so he wouldn’t suffer, but it’s still always a tough thing to do. Hugs to you, Poco, and JL. I hope Ivan is lapping up all the cream in the Milky Way.

  114. 114.

    Ruckus

    January 5, 2018 at 12:17 pm

    @SFAW:
    I’m going with moronic racist/fascist.
    But then I’m not sure he’s a true moron. He may have to move up the scale to get to moron. For sure he’s a delusional shit.

  115. 115.

    Miss Bianca

    January 5, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    OK, just a personal prejudice thing going here, but after looking at her tweets on this issue, I’m starting to think better of Gillibrand again. Is it wrong?

  116. 116.

    Ruckus

    January 5, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    @rikyrah:
    Speaking of delusional…… drumpf is of course. He may have used bannon to get to the WH, and probably wouldn’t have made it without him, but of course his tiny little mind can’t conceive of anyone being smarter, craftier, meaner, more of an asshole….. so one had to know that eventually he’d crawl back into whatever little dark recess of that thing laughing called his brain and pat himself on the back for getting where he is all by himself and kicking in the gonads anyone and everyone who doesn’t lay down in the gutter so he doesn’t have to get his little feet wet crossing the street.

  117. 117.

    Miss Bianca

    January 5, 2018 at 12:30 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I’m just shocked to see that *this* issue is where Senator Gardner decides to throw down the gauntlet. Hmmm…could he be a reefer smoker? Is it irresponsible to speculate? It would be irresponsible not to!

  118. 118.

    cain

    January 5, 2018 at 12:34 pm

    @rikyrah:
    Somebody should tell Trump that Jeff Bezos is personally profiting from this book.

  119. 119.

    Ruckus

    January 5, 2018 at 12:34 pm

    @Lee:

    does not care what it does to his party.

    That IS his party. What do you think they stand for? Racists and Fascists, the lot of them.

  120. 120.

    cain

    January 5, 2018 at 12:36 pm

    @sherparick:

    , who unfortunately listened to to much to to Mark Putnam, one of the Democratic political consultants who infest the Beltway

    This is why we can’t win anything.. we have these consultants hanging around.. This man should never have a job again doing what he’s doing. I’m sure he’s one of those 3rd way assholes who wants to do both sides and all that bullshit.

  121. 121.

    Ruckus

    January 5, 2018 at 12:42 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:
    That would be hilarious considering that where he comes from and his parties entire concept of governing is based upon states rights. Of course they may finally accepting that over 150 yrs ago we fought a war over states rights and they lost. At least now that they think they have the power to control/destroy/lord over anyone who will not kneel down to them.

  122. 122.

    Quinerly

    January 5, 2018 at 12:52 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    ?

  123. 123.

    Spinoza is my Co-pilot

    January 5, 2018 at 2:06 pm

    @kindness:

    This area would be blue except for the fact that the poor people in California (at least out here) don’t vote. They refuse to vote. They just like to bitch about what happens to them. It’s hard to be a liberal out here and not get cynical about those you are trying to help who do nothing to help themselves.

    Very much the same in Arizona, which seems a lot like the San Joaquin Valley in many ways, including demographically/socio-politically. For instance, I’ve done quite a bit of work with school boards and municipal and county gov’t entities in central CA (including police and sheriff’s dept.s) and they are nearly identical to those same entities I’ve worked with here in AZ (i.e., a step back in time, as you put it).

    I, too, find it very hard to not be cynical about those we try to help politically, but who do little to help themselves that way. I’ve spent a fair amount of time over the past 3+ decades trying to register voters and GOTV in the barrios, to frustratingly-little effect (some improvement; not nearly enough). The apathy and sometimes even downright hostility has been too much, so not doing that anymore. Seriously, just get out to vote, it really isn’t that hard (here in AZ we even have early mail-in voting, using hard to fuck up — or fuck with — optical scan ballots). But the majority of those here who benefit the most from Democratic policies (and are harmed most by the fascists) don’t bother with even that minimal electoral/civic involvement.

    That’s the dirty open secret of Democratic politics: vast numbers of those who should vote Democrat don’t bother to vote at all. Yeah, I know, voter suppression in all its forms, sure. It has its deleterious effects, no doubt. But that pales in comparison to the nearly-unassailable indifference of millions who wouldn’t give a fuck if their vote was suppressed or not, cuz that’s not something they do. It’s the single largest problem preventing Democratic victories, and I have no idea what, if anything, can be done about it.

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