AUSTIN, Texas (March 20, 2017) – A bill introduced in the Texas House would legalize the production and processing of industrial hemp for commercial purposes, rejecting the unconstitutional federal prohibition on the same. Rep. Bill Zedler (R-Arlington) introduced House Bill 3587 (HB3587) on March 9. Under the proposed law, industrial hemp would be treated as…
On March 14, I appeared on the Kate Dalley Show to talk about warrantless NSA spying and what states can do about it. I opened the interview explaining how the state of Utah could simply end all cooperation with unconstitutional surveillance and turn off the water to the NSA facility in Bluffdale. This led to a…
CHARLESTON, W. Va. . (Mar. 20, 2017) – On Saturday, the West Virginia Senate passed a bill to withdraw the state from Common Core. Sen. Patricia Rucker (R-Jefferson) introduced Senate Bill 524 (SB524) to void Common Core standards in the state. It reads, in part: Effective July 1, 2018, the state board is prohibited from…
Arizona House Bill 2477 (HB2477) would require prosecutors to establish a higher evidentiary standard for asset forfeiture. The bill also takes on federal forfeiture programs by banning prosecutors from circumventing state laws by passing cases off to the feds in most situations. It passed the House by a unanimous 60-0 vote. (learn more here) It now…
I am convinced that the US, and probably the entire Western world, that is, the American Empire, has entered an era in which respect for truth does not exist in public and private institutions. We have been watching this develop for some time. Think, for example, back to August 3, 2002, a recent time in terms of our present predicament, but a time prior to political consciousness of anyone younger today than 33 years old. In the summer of 2002, the world was being prepared by propaganda for a US invasion of Iraq. On August 3 of that year, the prestigious British publication, The Economist, summed up the consensus of ruling opinion in two sentences: “The honest choices now are to give up and give in, or to remove Mr. Hussein before he gets his [nuclear] bomb. Painful as it is, our vote is for war.” As Lewis Lapham, myself and others asked at the time, what bomb? Read more via source post:
DENVER, Colo. (March 21, 2017) – A Republican controlled Colorado Senate committee killed a bill that would have closed an asset forfeiture loophole that allows state and local police to circumvent more stringent state asset forfeiture laws. Despite bipartisan sponsorship, Senate Bill 136 (SB136) failed to advance out of the Senate Committee on Judiciary by a…
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Mar. 17, 2017) – Bills introduced in the Rhode Island legislature would legalize marijuana for recreational use, taking a big step toward nullifying federal cannabis prohibition in practice in the state. Senate Bill 420 (S420) was introduced by Sen. Joshua Miller (D-Cranston) and four bipartisan co-sponsors to legalize marijuana under a tax-and-regulate system…
HELENA, Mont. (March 17, 2017) – Yesterday, an important Senate committee unanimously passed a bill that would limit the use of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) in the state. Passage into law would also place significant roadblocks in the way of a federal program using states to help track the location of millions of everyday…
PIERRE, S.D. (March 17, 2017) – South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard has signed a bill into law repealing the authority of the state Department of Social Services to enter into agreements related to the Refugee Act of 1980. A coalition of 12 Republican representatives and senators sponsored Senate Bill 124 (SB124). Originally, the bill would…
COLUMBIA, S.C. (March 17, 2017) – A bill introduced in the South Carolina House would reform the state’s asset forfeiture laws to prohibit the state from taking property without a criminal conviction. The legislation also takes on federal forfeiture programs by banning prosecutors from circumventing state laws by passing cases off to the feds in…