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Cory Booker to Introduce Marijuana Justice Act to legalize marijuana at federal level

Shadybiz

Member
He has my sword, but it won't happen. Definitely a sign of him possibly running in 2020, as others have stated.
 

theWB27

Member
Whew...an attack on for profit prisons at the same time..I'll support that stance. And to be able to feel good legally : )
 

Socivol

Member
Yeah, that's not gonna go anywhere.

On the upside, the feds continue to take a hands-off approach to the will of the states, and things have gotten soo much better over the past 10 years. We (NH) finally decriminalized <0.75 oz; I can only hope recreational is pushed through in the next 2 years, especially considering MA and ME already did it.

Jefferson Sessions is vowing to get tough on weed again, because you know that's a super effective use of resources.
 

collige

Banned
Someone explain to me how Sessions has any effect on this whatsoever. If Congress overrides the DEA to remove marijuana from the CSA schedules (which they won't, but whatever), wouldn't the executive branch have no choice but to not enforce anything at the federal level?
 

rudger

Member
Like everything Cory Booker does, a shrewd publicity stunt that will lead to precisely zero policy outcomes.

Hope you get a nice photo-op out of it, though!

(P.S. You will never be President.)

Yeah, he's a real piece of shit. But at least he's a piece of shit who will generally vote my way.
 

Bronx-Man

Banned
Whens the last time the Dems had a clown car. 2004? Don't remember 2008 being much outside of Obama, Clinton and Biden.
We've got a lot in the wings so far. Booker, Kamala Harris, Al Franken, Tulsi Gabbard, maaaaybe Keith Ellison. All of them are gonna be relative newcomers to the spotlight compared to 4 years of Trump so that's a big advantage on our side.
 

jtb

Banned
He wouldn't even have a say, would he?

He's in charge of enforcing the laws others create.

There aren't enough votes in either chamber of Congress for criminal justice reform and/or marijuana legalization.

Even if there were enough for a narrow passage, McConnell - one of the last holdouts - would never bring it to the floor for a vote. The law will not change before at least 2018.
 
We've got a lot in the wings so far. Booker, Kamala Harris, Al Franken, Tulsi Gabbard, maaaaybe Keith Ellison. All of them are gonna be relative newcomers to the spotlight compared to 4 years of Trump so that's a big advantage on our side.
Christ please do not let it be Tulsi. I'm no Booker fan but I'd take him any day of the week.
 

Ponn

Banned
Marijuana legalization is one of the biggest hypocrisies of the GOP. If they really were about the free market and less government they should be all over it. It gets the bonus of adding a shit load of tax revenue that could allow them to cut their rich buddies taxes safely. But nope, just shows what's really driving the GOP.
 
Marijuana legalization is one of the biggest hypocrisies of the GOP. If they really were about the free market and less government they should be all over it. It gets the bonus of adding a shit load of tax revenue that could allow them to cut their rich buddies taxes safely. But nope, just shows what's really driving the GOP.

But then it would take precious money from prisons!
 

Boke1879

Member
Better to push this stuff now. About time we start pushing a lot of platform issues during the midterms. Healthcare, and even this bill would have benefits. It's not going anywhere but it could help mobilize.
 

Clefargle

Member
Dems should push this as loudly and repeatedly as the republicans did with healthcare repeal. It's a winnng issue and the republicans can't move to the left to counter it.
 

Ithil

Member
Justice Act

They're finally learning from Republicans on how to title bills and groups to appeal to Americans. Gotta shove "Freedom", "Liberty", "Patriot", "American" everywhere.
 

jtb

Banned
I will never understand why Obama was so against pushing for legalization.

Because there were far more important things to spend political capital on, and legalizing marijuana doesn't solve the underlying structures that create our horrifically unequal and wasteful criminal justice system.

Also, I'm not sure there were ever the votes. The success stories of WA and CO and the like didn't prop up and stabilize until Obama's term was nearly done. Need to be able to prove that it can work before you push it on a national level.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
We've got a lot in the wings so far. Booker, Kamala Harris, Al Franken, Tulsi Gabbard, maaaaybe Keith Ellison. All of them are gonna be relative newcomers to the spotlight compared to 4 years of Trump so that's a big advantage on our side.

My guess would be Harris, Franken, and Ellison don't run and Gabbard, if she runs, drops out early having won nothing. My guess would be Cuomo runs, my guess would be Booker runs. My guess would be Gillibrand and Klobuchar run. I suspect Tim Kaine will, if Mark Warner doesn't. I would guess you have a handful of governors -- maybe Kate Brown, maybe John Hickenlooper, maybe Terry McAuliffe. Maybe Biden (although I don't think he should). Maybe Chris Murphy. Martin Heinrich. Sherrod Brown I think said he wasn't but I think he might.

But honestly I'm a lot more interested in who the Republican nominee will be. My guess is Kasich, but Cory Gardner, Brian Sandoval, and Greg Abbott all look good to me.
 

platocplx

Member
Better to push this stuff now. About time we start pushing a lot of platform issues during the midterms. Healthcare, and even this bill would have benefits. It's not going anywhere but it could help mobilize.
Yes. This. Repubs did that and hurt Dems badly in obamas second term
 

jtb

Banned
My guess would be Harris, Franken, and Ellison don't run and Gabbard, if she runs, drops out early having won nothing. My guess would be Cuomo runs, my guess would be Booker runs. My guess would be Gillibrand and Klobuchar run. I suspect Tim Kaine will, if Mark Warner doesn't. I would guess you have a handful of governors -- maybe Kate Brown, maybe John Hickenlooper, maybe Terry McAuliffe. Maybe Biden (although I don't think he should). Maybe Chris Murphy. Martin Heinrich. Sherrod Brown I think said he wasn't but I think he might.

But honestly I'm a lot more interested in who the Republican nominee will be. My guess is Kasich, but Cory Gardner, Brian Sandoval, and Greg Abbott all look good to me.

Spoiler: it'll be Trump.

I think fewer D senators will run than we think. Seniority is so important in the Senate, they have a great, easy job. So the mid-tier veterans who don't have much charisma, like Warner or Klobuchar, have little upside to running for President. Someone like Kaine should run, but won't.

There are two types of senators: those who run for Senate and those who run for President. Think we'll find a lot of these Senators don't bring enough to the table to run for President.

also Gabbard will humiliate herself in spectacular fashion, and it will be glorious.
 
Marijuana legalization is one of the biggest hypocrisies of the GOP. If they really were about the free market and less government they should be all over it. It gets the bonus of adding a shit load of tax revenue that could allow them to cut their rich buddies taxes safely. But nope, just shows what's really driving the GOP.

But Marijuana makes it so easy to put brown people behind bars.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
I will never understand why Obama was so against pushing for legalization.

Obama was a really procedural guy who liked to slowball things. Remember he spent his first term dragging his heels on DADT repeal to make sure the military jumped through all the right hoops in terms of study. It's only around late 2011 that he started getting a little louder on justice reform, LBGT issues, and immigration, and he was hamstrung most of his second term by not having any congressional support.

Spoiler: it'll be Trump.

If you are that confident, you're leaving money on the table. PredictIt (correctly IMHO) has him at about a 50% chance of being the nominee in 2020. Remember that reasons he would not be the nominee could include: Impeachment, voluntary resignation, declining to run again, running again and losing a primary challenge, or death. If you disagree, though, you can make a lot of money because there's tons of liquidity in the betting line. Looks like you could make around $3,000 pretty easily without soaking up all the liquid positions by going long.

Seniority is so important in the Senate, they have a great, easy job.

But running for president doesn't cost them their Senate seat and the profile raise might benefit their committee assignments after they lose.
 
Dems should push this as loudly and repeatedly as the republicans did with healthcare repeal. It's a winnng issue and the republicans can't move to the left to counter it.

Indeed. This is one of those issues where the Repubs are going to have to relent one way or another, Americans already have majority support for the legalization of marijuana and now we have state-models for how legalization would work on top of that. It's definitely a winning issue.
 

jtb

Banned
Obama was a really procedural guy who liked to slowball things. Remember he spent his first term dragging his heels on DADT repeal to make sure the military jumped through all the right hoops in terms of study. It's only around late 2011 that he started getting a little louder on justice reform, LBGT issues, and immigration, and he was hamstrung most of his second term by not having any congressional support.



If you are that confident, you're leaving money on the table. PredictIt (correctly IMHO) has him at about a 50% chance of being the nominee in 2020. Remember that reasons he would not be the nominee could include: Impeachment, voluntary resignation, declining to run again, running again and losing a primary challenge, or death. If you disagree, though, you can make a lot of money because there's tons of liquidity in the betting line. Looks like you could make around $3,000 pretty easily without soaking up all the liquid positions by going long.

Good idea, but I imagine his stock will fall even more as we get closer to a 2018 midterm wave. The only threat is a heart attack for his fat ass.

But running for president doesn't cost them their Senate seat and the profile raise might benefit their committee assignments after they lose.

It's usually detrimental when running for re-election. Brown, for example, will have very difficult time convincing the voters of Ohio that he's looking out for their interests if he's also about to run for President. Hillary was handcuffed in 08 because of it. It's dumb, but common.

On the other hand, a safe D senator doesn't offer much to the table in winning over the Trump voter (not that it'll stop Booker of course). So I think the field naturally winnows itself in some ways.

Running for president is super expensive and every dollar you get from your donors (the initial bunch who brought you to the dance in the first place) towards the presidency is a dollar that you can't spend towards re-elect.
 

Ponn

Banned
But then it would take precious money from prisons!

But Marijuana makes it so easy to put brown people behind bars.

It's funny, when they were trying to legalize medical marijuana here in Florida (and passed but the state is holding it up because fuck your votes that's why!) the main campaigners against it was the fucking police. Everytime you turned around the sheriff was on tv in an ad fearmongering and lying his fucking ass off. "Anyone can get scripts, your kids will get it easy, doctors will be handing it out like candy". The biggest counter campaign against them? The fucking lawyers, couldn't believe I was cheering for lawyers during that. The cops stooped so low they had an ad running showing Halloween and saying if the bill passed people were going to be handing out pot candy to your kids at Halloween. Come the fuck on, if you got pot candy why the fuck would you waste it like that?
 

NJSlay

Banned
Working on getting that young vote for his inevitable 2020 presidential run.

It isn't just the young vote anymore. A lot of people have turned to pot instead of opiates.

It's also a much better experience and far less dangerous than drinking
 
Booker is a half-fraud.

1. He was buddy buddy with Sessions right up to his AG confirmation hearing.

2. He takes campaign funding from Pharmas and voted against Bernie Sander's Prescription Drug bill.

I just can't take him seriously.
 
He will be our next president. He is the closest thing we have to Obama.

Nobody believes this.

I'm not opposed to Booker, I won't support him in the primaries but if he's the nominee I'd vote for him obviously. But Booker is probably the worst candidate to run while Russian-linked hackers are reading people's emails....DMs...
 

Nephtes

Member
This would pass if it was up to the American people, and not the current crop of blowhards we have pulling the levers of government in the house and senate.

Most of them are old enough to remember when it was still called "reefer"... And they've all been in Washington long enough that they need to have gone long long very long ago.
 

platocplx

Member
It's funny, when they were trying to legalize medical marijuana here in Florida (and passed but the state is holding it up because fuck your votes that's why!) the main campaigners against it was the fucking police. Everytime you turned around the sheriff was on tv in an ad fearmongering and lying his fucking ass off. "Anyone can get scripts, your kids will get it easy, doctors will be handing it out like candy". The biggest counter campaign against them? The fucking lawyers, couldn't believe I was cheering for lawyers during that. The cops stooped so low they had an ad running showing Halloween and saying if the bill passed people were going to be handing out pot candy to your kids at Halloween. Come the fuck on, if you got pot candy why the fuck would you waste it like that?
They know it would put them outta work it's wildly ignorant when they don't have the same issues with people on opioids than they ever would with weed
 

studyguy

Member
Booker is a half-fraud.

1. He was buddy buddy with Sessions right up to his AG confirmation hearing.

2. He takes campaign funding from Pharmas and voted against Bernie Sander's Prescription Drug bill.

I just can't take him seriously.

That's generally what happens when pharmaceuticals are one of the largest industries in your state. It's not a good look, but like Sherrod Brown gets a ton of funding from the Ohio AG industries. Local industries funding candidates always seemed par the course.
 

Ryuukan

Member
1. He was buddy buddy with Sessions right up to his AG confirmation hearing.

its kinda strange to criticize gop senators for being "deeply concerned" but voting in line with the party anyway while calling out a dem senator for being "buddy buddy" with Sessions but in the end voted no to his AG appointment

seems contradictory
 

Auto_aim1

MeisaMcCaffrey
Wait... why are we ignoring Warren? I believe she has the best chance of beating Trump or whoever in 2020. Sadly Bernie and Biden probably won't run again, although I think Biden still wants to be president.
 

jtb

Banned
That's generally what happens when pharmaceuticals are one of the largest industries in your state. It's not a good look, but like Sherrod Brown gets a ton of funding from the Ohio AG industries. Local industries funding candidates always seemed par the course.

The bigger issue is that he's a total sleazebag who's been cravenly chasing power his entire career, and has a bizarre reliance on big money donations for a guy who's in a rock-solid blue city and a rock-solid blue state. Booker doesn't have a signature accomplishment he can point to in his career.

its kinda strange to criticize gop senators for being "deeply concerned" but voting in line with the party anyway while calling out a dem senator for being "buddy buddy" with Sessions but in the end voted no to his AG appointment

seems contradictory

How on earth are they contradictory? They're both woefully insufficient.
 

platocplx

Member
its kinda strange to criticize gop senators for being "deeply concerned" but voting in line with the party anyway while calling out a dem senator for being "buddy buddy" with Sessions but in the end voted no to his AG appointment

seems contradictory

Gotta love liberal purity tests.
 
On the topic of 2020, I didn't think Franken would run until I read his most recent book. It seems like a lot of it was setting the groundwork for at least putting his name out there.
 
Wait... why are we ignoring Warren? I believe she has the best chance of beating Trump or whoever in 2020. Sadly Bernie and Biden probably won't run again, although I think Biden still wants to be president.

She has the worst chance, it'll be Hillary Clinton all over again.
 

thefro

Member
Wait... why are we ignoring Warren? I believe she has the best chance of beating Trump or whoever in 2020. Sadly Bernie and Biden probably won't run again, although I think Biden still wants to be president.

Warren isn't very popular outside of the Dem base.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
It's usually detrimental when running for re-election. Brown, for example, will have very difficult time convincing the voters of Ohio that he's looking out for their interests if he's also about to run for President. Hillary was handcuffed in 08 because of it. It's dumb, but common.

(Sherrod) Brown doesn't really need to declare before his re-election campaign in 2018 and I would guess whether he chooses to run or not depends on whether he's re-elected and the choice to run for 2020 is not going to impact a re-election campaign, should he want one, in 2024.

But I also think you overestimate the risk it is for them to run even in the year they're up for re-election. In a recent example, Rubio essentially gave up his Senate seat to run, then literally gave up his Senate seat by announcing his retirement, then ambled into the election campaign at the latest moment possible and said "yeah I'm going to run again", and still easily carried the FL seat. Yeah, Trump carried FL and the coattails were good, but nothing about the 2010 -> 2016 transition suggests Rubio was impacted by his decision to run and that's a purple state. Running also does not appear to have hurt Kasich (Gov, also a purple state), or Paul (red state), or Sanders (blue state). You can make an argument it hurt Christie (blue state), I guess.
 
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