bill of rights

Drug czar: No state can nullify federal marijuana ban

"President Barack Obama’s drug czar toed a strict line on marijuana Wednesday, saying federal laws will prevail regardless of state-level efforts to legalize pot. Gil Kerlikowske said enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 — which ranks marijuana as a Schedule One drug alongside heroin, LSD and ecstasy — remains in the hands of the US Department of Justice. 'No state, no executive can nullify a statute that has been passed by Congress,' the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy told a National Press Club luncheon." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDrug czar: No state can nullify federal marijuana ban

Drug czar: No state can nullify federal marijuana ban

"President Barack Obama’s drug czar toed a strict line on marijuana Wednesday, saying federal laws will prevail regardless of state-level efforts to legalize pot. Gil Kerlikowske said enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 — which ranks marijuana as a Schedule One drug alongside heroin, LSD and ecstasy — remains in the hands of the US Department of Justice. 'No state, no executive can nullify a statute that has been passed by Congress,' the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy told a National Press Club luncheon." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDrug czar: No state can nullify federal marijuana ban

Drug czar: No state can nullify federal marijuana ban

"President Barack Obama’s drug czar toed a strict line on marijuana Wednesday, saying federal laws will prevail regardless of state-level efforts to legalize pot. Gil Kerlikowske said enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 — which ranks marijuana as a Schedule One drug alongside heroin, LSD and ecstasy — remains in the hands of the US Department of Justice. 'No state, no executive can nullify a statute that has been passed by Congress,' the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy told a National Press Club luncheon." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDrug czar: No state can nullify federal marijuana ban

Ron Paul Supporter Sues City Of St. Peters Following Caucus Arrest

"Stafford, 45, of O’Fallon, was arrested after things got out of control at a March 2012 St. Charles County GOP caucus. After a rules disagreement, St. Peters Police attempted to clear Francis Howell North High School and close the caucus. Stafford remained in the parking lot, trying to reconvene a meeting he said was improperly shut down, standing on a chair. During his trial in July 2012, officers said that they did not order him to leave as he was standing on the chair, but arrested him for disobeying orders to leave, and they felt everyone knew they were to leave the area. Police arrested Stafford and charged him with trespassing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRon Paul Supporter Sues City Of St. Peters Following Caucus Arrest

Keene Activist Threatened With Eighty-One Years In Prison For Weed

"The thing that Rich is counting on to stop the hammer from falling—and reward him for standing up for his why-can’t-I-sell-some-fucking-pot-to-my-friends principles—isn’t a traditional legal argument. It’s pretty much assumed that Rich did technically break the (unjust) law by selling weed. What he’s banking on is that the jury will 'nullify' his case—in other words, they’ll come to the conclusion that the statutes he violated shouldn’t exist in the first place and there’s no reason to send him to jail. That’s not such a far-fetched idea." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKeene Activist Threatened With Eighty-One Years In Prison For Weed

Feds firm on gun denials for pot users

"The federal form all firearms purchasers are required to fill out includes this question: 'Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana ... ?' An untruthful response to this question is a crime, said a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. When it comes to marijuana law, the states and federal government have been in an awkward stalemate, with states such as Colorado taking an increasingly casual attitude toward marijuana and the federal government refusing to declassify it from a Schedule 1 narcotic – the same class as heroin and methamphetamine." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeds firm on gun denials for pot users

Filmmaker: Obama’s war on whistleblowers ‘a terrible disservice to democracy’

"Appearing on CNN Sunday, documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald said that his latest film will highlight the Obama administration’s ongoing 'war' against people who reveal the government’s embarrassing and sometimes shocking secrets. 'War on Whistleblowers: Free Press and the National Security State' documents the Obama administration’s efforts to silence and retaliate against whistleblowers, and the effect that overreaching government secrecy has on journalism." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFilmmaker: Obama’s war on whistleblowers ‘a terrible disservice to democracy’

John Browne Explains the Great Game

"Of countries that have to make something, like the Swiss – the Swiss have got a heap of granite with icing on the top of it and yet they're one of the richest countries in the world. It's the people that do this stuff. It's the people and the leadership and if they believe in something they do it, and the Germans, too. They believe in hard work but what's more, they believe that the hard work of today's citizens should be kept intact so that those hard working people, when they retire, should be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor. The Anglo-Americans say the hell with the future, the hell with children, the hell with grandchildren. We want that money now." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJohn Browne Explains the Great Game

Supreme Court refuses to take up challenge against New York public gun law

"The Supreme Court declined on Monday to discuss a challenge to a New York state law requiring prospective gun owners to demonstrate they need to defend themselves before getting a concealed-carry license for a handgun. The New York Times reported that the court’s decision effectively backs a ruling by the federal Court of Appeals for New York upholding the law. New York state attorney general Eric Schneiderman filed a brief to the high court arguing that the New York law, similar to measures in at least seven other states, operated in accordance with the Second Amendment." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSupreme Court refuses to take up challenge against New York public gun law

Destroying the middle ground

"Imagine yourself in an alternate United States where the First Amendment is not as a matter of settled law considered to bar Federal and State governments from almost all interference in free speech. In this alternate America, there are many and bitter arguments about the extent of free-speech rights. The ground of dispute is to what extent the instruments of political and cultural speech (printing presses, radios, telephones, copying machines, computers) should be regulated by government so that use of these instruments does not promote violence, assist criminal enterprises, and disrupt public order." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDestroying the middle ground