Calculating
Calculating's JournalJeff Sessions to face tough questions over civil asset forfeiture
If any of Trumps Appointees need to be opposed, it's this guy. This guy is truly a racist, bigoted, closed-minded, police-state loving dinosaur dug up from the swamps of Alabama. Apparently the new head of the DOJ is fine with robbing people of their possessions without due process because "it only effects people who sit around selling dope for a living". I guess he's completely ignorant of all the innocent people who get caught up in this perversion of justice. Better not travel with a large amount of cash. Cops can basically just take it without even trying you in court.
Looks like the department of justice is about to become the department of INjustice.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/jeff-sessions-face-tough-questions-over-civil-asset-forfeiture
Since Donald Trump announced his plans to nominate Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to be the next Attorney General, Sessions’ critics have largely focused on his controversial civil-rights record. It’s not a bad idea – the Alabama’s Republican’s background on race is deeply problematic – though there’s little to suggest it’s likely to derail Sessions’ confirmation process.
There is, however, a different issue that Sessions and his backers may not be fully prepared for. As the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page noted today, the senator’s position on civil asset forfeiture deserves much closer scrutiny.
The all-too-common practice allows law enforcement to take private property without due process and has become a cash cow for state and local police and prosecutors. Under a federal program called “equitable sharing,” local law enforcement can team up with federal authorities to seize property in exchange for 80% of the proceeds.
Assets are often seized—and never returned—without any judicial process or court supervision. Unlike criminal forfeiture, civil forfeiture doesn’t require a criminal conviction or even charges…. Civil-rights activists have campaigned for years to end forfeiture abuses. But in a 2015 hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Sessions defended the practice.
In fact, Sessions expressed his support for civil forfeiture with great enthusiasm, insisting last year that he’s “very unhappy” with the bipartisan criticism of the practice, which he said only adversely affects people who have “done nothing in their lives but sell dope.”
Turns out Joe McCarthy was right
His ideas just weren't relevant at the time. If only he knew what would happen half a century later.
New DEA Rule Says CBD Oil is Really, Truly, No-Joke Illegal
Great going DEA, ban a substance that LITERALLY doesn't get people high and only helps sick people. Was it cutting into big pharma profits too much or something?
https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/new-dea-rule-says-cbd-oil-really-truly-no-joke-illegal
Note: This article contains an update on the legal status of CBD products, below the original text.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made CBD oil a little more federally illegal in a little-noticed bureaucratic maneuver this morning.
Today’s Federal Register (Dec. 14, 2016) contains an item (21 CFR Part 1308) that establishes a new drug code for “marihuana extract.”
“This code,” wrote DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg, “will allow DEA and DEA-registered entities to track quantities of this material separately from quantities of marihuana.” The move, the Register entry explained, is meant to bring the US into compliance with international drug-control treaties.
There is no major change in law brought about by the Register item. Rather, it serves to clarify and reinforce the DEA’s position on all cannabis extracts, including CBD oil. That position is: They are all federally illegal Schedule I substances. “Extracts of marihuana will continue to be treated as Schedule I controlled substances,” the notice says.
CBD oil derived from hemp is now commonly available nationwide via web sites and mail order services. Those operations survive on the assumption that cannabidiol products below the legal threshold for THC percentage in hemp (0.3 percent or less) are technically legal.
Not so, says the DEA.
NASA scientistic claims Earth due for an extinction level asteroid impact.
Seems like we could make more of a priority out of hunting these things down and building an interceptor for if we find one. Even though extinction level impacts are very rare, we still need to worry about 'city killer' asteroids that can swoop in unnoticed. A Tunguska level event over NYC, Beijing, LA etc could kill millions instantly with no warning.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/12/nasa-scientist-earth-is-due-for-extinction-level-event.html
Earth is due for an “extinction-level” event from the sky, and even if we see it coming, we won’t be able to do anything about it, a NASA scientist said Monday. Speaking at a meeting in San Francisco, Dr. Joseph Nuth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center said large asteroids and comets, the type that could wipe out civilization, are extremely rare, but tend to hit “50 to 60 million years apart.” Given that a comet wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, one could argue that we’re slightly past “due.”
“The biggest problem, basically, is there’s not a hell of a lot we can do about it at the moment,” he added.
But maybe there could be. Nuth cited a close encounter in 2014, when a comet passed perilously close to Mars. It wasn’t spotted until 22 months before it nearly reached the planet, which Nuth says isn’t enough time to fend off a similar threat to Earth. That’s why he’s suggesting NASA build a rocket to be kept in storage and deployed when we know the big one is on the way. If such a rocket were kept tuned up and could be ready to launch within a year, Nuth said, it “could mitigate the possibility of a sneaky asteroid coming in from a place that’s hard to observe, like from the sun
Political Cartoon Idea
On one side you have Obama in mission control, overseeing the raid which killed Osama Bin ladan. On the other side you have Trump tweeting about his political enemies at 3AM. It would be funny if not for how true it is.
Trump needs to get this guy to head the EPA
Roal coal for life yo. #MAGA
I'm starting to wonder if we're actually living in the twilight zone or something. These picks are just plain crazy. It's like Trump has been picking the absolute worst possible people for every job intentionally.
Democracy didn't fail us!
The electoral college has screwed us all, AGAIN!.
First in the Bush vs Gore election and now THIS 
I'm absolutely convinced that this broken archaic system will lead to the inevitable doom of our country unless it is abolished. We cannot afford to keep having this happen. Think of all the damage GWB caused to our nation. Now think of how much Trump might potentially cause. We cannot keep letting this happen. I don't know if our nation can handle much more of this without collapsing.
What other civilized country in the world uses a system like it? I cannot think of any. Either they're all right and we're wrong, or we're right with every other civilized democracy in the world doing it wrong. In scientific thinking you generally want to go with the 'more likely' option.
I realize the electoral college was designed to keep presidents from only focusing on the large population centers and big states. However, I notice that it creates other problems which seem just as bad. Due to the 'winner takes all' nature, it creates a system in which candidates don't even bother campaigning in states they aren't expected to win. IE Trump not even trying in states like Cali, and Hillary not trying in hard red states. The other problem with the EC is that it causes some votes to be worth more than others.
The electoral college at this point serves only to give disproportionate electoral power to backwards ass ignorant rural states, while marginalizing the electoral power of our modern thinking population centers. Trump isn't the disease. He's merely a symptom of the underlying sickness which has plagued our country, and that sickness is the EC.
Repealing the EC will be extremely hard because the states who benefit from it would need to vote for its repeal. That's why the people of this nation need to protest and DEMAND action! We would need millions of people from everywhere to march upon Washington and protest. Shut the whole country down if needed. If the people of our country cannot pull their heads from their asses and DEMAND an end to this unjust abomination of an election system then we deserve all the most nightmarish of horrors that are coming to us. If the EC still stands in 20 years and continues to ruin our elections, I'll find myself with only one opinion. Let us burn....
President Obama Says Marijuana Should Be Treated Like Alcohol
Obama saying it like it is as usual. I really admire this man and his presidency. I only wish his administration had done a bit more to actually declassify cannabis, rather than leaving things in a state of limbo.
http://blog.norml.org/2016/12/01/president-obama-says-marijuana-should-be-treated-like-alcohol/
In a just published “exit interview” with Rolling Stone Magazine, President Barack Obama opined that marijuana use should be treated as a public-health issue, not a criminal matter, and called the current patchwork of state and federal laws regarding the drug “untenable.”
“Look, I’ve been very clear about my belief that we should try to discourage substance abuse,” Obama said. “And I am not somebody who believes that legalization is a panacea. But I do believe that treating this as a public-health issue, the same way we do with cigarettes or alcohol, is the much smarter way to deal with it.”
Trump tweets on 'consequences' for flag burning
This man is actually crazy. Gonna be a rough 4 years...
http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/trump-tweets-on-consequences-for-flag-burning-819760195516
Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday that perhaps citizens who burn the American flag should face consequences of 'perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail.'
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