Will Sessions Double Down On The Racist War on Drugs?
By Thom Hartmann A...
Yesterday a federal jury in South Carolina sentenced the Confederacy-loving Charleston Church shooter Dylann Roof to death.
Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, the Senate gave a job interview to the living, breathing embodiment of the Confederacy's legacy - Alabama Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions the Third - who Donald Trump wants to be Attorney General.
Sessions - better known as Jeff Sessions - is probably Donald Trump's most controversial cabinet pick, and for one very good reason: he was too racist for the Reagan era.
Back in 1986 the Senate blocked him from becoming a federal judge because of repeated allegations of racism.
Sessions - at the time a U.S. Attorney in Mobile, Alabama - is supposed to have said that he "didn't think the KKK were such bad guys until [he] found out they smoked marijuana".
He's also supposed to have called an African-American colleague "boy" - and reportedly referred to a white attorney as a "race traitor".
Those allegations were serious enough that in 1986 the then-Republican-controlled Senate said "no" to him becoming a federal judge.
That was 30 years ago - and Sessions STILL might become the next Attorney General.
Amazing....
When it comes to Jeff Sessions, though, the past might honestly not be as concerning as the future.
Under the Obama administration, the Justice Department has allowed states to experiment with marijuana legalization by not enforcing federal drug laws that classify marijuana up there with heroin.
But in today's confirmation hearings, Jeff Sessions refused to say whether or not he would allow this policy to continue - even when it involved sick people using marijuana as medicine.
Senator Leahy: "Would you use our federal resources to investigate and prosecute sick people who are using marijuana in accordance with their state laws even though it might violate federal law?"
Senator Sessions: "Well, I won't commit to never enforcing federal law, Senator Leahy, but absolutely it's a problem of resources for the federal government. ... Using good judgment about how to handle these cases will be a responsibility of mine. I know it wont be an easy decision but I will try to do my duty in a fair and just way".
So - will Jeff Sessions allow the Obama administration's marijuana experiment to continue?
Or are we about to see the Justice Department double down on the racist war on drugs - which has always been about throwing black people in jail?
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Comments
#2
Its very simple. Follow the law and you won't get arrested, convicted, or jailed. What is so confusibg about this?
#3
Notwithstanding his token Uncle Tom pick for HUD, Big Daddy Pervy is surrounding himself with some of the whitest racist bigots he can dig out of the manure pile. People are gonna need to smoke a helluva lot of ganja and put on their darkest sunglasses even to squint in the glare of all that brilliant whiteness.
#4
Its amazing there are no other comments. Everybody done scared to comment? The sound of silence is deafening on this subject for this forum. Perhaps "Legend" is correct. Worried about the feds? However; I never saw a fight in school when people were smoking reefer but you go to a Keg party and all hell would usually take place. They don't want anyone using an enlightining substance, only a dumbing down visceral and dangerous drug, that being alcohol.
#5
Yup ... How many alky hypocrites ya think would "follow the law" if prohibition laws were reinstated? Didn't we find that out once?
#6
Yep! Hypocracy is the element here in their thinking.......(well benefit of doubt here the claim/statement of thinking....) . That's why they call the South the "Bible (belt)". Take a "belt" after a good Saturday night and go to Church on the mornin'. Praise the Lord and not see no brown people withn the walls !!!! What a situation the uneducated have rendered us to.
#7
America is barking mad
#8
Amen, brotha.
#9
I put the medical marijuana deniers right up there with the climate change deniers. If you are not sick, and you have not experienced any severe weather events.......You might be a denier.
#10
Yeah Willie,
Just like the anti-death penalty left who cheer for every abortion. Hypocrisy cuts both ways.
K2
#11
Nobody "cheers" for abortion, you despicable liar. Although, a loud cheer would have certainly erupted from the crowd, even from religious hypocrites, had your mother done the right thing and aborted your dumb ass, fool!
#12
Kilosqrd,
The anti-death penalty left? Is your world really that black and white? Most issues have a gray area to consider. One size does not fit all.
#13
Tom, do you really belive that I should spend my life behind bars just because I treat a medical condition with a substance that I know to be (speaking drug dangers) relatively safe? I suffer from seziures (service connected, I might add) restless leg syndrome, glaucoma, insomnia, and I have had a bout of cancer. I have smoked marijuana for nearly 50 years to get some comfort through all of this. Pharma's drugs have so many side effects. They give you meds to treat the side effects of the meds they give you for the side effects of the meds you "need" for your treatment. I do not concider that as "safe" drugs. Pharma has no interest in curing you because if they did, you wouldn't need more drugs and that would cut into their bottom line. The problem with it being illegal is that I have to go underground and deal with "shady" people to get my meds. This supports the drug cartels and fuels the "drug war". Here in Montana, medicinal use is legal, but we just had a run in with state senators who limited the "pot shops" to THREE clients. Many went out of buisness. By that line of thinking, doctors should only have 3 patients and if all of the doctors were "taken", where would YOU get your health care? It was crazy but the Montana people spoke and had that law repealed, it goes into effect by the end of the month. I will be able to get my meds "legally" again. I have no objection to recreational use, anyone that sits in a bar, smoking cigarettes and drinking alchohol, has NO room to object, NONE! They drive to the bar, get drunk and become invincable behind the wheel. Pot smokers are usually home raiding the fridge. You tell me who is more dangerous to society, pot smokers or drunks. Yes, this is a public health issue, not because pot is "dangerous" or "illegal" but because drunks kill people every day and there has NEVER been a death by overdose or any side issue (I.E. DUI's, accidents or whatever), absolutely NONE! I am NOT a crimminal, I am a patient. I have never been arrested (that bites private prisons), I am not a liar or a thief. Ronnie's "war on drugs", (marijuana mainly), has been a huge drain on the resources of this country and it is past time to end it!
#14
Hi Rollin,
"Tom, do you really believe that I should spend my life behind bars just because I treat a medical condition with a substance that I know to be (speaking drug dangers) relatively safe?"
I think you may have misread Thom's point above. He believes just the opposite and has spoken many times in favor of full legalization of both medical and recreational use for adults in a responsible manner.
You made some really excellent points, though, that show how such ridiculous laws negatively impact society. Thanks!
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I see Federal troops in the 9 states that have legalized pot for recreational use. Even if it has proven no problem and a tax revenue for the states.