Jeff Sessions -- Could it really be?
- Thread starter Wahiker
- Start date
Tranquility
Well-Known Member
Well, at least we won't have Jeffy to kick around any more:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...etirement?_amp=true&__twitter_impression=true
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...etirement?_amp=true&__twitter_impression=true
Republicans kept their Senate majority, and then Attorney General Jeff Sessions got the knife. The long-suffering attorney general offered his resignation barely half-a-day after the midterm elections.
Safely in power until at least 2020, Senate Republicans turned their back on their old Alabama colleague. His exit came just hours after a Trump press conference celebrating the GOP's expanded majority in the upper chamber (which makes Sessions' successor easier to confirm) — and less than two weeks after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, deliberately said he was “nonchalant” about the fate of Sessions.
It is remarkable that Sessions survived for so long after recusing himself from the Russia investigation. He relied on Grassley for protection throughout his career.
As Fred Barnes reported for our sister publication, The Weekly Standard, it was the Iowa senator who blew up the Pruitt-for-Sessions scheme that the disgraced EPA secretary had been pushing behind the scenes. Grassley wanted to confirm judges. He did not want to sit through another round of confirmation hearings for a second attorney general.
But once his Senate bodyguard backed out, nothing was left to stop the long-expected axe from falling.
“The answer that I gave a year ago was directed directly at the president that I honestly didn’t have time to consider anything else. It was also somewhat of a defense of Sessions,” Grassley told the Washington Examiner earlier in October. “Now, I’m kind of nonchalant about defending Sessions. I like him very much personally, and I want him to be a good attorney general, but the president’s got a right to have somebody in there he wanted.”
Trump wants someone else, clearly. So, as Senate Republicans breathe a sigh of relief on Capitol Hill, Sessions breathes his last at the Department of Justice, abandoned by his bodyguard.
Safely in power until at least 2020, Senate Republicans turned their back on their old Alabama colleague. His exit came just hours after a Trump press conference celebrating the GOP's expanded majority in the upper chamber (which makes Sessions' successor easier to confirm) — and less than two weeks after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, deliberately said he was “nonchalant” about the fate of Sessions.
It is remarkable that Sessions survived for so long after recusing himself from the Russia investigation. He relied on Grassley for protection throughout his career.
As Fred Barnes reported for our sister publication, The Weekly Standard, it was the Iowa senator who blew up the Pruitt-for-Sessions scheme that the disgraced EPA secretary had been pushing behind the scenes. Grassley wanted to confirm judges. He did not want to sit through another round of confirmation hearings for a second attorney general.
But once his Senate bodyguard backed out, nothing was left to stop the long-expected axe from falling.
“The answer that I gave a year ago was directed directly at the president that I honestly didn’t have time to consider anything else. It was also somewhat of a defense of Sessions,” Grassley told the Washington Examiner earlier in October. “Now, I’m kind of nonchalant about defending Sessions. I like him very much personally, and I want him to be a good attorney general, but the president’s got a right to have somebody in there he wanted.”
Trump wants someone else, clearly. So, as Senate Republicans breathe a sigh of relief on Capitol Hill, Sessions breathes his last at the Department of Justice, abandoned by his bodyguard.
BabyFacedFinster
Anything worth doing, is worth overdoing.
Good riddance. Jackass.
I can't believe I agree with Trump on something.
I can't believe I agree with Trump on something.
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Diggy Smalls
Notorious
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
neverforget711
Well-Known Member
With this and the Mooch's gossip, sativa issues voters perhaps get theirs.
Tranquility
Well-Known Member
I think his position on marijuana is that Mueller's investigation should stay within the confines of Russian Collusion and not expand to other areas.
There's only one reason why he was picked rather than allow Rosenstein to take the post. But, he was a former prosecutor so I doubt his cannabis beliefs are as evolved as we might like.
What some others feel:
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/where-jeff-sessionss-temporary-replacement-stands-on-marijuana/
CarolKing
Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
Whitaker is only in the Atty Gen position for a short while. He’s just temporary until Trump finds some other person that can be confirmed by the lawmakers in January. Our lawmakers can’t do much now. Trump will find someone that will do his bidding for him. We might end up with a real hard nose like Sessions. It’s too soon to know anything. Cannabis I would assume would be low on the priority list with everything else that’s going on.
Trump will do whatever benefits himself. He has no core beliefs other than what’s good for him. I don’t think he gives a shit about cannabis or medical mj patients.
The states and the citizens for now will have to be there to change laws where cannabis is concerned. Wonderful news for some states just recently.
Trump will do whatever benefits himself. He has no core beliefs other than what’s good for him. I don’t think he gives a shit about cannabis or medical mj patients.
The states and the citizens for now will have to be there to change laws where cannabis is concerned. Wonderful news for some states just recently.
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BabyFacedFinster
Anything worth doing, is worth overdoing.
Some analysts are claiming that even appointing a temporary AG is unconstitutional as any AG must be voted on by the Senate and not appointed by the King, sorry I meant President. With the Senate being controlled by the GOP, this is at most a procedural stall but it makes the claim that anything decided by the current AG, including the ending of the Mueller investigation, would be invalid.
MinnBobber
Well-Known Member
Jeff Sessions gone 
Who the replacement will be OR 
????
CNN article:
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump is considering former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to replace fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions, sources familiar with the matter said.
These may be the only one (two) that could actually be WORSE than Sessions regarding cannabis??
Pam Bondi tried to block/sidetrack/ impose her will on FL, contrary to what the voters passed.
" Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's office filed a 57-page brief last week supporting Florida's ban on smokable medical marijuana, challenging an earlier ruling from a circuit judge. "
And Christie is a known cannabis hater. He spews ignorant shit and would also be really bad.
New Jersey governor Chris Christie called supporters of marijuana legalization "crazy liberals" who want to "poison our kids" during a talk at a substance abuse conference on Monday, according to Politico.
Could there be a worse twosome of top contenders???
Oh lord above, save us from this dark, cruel fate......
Who the replacement will be
OR ????CNN article:
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump is considering former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to replace fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions, sources familiar with the matter said.
These may be the only one (two) that could actually be WORSE than Sessions regarding cannabis??
Pam Bondi tried to block/sidetrack/ impose her will on FL, contrary to what the voters passed.
" Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's office filed a 57-page brief last week supporting Florida's ban on smokable medical marijuana, challenging an earlier ruling from a circuit judge. "
And Christie is a known cannabis hater. He spews ignorant shit and would also be really bad.
New Jersey governor Chris Christie called supporters of marijuana legalization "crazy liberals" who want to "poison our kids" during a talk at a substance abuse conference on Monday, according to Politico.
Could there be a worse twosome of top contenders???
Oh lord above, save us from this dark, cruel fate......
little maggie
Well-Known Member
Does it really matter what's unconstitutional given those in control right now? Trump will do what he wants.
While many here are celebrating Sessions eviction I think his replacement is far worse. With the exception possibly of cannabis:
“I know a couple of families that are going to be positively impacted by what has happened in the state senate today,” Whitaker said of the Iowa legislature’s passage of a bill to allow certain patients access to CBD. “I think Congress, you know, should regulate the things that harm people. And that is the hard drugs, and the like that dramatically hurt citizens, cause violent crimes in our communities.”"
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steama
Well-Known Member
Trump will do what he wants and I am glad to see Sessions feeling nice and shitty. Never liked Mr. 'anti cannabis' Sessions in the slightest.
As it stands congress lacks the backbone to stand up to Trump on the right or the left. Hell, both the GOP and the DEMS get their campaign money from the same people. So everyone in congress is afraid of either their donors or Trump. Which means the only people getting screwed are the working, shrinking, middle class. Politicians on the right and on the left love to lie and screw the working people.
We need to ask ourselves when our military industrial complex is spending almost a trillion dollars a year what we are so FUCKING afraid of? It is sad to be in such a paranoid nation. Imagine what kind of health care we could have with a trillion dollars?
The herd is for harvesting, everything else is a distraction.
As it stands congress lacks the backbone to stand up to Trump on the right or the left. Hell, both the GOP and the DEMS get their campaign money from the same people. So everyone in congress is afraid of either their donors or Trump. Which means the only people getting screwed are the working, shrinking, middle class. Politicians on the right and on the left love to lie and screw the working people.
We need to ask ourselves when our military industrial complex is spending almost a trillion dollars a year what we are so FUCKING afraid of? It is sad to be in such a paranoid nation. Imagine what kind of health care we could have with a trillion dollars?
The herd is for harvesting, everything else is a distraction.
howie105
Well-Known Member
It not all bad or good. Michigan, Missouri and Utah all made some progress and as a bonus some of the governors races were positive. As to Sessions he was a dinosaur that could have been dangerous but now he is gone. Downside we can't see into the future so it could still end up sucking, a lot.
little maggie
Well-Known Member
Lots of protests where I live about Sessions being fired because of concern about Mueller being debarbed. (Assuming he had any.)
And I'm sorry for any Republicans but even though everyone is afraid to challenge T it feels like they've turned into a pack of hyenas. Except they are the wrong gender.
And I'm sorry for any Republicans but even though everyone is afraid to challenge T it feels like they've turned into a pack of hyenas. Except they are the wrong gender.
Tranquility
Well-Known Member
Now that we don't have 'ol Jeffey to kick around any more:
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/where-trumps-pick-for-attorney-general-stands-on-drug-policy/
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/where-trumps-pick-for-attorney-general-stands-on-drug-policy/
President Donald Trump said on Friday that he plans to nominate William Barr to replace Jeff Sessions as U.S. attorney general.
Barr, who previously served in the position under President George H. W. Bush’s administration, seems less openly hostile to marijuana compared to other potential nominees whose names were floated—like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who pledged to crack down on state-legal cannabis activity during his failed 2016 presidential bid.
That said, he developed a reputation as anti-drug while overseeing harsh enforcement policies under Bush.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1071076519584268288
The prospective nominee seems to share a worldview with the late president under whom he served. Bush called for “more prisons, more jails, more courts, more prosecutors” to combat drug use and dramatically increased the federal drug control budget to accomplish that goal. In 1992, Barr sanctioned a report that made the “case for more incarceration” as a means to reduce violent crime.
Barr wrote a letter explaining why he was releasing the report, which has now resurfaced as observers attempt to gauge how he will approach drug policy in the 21st century.
“[T]here is no better way to reduce crime than to identify, target, and incapacitate those hardened criminals who commit staggering numbers of violent crimes whenever they are on the streets,” he wrote. “Of course, we cannot incapacitate these criminals unless we build sufficient prison and jail space to house them.”
“Revolving-door justice resulting from inadequate prison and jail space breeds disrespect for the law and places our citizens at risk, unnecessarily, of becoming victims of violent crime.”
He also wrote a letter to lawmakers in 2015 defending the criminal justice system—including mandatory minimum sentences—and encouraging Congress not to bring up a sentencing reform bill.
“It’s hard to imagine an Attorney General as bad as Jeff Sessions when it comes to criminal justice and the drug war, but Trump seems to have found one,” Michael Collins, director of national drug affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, said in a press release. “Nominating Barr totally undermines Trump’s recent endorsement of sentencing reform.”
“The vast majority of Americans believe the war on drugs needs to be replaced with a health-centered approach. It is critically important that the next Attorney General be committed to defending basic rights and moving away from failed drug war policies. William Barr is a disastrous choice.”
Another window into Barr’s criminal justice perspective comes from 1989, when he wrote a Justice Department memo that authorized the FBI to apprehend suspected fugitives living in other countries and extradite them to the U.S. without first getting permission from the country. The intent of the memo seemed to be to enable the U.S. to more easily capture international drug traffickers.
In 2002, Barr compared drug trafficking to terrorism and described the drug war as the “biggest frustration” he faced under Bush. The administration “did a very good job putting in place the building blocks for intelligence building and international cooperation, but we never tightened the noose,” he said.
Interestingly, as The Washington Post reported, Barr would be heading up a department where his daughter, Mary Daly, also works. Daly is the director of opioid enforcement and prevention efforts in the deputy attorney general’s office, and she’s established herself as an advocate for tougher criminal enforcement aimed at driving out the opioid epidemic.
Today’s drug policy landscape is a lot different than it was in the early 1990s, though, and it’s yet to be seen how Barr, if confirmed by the Senate, will navigate conflicting state and federal marijuana laws. He’ll also be inheriting a Justice Department that no longer operates under an Obama-era policy of general non-intervention, after Sessions moved this year to rescind the so-called Cole memo that provided guidance on federal cannabis enforcement.
But for advocates, at least it’s not the guy who said “good people don’t smoke marijuana” anymore and it won’t be one who campaigned for president saying he’d enforce federal prohibition in legal states, either.
Barr, who previously served in the position under President George H. W. Bush’s administration, seems less openly hostile to marijuana compared to other potential nominees whose names were floated—like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who pledged to crack down on state-legal cannabis activity during his failed 2016 presidential bid.
That said, he developed a reputation as anti-drug while overseeing harsh enforcement policies under Bush.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1071076519584268288
The prospective nominee seems to share a worldview with the late president under whom he served. Bush called for “more prisons, more jails, more courts, more prosecutors” to combat drug use and dramatically increased the federal drug control budget to accomplish that goal. In 1992, Barr sanctioned a report that made the “case for more incarceration” as a means to reduce violent crime.
Barr wrote a letter explaining why he was releasing the report, which has now resurfaced as observers attempt to gauge how he will approach drug policy in the 21st century.
“[T]here is no better way to reduce crime than to identify, target, and incapacitate those hardened criminals who commit staggering numbers of violent crimes whenever they are on the streets,” he wrote. “Of course, we cannot incapacitate these criminals unless we build sufficient prison and jail space to house them.”
“Revolving-door justice resulting from inadequate prison and jail space breeds disrespect for the law and places our citizens at risk, unnecessarily, of becoming victims of violent crime.”
He also wrote a letter to lawmakers in 2015 defending the criminal justice system—including mandatory minimum sentences—and encouraging Congress not to bring up a sentencing reform bill.
“It’s hard to imagine an Attorney General as bad as Jeff Sessions when it comes to criminal justice and the drug war, but Trump seems to have found one,” Michael Collins, director of national drug affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, said in a press release. “Nominating Barr totally undermines Trump’s recent endorsement of sentencing reform.”
“The vast majority of Americans believe the war on drugs needs to be replaced with a health-centered approach. It is critically important that the next Attorney General be committed to defending basic rights and moving away from failed drug war policies. William Barr is a disastrous choice.”
Another window into Barr’s criminal justice perspective comes from 1989, when he wrote a Justice Department memo that authorized the FBI to apprehend suspected fugitives living in other countries and extradite them to the U.S. without first getting permission from the country. The intent of the memo seemed to be to enable the U.S. to more easily capture international drug traffickers.
In 2002, Barr compared drug trafficking to terrorism and described the drug war as the “biggest frustration” he faced under Bush. The administration “did a very good job putting in place the building blocks for intelligence building and international cooperation, but we never tightened the noose,” he said.
Interestingly, as The Washington Post reported, Barr would be heading up a department where his daughter, Mary Daly, also works. Daly is the director of opioid enforcement and prevention efforts in the deputy attorney general’s office, and she’s established herself as an advocate for tougher criminal enforcement aimed at driving out the opioid epidemic.
Today’s drug policy landscape is a lot different than it was in the early 1990s, though, and it’s yet to be seen how Barr, if confirmed by the Senate, will navigate conflicting state and federal marijuana laws. He’ll also be inheriting a Justice Department that no longer operates under an Obama-era policy of general non-intervention, after Sessions moved this year to rescind the so-called Cole memo that provided guidance on federal cannabis enforcement.
But for advocates, at least it’s not the guy who said “good people don’t smoke marijuana” anymore and it won’t be one who campaigned for president saying he’d enforce federal prohibition in legal states, either.
DeeCee5
Livin' La Vida Loca in FL
It will be interesting to watch during the Senate confirmation hearings if his position on drug policies has changed since the early 2000's.
CarolKing
Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
A NORML Statement on William Barr as Attorney General Nominee
-
Washington, DC: Today, President Trump announced his intention to nominate former Attorney General William Barr to be considered by the Senate to replace former Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions.
“With every move by the Department of Justice facing intense public scrutiny, maintaining Jeff Sessions’ policy of reefer madness would be self-defeating,” said NORML Political Director Justin Strekal. “The movement to end the failed and cruel policy of marijuana criminalization is larger and stronger than ever, supported by a majority of Democrats, Republicans, and non-partisans.”
“In 2018, five states legalized either the medicinal or adult-use of marijuana, making the total number of states out of compliance with the Controlled Substances Act now 47. It would be utterly absurd for William Barr or any agent of the Department of Justice to take any action against these state-sanctioned and operational programs.”
“Over half of the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee represent states that have or are in the process of enacting a legal marijuana marketplace. It is our intention that Mr. Barr be put on the record regarding his current position on cannabis given his record as a proponent of the failed War on Drugs.”
—
Thirty-three states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. territories of Guam and Puerto Rico have enacted legislation specific to the physician-authorized use of cannabis. Moreover, an estimated 73 million Americans now reside in the ten states where anyone over the age of 21 may possess cannabis legally. An additional fifteen states have passed laws specific to the possession of cannabidiol (CBD) oil for therapeutic purposes.
Sixty-eight percent of registered voters “support the legalization of marijuana,” according to national polling data compiled by the Center for American Progress. The percentage is the highest level of support for legalization ever reported in a nationwide, scientific poll.
Majorities of Democrats (77 percent), Independents (62 percent), and Republicans (57 percent) back legalization. The results of a 2017 nationwide Gallup poll similarly found majority support among all three groups.
To date, these statewide regulatory programs are operating largely as voters and politicians intended. The enactment of these policies have not negatively impacted workplace safety, crime rates, traffic safety, or youth use patterns. They have stimulated economic development and created hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax revenue.
Specifically, a 2017 report estimates that over 149,000 Americans are now working full-time in the cannabis industry. Tax revenues from states like Colorado, Oregon, and Washington now exceed initial projections. Further, numerous studies have identified an association between cannabis access and lower rates of opioid use, abuse, hospitalizations, and mortality.